The Western Wall

 There are three ways you can experience the Western Wall. 

1. From inside the Aqsa compound through the Moroccan Gate, reserved for Jews and other non-Muslims. 

2. From the outside, directly into the Western Wall courtyard.

3. Viewing point above the Western Wall. 

Option 1 wasn't available to my group. Usually, the group I went with, visits the Western Wall using option 2. However, due to several members of our group being delayed by airport security, including our guide, we were behind on schedule by a day. This meant that the day we were supposed to go to the Western Wall ended up being on Shabbat.

There are strict rules during Shabbat. For example, no electronics are to be used near the Western Wall. This meant, of course no cell phones, tablets, earphones, watches, but also none of the radios we were using to hear our guide. In addition, Shabbat is special and a tour group hardly seemed appropriate during that time. So to maintain respect as well as to probably avoid the security, we went with option 3.

There's the Western Wall. If you zoom in, you can see the people praying. 

You might recall the sobering scene in my previous post of Jerusalem from Mount of Olives, where Jesus wept. 

But Mariam wept here, looking down on the Dome of the Rock on the left, the Qibli Mosque on the right, the Western Wall in between and Mount of Olives behind. If you squint, you can see the blue steeple for the church that stands at the highest point of Mount of Olives, the Mount of Olives Ascension Monastery. This is believed to be built around the stone where Mary stood when Jesus ascended.

This is everything that is Jerusalem.

One of the girls in our group silently handed me tissue after tissue, bless her. I didn't see her face or know her name. The men in our group had forgotten all about the women they were normally attached with and had formed the most bromantic bro-hood you ever did see. But even one of them noticed and came over to ask if I was alright. Fortunately, only those two noticed my tears and I only tell you this to tell you of the emotional ramifications of history and religion and love and passion and the opposites of those things too. 

I know there are people who write all of this off as the worst evils of the world, but I stood here and saw what makes us human. 

We did get a lecture here and given the pictures, you'd think I was memorizing the words.

And now I have to admit, I don't remember a single word. I can't remember what he was talking about at all. My only excuse was that we were sleeping only three hours at night and two hours during the day and this was the last stop of the last tour day. 

Also, why is it that everyone is 😊🙂🙃 and I'm 🤔😫😛?

I have one more story about the Western Wall. Oddly enough there was a Moroccan flag flying over the Western Wall along with the Israeli flag. I didn't get a great photo because there was no breeze, but it's that red flag. It has a green star in the middle.

Everyone wondered why that flag was there, but I knew because one of the scientists at work, Mohammed is Moroccan and he had told me before I went.

During the Spanish Inquisition, Morocco harbored many Jews seeking asylum and refuge. After that, Morocco became a popular spot for Jews to live in, particularly those seeking assistance from persecution. During World War II, Hitler tried to seek Moroccan support in preventing Jews from escaping to Morocco, but the Moroccan government denied Hitler. Later, after Israel was formed, many Moroccan Jews moved to Israel and established a significant Jewish population there.

Mohammed said that due to this history, anyone visiting Israel with a Moroccan passport or heritage is able to move with nearly the same ease as an Israeli citizen. 

Thus the Moroccan Gate and the Moroccan flag.

(And now a note about how this is all hearsay, not research, so please excuse and correct if there are mistakes.)

We went through the Jewish Quarters on the way back and I have since heard that you may sometimes be expected to uphold Shabbat rules while in the Jewish Quarters, but we certainly didn't and no one asked us to. In fact, I saw such few Jewish people that I didn't realize we were in the Jewish Quarters until Ehab told us. Later I realized that that was to be expected on a day of rest.

In general though, the rules, spoken and unspoken, made it pretty difficult for a large Muslim group to have significant interaction with the Jewish population, asides from the defense forces. I never saw a single Orthodox Jewish woman outside of the airport. 

Ok, I think that's it for the Western Wall unless I think of something else later. (I may have a: "Oh, I forgot" post.) 

That is also it for the formal tours and the history and religion. I'm going to move on to my personal experiences now, the vibes, the food, the people. 

I'll leave you with something our guide said that stayed with me. 

"We are here to try and understand the most important city in the world. This is that most important city. [For the Muslims] Makkah is the holiest city, Madina is the most beloved city, and Jerusalem is the most important city in the world. Islamically, historically, and politically. This is blessed land. And you are blessed to be here. "