Presence

For 1900 years the Jews of the diaspora longed for a place to come and worship and the Western Retaining Wall of the Temple Mount became that place. There is a steady stream of worshipers 24 hours per day who came to pray at the wall at the place that they believe is the closest place on earth that they can get to where the presence of God continues to reside. You can even see a live shot of this at www.aish.com/wallcam. As men and women come to the wall to pray they are divided by a wall into men's and women's sections. Men must wear a head covering and I am glad that I bought a yarmulke for the trip. The ones that they had for people to use at the wall were paper and looked like Chinese food containers. I was bothered by two things at the wall: First, the tourists kept walking up to people praying and took pictures of them as if they were viewing caged animals at the zoo. Second, there were locals who were using this holy site as a place to hit people up for money.

The wall is made of gigantic stones. People walk up to the stones and stuff prayers that they have written into the cracks in the wall. I looked forward to this and thought for months about what prayer I would put into the wall. I thought the best prayer I could give was that my kids would have a stronger faith in Jesus than I do. I pray so hard that this would be true.I envisioned returning here with Ben one day. It would be cool to stand with my son at the wall. As I went to stuff my prayer in the wall the cracks were stuffed full of prayers...thousands of the crushed together so that new ones could barely fit in. You can even fax your prayer to the wall now. I was glad that I am taller than the average Jewish person and I could reach higher than most.Being at the Western Wall was one of those moments where you feel like you are at one of the most important places in the world. Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine being at the wall again.

People would prepare to enter the prayer areas by washing their hands at huge sinks and water fountains before entering. In Jesus' day people would take a ritual bath before entering the temple areas for sacrifice. Upon leaving the temple many walk backwards out of the prayer areas because they want to stare at the wall as long as they possibly can. Although it is misguided I am moved by this reverence. It was interesting to see fathers with their sons- both dressed in black suits- fathers with long beards and suns with curly payot (sideburns) twisting down the sides of their faces.

We returned here on the Sabbath and this was a great scene. The prayer areas of the Wall were filled with tables to study the Torah on the Sabbath. Big tables with Hebrew inscripted coverings and Torahs on top of the table. There was a hallway that led into a tunnel which was a library filled with Torahs and songbooks and people worshiping.

We heard big things about how the Western Wall was on the Sabbath which begins Friday afternoon. We were excited about being there for this but were disappointed when we approached the time of sunset and the atmosphere didn't change much. We chose to stay a little longer and we found out that our time had been off. As we approached the true time of the Sabbath for that afternoon the crowd began to build more and more until it was a packed mob. The men's courtyard was packed shoulder to shoulder. People would break out in songs and chants. A youth group danced in a circle just inside the security entrance. Following the dancing they entered the prayer section. This was a happening. More on the Sabbath later.

Returning to our first day at the wall- on Wednesday afternoon we entered into the Western Wall excavation tunnels. It was said that there used to be houses and basements that went down two or three stories below where the above ground wall is visible. One of the most impressive aspects of this site was a clear look at the stone design of the walls. Herod was so obsessive that he made his servants chisel the stone until it was flat until they were immaculately smooth. One of the foundation stones that we saw was about fifteen yards long and probably six feet high. It weighed tens of thousands of pounds and no one can figure out how they could be moved. Even hearing the descriptions of how they were moved it still seemed impossible.

Along the tunnel route there was a movie that tried to explain how this would have been built. There was also an original street that would have undoubtedly been walked on by Jesus. At one point we came across a couple ladies in fervent prayer. There was a sign at this point in the tunnel which said that this was the closest place on earth that anyone could get to the original holy of holies.

When we left the site we entered a dark street of the old city. It was a human moment as the streets had quieted down and the residents of the neighborhood were going to and from their home. We looked up an inclined street and saw a couple children running and playing. It was a reminder that in the midst of all of the history and meaning and religiosity and faith people were living life and kids were playing and going home for dinner. What would it be like to live here in the middle of all of this? I almost cannot comprehend it.

We ended a long day with a group meeting to talk about our feelings from Yad Vashem. I had been bothered prior to the trip about the Jewish-Palestinian question. Palestinians have a distinct culture and have been created in the image of God. So I asked the unpopular question at the meeting: "If they are created in the image of God why do they not deserve their own land?" I derailed the holocaust discussion- not purposefully- but many seemed interested. A major premise was that the land had originally been promised to Israel by God and not by men. This promise was never revoked and was often restated biblically. This is true. But I feel like the Palestinians must still be cared and provided for...this is also biblical.

Two things were clear to me from the trip. One Israel has a biblical right to land and identity and seems to be working to give land to the Palestinians as well...although some might question how sincere this desire is. Yet we often hear that some Arab leaders or countries do not believe that Israel has any right to land or existence and some would seek to destroy this. When we went to Palestinian controlled Bethlehem we needed to cross a border crossing. It was a striking site. On the Israeli side were large billboards that were cheery and had the message of "Shalom-Peace." When you crossed the border on the Palestinian side there were murals of Jihadists. As I write this President Abbas of Palestine is discussing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. However, the ruling Hamas majority seems to desire the absence of Israel.

The land is a land on the continual brink. Three days before we left we heard of someone walking into a Jerusalem seminary and killing like 10 students. When this happened the Arabs of the West Bank fired celebratory gunfire in the air. When we got to Israel we were told that every day rockets were fired from the West Bank into Israeli territory; neighborhoods that tourists groups do not come near. I thought this might be an overstatement until I returned and read an AP story on yahoo that said this was true...rocket attacks happen multiple times everyday. Investigators found out that the seminary attack was not done by Arabs but rather by an unhappy Israeli. But the initial impression was an Arab/Israeli attack. It is sad. But I also wonder something that I would be too afraid to ask out loud: Had the Palestinians decided to live peacefully would anybody be offering them their own state today?