Israel's History - a Picture a Day - Yom Kippur at the Western Wall 00 Years Ago

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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Yom Kippur at the Western Wall 00 Years Ago

Posted: 20 Sep 2015

Reposting a feature from last year


Jews at the Kotel on Yom Kippur (circa 1904) See analysis of the graffiti
on the wall for dating this picture. The graffiti on the Wall are memorial notices. (Library of Congress)

On Tuesday night, September 22, Jews around the world will commemorate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. For many centuries, Jews in the Land of Israel prayed at the Western Wall, the remnant of King Herod's retaining wall of the Temple complex destroyed in 70 AD.


Several readers noticed and commented on the intermingling of men and women in these historic pictures. It was not by choice.

The Turkish and British rulers of Jerusalem imposed severe restrictions on the Jewish worshipers, prohibiting chairs, forbidding screens to divide the men and women, and even banning the blowing of the shofar at the end of the Yom Kippur service. Note that the talit prayer shawls, normally worn by men throughout Yom Kippur, are not visible in the pictures.

Jews at the Western Wall (Ottoman Empire Archives)

Editor' note: In September 2015, the Ottoman Empire Archives tweeted this picture of Jews at the Western Wall, circa 1900 when the Turks ruled Palestine. Note the small tables permitted at the time, a very unusual concession.



The men are wearing their festival/Sabbath finery, including their fur shtreimel hats. Note the prayer shawls. (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)

We found one rare picture in an Irish church's archives, dated 1897, showing men wearing prayer shawls at the Kotel.

View this video, Echoes of a Shofar, to see the story of young men who defied British authorities between 1930 and 1947 and blew the shofar at the Kotel.


Another view of the Western Wall on Yom Kippur. Note the various groups of worshipers: The Ashkenazic Hassidim wearing the fur shtreimel hats in the foreground, the Sephardic Jews wearing the fezzes in the center, and the women in the back wearing white shawls. (Circa 1904, Library of Congress)

For the 19 years that Jordan administered the Old City, 1948-1967, no Jews were permitted to pray at the Kotel.


Many of the photo collections we have surveyed contain pictures of Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall over the last 150 years.

After the 1967 war, the Western Wall plaza was enlarged and large areas of King Herod's wall were exposed. Archaeologists have also uncovered major subterranean tunnels -- hundreds of meters long -- that are now open to visitors to Jerusalem.

Click on the photos to enlarge. Click on the captions to see the originals.

The Church of Ireland's Library Uncovered a Photographic Treasure 115 Years Old - Part 1 of 2

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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The Church of Ireland's Library Uncovered a Photographic Treasure 115 Years Old Posted: 10 Dec 2013 01:12 AM PST What a treasure looks like. Boxes of lantern slides -- the precursor to  photographic slides and slide projectors In 2011, Rev. Stephen White brought to Dublin several old cardboard boxes found in the old Church of Ireland Killaloe deanery in Limerick.  He brought them to Dr. Susan Hood, the archivist for the Church of Ireland's Representative Church Body Library. Dr. Hood understood she had      Coming ashore at Jaffa Port (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). Note the     Turkish flag flying just received a photographic treasure: hundreds of century-old "lantern slides" of  sites in Ireland, India, and the Holy Land. Dr. Hood deserves credit for preserving the images, digitizing them last year and posting them on the RCB's homepage.   We thank her for granting us permission to publish the RCB photographs. Last year, Dr. Hood and BBC undertook an investigation into discovering the name of hitherto anonymous photographer.  They were able to identify him as David Brown, a soap manufacturer from Donaghmore who was also an amateur photographer.  In 1897 he joined a pilgrimage led by his brother in law, a Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland. We present here Part 1 of the RCB Library Collection.   Click on pictures to enlarge.  Click on the caption to view the original.  Damascus Gate (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)  View inside Damascus Gate HERE View Herod's Gate HERE View Lions Gate HERE Jews praying at the Western "Wailing" Wall.  The day is a Sabbath or Jewish Festival since the men are wearing their Sabbath finery, including fur hats. The photograph is very unusual since in virtually all of the other 19th century pictures at the Wall men are not wearing their customary prayer shawls (talitot) perhaps because of a Jewish prohibition of carrying objects on the Sabbath, or because of the harassment of Muslim authorities.  (Credit: RCB Library, 1897) Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The man on the right is believed to be the photographer, David Brown. Note the Turkish soldier on duty inside the Church.  (Credit: RCB Library, 1897).  A Turkish soldier was also on guard in Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus). See below. Joseph's Tomb (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). Certain  pictures, such as this one, were almost obligatory to all visiting photographers assembling a travelogue. Turkish guard inside Joseph's Tomb (Library  of Congress 1900)        A "hides market," according to the RCB's Library caption, but no location is given. Actually, the photo is taken in Jerusalem at the entrance of the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Looming over the complex on the hill is the Tifferet Yisrael Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter  (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). The synagogue was destroyed along with the Jewish Quarter in 1948.