Jerusalem Wailing Wall & Israel villas

Jerusalem Wailing Wall & Israel villas

The Jerusalem Wailing Wall is a holy site famous for Jewish pilgrimages. The history of Jerusalem Wailing Wall, aka Western Wall, may be turbulent, but with its grandeur and promise for the future, hope shines through. When you rent Israel villas, explore its religious wonders.

The Western Wall is also known descriptively as the Wailing Wall or the Kotel. The Wailing Wall is as old as 516 BCE, part of the Jewish Second Temple. Herod the Great or King Herod constructed the wall which is now part of a bigger holy complex known as Temple Mount. Search VillasPeople.com to find Israel villas near this massively significant religious complex.

Temple Mount: Western Wall

Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall are in the Old City of Jerusalem. The most holy place in Judaism is the Holy of the Holies within the Temple Mount complex. Unfortunately for the people of the Jewish faith the Muslins are in control of Temple Mount. For this reason the Wailing Wall, Western Wall, by proximity is the most holy site in Judaism actually accessible to the Jewish people.

History of the Wailing Wall

The history of the Wailing Wall finds its roots stretching as far back as Solomon’s Temple (First Temple). After it was destroyed, in its place the Second Temple was built. There were walls surrounding a courtyard in the Second Temple, one was the Western Wall.

The Romans were invading Israel and destroying the symbols of Judaism as they went. The Second Temple was not spared. As it lay in ruins only the Western Wall remained. The Jewish people of the time saw this as a symbol of hope, a promise from God that they and their faith would endure.

The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem

The Western Wall is now commonly referred to as the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. The Jewish people came to the wall to mourn the loss of their holiest site and their exile, thus, the Wailing Wall.

The Wailing Wall is a place of beauty and reverence today. People come by the thousands to pray at the walls and they write special prayers on tiny bits of parchment. They fold them and place them in the crevices on the wall. Look closely and you’ll see the thousands of bits of paper all over the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

The Wailing Wall holds many Jewish ceremonies and while sombre prayers are the day-to-day fixtures the ceremonies are a time for the Jewish community to celebrate their faith and each other.

One rather interesting fact about the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is that it has a stone, a single stone called the Western Stone estimated at an astounding 570 tonnes!! The largest stone in the Great Egyptian Pyramids weighs in at a seemingly paltry 11 tonnes. The Wailing Wall remains one of Israel's most visited places so do be sure to include it in your itinerary on a Israel villas holiday.