Emotional: The Secret of the Western Wall's Survival Lies in a 2,000-Year-Old Prophecy

Unlike other biblical texts, the book of 'Song of Songs' is characterized by its lack of a simple meaning layer, focusing instead on deeper layers of meaning: hint, allegory, and secret.^[1].

Against this backdrop, we see a remarkable prophecy hidden within one of its verses: "My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice."^[2]

Our sages, who possessed the keys to understanding these writings, revealed in Midrash^[3] that there is a promise here for the future: "'Look, there he stands behind our wall' – behind the Western Wall of the Holy Temple, why? Because Hashem swore that it will never be destroyed."^[4]

This Midrash was composed nearly two thousand years ago, and since then, Jerusalem has faced many wars and upheavals.

According to our known history^[5], after the destruction of the Second Temple (during the period of the aforementioned Midrash), Jerusalem was frequently conquered by various nations, most of whom destroyed the city and killed its inhabitants.

A partial list of the tribulations Jerusalem endured during its various conquests:

• The Romans under Titus destroyed the Second Temple. (70 CE)
• Hadrian razed Jerusalem and renamed it 'Aelia Capitolina' (135 CE)
• The Byzantine conquest of Jerusalem (324 CE).
• The Persian conquest of Jerusalem (614 CE)
• The Byzantine recapture of Jerusalem (628 CE)
• The Muslim conquest by Caliph Omar, who cleared the Temple Mount (638 CE)
• The Fatimid Muslim conquest of Jerusalem (1000 CE)
• The Seljuk conquest of Jerusalem (1071 CE)
• The Fatimid Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem (1098 CE)
• The Crusader conquest of Jerusalem – they devastated the city and brutally massacred its inhabitants (1099 CE).
• The Muslim conquest under Saladin (1187 CE)
• Frederick II's conquest of Jerusalem (1229 CE)
• The Mongol conquest of Jerusalem (1244 CE)
• The conquest of the land by Mongol Ghazan (1299 CE)
• The Ottoman Turkish conquest of Jerusalem (1516 CE)
• The British conquest of Jerusalem (1917 CE)
• The Jordanian conquest of the Old City and Temple Mount – they heavily bombed the city (1948 CE)

Indeed, Jerusalem has experienced endless upheavals, captured by foreigners seeking to obliterate any trace of its glory, unleashing waves of killing and destroying many structures. Even soldiers of the Arab Legion who captured the Old City during the War of Independence intentionally demolished the synagogues in the Jewish Quarter^[6], not to mention the nations that wanted to erase any Jewish memory in Jerusalem (such as the Romans and Crusaders). Yet despite everything, and miraculously, the Western Wall stands in its place to this very day.

Rabbi Yossi Mizrachi in 3 minutes you must not miss: The secret of the Western Wall's survival. Watch