The Wailing Wall dedicated to 'Sir Iain' ahahahaha
Well I will post about the rest of this trip when I am at uni so that I can stick some photos on...might pop one on here as well...
The wailing wall is like this...
You walk through narrow (classic Israeli) streets to get there. It is strange because on the way to such an amazing place you can walk past buildings covered in bullet holes..it's really sad. There are orthodox Jews all over the place around that area. So it doesn't exactly look like New Zealand. There are narrow unpaved streets, really long curly sideburns, stone walls and skull caps.
Anyway so when I reached the entrance the guy goes "what religion are you?"..."we are Christians" . "That's ok, Christians are ok, Muslims not ok" says the guy. When you go in there are 6 massive gold stars on the top of a tall building, each one stands for a million Jews killed in the Nazi occupation in Europe.
It's weird because I totally expected the wailing wall to be all out on it's own but the thing is it's a Muslim holy place too. So actually at the top of the wailing wall there is a great big mosque. The sounds are weird because near you you can hear Jews praying, pleading, chanting, wailing but over it all is the mosque speakers "come to Allah come to Allah". Neither of these are in a language that you understand. Muslims control the temple mount...the wailing wall was the retaining wall for that.
The wall is massive and there is a tunnel down one end. Only men can enter there...it holds scriptures I think. Men have to put a cardboard skull cap on. It is an amazing place..covered in people and yet so barren. It is such a place of prayer and history. It kind of feels like people leave there hopes there. There are pieces of paper covered in prayer stuck in all the wee gaps between the stones. The sound of prayer is amazing, their faces are so close to the stone. Almost everyone wears black and white, skull caps and hats, it's like stepping back in time in a way.
Some of the stones are so big..the biggest one weighs more than 50x theweight of the largest stone in the pyramids.
I really wish I had have understood more the significance of this place as well as others I saw...but being 12 it was only the places I had heard about the most which I understood on a deeper level really...I will do a post briefly talking about them later...what is left of the garden of gethsemane, Golgotha, Bethlehem, David's Tomb, the room suspected to be the upper room...the jordan river...the list goes on...
The wailing wall is like this...
You walk through narrow (classic Israeli) streets to get there. It is strange because on the way to such an amazing place you can walk past buildings covered in bullet holes..it's really sad. There are orthodox Jews all over the place around that area. So it doesn't exactly look like New Zealand. There are narrow unpaved streets, really long curly sideburns, stone walls and skull caps.
Anyway so when I reached the entrance the guy goes "what religion are you?"..."we are Christians" . "That's ok, Christians are ok, Muslims not ok" says the guy. When you go in there are 6 massive gold stars on the top of a tall building, each one stands for a million Jews killed in the Nazi occupation in Europe.
It's weird because I totally expected the wailing wall to be all out on it's own but the thing is it's a Muslim holy place too. So actually at the top of the wailing wall there is a great big mosque. The sounds are weird because near you you can hear Jews praying, pleading, chanting, wailing but over it all is the mosque speakers "come to Allah come to Allah". Neither of these are in a language that you understand. Muslims control the temple mount...the wailing wall was the retaining wall for that.
The wall is massive and there is a tunnel down one end. Only men can enter there...it holds scriptures I think. Men have to put a cardboard skull cap on. It is an amazing place..covered in people and yet so barren. It is such a place of prayer and history. It kind of feels like people leave there hopes there. There are pieces of paper covered in prayer stuck in all the wee gaps between the stones. The sound of prayer is amazing, their faces are so close to the stone. Almost everyone wears black and white, skull caps and hats, it's like stepping back in time in a way.
Some of the stones are so big..the biggest one weighs more than 50x theweight of the largest stone in the pyramids.
I really wish I had have understood more the significance of this place as well as others I saw...but being 12 it was only the places I had heard about the most which I understood on a deeper level really...I will do a post briefly talking about them later...what is left of the garden of gethsemane, Golgotha, Bethlehem, David's Tomb, the room suspected to be the upper room...the jordan river...the list goes on...
posted by Simona at
10:54 AM
2 Comments:
Sir Iain thanks you, my child.
How is it that there is a bouncer checking for Muslims at the door when it is a Muslim holy place too?
Sounds cool, though. It would be seriously strange seeing these places with my own eyes - places that have been in my heart and mind for so long.
I suppose it would be the equivalent of a person with strong ancestoral bonds returning to the place of their forefathers, er, forepeople.
I'm definately going to have to take a trip to the Near East one day.
On another note, Simona, I have now started reading The Secret Sacrament by Sherryl Jordan, as you suggested.
By
Iain, at 4:22 PM
Yeah Iain! It's a FABULOUS book...
By
Sharyn, at 10:51 PM
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