WThe Wailing Wall or Western Wall, known in Islam as the Buraq Wall, is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a relatively small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as the "Western Wall". The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great, which resulted in the encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount, in a huge rectangular structure topped by a flat platform, thus creating more space for the Temple itself, its auxiliary buildings, and crowds of worshipers and visitors.
WThe 1930 Western Wall Commission, also Wailing Wall Commission, was a commission appointed by the British government, under their responsibilities in the Mandate for Palestine, in response to the 1929 Palestine riots. The commission was intended "to determine the rights and claims of Muslims and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall," and determine the causes of the violence and prevent it in the future. The League of Nations approved the commission on condition that the members were not British.
WThe Dung Gate or Silwan Gate, also known as the Mughrabi Gate, is one of the Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was built as a small postern gate in the 16th century by the Ottomans, first widened for vehicular traffic in 1952 by the Jordanians, and again in 1985 by the Israeli authorities.
WYehuda Getz was the rabbi of the Western Wall for 27 years.
WThe Kotel compromise is a compromise reached between orthodox and non-orthodox Jewish denominations, according to which the non-Orthodox "mixed" prayer area for men and women was supposed to be expanded in the southern part of the Western Wall. In contrast to the existing situation, access to this "mixed" prayer area was supposed to be from the main entrance to the Western Wall, and in addition it was supposed to be run by a council which would contain representatives of the non-Orthodox denominations and women of the Wall.
WThe Little Western Wall, also known as HaKotel HaKatan, the Small Kotel,, and the Kleiner Koisel is a Jewish religious site located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem near the Iron Gate to the Temple Mount. The wall itself dates from the Second Temple period,. It is the continuation of the larger part of the Western Wall and almost exactly faces the Holy of Holies. HaKotel HaKatan is not as well-known and not as crowded as the larger part of the Western Wall. This section of the wall is of deep spiritual significance because of its close proximity to the Holy of Holies. However, it is not the closest location to the Holy of Holies, as there is a location in the Western Wall Tunnel which directly faces the Holy of Holies.
WParatroopers at the Western Wall is an iconic photograph taken on June 7, 1967, by David Rubinger. Shot from a low angle, the photograph depicts three Israeli paratroopers framed against the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, shortly after its capture by Israeli forces in the Six-Day War. From left to right, the Israeli soldiers photographed are Zion Karasenti, Yitzhak Yifat, and Haim Oshri. The soldiers were reservists of the 66th Battalion, 55th Paratroopers Brigade.
WPlacing notes in the Western Wall refers to the practice of placing slips of paper containing written prayers to God into the cracks of the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem.
WThe Platoon of the Wall was a group made up of Betar members in Mandatory Palestine that defended the rights of Jews at the Western Wall in the years 1937- 1938, and guarded the Old City using concealed stores of arms and clubs and accompanied Jewish worshipers to and from the Western Wall. Members were also responsible for the blowing of the shofar at the Western Wall, which was deemed illegal by the British authorities. A street in the Old City of Jerusalem is named in its honor.
WThe Pro–Wailing Wall Committee was established in Mandatory Palestine on 24 July 1929, by Joseph Klausner, professor of modern Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University, to promote Jewish rights at the Western Wall.
WRabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places operates under the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and is responsible for providing religious services to Jews at the Western Wall and other holy places in Israel, listed in the Regulations for the Preservation of Holy Places for Jews, 1981.
WThe Status Quo is an understanding among religious communities with respect to nine shared religious sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Other Holy Places in Israel and Palestine were not deemed subject to the Status Quo, because the authorities of one religion or community within a religion are in recognized or effective possession of them.
WThe Western Stone is a monolithic stone ashlar block forming part of the lower level of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. This largest stone in the Western Wall is visible within the Western Wall Tunnel. It is one of the largest building blocks in the world.
WA Western Wall camera, also known as a wallcam, is a live webcam that displays action at the Western Wall live as it is taking place.
WThe Western Wall Plaza is a large public square situated adjacent to the Western Wall in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was formed in 1967 as a result of the razing of the Moroccan Quarter neighborhood in the immediate aftermath of the Six-Day War.
WWilson's Arch is the modern name for an ancient stone arch from Jerusalem, the first in a row of arches that supported a large bridge connecting the Herodian Temple Mount with the Upper City on the opposite Western Hill. The Arch springs from the Western Wall and is still visible underneath later buildings set against the Wall. The name Wilson's Arch is also used to denote the hall that it partially covers, which is currently used as a synagogue. This hall opens towards the Western Wall Plaza at the Plaza's northeast corner, so that it appears on the left of the prayer section of the Western Wall to visitors facing the Wall.
WWomen of the Wall is a multi-denominational Jewish feminist organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall, also called the Kotel, in a fashion that includes singing, reading aloud from the Torah and wearing religious garments. Pew Research Center has identified Israel as one of the countries that place "high" restrictions on religion, and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. One of those restrictions is that the Rabbi of the Western Wall has enforced gender segregation and limitations on religious garb worn by women. When the "Women of the Wall" hold monthly prayer services for women on Rosh Hodesh, they observe gender segregation so that Orthodox members may fully participate. But their use of religious garb, singing and reading from a Torah have upset many members of the Orthodox Jewish community, sparking protests and arrests. In May 2013 a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls had been misinterpreted and that Women of the Wall prayer gatherings at the wall should not be deemed illegal.