Monday 10 October 2011

Put your prayers in a crack of the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem

A visit to the Western or the Wailing Wall is for a foreigner a very special event. Women wearing a scarf have to approach the wall on the right side and the men wearing a kippah on the left side. They pray separately. For me it was a special feeling wearing a kippah for the first time in my live. The Jewish people wear traditional clothing and are very motivated to learn about their religion. Papers with prayers on are pushed between the cracks of the wall, to bring them as close as possible to where the Temple stood. They don’t worship the Wailing Wall but the ground where the Temple stood. Why don’t they just go to the Golden Dome? This shrine must be closer to their holliest place? This is not allowed for Jews, only the Jewish high priest was allowed in the Temple. They would contaminate the holy ground. Men going more to the left, enter the tunnels of the Western Wall as you can see on the pictures.

Een bezoekje aan de West- of de Klaagmuur is voor een toerist een speciale ervaring. Vrouwen dragen een hoofddoek en benaderen de Klaagmuur langs de rechter zijde, de mannen dragen een keppel en gaan langs de linker zijde. Mannen en vrouwen bidden afzonderlijk. Voor mij was het de eerste keer dat ik een keppel droeg. De Joodse mensen zijn gekleed in traditionele gewaden en zeer gemotiveerd om zich te verdiepen in hun geloof. Papiertjes met gebeden op worden tussen de spleten van de Klaagmuur gedrukt om ze zo dicht mogelijk achter te laten waar vroeger de Tempel stond. Ze eren niet de Klaagmuur maar de plaats waar de Tempel stond. Waarom gaan ze niet gewoon naar de Gouden Dome? Deze staat toch veel dichter tot de heiligste plaats. Joden zijn hier echter niet toegelaten, enkel de hogepriester van de Joden mocht de Tempel betreden. Andere Joden zouden de heilige plaats bevuilen en onteren. De mannen die meer naar links gaan betreden de tunnels van de Klaagmuur zoals je op de foto’s ziet..

Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Wailing Wall Jerusalem
Previous Jerusalem article: The Mount of Olives, Jerusalem

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Posted by FilipBlog at 21:43
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10 comments:

  1. Seraphinas Phantasie11 October 2011 at 00:21

    Wonderful photos from this important historical place. Beautiful portrait of the human in the Jewish tradition. Amazing !

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  2. Filipina Ini11 October 2011 at 06:36

    The beauty and mystery of religious beliefs... no wonder it's called faith and devotion!

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  3. Hayley11 October 2011 at 09:51

    This is an unique and interesting place!

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  4. Karen @ Pieces of Contentment11 October 2011 at 11:58

    Wonderful photos Filip. I enjoyed the journey.

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  5. Vagabonde11 October 2011 at 21:39

    I like your Celebrity ship. We have taken several cruises but none with Celebrity. The only “luxury” type cruise ship we went on were the Cunard Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria. The Celebrity Silhouette looks very elegant.

    I was smiling at the billboard in Nazareth quoting the Quran as being the only religion – here in Georgia I have seen the same type of billboards but they are the reverse – Christian billboards saying that it is the only religion and leaflets saying how wrong the Muslims are…

    I enjoyed looking at your ballroom video. Growing up my father owned a dance hall in a Paris suburb – I danced a lot – my favorite was the tango – but it was not as fancy as the way you dance it.

    Your posts on Israel are very informative and the pictures very interesting. I don’t think I’ll ever go there, so I enjoyed looking at your posts.

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  6. Jana11 October 2011 at 22:39

    the third and fifth picture are very im- and expressive...Roj had summarised it perfectly well above:faith+devotion next to beauty+religion...

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  7. Nicky11 October 2011 at 22:59

    Wow very cool! :) XO

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  8. WebbieLady12 October 2011 at 06:33

    That would be really great to see those prayers... I mean, if you're the Omnipotent one...

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  9. Jeanne10 February 2013 at 18:30

    What a huge number of prayers from people all over the world must be stuffed in to this wailing wall. It is holding the "weight of the world". interesting bands all up the arms of these ?? priests?? in the 7th photo. Do you have any idea what they represent? Is a kippah a hat?

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  10. Jeanne10 February 2013 at 18:31

    ooohhhh..... looks like my camera sitting there on that table.

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