The "Wailing Place."

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 224, 15 October 1887, Page 1

The "Wailing Place."

The "Wailing Place" in Jerusalem is a narrow enclosed space near the Mosque of Omar. It is a section of the ancient wall of the Harauj, which includes the site of the old temple on Mount Moriah, and is believed to be the only part remaining of Solomon's Temple wall. To this place the Jews have for centuries come once a week, every Friday, to mourn over the desolation of Israel. Jerome has drawn a' vivid picture of the crowds of Jews who in his day assembled at the " Wailing Place " by the west Avail of the temple to bemoan the loss of their ancestral greatness. Miss Martineau thus described the scene : * { Under a high, massive, very ancient frail, was a dusty, narrow, enclosed space where we saw the most mournful groups I ever encountered. This high, ancient wall, where weeds are springing from the crevices of the stones, is believed to be a part, and the only ' part " remaining, of Solomon's Temple. Thither the Jews come every "Friday to mourn over the fall of their Beautiful House, and pray for its restoration. The women were Bitting in the dusb ; some wailing aloud, some repeating prayers with moving lips, and others reading them from books on their knees. A few children were at play on the ground ; and some aged men sat silent, their heads rdbped on their breasts. Several younger men were leaning against the wall, pressing their foreheads against the stones, and resting their books on - fcbeir-elasped hands, in their orevices, With some this wailing is no form, for I saw tears on their cheeks,"