Jerusalem: The Joy of Shabbat at the Western Wall

Friday at twilight: Jewish people gather at the ancient 

Western Wall to joyfully welcome in Shabbat, the Jewish 
Sabbath 

The highlight of my recent pilgrimage tour to Israel was the visit our group made to the Western Wall in time for Shabbat (the Sabbath). Of course Calvary and the Empty Tomb are far superior in importance to me, but those are events that God initiated and executed. That they took place and have an impact on the whole world is far more critically important to me than where they took place. The Western (or Wailing) Wall at the time of Shabbat is a place of a palatable sense of life, joy, and waiting. The ancient cycle of Jewish Shabbat has been observed every seven days up to the day I visited the Western Wall. And it will only continue to be observed by the Jewish people next week, next year, and for generations to come. Since the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans in AD 70, there have always been Jews coming to the Western Wall. It is the closest they could get to the Holy of Holies. Throughout the generations there has been the deep desire to come to Jerusalem and pray at the Wailing Wall. Jews were denied access to the Wall by Jordanian authorities between 1948 and 1967. In that latter year the Western Wall fell back into Israel's hands and ever since then Jews from all over the world have gathered there to pray.

I have visited the Wall many times in my five visits to the Holy Land. Something about it attracts me as nothing else does. Each time I am blown away by a heaviness I feel deep down inside me. It is heaviness in a good sense, a sense I cannot define. This time there is a massive crowd before the Wall and it swells by the minute. The atmosphere almost feels alive. Both the men's side and the women's are jammed packed, full of people waiting their turn to be right up to the wall itself. A friend in Peterhead had given me a piece of paper with a prayer request on it with request to stick it in the Western Wall. There is no way I could ever have gotten up to the Wall to do it, not that day anyway.  

What I saw with my eyes and experienced with my heart as I stood among Jewish people gathered at the Wall for the beginning of Shabbat was a strong sense of life. The Hebrew phrase l'chaim comes to mind. It translates into English as to life and is used as a toast on special occasions. As I stood in the midst of Jewish people awaiting Shabbat, I was surrounded by people whose conduct and activity were directed l'chaim, to life. I turned to watch a procession of young men entering the wide square that led up to the Western Wall. They danced in single file, arms around shoulders of the young men on either side. I could hear them singing joyfully above all the sounds of other voices around them. Quickly they formed a revolving circle with everyone facing inward and arms over shoulders. They expressed a forceful energy that only young men can express. They were an embodiment of chaim, of life.

It was the variety of men that caught my primary attention. There were multiple variations of facial hair, hats, and black suits. The variety of hats intrigued me. A good number of men and boys wore glasses. There were males of all ages, but they were all dressed in variations of a distinctive style of clothing of religious Jewish males. There were men who were on their own fast-paced walk to pray at the Wall. Other men, especially younger men, were in packs of threes and fours, sometimes fives. There were a few small groups of older men accompanied by younger men with a couple of boys becoming men scrambling to keep up with the older men. Men who were with their wives or their intendeds were more leisurely in pace. The men with wives and young children were content to keep a slow pace that kept their family all together. The whole area was full of vibrant chaim. 

At the far end of the square, a large circle of young people in modern Western dress stood with the arms around the shoulders of the person on either side. At times they sang joyfully, at other times they listened to their young leader in the centre of the circle. Even though their manner and dress stood in sharp contrast with that of others in the square, they expressed that sense of chaim. They eventually broke up their circle and entered into the crowd going to the Wall for prayer. Soon there was the sound of the ram's horn announcing the beginning of Shabbat. Our group had to move on, but I wish I could have stayed. I've been told that on Friday afternoons Jewish people make their way from home, school, or work to gather at the Western Wall to welcome in Shabbat. They are there for a time, but then go home to be with family and friends for observance of Shabbat. They may have driven there or taken a bus, but they walk to their homes in observance of the Sabbath. I experienced the sense of joy, life, and waiting that come from entering into the Jewish Sabbath. Observing the festivities of Shabbat at the Western Wall was the highlight of this most recent tour to the Holy Land.

Blessings to you and yours,

Another Wall: The Western Wall of the Temple Mount

 

Jews from all over the world gather at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to 

pray. The golden dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount is in 

the upper left hand corner of the photo.

In my last posting, I wrote about the Wall of the Israeli West Bank Barrier. The very same day that our tour group saw that wall, we also visited another wall, the Western Wall at the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem. That Wall, often referred to as the Wailing Wall, is perhaps the most important site in the world for the Jewish people. They come from all over the world to pray at the Western Wall. Jewish people write prayers on slips of paper and place them between the ancient stones of the Wall.

This Wall is part of what little remains of the Jewish Second Temple that once stood on this mount until it was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. The Western Wall is the western wall of the four retaining walls that supported the grounds of the Temple on the Temple Mount. The Muslim Dome of the Rock now occupies the site of the destroyed Jewish Temple. This site has remained a holy site to the Jewish people throughout the centuries.

Two Jewish men praying at the Western 

Wall in Jerusalem

According to Jewish tradition several pivotal events in history took place on this mount, also referred to as Mount Moriah. There is the tradition that the world began on the peak of Mount Moriah. It is where Adam was created, and later Eve. On the Mount, Abraham was called by God to prepare his son Isaac to be sacrificed. Here Jacob dreamt of angels going up and down the ladder to heaven. Mount Moriah was the site of the Holy of Holies of the Temple. In 37 BC, the infamous King Herod started to renovate the Jewish Temple. He wanted to make it even more magnificent; he envisioned it as a wonder of the world. Herod wanted to widen the ground upon which the Temple sat, so four support walls were constructed to accomplish that. Herod's Temple was truly a wonder of the ancient world during the time of Jesus.      

This Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans because of a major Jewish revolt against Rome. Despite the total destruction of the Temple, the four retaining walls were left intact. The Western wall was the most significant to the Jewish people because it was thought it was the wall closest to the destroyed Holy of Holies. Therefore it became a place of prayer and yearning for the Jewish people ever since. The image of Jewish people praying at the Wall became a powerful means of conveying the longing of many Jews to live and worship in a restored Jewish homeland. During the 1948 War of Independence, people in the Jewish Quarter were killed and their homes and synagogues destroyed. Jordan took control of the Old Quarter and Temple Mount. For 19 years Jordanian authorities did not allow Jews access to pray at the Western Wall; it could only be viewed from a distance. In the 1967 Six Day War, Israeli paratroopers liberated the Jewish Quarter and the Temple Mount. Since then Jews from all over the world have been able to pray at the Western Wall.    

The image of Jewish women and men praying at the Western Wall powerfully conveys the ancient desire of the Jewish people for the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland. The Jewish people face fierce and sometimes violent opposition from every side. I have been to the Wall many times. Like this recent time and in times past, I have been struck by the power of the desire of many Jewish people to pray at the Western Wall, the wall closest to where the Holy of Holies would have been. My deep desire is that this longing of Jews would lead them to see and put their trust in Jesus the Messiah who is is the High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. May it be so.

Deep Peace and many blessings to you and yours in Jesus the Messiah,