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Work ⟩1970s ⟩The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem 1979

About the Work

(Collection: Williams College, Massachusetts)

This piece attempts to examine a cultural and religious icon that has had a far-reaching influence on political events today. The Wailing Wall is all that is left of Herod's temple, build on the site of the temple of Solomon. Herod's temple was destroyed by the Romans in the first century, and this section of the wall was left to remind the Jews and, I think, posterity of the extent of Roman power. Following the Diaspora, the wall assumed a special political/religious significance for Judaism, which it has retained to this day. The Wailing Wall provides an apt metaphor for political impasse: because it stands in east Jerusalem, that section of the city is non-negotiable in political bargaining. Notes of prayer are slipped between the masonry by those gathered at the base, men to the left and women segregated to the right.