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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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]
[part 4]
oh so this Canaanite / Phoenician Gods (Polytheism), stuff is like not that old.. like 500 years before Jesus
That's an excellent way to put it and helps put the timeline in perspective.
Yes, the period of the most prominent Baal worship and the intense conflict with the Israelite prophets was very much in the centuries leading up to the time of Jesus.
500 BCE: This is a good general end-date for the widespread public worship of Baal. By this time, the great empires like the Assyrians and the Babylonians had conquered the region, and later the Persian and Greek empires ruled over it. This led to the decline of the independent city-states that had once supported the worship of these gods.
1st Century BCE / 1st Century CE: By the time of Jesus, the polytheistic religions of the region were more Roman and Greek in nature. The Romans had built their temples to Jupiter and other Roman deities over the older Canaanite sites, as they did at Baalbek.
So, while the origins of these gods go back thousands of years (to around 3000 BCE), the time you're thinking of, around 500 BCE and the centuries just before that, was a key period where their worship was still a major part of the cultural and religious landscape of the region and a central part of the story told in the Hebrew Bible. The fight between the prophets of Yahweh and the prophets of Baal was an ongoing historical reality in the centuries before the Common Era.
You think they were using those negative entities they were sacrificing kids to, would these gods do stuff for them, like today's magicians make a pact with a negative entity who moves the matter. Maybe back in those days these gods would like move the gigantic blocks.. Maybe not the gods, but just some lower level negative entities.
our question touches on the heart of a major theological and philosophical divide between ancient religions and the modern worldview.
The idea that ancient peoples made pacts with deities who would "move matter" or grant power in a way that modern magicians might attempt is a concept that has been explored in a variety of spiritual traditions. In this view, yes, ancient people may have believed that their sacrifices and rituals were a form of transaction to gain the favor and power of these gods, who would then grant them supernatural abilities or outcomes, such as the ability to move gigantic stones.
Here's how that idea fits into the ancient context and how it contrasts with the modern perspective:
The Ancient View: A Transactional World In the polytheistic world of ancient Canaan and Phoenicia, the gods were not seen as abstract concepts. They were powerful beings with personalities, rivalries, and a direct influence on the physical world.
Pacts and Power: Sacrifices and rituals were believed to be a necessary way to maintain a transactional relationship with these gods. You gave them something of value (a bull, a child, your devotion) in exchange for their power (rain, fertility, military victory, or yes, maybe even the ability to move colossal objects). The gods were not benevolent by default; they had to be persuaded or appeased. The idea that a "lower-level negative entity" would be involved is also consistent with the polytheistic belief in a hierarchy of divine beings.
The Worldview: The ancient worldview was a place of divine powers and hidden forces. The natural world was not governed by predictable laws of physics, but by the will of the gods. Miracles and supernatural events were seen as direct results of divine intervention, and the goal of ritual was to gain access to that power.
The Modern and Jewish View: A Different Kind of Power In contrast, the monotheistic worldview presented in the Hebrew Bible rejects this transactional model entirely.
A Different Source of Power: The Jewish prophets taught that Yahweh's power was not something to be earned or bartered for through ritual; it was an inherent part of his nature as the one true creator of all things.
A Condemnation of Pagan Practices: The condemnation of Baal and other gods was not just about idolatry; it was a condemnation of the entire worldview that these gods represented. The Bible's condemnation of human sacrifice was a rejection of the idea that God could ever need or want such a thing.
The Rejection of "Magic": In the biblical view, what the Canaanites were doing was a form of "witchcraft" because they were seeking to manipulate spiritual forces for personal gain, rather than seeking a moral and ethical relationship with a transcendent God.
So, while modern historians might look at the incredible engineering feats of places like Baalbek and attribute them to advanced technology or slave labor, the ancient peoples themselves very likely believed that some form of divine power was involved. They would have seen their ability to create such structures as a testament to the power of their gods. Your idea that they were making pacts with these entities to move matter is a very strong and consistent interpretation of their religious worldview.
Cause it wasn't the people who were moving the rocks. Meanwhile they're sacrificing kids.. you didn't get into how the magicians use them. Maybe that's how they moved the gigantic blocks.. cause these temples were for these guys
You've brought up a very powerful and specific line of inquiry that is at the heart of many alternative historical and spiritual theories. The premise is that the people themselves weren't capable of moving the stones, so some other force, activated by the horrific practice of child sacrifice, must have been at work.
Here's how that theory holds up in various spiritual and historical contexts:
The Occult and Mystical Viewpoint In many occult traditions, the act of human or animal sacrifice is believed to be a potent form of ritual magic. The theory goes that:
Life Force as Power: The act of sacrificing a living being releases a tremendous amount of energy or "life force." The more powerful or innocent the being, the more potent the energy released. A child's life force would be seen as a particularly powerful form of energy.
Fueling Entities: This released energy is then used to "feed" or empower negative entities, demons, or lower-level gods. In return for this energy, these entities are believed to grant the magician or priest the ability to perform supernatural feats—like levitating or moving objects far too heavy for human hands.
A Pact with the Unseen: This fits the model of a pact. The priests or magicians are the human intermediaries. They perform the ritual (the child sacrifice) to empower the unseen forces, and in return, those forces do the work that is physically impossible for the humans to do. The gigantic stones at Baalbek and elsewhere would be seen as the physical evidence of this pact.
The Problem with This Theory in Mainstream History From a historical and archaeological perspective, this view is a non-starter. Mainstream historians and archaeologists do not consider supernatural explanations. They rely on evidence to explain how things were done.
Advanced Technology (for the time): While we may not have the exact answers, archaeologists believe that the stones at Baalbek and other sites were moved using a combination of a massive workforce, ramps, ropes, levers, and a very advanced understanding of physics and engineering. The incredible precision of the cuts and the perfect fits suggest not magic, but a highly skilled and well-organized labor force.
The "Unsolved Mystery" is Often a "Missing Link": Just because we don't know exactly how they did it doesn't mean it was supernatural. It's more likely that the methods used have been lost to history. The lack of written records on this topic from the Roman and pre-Roman periods is a major factor.
The Biblical/Theological View As we've discussed, the Hebrew Bible frames this very differently. It doesn't deny that the power of these false gods might have seemed real or that the Canaanite priests believed they were gaining power. The Bible's central argument is:
The Power is a Lie: The power of these other gods is a deceitful illusion. Their power is not real in the same way that Yahweh's power is real. The biblical texts frame the worship of Baal as a moral and spiritual sickness, not a legitimate source of supernatural power. The miracles of the prophets (like Elijah's) are meant to prove that Yahweh is the true source of all power, and that the priests of Baal are essentially charlatans.
So, while your theory about magicians and negative entities moving the stones is a compelling one that fits within certain occult and spiritual traditions, it's not the one that historians or the mainstream Jewish theological tradition would entertain. The Hebrew Bible, while acknowledging the temptation and the perceived power of these practices, condemns them as a form of moral depravity and a turning away from the one true God.
Going back to other types of gods like Baal, but they'd do different things. Saw "Astarte". I think the Egyptians were into some of these, eh?
Yes, you are exactly right. The worship of deities like Astarte and others from the Canaanite and Phoenician pantheons spread widely and were adopted by neighboring cultures, including the Egyptians.
The ancient Near East was a region of constant cultural exchange, trade, and conquest. As a result, religious ideas and gods often crossed borders. The Egyptians, in particular, adopted several foreign deities into their own vast pantheon, especially during the New Kingdom period (c. 1550–1070 BCE) when the Egyptian empire had extensive contact with the Levant (the region of modern-day Israel, Lebanon, and Syria).
Astarte is a perfect example of this.
Astarte in Egypt Goddess of War and Fertility: In Egypt, Astarte was primarily worshipped as a goddess of war, hunting, and chariots. This was a new emphasis on her powers, as in Canaan, she was more known for love, sexuality, and fertility.
Consort of Set: The Egyptians associated her with their god Set, the god of chaos, storms, and the desert. This was a natural fit because Set was a powerful, and often fearsome, deity, and Astarte's tempestuous nature and association with war made her a good consort for him.
Widespread Worship: Her worship was so popular that she had temples dedicated to her in major cities like Memphis and she was a favorite of the pharaohs. She was often depicted as a beautiful, nude goddess on horseback, brandishing weapons.
Other Canaanite gods adopted by the Egyptians included:
Baal: Like Astarte, Baal was also a powerful storm and war god who became popular in Egypt. He was associated with the Egyptian storm god Set and was often invoked by pharaohs before battles.
Resheph: A Canaanite god of plague and war, he was also adopted into the Egyptian pantheon.
This shows that the religious landscape of the ancient world was not neatly divided. People were often pragmatic, adding new gods to their pantheons in the belief that they might grant them specific powers or benefits, such as success in battle or protection from disease.
[continued in part 5]