page_title: Western Wall
section_title: Ritual
hierarchical_section_title: Western Wall / In Judaism / Ritual
caption_attribution_description: English: Jews at the Western Wall, Félix Bonfils, Albumen silver print. Français&#160;: Jérusalem. Mur où les Juifs vont pleurer.
context_page_description: The Western Wall, Wailing Wall, Kosel or Kotel, known in Islam as the Buraq Wall, is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a relatively small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as the "Western Wall". The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great, which resulted in the encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount, in a huge rectangular structure topped by a flat platform, thus creating more space for the Temple itself, its auxiliary buildings, and crowds of worshipers and visitors.
  In one of several varying Muslim traditions, it is the site where the Islamic Prophet Muhammad tied his winged steed, al-Buraq, on his Isra and Mi'raj to Jerusalem before ascending to paradise, and constitutes the eastern border of al-Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
  The Western Wall's holiness in Judaism is a result of its proximity to the Temple Mount.
caption: Jews at the Western Wall, 1870s
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