Thursday, Kitat Arava went to the Old City to assist us in the learning of the second temple time period. We started in the Roman Cardo which was the heart of the city for the upper class.
After walking thought the Roman Cardo we went to the site of the Herodian Mansions. These mansions were home to the Upper Class or the צדוקים. Throughout this tour we examined their houses and the findings. Many items that were found led us to believe these people lived a very Jewish lifestyle like the multiple ritual baths that were found or מקווה. The מקוות were used in times of life or death, or before a visit to Bet Mikdash.
In the Upper House we found things like kosher mosaic floors, and multiple מקוות. The kosher mosaic floors suggest that the people lived Jewishly while being influenced by the Romans. In the Middle House their were findings such as a sewage system, glass and stone utensils (which are kosher), more kosher mosaics, and a Menorah that shows that Cohanim lived there. In the third house or the House of Measurements there were findings like marble murals, a ballroom for entertaining, bath houses, and more utensils. The ballroom and the marble murals show the influences from the Romans.
When we were finished with the Herodian Mansions we went on a lunch break which started normal but at the end there was a Bar Mitzvah going on in the streets and the father of the Bar Mitzvah stopped some Israeli soldiers and stared to bless them which I thought was really amazing and definitely not something you would see in the states.
After our lunch break we went to the Southern Wall Excavations- Davidson Center. While we were there we learned about the 3 holidays when a Jew should travel to Beit Mikdash which are פסח (passover), שבועות (shavout), and סוכות (sukkot).
We also learned about the 4 steps to entering Bet Hamikdash. First was to have your half-shekel tax ready. Second was to buy your sacrifice. Third was to enter and clean yourself in a mikveh. Fourth was to go up the stairs to Bet Hamikdash.
On one of the cornerstones that had fallen off the wall there is a very important inscription which reads ...לבית התקיעק להב
This inscription shows that the shofar was blown here to indicate when the beginning and ending of the chag was.
What is your connection to the Western Wall and how does it make you feel?
The Western Wall is a very interesting location for me. When I came to visit Israel a year ago, I did not necessarily consider myself to be a "religious" Jew, despite my attending services and observing some holidays. Yet, when I got to the Western Wall, I had a very powerful spiritual experience that is difficult to describe. It left me confused and wondering about the state of my Judaism for a few days afterwards. In coming back, I have tried to see if the experience would replicate itself, but our recent visits to the Western Wall have been oddly unfulfilling. This observation leads me to wonder, how many of the ancient Jews made the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount out of spiritual connection and how many out of cultural obligation. I know that I will continue to view the Western Wall as a cultural icon and I understand its importance to modern Jewish culture, but the views of what the ancient Temple meant to the Jewish people in the past still baffle me.
ReplyDeleteMy connection with the Kotel is complicated. On one hand, it is a symbol of tradition-oriented Judaism, the kind we practice in America and that many practice here in Israel. On another, much more basic level, praying at the Kotel specifically is idol worship.
ReplyDeleteTradition-oriented Judaism dictates that we should practice Judaism as our ancestors did and follow the same rituals and guidelines, and have a personally defined connection with Hashem. The issue with this is that it reduces Judaic practices themselves to little more than a dance to connect ourselves to our history, leaving the religious aspect completely to the individual. On the subject of Hashem, we can make our own rules, leaving the Mitzvot behind. We can worship at the Kotel because our fathers did when the Beit Hamikdash was standing, as a way to connect and nothing more.
This approach leaves something to be desired, in that it really does ignore the religious aspects of Judaism. Judaic law teaches us that there are specific ways of worshipping Hashem, and specific ways of not worshipping Hashem. Avoda Zara is one of the latter. By worshipping at the Kotel we may be connecting with our ancestry, but we are also elevating the wall to a holy standard above other things. According to this viewpoint, the entire world was created by Hashem and each element contains the same holiness. To say that we can reach Hashem in a better way at the Kotel (or even in the original Beit Hamikdash) than in a forest or even in a landfill is to say that the Kotel is more holy than all those places, that it has been "touched by Hashem" in a way more important than any other. In effect, the Kotel becomes an idol.
As a Jew, I want to practice Judaism, not a tradition-oriented version. There are other ways to connect with our history than to intertwine it with our spirituality, so I would have to say that the Kotel means nothing to me. It's an object of historical importance, but little more.
Noah Arnold
I always have extremely mixed feelings when I'm at the Western Wall. While the history behind it means a lot to me (as well as the rest of the Jewish population), I always feel extremely awkward when I find myself at the wall. I am often overcome with emotion because of the strong connection I feel with it, but I never know what to say. There are so many people around me crying or praying or reading from the Torah and I don't know what I should or should not do. Additionally, I know that theoretically there should be no "right" or "wrong" thing to do, but I find it very difficult to form a connection and have a spiritual moment at the wall when I don't know what I'm supposed to be saying or doing. I find that I feel a much stronger connection to Judaism when I am in an environment like NFTY or here on EIE with teens than at the Kotel.
ReplyDeleteHey everyone! Great post Zoe, and excellent pictures!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting comments so far.
I'm going to throw another question out there. Does our connection to the kotel need to be a spiritual one? Can it consist of something else? Also, is there a difference between visiting the historical excavations and visiting the area where people pray today?
Hey everyone! Great post Zoe, and excellent pictures!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting comments so far.
I'm going to throw another question out there. Does our connection to the kotel need to be a spiritual one? Can it consist of something else? Also, is there a difference between visiting the historical excavations and visiting the area where people pray today?
The Western Wall has a deep connection with me, and not just a spiritual one. I have been to the wall many times, and each time it leaves me with an deep feeling inside of me. While I recognize that it is just a wall of the Temple, and that because everything is a part of God, and therefore just as holy as everything else, I see people who seem to worship the Wall,as if it's proximity to the Temple somehow made it holier. This confuses me, because one of the worst crimes you can commit in Judaism is of worshipping false idols, and to me that is what people do at the wall. While I don't agree with them, I can see where they are coming from. The history in these walls could tell us so much about Judaism that it seems crazy not to hold it with some regard though, even if it isn't a religious one.
ReplyDeleteThe Western Wall itself to me isn't the thing that's spiritually important to me. I think the fact the people who happen to put their blessing and prayers into the Wall for many years are what makes it important. After our own trip to the Kotel early this semester I wrote a blog post on the feeling I had. I always knew I felt Jewish, but being part of a tradition really sparked this feeling. I know this comment is really short but my feeling are super strait forward and normal I think. The physical wall is the holy part to most people, but the prayers people said into it for years makes it special. The idea even is shown with the 2 sides of the wall, and how the side we prayed as a group was seen as "less important" because it had not been prayed at.
ReplyDeletePersonally, my connection with the Kotel is complicated. Jews in Jerusalem may be used to praying at the Kotel on most, if not on every Shabbat. They may feel that praying anywhere but the Kotel is not as meaningful. I, on the other hand have now only prayed at the Kotel once in my life. I feel praying anywhere is meaningful, so as a prayer site, it is a spiritual experience for me knowing that for the Jewish nation it is an important site, but to be connected to God while praying, I don't need a site. For me the Western Wall, is a connection to all of the passed Jews who have prayed at the Western Wall. So, my connection to the Kotel is not to God but to other people who have come before me.
ReplyDeleteI personally was disappointed with my connection to the Western Wall. I was expecting to have an over powering internal connection because it is such a sacred, historical place for the Jewish people. However, when we arrived to the Kotel on our first Shabbat I was overwhelmed and felt almost out of place. Although so many different kinds of Jews, and people of other religions were together praying to the same Wall, I felt like I was being judged simply because of what I was wearing. It frustrated me that in such a holy place, there was still so much judgement. I also really disliked the segregation of men and women. Being at the Kotel does not mean you necessarily have to spiritually connected to Judaism. Knowing that such educated people existed before us and that our history still stands today is truly breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteI feel a very strong connection to the Western wall. For me, it is not just about the history behind it and the people and my ancestors that visited the wall long ago. It is just as important, maybe even more, to think about those in this time that visit the wall. People of all different sects of Judaism. People with similar beliefs and different beliefs. People struggling with their connection to God and Judaism, and those who have a strong Jewish foundation. People from all over the world whose ancestors traveled on many different paths, leading us all to the same place today.
ReplyDeleteFrom the few times that we have gone to the Western Wall, I have seen many people that have had a very spiritual and religious connection to it. The Kotel has a lot of historical and religious importance but it's meaning to me is more complicated. I feel that the Kotel is meaningful to me because of the way that other people are showing their connection to God through it. When people show how important the Western Wall is to them, I am able to feel the religious and historical significance of it. I also feel that some of the Kotel's meaning comes from the many generations of Jews that have been connecting to God through it.
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ReplyDeleteI think my biggest connection to the Western Wall is the history that comes with it and the stories I’ve heard of it. Yes, I felt a bit spiritual when we had services there on my first Shabbat in Israel, however, I don’t think that it specifically had to do with the wall itself. I do find it very cool that there is such a long and incredible history to the wall and that we are still able to use it today as a spiritual landmark. I also find it interesting that other people feel the connection to God and will place notes in the cracks. I personally don’t feel that connection, however I respect the people that do and find it to be very cool.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Coleman
I personally don't really feel any spiritual connection to the Western Wall. I love being in the old city and exploring, but to me going to the wall makes me feel below other woman and Jews who are there to pray and obviously feel more connected than I do. Being looked down on, or feeling like I was, as a Jewish person made me dislike the experiences I've had there. I'm confident in my connection to Judasim, and I don't need a wall to prove that or disprove that. The history of it is so interesting, and I feel so lucky that we get to experience seeing and being near somethig that's been enjoyed for so many years and has seen so much history.
ReplyDeleteIn the English language, the closest word we have to describe a deep connection to the history and meaning of a place is spirituality. Whether this is a connection to the divine, or a moment of clarity in which we gain a greater sense of the magnitude of human history, I cannot know. At the Kotel, I do experience this clarity, which is accompanied by great emotion. I cannot begin to understand this ability to tap into the greater collective memory, nor why it is triggered by certain places like the Kotel. I do know that visiting the Kotel is a powerful experience for me, but I do not know if this is due to anything divine.
ReplyDeleteAs part of the history of the Jews, I do have a connection with the kotel and I cannot declare myself as a Jew without acknowledging that connection. But religiously, I find myself to have absolutely no connection to the kotel. In my eyes, the kotel is a sign of עבודה זרה. Jews from all over the world come to ישראל just so they could pray at the wall. Now granted, what they really are praying towards is the holy of holies, the wall is still a sign of idolatry in my eyes. After all, the בית המקדש was destroyed a couple thousand years ago and along with it- most likely- the holy of holies. So if we are praying in the direction to a room that no longer exists and really has no relevance to any of us as individual people, then we are really praying towards the kotel. So, inadvertently, we (Jews) have turned the kotel to one gigantic idol.
ReplyDeleteMy connection to the western wall i believe would be ancestral. to think that our ancestors acomplished so much is amazing. i believe that the western wall is a monument and a testament that the jewish people will always survive any hardship. To learn that our ancestors were able to pass down from generation to generation judaism and the values that are followed by us today is incredible. When i say I'm a jew that means i acknowledge my history and the kotel and that is my connection.
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