In some cases, the Palestinian militants targeted worshipers at the wall, trying to heave stones over the structure. Yet the people continue to come and pray, some convinced that the holiness of the site, if not the heavily armed Israel Defense Force soldiers there, would protect them from harm. No one believes the wall's structural decay will keep people away either. A few still weep at it, making it clear why it is also called the Wailing Wall or the Wall of Tears. Some shove notes with scribbled prayers into its cracks, turning the wall into what some call a mailbox for God.
Whole families come, sometimes from abroad, to celebrate bar mitzvahs.
People touch the wall reverently with their palms or press their foreheads against its stones. This is the end for me. There are first-time tourists too, such as Robbie from Canada, who would leave with an emotion he did not expect. But I feel a deep respect here. I feel the power of religion that I did not feel before.