Kotel – the Western Wall. Looks like just another wall. But really?
Magic of the Kotel: Narration of my first hand experience at the Western wall on a Shabbat day.
The western wall is a Jewish religious site in the Jewish Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem. The wall itself dates from the end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BCE. It is often referred to as the Wailing Wall, in connection with Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple.
The disputes over the wall date back to the destruction and not until the 6-day war of 1967 did the Jews get an unrestricted access to the Wall. Even today, there are numerous disputes, the latest one erupted in 2004 when a stairway was being built to approach the Temple mount, which falls on the ‘other’ side of the wall, i.e. Muslim Quarter. Wikipedia has a fantastic blurb on the history of this place.
Kotel at night. Orthodox Jews dress in black
Why is it called The Wailing wall?
In Judaism, the Western Wall is venerated as the sole remnant of the Holy Temple that stood here. It is actually a remnant of the Herodian retaining wall that once enclosed and supported the Second Temple. It has also been called the “Wailing Wall” by European observers because for centuries Jews have gathered here to lament the loss of their temple.
Praying:
It is thought by Jews to be the most sacred of places, because the temple itself was thought to be the place where God resides on earth. Praying at the Wailing Wall signifies being in the presence of the Divine. Jews from all countries, and as well as tourists of other religious backgrounds, come to pray at the wall, where it is said one immediately has the “ear of god.” There is a much publicised practice of placing slips of paper containing written prayers into the crevices of the Wall. It’s as if the Buddhist prayer flags that carry the prayers all around.
Kotel during the day
Since I already wrote an intimate personal experience at this place, this post is mostly informative. Here I am reproducing a snippet.
[...]It was a sea of people at the Western Wall plaza, predominantly dressed in black. Honestly, I hadn’t seen so many people at the same time since I left India about a year back. I was also a little shocked to see many young soldiers with huge guns at the entrance, a sight so ubiquitous in Israel that I didn’t notice it after a few days![...]
[...]This was the wall whose pictures had mesmerized me for months, and finally I was standing right in front of it. Ok what should I do now?
Nothing complicated, I did what anyone else would do – touch the wall. I was picturing a bolt of divine energy zapping into me or me getting transformed suddenly to some other dimension, but (alas) nothing such happened.[...]
People praying at the Synagogue attached to he Western Wall
Western Wall Tunnels:
The Western Wall Tunnel is an underground tunnel exposing the Western Wall in its full length. The tunnel is adjacent to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City. A free tour can be booked via the Kotel tunnels website. It is very heartening to see the profound history of this place, excavated as early as 1987. The kotel tunnels tour is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to understand the wall closely.
A soldier and a civilian: Mourning / Praying at the Wailing wall
Visitors:
The Western wall is situated very much in the Old city (see map here.)
Visitors of all religions are welcome to approach the Wall and to pray silently beside it. Men who would like to go to the wall must wear a hat or take a free head covering (kippah) from a box beside the entrance to the prayer area. I don’t know the requirements for women but I would presume that they are expected to dress conservatively. Pictures cannot be taken on Shabbat day (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) but a shabbath experience at the Kotel is highly recommended. I visited this wall on three separate occasions and I would love to go there again. The whole place has a buzz of energy about it.
View of the Kotel plaza from the path that spirals up to the Dome of the Rock
This post concludes my travels in the Old city of Jerusalem – one city, three faiths. You might be (I was completely) surprised at how closely the religious structures of these Abrahamic religions are located to each other inside the old city. There is a battering religious environment everywhere you go 
Pictures and slideshow: Jerusalem Photo Gallery
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The citadel of David
The Citadel of David – a defensive structure that was destroyed and rebuilt over and over!
Jerusalem has been a center of activity for such a long time that wave after wave of different civilizations battled for it. Beit She’an, Akko are few examples. The Tower of David is a defensive fort built on the edge of the old city and it has recorded this flavor. Built to strengthen a strategically weak point in the Old City’s defenses, the citadel was constructed during the second century BCE and subsequently destroyed and rebuilt by, in succession, the Christian, Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman conquerors of Jerusalem.
Citadel of David
The citadel is a cultural center today and is visited by millions of tourists. It offers very clean and beautiful views of New Jerusalem city, predominantly the Jewish areas and that explains its strategic importance during the old times and even as recent as the Arab control over the city before the 6-day war. Every ruler of this place upgraded it, thus leaving a mark of their presence.
Defensive fortifications.
I was in the western side of the old city (Christian and Armenian Quarters) for an entire day because there is so much to see here. Christian pilgrims swamped the whole place, mostly dominated by Russian Orthodox Christians (it was their Christmas holiday). There are several (maybe hundreds of) churches in these two quarters and hundreds of young volunteers work at these religious centers from all across the world.
Hagia Maria Sion Abbey, or the Dormition Church
Mount Zion is a hill south of the Armenian Quarter just outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Mount Zion is the modern name of the hill – the result of a misnomer dating from the Middle Ages when pilgrims mistook the relatively large, flat summit for the original site of the City of David.
Important sites on Mount Zion are Dormition Abbey, King David’s Tomb and the Room of the Last Supper. Oskar (Oscar) Schindler is buried in a cemetery here.
Dormition Church
Situated on the modern Mount Zion, just outside the walls of Old City is the The Dormition Church which was called Abbey of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, but the name was changed in 1998 in reference to the church of Hagia Sion that formerly stood on this spot.
::::
Room of the last supper:
Christian pilgrims praying in the room of last supper
Among the little joys of exploring a place yourself is finding something that you least expected. I was walking in this area very casually, admittedly in the Christian / Armenian quarter and stumbled at this place. What an amazing piece of Bibical history! I was overwhelmed and wanted to run around screaming “I saw the room of the last supper!” “I saw the room of the last supper!” Yeah, so? Soon I realized that nobody would have cared – it was as if I go to Egypt and say ‘oh I saw the pyramids’. Indeed, everyone else has done the same.
I had already seen so many prominent Christian sites (that most of my information about that religion today comes from Israel), some of them being:
° Church of Nativity, Bethlehem: The birth place of Jesus,
° Via Dolorosa (Stations of the cross), Muslim and Christian quarters, Jerusalem: Jesus’s last walk
° Church of the Sepulcher, Christian quarter, Jerusalem: The site of crucifixion.
° Numerous sites along the Sea of Galilee, Galilee
So this room was another significant addition in my trip seemingly overloaded with Christian pilgrimage sites, haha 
I think religious Christians will have a ball in Israel visiting all these sites (duh, ofcourse!) Several tourist companies bring pilgrims from all over the world. There are endless number of things to see.
Beautiful window in this room.
Next post is about the Jewish quarter.
Pictures and slideshow: Jerusalem Photo Gallery
Note: Beginning now, I’ve adopted a less rigid approach to the travel series. Posts will no longer be titled ‘Scrolls from…’ etc. but will have the same content nevertheless.
Last Supper: Picture by Leonardo da Vinci (1498)
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Safed is one of Judaism’s 4 holy sites and is the center of Kabbalah, the mystical aspect of Judaism.
Note: This post is going to be superficial since I just ‘touched’ Safed. Honestly, I underestimated its importance, since most guidebooks (and people) recommended spending only few hours at this optional site. In my opinion, spending one night here is highly recommended. This town is the best place to ‘do nothing’, and get soaked in nothingness.
A typical street in the old town
This travelogue is about Safed, Zefat, Tsfat, Zfat, Safad, Safes, Safet, Tzfat!! Relax, all these are names of the same city. Like in India, the English spelling of the town becomes crazy. Actually its still a mystery for me to correctly pronounce this town as Israelis – who have different accents – pronounce it in a number of identical ways. Safely, we can call it – स्फात. Interestingly at first look, स्फात town looks सफेद (Safed = ‘White’ in Hindi/Marathi). (Ok enough play of words)
There are infrequent direct buses from Tiberias and the bus drops you at the central bus station, which is the right place to start exploring. However, since I am a wise guy, I got off the bus early, got lost in the city, tried to ask people but nobody could read the map I had. Usually I can tell directions of a city better than the residents themselves, but here my GPS got screwed due to the twisting and winding roads. 
So finally I simply shrugged, told myself ‘whatever‘, and went for a giant Falafel at one of the roadside cafes on Yerushalem जेरुशलेम street.
Tsfat (I am going to use different names each time to confuse you) is a little town located north of Tiberias on a hilly terrain. The old city is made up of narrow cobblestone alleys revealing artists’ galleries, medieval synagogues, private homes and small guest houses. A citadel is located at the top of the central town is actually a war memorial. There are a number of Synagogues and museums hidden in the town.
History:
In 12th century, the Crusaders built a castle here. After its destruction by Saladin it was rebuilt by French Templars, who were forced to surrender it to the Mamelukes in 13th century. Zefat started to get populated mostly after Spanish Inquisition, an event at the end of 15th century that saw the expulsion of Jews from Spain and many parts of Europe. It became a Jewish town in the 16th century, under Ottoman rule. During the 18th century Jews from Poland arrived. The town was pillaged by Druze raiders, and in 1837 it was destroyed by an earthquake. 
Towards the end of the 19th century new settlers came to Safed, and it had about 6000 Arab and 6000 Jewish families. When Israel became independent in 1948 there were 12,000 Arabs and only 1700 Jews. In May 1948 a group of Palmach fighters stormed the Arab positions and drove the Arabs out of the town, which since then has been purely Jewish.
The old town has a number of distinguishing flavors depending on the population there. Some of the walls are distinctly blue, while others have a different style. More time must be spent to understand this.
Synagogue
Kabbalah:
This is a mystical branch of Judaism that refers to a set of esoteric teachings and mystical practices meant to define the inner meaning of the Tanakh (Hebrew holy books), traditional Rabbinic literature, and Jewish religious observances.
At the Kabalah information center, I met an interesting person. He was an orthodox Jewish person (dressed in black) who was simply overjoyed to meet someone from India. (I got so used to this reaction, that it became predictable.) This guy spent 3 years (phew!) in Haridwar and Rishikesh studying Hinduism. From the little conversation I had with him (it was 30 minutes actually), he seemed to have had tremendous knowledge about Hinduism, Buddhism and eastern philosophy in general. Over some (free) tea and bakery snacks, he gave me a ton of information about Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. The interesting part was, he was relating most of it to the Hindu philosophy, so I could understand it much better and faster. 
Indeed, I was stunned to find so many concepts of Kabbalah fundamentally similar to ours. 
I was a bit surprised to see that this gentleman never tried to tell me ‘Judaism is greatest religion’ and stuff like that which would have ticked me off immediately. Later, I learnt that, just like Eastern religions, preaching religion is not a practise sanctioned by Jewish laws. cool
I desist from talking more about it here. Mom says ‘little knowledge can be dangerous thing!‘
I wanted to stay longer in the town, and the 3-4 hours spent there were grossly insufficient. However, it was time to go.
Old city of Tsfat
Hitchhiking:
The sun was setting, I had no clue when the next bus was and I had to get back to Tiberias. I usually plan most of my travel but this day I overran my schedule. With heavy heart, I ran towards the bus station hoping that it wasn’t late.
oops!
There were no buses to Tiberias. So the only people at the bus stop were a bunch of soldiers, me and some kids playing. I started thinking about finding a place for the night. The other way was to go to Rosh Pina and then to Tiberias, but it was getting dark to do all that. In a way I was happy that I missed the bus, because then I could stay longer in Safed. Seeing clearly the panic and confusion on my face, one soldier screamed (just like Indian style) at me and asked if I was looking for something. Generally, Israelis are no-nonsense people who will leave you alone and never bother you, so I was a bit surprised. I explained my situation to the group.
“No problem, you come with us.”
Expectedly, I hesitated, I wasn’t sure. 3 soldiers, barely 20 yr old army guys, with large guns on their backs, in a foreign country, not knowing Hebrew.. hmm… what could happen? Before leaving I asked questions on Trip Advisor forum about hitchhiking and I was firmly advised against it, except if there was a soldier with me. (The concept of security is rather strange in Israel, I noticed in many places and will post about it later) I didn’t have much cash on me, and I wasn’t useful from an abduction point of view because Indian Government wouldn’t care anyway. Most people thought that I looked Jewish (attractive for kidnapping) but I told these guys I wasn’t. They were soldiers so they couldn’t be Palestinians (I mean the brainwashed types, no offence).
So after quickly evaluating all those complex conditions, I decided to go with them. One of their non soldier friends was driving them to Tiberias for their next day reporting to a military camp somewhere around. The ride in that car was interesting – it was like a smoke chamber, with loud incomprehensible Hebrew songs (with occasional English words) and lot of shouting (talking) and laughing amongst each other.
Finally this interesting day (Beit She’an and Safed) ended on a fantastic and memorable evening.
Next post is going to be about Souvenirs – not the tourist shopping ones, this is different!
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This is where the action is.
Map of the Old city of Jerusalem marking the paths I walked on
I am very much a map person…
Take a look at the map, (I hope it is readable). Old city of Jerusalem is approximately 1 sq.km. piece of land housing few of the holiest sites of Abrahamic religions. It is divided into four quarters namely: Armenian Quarter, Christian Quarter, Muslim Quarter and Jewish Quarter. Until 1860, this area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem. However, currently the New City has expanded virtually all around it. This city is walled and has seven operational gates. It is unbelievable to see how so many sites of significance are fitted into this tiny grid.
I spent almost 3 days wandering in the narrow alleys of the old city. All of the 4 quarters have a distinctive feel: the smell, the people and even the cleanliness levels are different. Streets are lined by hundreds of little shops, alas most of them are souvenir shops selling expensive touristy stuff. Food is plenty and cheap in one of the restaurants. I spent long times sipping mint tea or pomegranate juice, eating falafel and watching people walking around.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre:
The New Testament (Holy book of the Christians) describes that this was the place where Jesus Christ was crucified and later buried in a sepulchre. The Churchs’ construction was ordered by the Roman emperor Constantine. Later the building was destroyed by Persians, rebuilt by Byzantines, damaged by Muslims, restored by Byzantines, changed hands to Turks, developed by Crusaders, changed control to Kurds and then to Khwarezmians, Turks again, British and finally today it is in the country of Israel. (phew! No, I did not memorize this).
As with other Christian sites I visited, this church was heavily crowded too. I visited this place twice and unfortunately both times were high season – Christmas and Orthodox Christmas. Plus it was quite dark inside, so I don’t have many pictures. The church is gigantic and the guidebook identified atleast 24 different places of worship in different corners of the church. For a person familiar with Bibical stories especially, this place holds lot of significance because one is able to actually see what was hitherto only textual description.
Dome of the Rock:
Dome of the Rock
By far in Israel, this was the most interesting structure I saw. The history of this place is simply fascinating – depressing, exciting and very interesting. The Dome of the Rock is situated on Temple Mount, the holiest site of Judaism. The First Jewish Temple stood here from 967 BCE to 586 BCE (destroyed by Babylonians), the Second Temple stood from 516 BCE to 70 CE (destroyed by Romans). During the Byzantine period and later during Crusader period, this place was briefly a Church. It was largely ignored until the arrival of the Muslims who built the current structure in 690 CE. This place is the third holiest site for the Muslims (after Mecca and Medina). Christians believe that rebuilding this temple will mark the second coming of Christ, while Jews believe that this site is where the Third temple would be rebuilt along with the arrival of Jewish messiah.
I had read before that only Moslems are allowed to enter this place but I went to the entrance anyway. The guard politely asked me to leave after I told him that I was not a Muslim. I disapprove this practise of barring entry for people of other religions – something that is prevalent in some Hindu temples too.
An Arab man praying outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque
There is lot more in the Old City of Jerusalem to talk about, but I have spent 6 blog posts in Jerusalem region itself. Lets move north to explore Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee next.
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Good Morning:
I woke up to a pleasant Azaan (Adhan अझान) broadcasted from one of the many mosques in the Muslim Quarter. Not much to my surprise, it was a very different accent. I wonder if Arabic spoken in India sounds greatly different from that spoken in Israel or any other Islamic countries for that matter. I bet it does. I 
had some mint tea early in the morning while rest of the hostel was still sleeping, and left for exploring eastern part of Jerusalem.
East Jerusalem:
East Jerusalem is predominantly inhabited by Arabs. Until 1967, this territory was controlled by Jordan. After emerging victorious in the six-day war, Israel annexed this territory and pushed for Jewish settlements in what is currently known as ‘West Bank’. The term ‘west bank’ originates from the fact that this Palestinian territory is located on the western bank of the Jordan River.
Arab bus network:
This area is served primarily by the Arab bus network (different from the Israeli). The Arab bus station is located outside the Damascus gate and was very close to the place I was sleeping. I ate some Jerusalem bread for breakfast and took the Arab bus #75 for 3.5 NIS to go to Mount of Olives.
Mount of Olives:
Mount of Olives (माउंट ऑफ् ऑलिव्), a hill on the eastern edge of Jerusalem and, as you can guess, has many olive trees. View from Mt of Olives is simply fantastic. It gives a complete overview of the city of Jerusalem from the eastern side. Right in front across the valley is the walled old city with the Dome of the Rock looking prominent.
Jewish Cemetery:
Judaism is the first Abrahamic religion, and therefore preaches the concept of ‘end of the world’. Mount of Olives has a huge Jewish cemetery and it is believed that the dead will resurrect from this location when it is the End of days. There are over 150,000 graves in this ancient cemetery. Jews place stones on the graves of dead and the people I asked “why 
stones?’, seemed to be uncertain about it. However, it has something to do with leaving a permanent mark to remember the dead and also to let others know that someone visited the grave.
Dominus Flevit Church:
This church, built to commemorate the Lord’s weeping over Jerusalem, offers a beautiful view of the city through its distinct chapel window. I tried hard to get a better picture of the cross and the dome of the rock, but it seemed impossible. Excavations during construction of the church uncovered a number of objects with numerous inscriptions from the time of Jesus.
Church of Mary Magdalene:
This is a Russian Orthodox Church. The distinctive Russian styled golden domes sparkled in the morning sun and looked like a picture ripped off from a fairy tale.
Church of All Nations:
Several countries, Canada included, contributed to build this church. The picture to the left is a painting high up on the wall and was edited using perspective correction tool. Also known as the Church of the Agony, this Roman Catholic church is located adjacent to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was in this garden that Jesus is said to have prayed before he was arrested by the Romans.
(This always puzzles me – Today the Vatican is located in Rome, a city of Romans, the ones who once crucified Jesus. Funny how can people simply flip their opinions!)
Swastika:
In what was clearly a symbol of anti-Semitism, there was graffiti of Swastika painted in one of the walls in the Arab town. So, the Nazis took one of “our’ holiest symbols, used it for crimes against Jews and suddenly the Swastika became a symbol of hatred. I wonder how many people know that this symbol was in religious practice in India from as back as 2000 BCE!
After traveling through a Muslim neighborhood, a Jewish cemetery and a number of Christian temples, I returned to the Arab bus station outside Damascus gate. Thats right, in Jerusalem, religion is right on your face all the time.
Next destination: Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus Christ, currently located in Palestinian west bank.
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Continued from previous post.
Joining the Jews at the Kotel celebrating the arrival of Shabbat was quite a wonderful and unexpected experience.
Shabbaaat Shabbat Shabbat Shabbat Shalom, Hey!
Shabbat Shalom, Hey! Shabbat Shalom, Hey! Shabbat Shalom, Hey! Shabbat Shalom!
This is just one of the songs that is still ringing in my head. Exhaustion from the long flight and the struggle to reach Jerusalem from the Airport did not deter my enthusiasm to catch a glimpse of the Western wall on Friday evening. I had a couple of recommendations to visit the Western wall at the beginning of Shabbat (that’s Friday sunset) and I was told that it will be lot of fun. However, walking briskly along with the orthodox Jews scurrying thru the Damascus gate and the Muslim Quarter, I admit I was not prepared to witness what I was about to see…
It was a sea of people at the Western Wall plaza, predominantly dressed in black. Honestly, I hadn’t seen so many people at the same time since I left India about a year back. I was also a little shocked to see many young soldiers with huge guns at the entrance, a sight so ubiquitous in Israel that I didn’t notice it after a few days!
As you can see in the picture, the Kotel plaza has 4 major sections. The first is the wall itself – a huge stone wall rising to abt 60 meters, and quite intimidating on first sight. The second is the open praying area, separate for men and for women. The third is the indoor praying area to the left side of this picture (north of the Wall), and fourth is the casual area which is common to all visitors and does not require wearing a skull cap.
I spent ten minutes moving in the common area trying to make sense of the chaos. The place was crowded – literally as crowded as an Indian mela or the Mumbai rail stations during rush hours (better to visualize). I noticed a group of youngsters forming a circular chain and singing songs. I noticed another group dancing and moving round and round in their circle. There were many people praying at desks with books, what I later understood were the Torah, or the Jewish holy book(s?). In another corner, some elderly men or soldiers with guns were hugging and screaming with joy. I found it impossible to tell what was going on.
Gathering courage and wearing the paper kippah they give you, I entered the praying grounds demarked for men. Walking down the ramp I literally felt as if I was immersing myself in a sea of people. If you have walked with the Ganesh statue to the sea during immersion, you’d know what I’m saying. A number of hands stretched out, saying something in incomprehensible Hebrew. Initially I thought they were blocking me from going in, but later realized that they were simply asking for money*. Hmm…. religious places…!
Unfortunately, there are no pictures to add to this travelogue as photography is prohibited on Shabbat I am posting little pictures from my visits on other days to help you visualize.
No longer had I descended the ramp and approached a group of guys singing to check what was going on, a number of hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me. Before I knew, I was roped into one of the groups and was part of a new circular chain of guys. With hands firmly stretched, grasping each others’ shoulders, and led by a Rabbi at the center, the guys started singing and moving with the rhythm. It was some slow shloka like chanting, and a composition pattern very similar to our mantras. Gradually the pace increased and people started hopping. Then they started singing, hopping and the circle started rotating. Then the song grew fast, the singing grew louder, the hopping turned into dancing and the circle was rotating fast. Finally, the song became really really intense, the chain broke apart, everyone danced and hugged each other and that was it. Promptly things settled, a fresh circle was formed with some new people, some old people and the celebrations continued.
Boy! Was that fun!
Personally, the singing and dancing here reminded me of how similar the devotional practice is among Hindus. As the tempo of a bhajan or aarti picks up, so does the enthusiasm and the energy of the crowd. I love the fact that music is a central aspect of worship. Praying by having fun, by singing and by dancing was not something that I thought existed in other faiths. It was almost like talking to God as if s/he is your buddy.
I broke out of the circle and moved ahead towards the Wall. It was a challenge to get to the wall as there were layers and layers of people who were praying. The Jewish praying style is quite rigorous.* People stand with books in their hands, facing the wall and jerk their upper bodies back and forth bending from their waist. Quite similar to what I saw (on TV) Muslims doing at their religious school (Madrasa). Like an ant, I crawled through the maze making sure I don’t disturb anyone (but I think I did, it was just too crowded, hehe!)
The wall was before me. It was a wall made of pale yellow stone and bits of papers were stuck into the crevices. This was the wall over which so many wars were fought. This was the wall beyond which – as Jews believe – once stood the Holy Temple. This was the wall where hundreds of Jews grieve every day. This was the wall whose pictures had mesmerized me for months, and finally I was standing right in front of it. Ok what should I do now?
Nothing complicated, I did what anyone else would do – touch the wall. I was picturing a bolt of divine energy zapping into me or me getting transformed suddenly to some other dimension, but (alas) nothing such happened.
“It’s just a wall”– my rational mind spoke in a matter-of-fact manner
“Steer clear of these shadowy matters of worship” – the atheist me sighed
“It’s a landmark in human history” – quipped the historian in me
The religious in me was happy. Being a Hindu gives me so much freedom to respect other religions, without reserving a place in hell.
“I wonder how many people came here today” – the statistician in me started counting
“Feed me” – I heard my stomach ramble
“Lets go to the inner praying area” – that was the explorer mind
“Get back to the hostel before the dinner is over” – that was the scheduler
“Better, look at the beautiful faces around you” – the animal in me roared.
And so on. Maybe touching the wall made time pause and I could hear all these voices
Ok suddenly I realized that I’m writing too much. Just because its my blog and my story, and internet is free, that doesn’t give me the right to keep rambling.
Oh wait a minute, it does
I prayed briefly at the wall, I have a favorite prayer, which I just realized was extremely secular. Nice!
Next, the explorer in me drove me into the praying section inside a tunnel like structure. It was brightly lit and full of people praying seriously. There were cupboards and bookshelves (full of religious books I presume) and probably a Synagogue inside. Jewish temples (Synagogues) are so obscure (well that will be another post).
I emerged out of the tunnel to some fresh cool breeze and again a plaza full of people. Once again I started walking around, occasionally participating with the celebrating boys. Plenty of women were watching over the fence that separates men from women. I presume they were looking at their boyfriends or simply checking out the guys or were curious to see or whatever.
A Rabbi* spotted me and started talking to me. He was fascinated to discover that I was from India and quickly called another rabbi friend of his. Apparently they had spent almost six months in India trying to understand Hinduism and learn Yoga. For next ten minutes, they gave me a huge basket of information about Judaism, which was pretty interesting until the point it started swaying into organized religion and the predictable sermons. I’ll share with you readers what I learnt about Judaism just by talking to people over my three weeks in Israel.
Finally I gave in to the screams from my hungry stomach and started walking out of the open praying area. I took off my kippah and cast a final glance at the whole Western wall plaza.
It was Shabbath, a Saturday, something that happens every 7 days. Yet, the energy and enthusiasm of the celebrations at the Kotel moved me completely. Indeed as the Rabbi said, “Shabbat has kept Judaism alive”. I have attempted to make justice to this amazing feeling in this travelog and if you liked reading this, then you’ll love the place a hundred times more. Indeed, this magical experience is something that will be etched permanently in my memory.
Next: Visit to the Bethlehem (West Bank)
* Update: A reader from the TripAdvisor forum made some clarifications to my observations:
1. You mentioned how a Rabbi came up to you. You would have no way of knowing who was and who wasn’t a Rabbi. Ultra Orthodox men all have black outfits and long beards. They are not necessarily Rabbis.
2. I don’t know what the men who came up to you with outstretched arms wanted. I doubt it was money. Once the Sabbath starts handling(and spending) of money is prohibited. It solicitation, while technically illegal at the Kotel and always an annoyance would not be tolerated!!
3. There is no requirement for Jews to move back and forth when they prayer. You can stand completely still if you want. The movement ends up being subconscious as you get into your prayers ( many women do it too) The amount of movement varies from person to person. I don’t know if it has to do with keeping one’s balance or not. But while usually present in Jewish prayer it is not a requirement for Jewish prayer.
Thanks ‘rdglady’ from New York
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