The Western Wall is, without question, the holiest of Jewish sites, sacred because it is a remnant of the Herodian retaining wall that once enclosed and supported the Second Temple. The Western Wall Plaza (Kotel), the large open area that faces the Western Wall, functions as an open-air synagogue that can accommodate tens of thousands of worshipers. Prayers take place here day and night, and special services are held here as well.
The Western Wall was built by King Herod in 20 BC during his expansion of the Temple enclosure, and is part of a retaining wall that enclosed the western part of Temple Mount. In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. During the Ottoman Period (beginning in the 16th century), the wall became the Jews' chief place of pilgrimage, where they came to lament the destruction of the Temple.
For centuries, the Western Wall was located in a narrow alley just 12 feet wide that could accommodate only a few hundred densely packed worshipers. But in 1967, immediately after the Six Day War, Israelis leveled the neighboring Arab district to create the Western Wall Plaza, which can accommodate tens of thousands of pilgrims. At the same time, they excavated and exposed more stone layers from the Temple Plaza's retaining wall that had been buried by debris for centuries.
Talmudic sages spoke of a special and eternal nature of the Wall. Rabbi Acha stated that the Shekhinah (special Divine Presence of God) will never depart from the Temple's Western Wall. The Midrash cites a quote from Solomon's Song of Songs, "Behold, He stands behind our wall." (Midrash Tanhuma Exodus, 10; Song of Songs; Exodus Raba 2:2)
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