The Western Wall

Posted by Charles Thomson (Cheltenham, United Kingdom) on 26 June 2008 in Cityscape & Urban.

As I have written in my 'about' page, I first really got into photography on a tour to Israel in 2006. This is one of the photos I took then, a pretty famous scene with a significant amount of history.

It is crazy to think that this photograph shows the place where it is believed Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac but didn't, the place where it is believed Muhammad ascended into heaven, the place where Jacob supposedly dreamt about his famous ladder, the place where David and Solomon built the Temple. It is a place which members of all 3 Abrahamic religions regard as important.

Jews pray at the wall, they are there day and night; it is smoothed away at the bottom to about head height where people touch it to pray. When we went there to look around, we were given paper Kippahs to wear. In the few minutes we were at the wall, I was asked for money by Jews several times. Men in full Jewish regalia, black suits with tassels hanging off would strike up conversation - "where are you from?", "how long are you here?", "where are you staying?", "can you please give me some money as I cannot afford to provide for my family?".
Kind of put a dampener on the whole experience....

Muslims have built a holy shrine called the Dome of the Rock on the Foundation Stone, since the two Temples were destroyed by the Babylonians and the Romans respectively. The site is therefore sacred to them too, and they troop up the ramp you can see for prayers every day.

The photo captures the conflict in the area, two major religions which are so opposed, yet rooted in the same events and the same people. It was taken in September 2006, when rockets were being fired every day on the north of Israel.
It is interesting that the famous Western Wall is prayed at by thousands of Jews each day, yet half of it was built by Muslims (you can see the different patterns in the stone).