Jew, why do you pray at a wall?

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michelle

It is the mediator between man and God. It was destroyed and rebuilt.
Some call it the house of God. IT is known as the west wall. After the death of Christ, the Ones that became Christians learned that the wall was no longer in uses for them, that is is only a part of history. But for the Jew it is still very sacred. I myself wish to visit the wall. IN remembrance and the words of Jesus Christ.

John E

Idolatry my dear, pure Idolatry.
Of course they can worship any God as far as I am concerned, unlike us the Christians that we do not need any structure to communicate with God.
We just lift our heads up and see our God.
Simple and effective, as well.
Greetings

Claymore Thomas III

I have no problem with that.
The jews are free to worship any God.
I did notice however that they are wearing a real small helmet, kinda like a shock absorber. My guess is that it is filled with helium gas and acts as spring when their mind goes ballistic.
I am right or what? Thomas

Haifa

Correction, the don't "pray" they bang their heads hard till forehead start bleeding.

Edit @ kismet, ur the one who told me this.

From: kismet

Subject: Our Prayer

Message: Hi Haifa,
i just want to inform you that when we hit our head as hard as we can and our forehead starts to bleed, every single blood drop make us closer to heaven.

B B

They come from stone age
This is why

Zeno

It's a remnant of the support wall of the temple to Jupitor built by the Romans. Anyone can see it's a Roman wall and very consistent with the the mount they tended to build their temples on. There's one just like it in Lebanon. Orthodox jews think it's part of the mythological temple of Solomon,who obviously never had a historical existence,nor did his fan-tabulous temple,plus they think it has Magic Powers where if you put a slip of paper into a crevice with a wish-list for G-d He will do thine bidding like a genie from a lamp.

Daniel A

Looking for a spiritual way for continuation of the occupation of Jerusalem on the grounds of religious

Galahad

It makes for good photo-ops which in turn make for good,old-fashioned heart-melting propaganda.

gottago

What if you had a very close relationship with a king? You visited his palace every day and spent lots of quality time there. One day his kingdom is overthrown by his enemies and his palace burned to the ground except for one part of the surrounding "fence" or wall. Is it reasonable to assume that when you want to feel close to him, you'd go to the location of his palace and because you can't get in (the enemy built a new palace there) you'd hang out close by just to tap into all the special memories?

Prophecy of Crazy Cat!

Coz they are Wall-worshipper. They also control Wall Street, Wal-Mart and Wall's ice cream.

Lizard

Your question is phrased in a very offensive way, but I will try to overlook that and answer inpartially:

We do not have to pray at the wall, we can pray at any place. However the wall is last standing ramnant of the Holy Temple. That wall was part of the outer wall surrounding external cortyard of the Tample. The place where the Temple used to stand is a place that was chosen by G-d himself and He promissed that His presence will be there. (This of course does not mean that He is not omni-present but He chose that place to express His presence in a very special way). He also commanded us that every Jewish male should present himself to G-d in His appointed place - in Jerusalem at the Temple 3 times a year at His appointed times - Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (known to Christians asPentacost) and Succot. So The Wall for us is the holiest place (well, actually the temple mount is where actual temple stood). We looked upon that place for 2000 years ever since the Second Temple was destroyed as a symbol of our faith and nationhood. So it is very special and intimately holy place for us, and that what is what makes it spesial to pray there. But we certainly pray to G-d and not to the wall.

custardetapioca

The Western Wall is a remaining part of the wall which once surrounded the Holy Temple where the "Sh'khinah" which is G-d's (Omni) Presence was thought to reside.

Zoom Zoom

One religion prays to black stone (fell from the sky), another religion prays to a metal cross, Jews pray to God, they do so at the nearest place to were his Biblical temple stood.

TejanaGriega

This wall is called The Kotel in Hebrew. It is the remaining Western wall of the 2nd temple of Jerusalem. That temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.The first temple was built to worship G-d and to house The Ark of the Covenant. The Ark held the tablets of the 10 commandments. The presence of G-d was in the "Holy of Holies," the most sacred inner part of the Temple. Jews pray there because that remaining Western wall housed the area of G-d's presence.
The first Temple was built by King Solomon. It was also on the Temple Mount. That temple was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians 2,500 yrs ago. Any surviving Jews were taken into slavery to Babylon. When King Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians, he allowed any Jews who wished to return to Israel (and build a second temple) to leave. An excellent source for Jewish history is Aish.com. It also discusses ethics, current events, Torah and Talmud study, essays on modern events, and has a live camera on the "wall"24 hrs a day.

kismet

Your question should have been:
"Why do Jews pray at the Western Wall?"
The answer is:
The reason we pray at the Western Wall (aka the Wailing Wall) is because it is the only remnant of our holy Temple.

For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_wall

Edit:
@haifa:
"Correction, the don't 'pray' they bang their heads hard till forehead start bleeding." Not true. Where do you get this laughable misinformation?

dandyl

Its called the Wailing wall, its the most sacred building to the Jewish people, it is found in Jerusalem, capitalof Israel.In Judaism, the Western Wall is venerated as the sole remnant of the Holy Temple. It has become a place of pilgrimage for Jews, as it is the closest permitted accessible site to the holiest spot in Judaism, namely the Even ha-shetiya or Foundation Stone, which lies on the Temple Mount. According to majority rabbinic opinion, Jews may not set foot upon the Temple Mount and doing so is a sin punishable by Kareth. While many believe that the rocky outcrop in the Dome of the Rock is the Foundation Stone, others say it is located directly opposite the exposed section of the Western Wall, near the El-kas fountain.[This spot was the site of the Holy of Holies when the Temple stood.When Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E., only one outer wall remained standing. The Romans probably would have destroyed that wall as well, but it must have seemed too insignificant to them; it was not even part of the Temple itself, just an outer wall surrounding the Temple Mount. For the Jews, however, this remnant of what was the most sacred building in the Jewish world quickly became the holiest spot in Jewish life. Throughout the centuries Jews from throughout the world made the difficult pilgrimage to Palestine, and immediately headed for the Kotel ha-Ma'aravi (the Western Wall) to thank God. The prayers offered at the Kotel were so heartfelt that gentiles began calling the site the â€œWailing Wall.â€

BrunoGiordano

Tell Me why you're beginning to sound racist? I find disfavour with much of the disproportionate force that Israel insists upon Gaza. It is a war crime. But, I'm not about to disrespect the cultural significance of the Wailing Wall.

Kevin S

Don't be offended by it? You said Jew.

Either you are white man who hates Jews or an arab who despises us.

It has been proved that the wall is the outer wall of the temple due to the herodian stones underneath the ground and the description of it by the Romans during its construction. It is considered the closest place or the holy of the holies.

Kimimela-PRO ISRAEL AND PROUD

Its not the wall itself jews are praying to but what it represents.

The wall is the last remaining piece of the temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed more than a millenia ago. Its where the holy ark of god was originally kept and where its believed that gods presence will one day come to rest.

Its not that the wall is god, rather what it represents. Ie - gods promis to the jewish people that one day a messiah will come and restore the jewish people to the promised land of israel and that there will be peace on earth.

The idea is the same as muslims praying toward the Kaba ( black rock thing ) in mecca or catholics bowing down infront of a cross

hope that explains it ok ?

ps - 2 things

1 ) ignore the fundy islamic terrorist propoganda spouted by Haifa. Contrary to her ignorant - and quite stupid remark jews dont bang their head against the wall.

Part of the way they pray is by rocking backwards and forwards... nothing more than that ... it may look strange but no more strange than a muslim bowing or christians bowing to a statue does to others...

2) I admit I was a little taken aback at how your question was phrased. Its quite blunt and I can see how people are going to thing you mean it offensively.

Its great you asked the question, thats not offensive, but think about how the way you asked it comes accross to jewish people...

ALSO - if you want a cool website - go to www.aish.com and look on the left menu for ''webcam'' they have a live feed to the wall in jerusalem and a way to write a prayer and have it placed in the wall ...

that particular wall is the only remaining part of the ancient jewish temple, which was destroyed 2000 years ago, so it's holy to us. we pray everywhere, but that wall is special to us.

but be clear. we don't pray TO the wall, we pray at the wall, as well as in lots of other places, and we don't think god is located at the wall, god is everywhere and nowhere in particular.

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