Western Wall Tunnels

The first thing we did when we arrived in Jerusalem was to go to the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall.



It is called the Western Wall because it was the western wall of the four walls that King Herod built for the second temple. The temple was a Jewish Synagogue. After the Jewish people rebelled against the Romans, the Romans tried to destroy it all but they couldn't destroy the Western Wall.



Nobody knows exactly why they couldn't destroy the wall but they think it was because the wall was so strong. It was made of really large rocks.



The most interesting thing on the tour for me was learning about how they built the wall. They used pulleys, cranes, animals, and other techniques to pull and lift the huge stones.



The temple is important because it was the place where the Jewish, Muslim and Christian people think the world was created. Who owns the wall is a very political question. 



On the tour we went on, we mostly focused on the tunnels around the temple going along the Western Wall. Some of these tunnels were aqueducts to fill the ritual baths.



The baths are called Mikvehs. The water has to come from a natural place like a spring or rain water. They took baths before marriage and before pilgrimage.



When we went to the outside of the Western Wall after the tour, there were a lot of people praying. We had to cover our heads so we used the free yamakas (Jewish head covering). The men and the women had their own sides. A lot of people were rocking back and forth either standing or on chairs when they were praying. A lot of times, people were closing their eyes but some people were reading from the Torah.

5 shekel slushies

When we were leaving, we walked through the old city where they had a lot of markets. We bought a cup of pomegranate juice and it cost 25 shekels which is about 12 Australian dollars. That's super expensive. So the rest of us got slushies which were only 5 shekels. All the food here has been super expensive.

Thanks for reading and, until next time, don't buy juice in Israel.