Hakotel Hama`aravi (הכותל המערבי) - the Western Wall is often described as the last surviving relic of the the Temple in Jerusalem. This is inaccurate on two counts. First, the Kotel (wall) is not actually a wall of the Temple, but part of a retaining wall built around the summit of the Temple Mount in order to increase the area on top. Second, all four retaining walls of the Temple Mount survive. So what's so special about the western wall? The Talmud explains:
אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא
הנה זה עומד אחר כתלנו
זה כותל מערבי של בית המקדש
שאינו חרב לעולם למה
שהשכינה במערב משגיח מן החלונות בזכות אבות
מציץ מן החרכים בזכות אמהות
Amar rabi yosey b'rabi hanina
Hine ze `omed ahar kotlenu
Ze kotel ma`aravi shel beyt hamiqdash
She'eyno harev l`olam lama
Shehash'khina b'ma`arav mashgiah min hahalonot bizkhut avot
Mesis min haharkim bizkhut imahot
Rabbi Yosey said in the name of Rabbi Hanina
Behold, this is what will remain standing after our walls (are destroyed)
It is the western wall of the House of the Sanctuary (the Temple)
That will never be destroyed ever, why?
For the Divine Presence in the west watches over us from from the windows because of the merits of the fathers
Peeks from the cracks because of the merits of the mothers
Bamidbar Raba 11:63
But there's another reason too:
כאשר נבנה בית המקדש, חולקה העבודה בין חלקי האוכלוסייה השונים. בניין הכותל המערבי עלה בחלקם של העניים, שלא יכלו להרשות לעצמם לשכור פועלים ובעלי מלאכה על מנת שהללו יעבדו בשבילם ולכן טרחו ועמלו על בנייתו במו ידיהם.
כאשר השמיד האויב את בית המקדש, מסופר ש"ירדו" המלאכים ממרומים ופרשו את כנפיהם על הכותל כשהם אומרים: "כותל זה, עבודתם של העניים, לעולם לא יחרב." (ע"פ אגדות ארץ ישראל).When the Holy Sanctuary was built, the labor was divided among all the different sectors of the population. Building of the western wall turned out to be the portion of the poor, who couldn't permit themselves to hire workers or builders who would work for them, and thus went to the trouble and effort of building with their own hands.
When the enemy destroyed the Holy Sanctuary, it is told that angles "came down" from on high and spread their wings over the wall while saying: "this wall, it is the work of the poor it will never be destroyed." (According to Legends of the Land of Israel).
The Western Wall is often called Judaism's holiest site - but that's not true. Judaism's holiest site is the Temple Mount itself, especially the site of the Holy of Holies, roughly at its center, which is now occupied by the Dome of the Rock (not the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's 3rd holiest site, which is nearby, also on the Temple Mount). Though the western wall is quite long, Jews usually pray in a particular place - the place along the wall which is closest to Judaism's holiest site.
So why am I talking about this now? There's a webcam at the Western Wall. I looked at it once a long time ago, and it was so slow and blurry that I never looked again - until yesterday. Now it's beautiful, clear and fast, at least if you have a broadband connection. I just looked now, and I see that it's raining. It's raining outside my window too, which makes it seem very real.
Posted by David Boxenhorn at January 5, 2005 01:27 PM