A Spiritually Moving Experience

The Western Wall is essentially remains of the second temple destroyed by Romans in 70 AD and the most sacred Jewish shrine in Jerusalem. It was a breathtaking site and much larger than I expected and by sheer luck, not good planning, it was the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah which means “Head of the Year,” and marks the beginning of the Jewish calendar. It was the start of a 10-day period of repentance and prayer, and we bore witness to thousands of people celebrating this special day in this place of spiritual significance.

As we made our way to the wall, we walked beside a family celebrating the Bah Mitzvah of two young girls dressed in white, appearing shy and humbled by a large group of adults surrounding them playing local instruments and holding a shelter of sorts made of white silk above their heads. The entourage made their way through the crowd singing and clapping and I felt privileged to witness this celebration of the two twelve-year-old girls who now had the rights of a Jewish adult including the commandments of the Torah and taking their place in the Jewish community.

As we approached the wall our guide advised the women and men needed to separate to different sections divided by a cyclone fence. As I made my way through the crowd of praying women, I paused to take in the pronounced nature of what was happening around me and the significance this wall has for the Jewish people. When I touched the wall, it had a much larger impact on me than it would have on any other day, as I witnessed hundreds of women resting their heads on the wall silently praying and placing notes of paper in the cracks of the wall. Jewish people believe that a divine presence rests within the Western Wall, so leave these hand-written prayers on scraps of paper in the hope they will be answered.

Jewish people have been praying at the wall for two thousand years and travel from around the world to gather and pray at this holy site, often in tears which is why some refer to the wall as the “Wailing Wall”. I felt extremely fortunate ticking this off my bucket list on a momentous occasion and to truly feel the significance this place has for the Jewish people. Click here to read more about my travels to Turkey, Jerusalem and the Greek Islands.

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