OneJerusalem.com

With Jerusalem Day being on Monday, June 2nd, I thought it would be nice to pay a visit to the Holy City, especially to what is known as Ha’Kotel Ha’Ma’a’ravi — or the Western Wall to non-Hebrew speakers. Accompanied by my wife and my mother-in-law, we set out for Jerusalem on Tuesday, a week before the annual commemoration of Jerusalem’s liberation was to take place.

My mother-in-law, who with the rest of her family had been expelled from Egypt following the 1956 Sinai Campaign, is getting up in years and wanted to visit the Kotel, perhaps for one last time while still on this material earth. Although it was midday when we arrived at the Dung Gate, the Western Wall Plaza’s main entrance, a large number of people, both tourists and locals, were milling about in the large open plaza where persons of both sexes can be together before going to pray at either the men’s or women’s areas in front of the Kotel itself.

We had prepared some small notes to place in The Wall along with the many others that are placed between those ancient stones daily. The notes were for members of my own immediate family who had been ill or in accidents, etc. As I approached The Wall, I was overcome by a profound feeling of awe that I always feel when visiting what is considered to be the most sacred spot in Judaism. As I inserted my notes in the cracks between the stones quarried during the reign of either the Hasmonean kings or King Herod the Great, I could not help being sad, because this “Wailing Wall”, as it has been known by Jews for centuries, is the only remnant of what was said to have been the most magnificent piece of architecture ever built by King Solomon nearly three thousand years ago, i.e., the Temple. Being a Freemason, this fact made my visit even more profound as the Brotherhood of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons was founded on the concept of the Temple being built by Israel’s greatest King. For as it is noted in the Biblical Old Testament: “He will build me a House, and I will sanctify his kingdom for ever”.

Upon leaving this holy shrine, from which tradition says one must walk backwards as not to defile the sanctify of the place, I looked up and caught a glimpse of the golden dome of the Mosque of Omar, otherwise known as the Dome of the Rock. This mosque, along with the Al Aqsa Mosque, occupies that piece of real estate known by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as Hareem al Sharif. With all the discussions still going on concerning the future of Jerusalem, especially the Old City and the Temple Mount, I wondered, like many people do, why the Muslims are making such a big deal concerning their desire to have back the eastern part of the city, including the very spot I was standing on — Judaism’s holiest shrine. After all, the Muslims presently have jurisdiction over the entire Temple Mount, which has been a part of Israeli rule ever since the re-unification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War.

Then I looked over at the Jewish Quarter which faces the Plaza as well as the Temple Mount, noticing some construction of Yeshivot (Rabbi training centers) and other structures. The Jewish Quarter would be a definite place of contention should some future agreement ever be reached with the Palestinians, as well as with the 1.2 billion representatives of the Islamic World, which is roughly 1 out of every 5 members of the Human Race.

Upon leaving the Plaza, I pondered the fate of this area which has been in Jewish prayers since the destruction of the Second Temple by Roman Legions in the 1st Century CE. Millions of Jews, including intensely religious ones, were denied access to the Kotel over the centuries; but now, it is readily available to all. Yet, many Israelis, including some government officials, are still prepared to negotiate the symbol which is central to Jewish faith; and that symbol being the last vestige of the Temple originally built by King Solomon, with Almighty God’s instructions.

Before we left the Kotel plaza, my mind recalled that classic photograph — by Israel’s icon photographer David Rubinger — of the three young IDF paratrooper soldiers standing in awe before the Kotel, moments after the area had fallen into Israeli hands. Being ever denied again from freely accessing the Wall is a terrible thought. For if Judaism is once again without our holiest symbol, it will not be the same. And this fact must be understood by all – including our adversaries.

Photograph: David Rubinger/HO/AP