The Western Wall - Live!

A View from the Wailing Wall

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The Western Wall is a surviving remnant of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Titus in 70 A.D.  The Temple was the center of Jewish worship.

The Temple Mount is also called Mount Moriah. This is the spot where Abraham bound Isaac, and where Jacob dreamt of the ladder reaching to heaven. The Jewish sages explain that the name "Moriah" is actually a play on words: "Moriah is the place from which instruction (horah) goes forth, from which the fears of heaven (yirah) goes forth; from which light (orah) goes forth."

The Holy Temple served the non-Jewish world as well. When King Solomon built the Temple, he specifically asked God to heed the prayer of the non-Jew who comes to the Temple (1 Kings 8:41-43). The Jewish prophet refers to the Temple as a "House for all nations" (Isaiah 56.7). 

In ancient times, the service in the Holy Temple during the week of Sukkot featured a total of 70 bull offerings. This, the Talmud explains, corresponds to each of the 70 nations of the world. In fact, the Talmud says that if the Romans (who destroyed the Temple) would have realized how much benefit they themselves were benefiting from the Temple, they never would have destroyed it!