The Western Wall in Jerusalem, also known as the Kotel, is a site of immense religious significance for Jewish people. It is a remnant of the retaining wall that supported the Second Temple complex, which was the center of Jewish worship for centuries before its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE.

Here's a breakdown of its importance and the traditions associated with it:

Significance:

A Symbol of Connection: The Western Wall is the closest place where Jewish people can pray to the former location of the Holy of Holies, the most sacred part of the Temple. It symbolizes the enduring connection of the Jewish people to God, Jerusalem, and their heritage.

A Place of Mourning and Hope: For centuries, Jews have gathered at the wall to mourn the destruction of the Temple and pray for its restoration and the coming of the messiah. This is why it has also been called the "Wailing Wall" by some, though many Jewish people find this term to be a misnomer, as the site is also a place of great hope and celebration.

The Divine Presence: According to Jewish tradition, the Divine Presence (Shechinah) never departed from the Western Wall, even after the destruction of the Temple. This belief gives the site a unique spiritual power, and many believe that prayers offered there are especially potent.

Traditions and Practices:

Prayer: People come to the wall to pray, often touching their heads to the stones as a sign of respect and reverence. The prayer plaza is divided into separate sections for men and women, in accordance with traditional Jewish law.

Placing Notes: A well-known tradition is to write prayers, wishes, or petitions on small slips of paper and tuck them into the cracks between the stones. These notes, which have been left by people from all over the world and of many different faiths, are collected twice a year and buried in a sacred manner.

Modesty and Respect: Visitors are expected to dress modestly and men are required to cover their heads. Ki'ppot (yarmulkes) are available for free at the entrance for those who do not have one.

Celebrations: The Western Wall is also a place of joyous celebration. It is a popular location for bar mitzvahs, military swearing-in ceremonies, and national holidays. The atmosphere can be very lively, with singing, dancing, and the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn).

So what exactly was going on there, that they're praying about. What was the "problem", it sounds like centuries ago?

The central "problem" that Jews are praying about at the Western Wall is the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. This isn't just about a building; it's about the loss of the spiritual and national center of Jewish life.

Here's a little more detail on the historical context:

The First and Second Temples: The Temple was the most sacred place in Judaism for over a thousand years. The first was built by King Solomon around the 10th century BCE and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was built on the same site after the Jews returned from exile and was expanded and made magnificent by King Herod the Great.

The Destruction in 70 CE: The Second Temple was the main center of Jewish worship and a hub for Jewish people from all over the world, with a system of sacrifices and rituals central to the religion. In 70 CE, after a Jewish rebellion against Roman rule, the Roman army under Titus besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, including the Second Temple. The Western Wall is the only remaining part of the original structure of the Temple Mount, the plaza on which the Temple stood.

The Aftermath: The destruction of the Temple was a catastrophic event that changed Judaism forever. It meant the end of the sacrificial system and the physical center of Jewish spiritual life. It also marked the beginning of a long period of Jewish exile and diaspora, as many Jews were killed, enslaved, or displaced.

For centuries since, Jews have mourned this loss. The prayers at the Western Wall are a way of remembering the destruction and praying for the future. The prayers are for the restoration of Jerusalem and the Jewish people, and for the reestablishment of a world with a spiritual center. This act of prayer and mourning is a symbol of resilience, a connection to a glorious past, and an expression of hope for a better future.

How come they don't just "get over" whatever the problem was, and go, ok.. let's go do something else, somewhere else.

That's an excellent and very common question, and it gets to the heart of what this mourning is all about. It's not just about a pile of stones or an old building; it's about a deep, spiritual, and historical wound. The answer to "how come they don't just get over it" lies in a few key concepts:

1. The Temple wasn't just a building; it was the spiritual center of the world. In Jewish tradition, the Temple was considered the place where God's presence, the Shechinah, was most manifest on Earth. It was the nexus point between the spiritual and the physical. Its destruction wasn't just a loss of property; it was a profound rupture in the relationship between the Jewish people and God.

The prayers for the Temple's restoration aren't just about a physical structure. They are a longing for that spiritual closeness and perfection to be restored, not just for the Jewish people, but for all of humanity.

2. The destruction was the beginning of a long exile. The fall of the Second Temple marked the start of the Jewish diaspora, a 2,000-year period of exile. For much of that time, Jewish people were stateless, often persecuted, and had no secure home. The mourning for the Temple is intertwined with the memory of all the suffering that followed: crusades, pogroms, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust.

The yearly fast day of Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the destruction of the Temple, also serves as a day of mourning for these other national tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. It's a way of acknowledging that the destruction of the Temple wasn't just an isolated event, but a catalyst for centuries of hardship.

3. It's a key part of Jewish identity and continuity. The act of mourning for the Temple has been a way for the Jewish people to maintain their identity and collective memory, even when scattered across the globe. It's a practice that connects generations, from the ancient rabbis who were forced to adapt Judaism after the Temple's destruction to Jews living today.

Many Jewish customs are tied to this memory. For example:

At a traditional Jewish wedding, the groom breaks a glass underfoot, often accompanied by the recitation of a verse from Psalm 137, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither." This is a powerful reminder that even at a moment of a family's greatest joy, the community's collective loss is not forgotten.

Some Jews leave a small section of a wall in their home unpainted or unplastered as a physical reminder of the Temple's destruction.

In essence, "getting over it" would mean forgetting a central part of Jewish history and identity. The prayers are not just looking back, but forward. They express a hope and a belief that one day, all the brokenness of the world will be repaired. For many Jews, the mourning is a necessary part of the journey toward a future of redemption.

Hold on, what did you just say there.. "The Destruction in 70 CE: The Second Temple was the main center of Jewish worship and a hub for Jewish people from all over the world, with a system of sacrifices and rituals central to the religion."

Did I just see "sacrifices". Is that like back in the old days when Yahweh had enough of humans sacrificing kids to whatever "gods", so he did the flood. When you say "sacrifices", are you talking about like the Aztecs, you know.. their pyramids, they definitely sacrificed kids.

That's a really important distinction to make. The sacrifices in the ancient Jewish Temple were animal and grain offerings, not human sacrifices. The practice of human sacrifice, particularly of children, is explicitly and repeatedly forbidden and condemned throughout the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh).

Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Jewish Temple Sacrifices (Korbanot) Animal and Grain: The offerings were animals (such as bulls, sheep, goats, or doves) and agricultural products (like grain, flour, oil, and wine). The word for sacrifice in Hebrew, korban, literally means "to draw near," and the act was seen as a way for a person to draw closer to God.

Purpose: These sacrifices served various purposes, including:

Atonement: For unintentional sins. It was not a punishment, but a way to express regret and seek reconciliation with God.

Thanksgiving: To express gratitude for blessings, such as recovery from illness or a safe journey.

Worship: As a daily communal act of devotion.

Ritual: The rituals were highly specific and performed by the Kohanim (priests) in the designated areas of the Temple. The blood of the animal was used in a symbolic way, and parts of the animal were burned on the altar, while other parts were consumed by the priests or the person who brought the offering.

A clear prohibition on human sacrifice: The story of the Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22), where God stops Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac and provides a ram instead, is a foundational story in Judaism. It is seen as a definitive rejection of human sacrifice. Later prophets and laws in the Torah explicitly condemn the practice of sacrificing children, associating it with the abominations of neighboring pagan cultures.

Aztec Sacrifices

Human Sacrifice: The Aztecs, on the other hand, are well-documented to have practiced human sacrifice on a large scale. This was a central part of their religious beliefs and cosmology.

Purpose: Aztec human sacrifices were often performed to appease deities, particularly the sun god Huitzilopochtli, who they believed required human hearts and blood to continue his daily journey across the sky. They also used it for other reasons, like crop fertility, military success, and intimidation.

Victims: The victims were often prisoners of war, slaves, or people who volunteered for the honor. The rituals were often brutal, involving the removal of the heart.

So, while both cultures used the term "sacrifice," the nature, purpose, and objects of the rituals were fundamentally different. In Judaism, the practice of sacrificing animals was a way to "draw near" to God, and it was a form of ritual worship, atonement, and thanksgiving. Human sacrifice was considered an abomination and was strictly forbidden.

So they weren't sacrificing kids.. they're sacrificing animals then, for who.. Yahweh? Is that like the Ark of the covenenant, I think they had to sacrifice an animal and sprinkle it's blood on it.

You're connecting some of the key pieces of ancient Israelite worship, and you're right to see the connection between sacrifice and the Ark of the Covenant.

Yes, the sacrifices were offered to Yahweh, the name for God in the Hebrew Bible. The practice was central to their religious life, and the Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred object in that system.

Here's how it all fits together:

The Ark as God's "Throne": The Ark of the Covenant was a gold-covered chest that was considered the physical representation of God's presence among the Israelites. It was housed in the "Holy of Holies," the innermost, most sacred room of the Tabernacle (a portable sanctuary) and later the Temple in Jerusalem. The lid of the Ark, known as the "Mercy Seat," was where God was said to dwell, "between the two cherubim" (angelic figures) on top of it.

Sacrifice and Atonement: On the most solemn day of the year, Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies. He would perform a ritual to atone for his own sins and the sins of the entire Israelite community. As part of this, he would take the blood of a sacrificed bull and a goat and sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat of the Ark.

Why the Blood? This act of sprinkling blood was a symbolic way of cleansing and purifying the space and the people, making it possible for God to continue to dwell among them. The blood represented the life of the animal, and its offering was a ritual payment for the spiritual "debt" of sin. This was a crucial ritual to maintain the holy connection between God and the people.

You are correct that they didn't have to sacrifice an animal on the Ark itself, but the blood from the sacrificed animal was the central element of the ritual that was performed in the presence of the Ark.

This system of sacrifices and the presence of the Ark were the heart of Jewish religious life for centuries. The loss of both—the Ark disappeared before the destruction of the First Temple, and the Temple itself was destroyed in 70 CE—is why the Western Wall, the last remnant of that holy site, holds such profound meaning for Jewish people today. They are praying for a future when that spiritual connection and wholeness can be restored.

[continued in comments]