Once I have caught up on news, I tune out the talking head analyses that discuss the issues of the day with music, sports talk or some comedy. However, something came along on Channel 14, Israel’s more right-wing news outlet. There was a discussion about the Kotel, the Western Wall. The Wall is in the news because Israel’s Supreme Court (High Court of Justice) ruled that the government must advance construction and administrative approvals for the Ezrat Yisrael egalitarian prayer area at the Western Wall. I have what to say about this issue, but I am not going to say it here. At least, not now. 

What stood out most in the rather feisty conversation was how many times they referred to the Kotel as the holiest place to the Jewish people. (I generally try not to use the word “holy” – I don’t like it. For the present purpose, it will have to do).   This is a significant and profound error. The Kotel is, in fact, just a retaining wall built by King Herod in order to expand the Temple Mount platform to accommodate expanding the Temple. The stones are enormous – about 5 metres thick. They are a marvel of engineering, considering what it must have taken to move them, never mind to lift them. Its spiritual signification is due to its proximity to the Holy of Holies, the most sacred place in ancient Jewish worship. That place is on the other side of the Wall, what we call the Temple Mount. That is the most holy place. Not the Wall. 

The Wall has indisputable significance for Jews all over. Visitors always come every year, The IDF holds swearing-in ceremonies for soldiers; on Mondays and Thursdays there are processions of family and friends of bar mitzvah boys, complete with horns and drums (much to the displeasure of the residents, but that is another matter) down to the Kotel. That it has become the centre for prayer and spiritual connection was likely unavoidable. In fact, for many it is kind of golden-calf-like. 

The original  purpose of the Wall was to make expansion of the Temple possible. What it seems to have morphed into is actually a dividing wall. It has not only separated us as a people from the place that is for our most intimate interaction with the Creator, it has come between us, between and amongst ourselves. Prayer – to whom, where, and with whom – is a personal expression within the confines of a public unit.  That seems to be enough complexity without mixing politics into it. 

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)