01-02 The Western Wall

"For those of you planning a second visit to the old city of Jerusalem, please do not enter the Muslim section on Friday, which is their Holy Day. You will be putting yourself in physical danger."
This story is about a visit to the old city of Jerusalem following participation in an international congress in Tel Aviv. It is the Middle of November 1995. Our guide was trying to prepare a group of westerners for a visit to the various sections of the city. My interest was seeing what they call the Western Wall. The aerial photo shows the wall and the huge square that was created after the six days war in 1967, by bulldozing houses in the area. Need lots of room if you want to attract tourist dollars.
The city has Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian sections. And the more the guide tried to explain the history of the city, the more confused we became. It is a city that is 3,000 years old and holy to three major world religions.
It was the dangers I was not prepared for. We met a deputy minister of the Israeli government earlier in the day that had been at the Congress and discovered that he was required to carry a gun under his arm. On the cab ride over from the train station to the old city, we were told by the driver that he was not allowed to use a seat belt. It was too easy for someone to put the belt around his neck. Not what I would call "Shalom" (the Hebrew word for peace).
I had a special reason for visiting the Western Wall because an orthodox Jewish gal that worked for me at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, hearing I was off to Israel, gave me a prayer written on a small piece of paper to place between the limestone boulders. What fun putting a prayer from a female in a part of the wall for males only. In the photo, we can see people praying at the wall. All of them place a prayer between the stones. This explains why it is also called the Wailing Wall.
My immediate interest was the size of the stones and how at the time of Herod, which is about 20 BC, they could lift those huge limestone blocks so high. The Western Wall is just one side of a four-sided enclosure that protects famous Jewish temples and is called the Temple Mount.
This is the real holy religious site, and not the Wall. And those busy fellows, the Romans, later destroyed the Temple Mount and all but the western portion of the wall. Jews all over the world remember their history in so many ways. For example, when a Jewish groom stomps on a glass at his wedding. It is supposed to be a sign of mourning to commemorate the destruction of the two temples at Temple Mount.
What is so interesting is that when Jerusalem was ruled by the Muslims, they built what is called the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount. Muslims believe it is the place where Mohammed descended into heaven.
Although over the years I have come to believe that God is something created by man, I did witness people in tears visiting the holiest Christian site called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was supposed to have been crucified and buried. Devoted Christians from all over the world have this site on their “bucket list”.
What I loved most about old Jerusalem was the shops and the one showing David Street in the Christian sector is very colourful. It shows history and culture in an emotional sense that is so different from visiting religious sites.
Having spent 30 years of my life in the world of quasi-politics as an advocate for small business, I am an expert in identifying political operatives using things like controversy, religion and tragedy for political purposes. And it has been a game in so many countries to use the issue of the location of their embassies in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv, to buy their local Jewish vote.
Being personal for a moment. If I was an Israeli diplomat, I would prefer living in Tel Aviv. Too dangerous living in those “godly” places.