Today we are traveling to the wailing wall and will be visiting the portion of the Western wall which is not open to the public and only accessible via a tunnel going through the Muslim Quarter. As I mentioned previously in my journal only 57 meters of the wall are currently exposed the rest has been built over with housing. After traversing the tunnel it is our plan to then visit Yad Vashem, which is a holocaust museum in West Jerusalem. After lunch we are going to the shrine of the book another museum, which houses the scrolls that were found in Kumron.
Here is a rubbing of the Wailing Wall that can still be felt when you gentle stroke the page in my journal. Tactile memory is one of the strongest and this page brings back many memories.
As we enter into the tunnel Aaron our guide points out the model which shows the Western Wall and the difference between what is exposed outside and currently called the Wailing Wall to what we will see within it’s depths.
The Wailing Wall is only a small portion of what we saw under the current housing above us. To our surprise we descend some distance and are confronted by the larger base stones which make up the actual base of the wall, and not visible from the courtyard above. The biggest stone that has been discovered is 40 feet x 10 feet x 10 feet and estimated to weigh 576 tons which equals 60 Elephants. This stone as you can imagine is called the master stone and is considered the largest ever found and currently resides on the sixth course. It has been explained to us that lead balls and numerous cranes where employed to set this stone onto the course previous. Aaron points out that it is an amazing engineering feet that each course is set back from the one underneath by the exact same distance the whole length of the wall.
Captain Warren the father of excavation also called the rat was responsible for the majority of the discoveries and sites that we have visited.
Our trip to Yad Vashem is as much a shock as my previous visits to similar memorials and museums. The shock, horror and reverence of 6 Million dead, 1.8 Million of which were children are mind numbing. Yad Vashem is collecting and identifying every possible name that they have discovered and so far they are up to 4 Million people. Aaron our guide also mentions that there is a consensus among most Jewish people that they have vowed never again. Out of respect I choose only to take photos outside of the memorial.
Once again we hop on the bus and drive to our next destination that is the Shrine of the book. Outside there is a full-scale model of the 2nd Temple period, which is massive, and you can actually walk around and see every angle.
We enter into the building and discover that the scrolls have been preserved and placed behind glass for the publics viewing. If you remember earlier I mentioned that Hebrew is the same today as it was long ago, which means that everyone who can read Hebrew now can read these ancient texts. To be so close to history is exciting and unbelievable.
This has been a trip of a lifetime and it will be sad to say goodbye to Aaron who is a wealth of information. We are schedule to go back to the hotel after this and have a farewell dinner. The church group is scheduled to leave in the early morning and we will be remaining to continue our trip visiting Palestine and Greece after they depart.
I hope that you have enjoyed what I have shared and invite comments and questions. I will be adding to this journal with extra photos, videos and notes as I compile them so keep posted by signing up to this blog. I may also include our experience on our additional four days in the Middle East and perhaps Greece too, and if you don’t sign up you never know what you will be missing.
