Jerusalem, Israel
He who has not seen the Temple of Herod, has never seen a beautiful building.
—Babylonian Talmud, Baba Batra, 4a; Shemot Rabba 36:1
Since the destruction of the Second Temple of Herod in A.D. 70, Jews have been coming to the only remnant of the temple—a section of stone wall that surrounded the complex—to lament and pray. The Western Wall, popularly known as the Wailing Wall, is the holiest Judaic site in the world, attracting more than eight million Jews and non-Jews annually. Today, the wall looks like God’s message board, with notes containing prayers stuffed into the cracks.
If you wish to release your pain to God and open your heart to Divine love and compassion, visit Jerusalem to pray and reflect before the Wailing Wall. Go to the section designated for your gender (women and men pray in separate areas, according to Jewish Orthodox practice), and dress appropriately. Near the entrance, you can find head coverings for men and shawls and skirt coverings for women.
Write your prayer on a slip of paper and tuck it into the sacred wall or take it home in a beautiful piece of Middle Eastern pottery that you designate as a prayer receptacle.
The site of the Western Wall has been sacred since the first Judaic temple of Jerusalem was built there five thousand years ago. Jews believe that God resides in the Western Wall and that praying there gives the supplicant the strongest earthly connection with the Divine.