31 Facts About Western Wall

Western Wall's holiness in Judaism is a result of its proximity to the Temple Mount.

The term "Wailing Western Wall" was thus almost exclusively used by Christians, and was revived in the period of non-Jewish control between the establishment of the British Mandate in 1920 and the Six-Day War in 1967.

The term "Wailing Western Wall" is not used by religious Jews, and increasingly not by many others who consider it derogatory.

In religious terms, the "Little Western Wall" is presumed to be even closer to the Holy of Holies and thus to the "presence of God", and the underground Warren's Gate, which has been out of reach for Jews from the 12th century till its partial excavation in the 20th century, even more so.

The earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term "ha-kotel ha-ma'aravi", "the Western Wall", as referring to the wall visible today, was by the 11th-century poet Ahimaaz ben Paltiel.

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Term Western Wall commonly refers to a 187-foot exposed section of a much longer retaining wall, built by Herod on the western flank of the Temple Mount.

Today's Western Wall formed part of the retaining perimeter wall of this platform.

Public access to the Western Wall was through the Moroccan Quarter, a labyrinth of narrow alleyways.

Western Wall arranged that benches and tables be brought to the Wall on a daily basis for the study groups he organised and the minyan which he led there for years.

Western Wall formulated a plan whereby some of the courtyards facing the Wall would be acquired, with the intention of establishing three synagogues—one each for the Sephardim, the Hasidim and the Perushim.

Western Wall endeavoured to re-establish an ancient practice of "guards of honour", which according to the mishnah in Middot, were positioned around the Temple Mount.

Western Wall rented a house near the Wall and paid men to stand guard there and at various other gateways around the mount.

In early 1920, the first Jewish-Arab dispute over the Western Wall occurred when the Muslim authorities were carrying out minor repair works to the Western Wall's upper courses.

The Jews, while agreeing that the works were necessary, appealed to the British that they be made under supervision of the newly formed Department of Antiquities, because the Western Wall was an ancient relic.

In 1928 the World Zionist Organization reported that John Chancellor, High Commissioner of Palestine, believed that the Western Wall should come under Jewish control and wondered "why no great Jewish philanthropist had not bought it yet".

Western Wall informed the Jewish community that the removal had been carried out under his orders after receiving a complaint from the Supreme Muslim Council.

This, together with other construction projects in the vicinity, and restricted access to the Western Wall, resulted in Jewish protests to the British, who remained indifferent.

In 1625 "arranged prayers" at the Western Wall are mentioned for the first time by a scholar whose name has not been preserved.

In Judaism, the Western Wall is venerated as the sole remnant of the Holy Temple.

Some medieval rabbis claimed that today's Western Wall is a surviving wall of the Temple itself and cautioned Jews from approaching it, lest they enter the Temple precincts in a state of impurity.

Western Wall cites the Zohar which writes that the word kotel, meaning wall, is made up of two parts: "Ko", which has the numerical value of God's name, and "Tel", meaning mount, which refers to the Temple and its Western Wall.

Many contemporary Orthodox scholars rule that the area in front of the Western Wall has the status of a synagogue and must be treated with due respect.

Bach instructs that "when one sees the Gates of Mercy which are situated in the Western Wall, which is the wall King David built, he should recite: Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the nations: the law is no more; her prophets find no vision from the Lord".

In 1988, the small but vocal group called Women of the Western Wall launched a campaign for recognition of non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall.

In 2003 Israel's Supreme Court upheld the ban on non-Orthodox worship at the Western Wall, disallowing any women from reading publicly from the Torah or wearing traditional prayer shawls at the plaza itself, but instructed the Israeli government to prepare the site of Robinson's Arch to host such events, given that this area does not come under the direct control of the Rabbi of the Western Wall or the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

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In 2012, critics still complained about the restrictions at the Western Wall, saying Israel had "turned a national monument into an ultra-Orthodox synagogue, ".

Shortly after the Western Wall came under Israeli control in 1967, a stand of the Chabad movement offering phylacteries was erected with permission from Rabbi Yehuda Meir Getz, the first rabbi of the Kotel.

Carl Sandreczki, who was charged with compiling a list of place names for Charles Wilson's Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem in 1865, reported that the street leading to the Western Wall, including the part alongside the wall, belonged to the Hosh of al Burak, "not Obrak, nor Obrat".

However, the actions of many modern Christian leaders, including Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who visited the Western Wall and left prayer messages in its crevices, have symbolized for many Christians a restoration of respect and even veneration for this ancient religious site.

Western Wall referred to it as the Discotel, a play on the words "discotheque" and "Kotel".

The Western Wall is part of Al-Aqsa's western tower, which the Israeli establishment fallaciously and sneakily calls the 'Wailing Wall'.