What is Holy?

       Nadene Goldfoot                                                              

 
 G-d's world is great and holy.  Among the holy lands in the world is the Holy Land of Israel.
                                                                           

In the land of Israel the holiest city is Jerusalem

                                                                           

 In Jerusalem the holiest place was the Temple*, and in the Temple the holiest spot was the holy of holies.
                                                                             

     There are 70 peoples in the world.  Among these holy peoples is the people of Israel.  The holiest of the people of Israel is the tribe of Levi.  In the tribe of Levi the holiest are the priests.  Among the priests, the holiest was the high priest.
                                                                           

Friday Night Shabbat Dinner

         There are 354 days in the Jewish calendar year.  Among these the holidays are holy.  Higher than these is the holiness of the Sabbath (Friday night to Saturday night).
                                                                             

Blowing the Shofar on Yom Kippur

 Among Sabbaths the holiest is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) , the Sabbath of Sabbaths.
                                                                               

     There are 70 languages in the world.  Among the holy languages is the holy language of Hebrew.
                                                                             

                                        Holier than all else in this language is the holy Torah,
                                                                           

Carrying the Torah in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur

                                                                             

And in the Torah the holiest part is the Ten Commandments.  In the Ten Commandments the holiest of all words is the Name of G-d.                                
                                                                               

     And once during the year, at a certain hour, these 4 supreme sanctities of the world were joined with one another.  That was on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest would enter the holy of holies and there utter the Name of G-d.
                                                       
                 
                                                                           

And because this hour was beyond measure holy and awesome, it was the time of utmost peril not only for the high priest but for the whole of Israel.  For if, in this hour, there had, G-d forbid, entered the mind of the high priest a false or sinful thought, the entire world would have been destroyed.
                                                                           

     Every spot where a man raises his eyes to heaven is a holy of holies.  Every man, having been created by G-d in His own image and likeness, is a high priest.  Every day of man's life is a Day of Atonement, and every word that a man speaks with sincerity is the Name of the Lord.

Moses and Aaron, brothers, were from the tribe of Levi.  Moses had his older brother Aaron be the first high priest.  All males with the Cohen gene are descendants of Aaron, and they serve in the congregation as Cohens with certain responsibilities such as being called first to read from the Torah.  It was Moses who brought us the 10 Commandments from Mt. Sinai.

Resource:  Folk tale adapted from a version in THE DYBBUK by Saul An-Ski found in the first page of THE JEWISH CATALOG BY Richard Siegel, Michael Strassfeld, and Sharon Strassfeld.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OShPNTaCSsU

History of Jerusalem's Western or Wailing Wall-The Kotel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

Still standing in the Old City of Jerusalem is the Western or Wailing Wall (Kotel maaravi in Hebrew)  built by Herod I.  What is there are the remains of a wall that enclosed Herod's Temple (Solomon's Temple (961-920 BCE) which was rebuilt into the 2nd Temple and then rebuilt again by Herod). The Temple had been destroyed in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar and rebuilt in 538-515 BCE  as the 2nd Temple. Details of building the temple are found in I Kings 6, and II Chronicles 3:1.   Major reconstructions were done in the periods of Simon the Just, Judah the Maccabee, Simon the Hasmonean, and Herod.  This Herodian wall surrounding the Temple hill measured  913 x 1,515 x 1,586 x 1,050 feet and the extensive area enclosed was party obtained by leveling and filling between the Tyropoeion and Kidron valleys.  This means that if one walked completely around the 4 walls, they would have walked 1,543.507 meters or 0.959091 miles.  That's just a little bit short of a full mile.

The 1st Temple that King Solomon built was built for G-d (Hashem).  It was 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and stood 30 cubits in height.  Quarried stone was used to build it.  It is written in Kings that hammers, chisels, or any iron utensils were not heard in the Temple when it was being built.  Now, a cubit probably was a measurement from Egypt as far back as 3,000 BCE.  It was the distance from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger.  So it could be about 45.72 centimeters or 17 to 21 inches.

 Herod I., who became known as 'the Great" even though he was a murderer,  was born in 73 BCE and died in 4 BCE.  He had been appointed as King of Judea by the Romans because he captured it in 37 BCE with Roman forces.  His father was Antipater, an Idumean (people, descendants of Esau, had been converted to Judaism,  from the Mt. Seir area once called Edom), and his mother was a Nabatean (also Arabs  who occupied Edom in 6th century BCE), lived in Petra), by the name of Cypros. He married Mariamne, a granddaughter of the high priest, Hyreanus, a Hashmonean, which gave him a free hand in internal affairs but still could not conduct an independent foreign policy. (Hashmoneans were a priestly family and dynasty founded by Mattathias of Modiin.    It was Mattathias and his 5 sons, Judah the Maccabee being one who was the hero in our Chanukah story).    Herod was ruthless.  He murdered his own brother-in-law- Aristobulus, the last Hasmonean high priest, and his own wife, Mariamne, their 2 sons, Alexander and   Aristobulus and Antipater, his first son.   He is guilty of many things but he was quite the businessman by enhancing the wealth of Judea through his commercial operations.  Then he rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem on a magnificent scale and erected the 2 new cities of Sebaste and Caesarea.  He was known outside of Judea as a spokesman and protector of the Jews.  When he died he left a will partitioning his kingdom among his 3 remaining sons:  Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Philip.

  The wall  is made up of 5 lower courses, each over 3 feet high.  It continues over 60 feet underground.  The Temple's Holy of Holies (inner sanctum) stood at the western end of the Temple so this part of the wall was considered as sacred in our history as far back as the Talmudic Period because at least the 10th century regular services were held before it.  The original Temple was built by King Solomon as a shrine for the Ark, sacred vessels and offerings with a court for worshippers.  It had a hall, shrine and the inner sanctum.  We know that the holy of holies was 32.5 X 32.5.cubits and went from east to west.  In this room was kept the Ark, and had a raised floor and was windowless.  A small cedar altar overlaid with gold stood at the entrance to the holy of holies.
                                                                       

Problems surround the Wall.  The area in front of the Kotel  was Muslim property.  A serious argument broke out between Jews and Muslims in 1929 and again in 1931.  A special commission of the League of Nations regulated the rights of the parties.

What had happened was that during the Roman war, the Temple served as a center of military activity, and was destroyed by the conquering Romans in 70 CE.  A Roman temple was later built on the site.  Since the Moslem Period, a mosque has stood there called the Mosque of Omar, established in 1193.  .

From Israel's birth again May 14, 1948, Jews were cut off from the Wailing Wall which was under Jordanian control even though there was a paragraph in the Israel-Jordan 1949 Armistice Agreement affirming  Jewish right of access.
     

Jews could not go to the Wailing Wall until the miracle happened when in June 1967 Israel won a war of an attack from  all surrounding states but mostly by Syria, Jordan and Egypt  in which Israel  surprised everyone by winning.  The war lasted from June 5th to June 10th.  The Wall now came under Jewish sovereignty for the first time since the 2nd Temple period.  Soldiers rushed to the Wall to pray.
                                                                         

 It was on Shavuot of 1967 ( Sivan) 6 when people could visit the Wall.  200,000 went there and danced and said prayers.  What became the custom was to write a prayer on a piece of paper and insert it between the stones.

Jewish tourists coming to Jerusalem usually go there first. One has to realize that the remaining wall which once went around the Temple area built first by King Solomon  is over 2,000 years old.  That's where   our ancestors had prayed.  It's where the High Priest entered the holy of holies on Yom Kippur, our Day of Atonement.  The Priests, which would have been the Cohens, descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses, Levites and certain Nethinim  performed services there. (The Nethinim were Temple servants, originally conquered Canaanites who were given the jobs by King David to assist the Levites in the Temple.  These people were exiled to Babylon along with the Jews and returned with them under Zerubbabel and Ezra.  They were given a special quarter of Jerusalem.  They had accepted Ezra's covenant but were still debarred from the Jewish community.  They kept their identity down to amoraic times.  )  Amoraic times covered from 200 to 500 CE when the oral Torah was being discussed.  

 Israel has done a considerable amount of landscaping the area.   The area around the western and southern walls of the Herodian Temple compound was extensively excavated  starting in  1968  directed by B Mazar, of which  many remains dating from Temple times were uncovered.

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanach, The Stone Edition; Kings 6.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/six_day_war_1967.htm
http://www.bonayich.com/Portals/102/tichon_pic_stuff/Series%204%20Unit%201%20-%20Introduction%20to%20the%20Amoraic%20Period%20-%20English.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoraim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque_of_Omar_(Jerusalem)

Temple Mount in Jerusalem Barred From Jews: No Jewish Praying Allowed

Nadene Goldfoot                                                          

           
The Temple Mount is on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Today's 2nd Temple that was first built by King Solomon (961-920 BCE) in Jerusalem was on this same site.  . King David, his father,  wasn't allowed to build it as he was a king of war.  Solomon was known for his wisdom and peace and built it as a shrine for the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred vessels and offerings for worshippers.  

 The Babylonian exiles, Jews taken away by the Babylonians in 597 and 586 BCE were allowed to return in 538 BCE and they rebuilt the Temple by 515 BCE., known as the 2nd Temple.   When Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 70 CE, the Temple was destroyed, but not before the Romans carried off all the loot from it.  A Roman temple was later built on the site, and since the Moslem Period, the Mosque of Omar, otherwise known as the Dome of the Rock,  has stood there.  It was built in the center of the Temple area by Caliph Abd al-Malik in about 738 CE to replace the temporary structure set up by Caliph Omar in 638 CE. Mohammad had died in 632 CE.

The Temple Mount is referred to as al-Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and is ranked as one of the most sensitive religious sites in the world.  There have been sporadic riots here which is said to have the potential to ignite much wider unrest.

The Six Day War in 1967 was when the Temple Mount fell into Israel's hands again, after a wait of 2,000 years. Since then, Jerusalem is a united city.   Though Israel became a state on May 14, 1948, the eastern portion of Jerusalem, where the Temple Mount is, was barred to Jews by Jordan.   Prime Minister Levi Eshkol made plans to takeover the Temple Mount and thought that the administration of such a holy site should be filled equally by Muslim, Christian and Jewish clerics so that everyone would have the right to be atop the mount and pray at this holy site for the 3 faiths.  He wanted to have his dream of a multi-faith council to run the compound.  The Muslim mosque would not have been touched, but all faiths would be allowed up on top of the mount.

Moshe Dayan (1915-1981),  minister of Defense, deciding otherwise, gave the keys to the Muslim Waqf. Evidently, in his biography, Dayan clearly stated that the last thing he wanted was the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt, the Beit Hamikdash.  We are supposed to wait for the coming of the Messiah for that.  There is the Temple Mount Faithful Group that Stanley Goldfoot belonged to preparing for that day.  Being a progressive, Dayan didn't consult the Prime Minister or the Knesset, and the Israelis didn't get to vote on it.  That's who controls it to this very day.  Being Dayan was a war hero, there wasn't much Eshkol could do about it.   "Dayan had gone ahead and told the Muslims running the Temple Mount that they could continue to run the mosques there-and later went further by preventing Jewish prayer all over the Mount."  His reasoning was that he felt matters would get out of hand and lead to a religious clash.  He even told the chief of staff that the army chaplain was to remove the branch office he had established in the building which adjoins the mosque compound.  For this Moshe Dayan will be known as the man who gave away the Temple Mount giving the Muslims an opportunity to make Jerusalem a huge issue in creating a Palestine.

Jews have been allowed atop the Temple Mount but are not allowed to pray, say the Muslim rule.  Only Muslims are allowed to pray there.  Jews can't even look like they are praying.  Then the Waqf has done more construction on top and has thrown out relics from the Temple of which an archaeology team has begun to sift through the dirt.  It was deposited like garbage by the Muslims.

Since that day, Muslims have been trying to reclaim Jerusalem's Holy sites in order to de-legitimize the Jewish connection to the land and the city.   It's their way of wiping Israel off the map and into the sea.  Police are forced to bar Jews from entering the Temple Mount.  Of course the Muslims had threatened violence. No excuse is listened to, such as bringing children there to demonstrate rituals associated with the Temple, like the bringing of the first fruits on Shavuot.  People can't understand this and feel it's unfair to them.  However, hundreds of Jews were able to visit the Mount over Shavuot.  At times, dozens of Muslims sat and blocked the entrance of Mughrabi Gate, the one non-Muslims have to use to ascend the Mount.  Any Jews who could manage to run the gauntlet were followed and harassed by Muslims, yelling the whole time the Jews were up there.  This year a riot did break out and the police had to intervene and closed the gates and evacuating the Jews.

There's more than what meets the eye in this clash.  The Islamic Movement in Israel had told its followers that Jewish groups were planning to desecrate, storm or endanger the al-Aqsa mosque and even arranged buses for worshippers to come and "protect" the site.  Sheikh Raed Salah, head rabble-rouser said to his crowd, "We'll liberate al-Aqsa with blood and fire!"  He told his crowd that Israel wanted to build a synagogue on top of the mosque.  Hamas's Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, told some foreign ambassadors that the riots were due to "an assault by extremist religious settlers on the Temple Mount compound."  Syria's foreign ministry added that Damascus believes the Israeli security forces' invasion of al-Aqsa was part of Israel's scheme to Judaise Jerusalem and destroy the mosque"  I don't think these people ever read a real history book.  These were all lies.

Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are parts of Israel that are  re-establishing the Jewish National Home.  The synonym for Jerusalem happens to be "Zion."  Every day for 3 times a day for the past 2,000 years, Jews all over the world face Jerusalem and pray for it to be restored to its former glory.  It's unfathomable that Jews are banned by its own government from praying on the Temple Mount.  What a concession we have given to the Muslims!  What concessions have they ever given us to promote peace!  None.  Recently a female Knesset member decided to get to the bottom of this matter and find out why they can't pray there.  Many are angry with their government  for allowing this to happen.
                                                                     

Today, Jews pray at the Western Wall(Wailing Wall) that surrounded the Temple, built by Herod.  The Holy of Holies of Solomon's Temple was at the western end of the Temple is very close to this wall.  It was regarded as sacred as far back as the Talmudic Period of the 10th century CE.  From 1948 till 1967, Jews were kept away from this wall which is now under Jewish sovereignty.  On Shavuot 1967, 200,000 people visited.

In the meantime, Muslim adults and children are not taught of the Jewish connection to Israel and their land.  Muslims all over the world do not understand the depth of feeling Jews have for their holy places and their historical homeland.  "Palestinian and Muslim leaders must desist from the incitement against Israel and the deligitimisation of the Jewish connection to the land."

Resource: Arutz Sheva, news@israelnationalnews.com, 5. Police Bar Jews from Temple Mount As Muslims Threaten More Riots
http://www.templemount.org/recent.html
The New Jewish Encyclopedia
http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2013/05/jerusalem-day-how-moshe-dayan-made-the-temple-mount-a-palestinian-issue-2636624.html

Los Angeles Synagogue Received Bomb Threats

                                                                                      
Nadene Goldfoot
The Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, California, the oldest synagogue in the city,  received two bomb threats yesterday morning from a pay phone saying that a device was near or inside a patrol car parked outside the Temple.  This brought out the police and all their gear to check such things out, but they didn't find anything.  They figure that it had nothing to do with the recent shooting in Connecticut.  The synagogue had to close for the day.

The Temple is open again as of today.  They had started as Congregation B'nai brith in 1862, and then in 1872 built a Temple on Broadway (was then Fort Street.)  Growth caused it to move again in 1895. to 9th and Hope Streets.

Resource: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163337
http://laist.com/2012/12/18/las_oldest_synagogue_targeted.php
http://www.wilshireboulevardtemple.org/pages/about_wbt

40 Years of Wandering with Moses Remembered: Sukkot

Nadene Goldfoot
Sukkot, a holiday of remembering our wandering for 40 years in the deserts with Moses started today.  It goes on  for a week of holiday from school in Israel,and will also be observed tomorrow here in the states.  That's why we remember such history.  We have a joyous holiday of eating and sleeping outside in tiny booths like the first Israelites did after leaving Egypt and walking for 40 years until they finally got to Canaan.

It's a season for rejoicing.  In Israel, a family makes their booth outside with 3 sides.  Rugs or blankets are hung on the poles to make the 3 sides. I remember that the city of Safed had a prize for the best Sukkahs.   Inside they put a table and chairs.  Men will sleep out there as well.  Luckily in Israel the weather at this time of year is dry and warm, just right for doing so.  The Sukkah is decorated with fruits and veggies hung all around it as it is also known as an agricultural festival being that in Israel also, it was a time of the final gathering of fruit and produce of the year..  Being this goes back to a time 3,000 years ago, I was surprised that the Israelites didn't put up tepees, but used a more rectangle shaped mobile home that was easily put up and taken down.  Being they were on the move every day, the booths were more of an impermanent nature. The roofs are simply newly cut limbs off of trees laid on top, but with areas open so as to be able to see the sky.  They didn't have to worry about rain in the desert.

Moses commanded that "In Sukkahs (booths) you shall dwell, 7 days."  It's in Leviticus 23:42.  It's fun, like going camping in the autumn.  Women will bake all sorts of good breads and honey cakes and invite neighbors over for tea and cakes and wine.  You might even get in on a complete dinner.  It's a time you look forward to each year.

In the days of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, with Kings David and Solomon, the Sukkot Festival offerings included 70 oxen, because of there being 70 nations then, in prayer for their well-being, and for peace and harmony among the nations of the world.  After hearing Netanyahu's very serious speech at the UN, we certainly do need more prayers for a future of peace and harmony for this world.

It is said that "He who sows in tears reaps in joy" is fullfilled and that the period of introspection and penitence is finally completed with this holiday.

Ezekiel Speaks to Us Again

Nadene Goldfoot

Ezekiel (6th Century BCE) spoke to the exiled Jews living in Babylon who were taken there when Nebuchadnezzar and his army conquered Israel. The Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE. He was one in the first group of exiles and understood their despair . His own wife had died in a plague. He told of the time when Israel would be picked from the nations and be given a warm and feeling heart when it was a humbled battered "vine" and would rise to dwarf the haughty cedars and redwoods. He tells that Israel would rise again and return to its home. In Jerusalem, it would assume a new and eternal name: Hashem is there. "Hkai Shamah" Hashem is the word we use today to replace the word "G-d" as we do not want to use that word in vain.

Ezekiel 37: 8-20

Behold, I am taking the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have gone; I will gather them from all around and I will bring them to their soil; I will make them into one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king will be a king for them all; they will no longer be two nations; and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms, ever again. ... I will save them (take them) from all their dwelling places in which they had sinned, and I will purify them; they will be a nation to Me, and I will be a G-d to them. My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them; they will follow my ordinances and keep My decrees and fulfill them. they will dwell on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, within which your fathers dwelled; they and their children and their children's children will dwell upon it forever; and My servant David will be a leader for them forever. I will seal a convenant of peace with them; it will be an eternal covenant with them...Then the nations will know that I am Hashem Who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be among them forever.

Here is something written so long ago that can be applied to today's historic events. This history is repetitious, but the words apply to us today. No wonder people are getting nervous. The reference to David being king is interesting. David was king of Israel in 1000 BCE to 960 BCE, the youngest son of Jesse. and was Israel's 2nd king. So somebody as great as David in mind and spirit will be the leader. Hopefully that is true today. We may not have a king, but we do have a Prime Minister and a President. Then again, some Jewish groups are believers of reincarnation. The rebirth of Israel today was not possible to so many of the polititians in the world. It's a shocking event. There are those who are doing their best to destroy the tiny state and are frantically doing everything in their power to cause people to turn against the Jews living in Israel.

Right now there are those "CNN special" that deny that David was ever in Jerusalem. There is the bus company in Seattle with anti-Israel propaganda ads pasted on the buses for all to read, those that declare that the Wailing Wall is not part of the Temple because it's located in East Jerusalem, and of course the ever present rockets that fly through the air from Gaza.

Behold, there was a wall outside the Temple, surrounding it. In the man's hand was a measuring rod of 6 cubits, each cubit being a cubit and a handbreath. He measured the thinkness of the wall's structure as one measuring rod; and its height as one rod. Then he went to a gate that faced eastward and went up its steps; he measured the doorpost of the gate as one rod in width and the other doorpost as one rod in width.....And people say the wall isn't Jewish. I guesss they can't read.

Ezekiel scolded the exiles feeling it was their turning from their duties that brought down their own destruction, and with a change of heart and mind Israel would be regained. He said that every generation was responsible for only its own deeds and would not have to bear responsibility for the actions of their ancestors.

There are people in Israel planning on rebuilding the 3rd Temple. My own cousin was a member. They are getting ready. The Ingathering has already happened.

Reference: New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Stone Edition of Tanakh; the Torah/Prophets/Writing.

Jerusalem's Western Wall; Jewish or Muslim?

"To Jerusalem, thy city, shall we return with joy!" from Psalms, found in Old Testament

Muslims are trying to erase all things of our Jewish heritage and claim that we never existed in Jerusalem or the surrounding countryside. The latest attack is on our Western Wall located in the old city of Jerusalem.

King David would have loved to build the Temple but was not allowed to as he had blood on his hands, being a warrior king. His son, Solomon received this honor and built the magnificant temple of which we have the last remnant of wall remaining that has become the holiest site in Judaism. It is a place where all Jewish tourists come to and insert little papers with prayers in between the rocks. I did that upon visiting for the first time. I prayed for the return of good health for my son who was struck with an unknown disease and am happy to report that he is well now. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." is another prayer said of Jerusalem daily by observant Jews.

400 years later, in 586 BCE, the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. 70 years later a second temple was built by the Jews on the same site.

The first century BCE found King Herod, placed in this position by the Romans, enlarging and expanding the temple. Then in 70 CE, the Romans destroyed the temple and almost all of Jerusalem with the wall section still standing. It happens to be adjacent to the Temple Mount, home to al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Coming from the lovely people that we are trying to make peace with, Fatah's Al-Mutawakil Taha, deputy information minister in the Palestinian Authority, published a 5 page study on Wednesday disputing Jews' reverence of the shrine as a retaining wall of the compound of Biblical Jewish Temples destroyed so long ago. Netanyahu stated that "this denial of the connection between the Jewish peoople and the Western Wall is baseless and scandalous. " Needless to say, this report has angered Israel.

The Palestinian's verbal attack probably came as a retaliation to Israel's 5 year renovation plan for the Wall area. US-brokered peace talks are supposed to address the issue of Jerusalem which would include the Western Wall, but Abbas refuses to come to the table because Netanyahu refuses to extend another 3 month freeze on top of the 10 month freeze that had expired without any fruitful peace talks. We have an expression during Passover: Dayenu (enough already). I believe that's how Netanyahu was thinking.

Now the wheels are turning in the minds of Netanyahu and others. the Palestinian position paper on the Western Wall "raises a very serious question." Do they truly intend to reach a peace agreement with Israel based on co-existence and mutual recognition? Frankly, I have thought not for a long time, now. This episode is just the piece de-resistance.

"The Israeli government expects the leaders of the Palestinian Authority to renounce the document and condemn it, and to stop twisting historical facts," declared Netanyahu.

The Palestinians have not recognized Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem, where the Western Wall is located. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of "Palestine" which will take in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip. Including the Gaza Strip is the most earth-shaking goal that I can think of. It is run by Hamas terrorists and only desire the total destruction of Israel.
12/1/10 Today the proclamation was taken down. "In the report, Deputy Information Minister Al-Mutawakil Taha claimed the Western Wall was not connected to the biblical Jewish Temples — contradicting centuries of archaeological evidence and one of Judaism's most fundamental Prrinciples."
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Jerusalem1.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101125/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_wall

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_western_wall