I don't think it is possible to visit Jerusalem's Old City without being irresistibly drawn to the Western Wall. The holiest place on earth for religious Jews, the wall rises above a large square filled with people: locals and tourists.
Men, their heads covered with kippahs or black hats, pray in the larger, left-hand section. They stand close to the wall, sometimes touching it, almost caressing it, in deep prayer.
The veiled women have a smaller section on the right side, but they pray with the same fervor. Tourists take photos, mostly ignored.
What is interesting to me about the Western Wall is that it is not the wall itself that is sacred; it was originally a retaining wall, all that remains of the Second Temple, built in 19 BC and destroyed in 70 AD. The real holy place is on the hill behind it, where the “Holy of Holies” is located: The place where the tablets of the Ten Commandments were kept.
Today, on that spot stands the Dome of the Rock, a golden-domed Islamic shrine believed to be the place where Muhammad's journey to heaven began. It is the third holiest place in the world for Muslims, after Medina and Mecca.
Not only that, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, one of the holiest places in the world for Christians, is also very close by. The end point of the Via Dolorosa, which runs through the Old City, marks the place where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected.
The proximity of so many places of such importance to the three great religions makes this a spiritual place, even for the casual visitor. This juxtaposition is intense and fascinating and definitely worth seeing for yourself.
