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Jerusalem during the Crusades (1180-1185) and at that time found only one Jew there, Abraham, the dyer, who pointed out to him the Mount of Olives, and the gates where the Jews had previously prayed. The memorandum quotes Ahimaz’s “Sepher Yuhasim” of a member of his family, Rabbi Samuel ben Paltiel (980-1010) that “he gave 20,000 gold drachmas for pious purposes, including “oil for the sanctuary at the Wailing Wall.”

Other authorities whom the memorandum cites are Rabbi Menahem ben Perez (1215) who was for eight years the Cantor in Hebron, came to Jerusalem, where, he says, “The Wailing Wall is still in existence,” and Benjamin of Tudela, the greatest of Mediaeval Jewish travelers during the 12th century wrote, “Jerusalem has four gates, the gate of Abraham, the gate of David, the gate of Zion, and the gate of Gushpat, which is the gate of Jehoshaphat, facing our ancient Temple, now called Templum Domini. Upon the site of the sanctuary Omar ben al Khataab erected an edifice with a very large and magnificent cupola, into which the Gentiles do not bring any image or effigy, but they merely come there to pray. In front of this place is the western wall, which is one of the Walls of the Holy of Holies. This is called the Gate of Mercy, and hither come all the Jews to pray before the wall of the court of the Temple.”

REGULAR PRAYER FORMS USED

In the 17th century, the memorandum shows, there begins to be evidence of regular forms of prayer used before the Wailing Wall. Dr. Adler says that in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America there are to be found eight such forms of service, the earliest of which was printed in Constantinople in 1740. Other prayer services were printed in Amsterdam in 1759, in Jerusalem in 1840, Salonica in 1890, and Jerusalem in 1880, showing that not only did the Jews in Palestine have such forms of service, but that prayer books were printed in the Diaspora for pilgrims.

In the early days, according to the memorandum, it seems to have been the custom to have prayers at the Wailing Wall on the eve of the Sabbath, on the occasion of the new moon, on the ninth day of the Ab, and on special days, while the custom of daily prayers appears to have been introduced by Rabbi Meshel Gelbstein in the latter quarter of the 19th century.

Dr. Adler points out that while Jerusalem was under Moslem rule, difficulty sometimes arose in connection with Jews praying at the Wall. Payment was sometimes exacted for the prayer privilege but no question was formally raised until 1912-1913, and that on the issue of the bringing of benches and seats for the aged, the Moslem community fearing that this would involve a claim of ownership to the Wall.

FIRST MEMO IN 1914

On the basis of this difficulty the first memorandum on the Wailing Wall was prepared by Abraham Moses Luncz, who came to Jerusalem in 1869 and lived there for 49 years. In the 10th volume of “Jerusalem,” which he published in 1914, he wrote a comprehensive article on the Wailing Wall and its history, and gave details concerning the prevention of placing benches, a table and lamps at the Wailing Wall, and pointed out the Jewish right at the Wall.

Some curious reminiscences of Isaac Ezekial Yehudah, an old-resident of Jerusalem, indicating that even the Moslems in certain emergencies believed in the efficacy of Jewish prayers at the Wailing Wall, are reported in the memorandum. Yehudah is quoted as saying that “in the year 1878, during the Russo-Turkish War, the government asked the Jews to pray for its success near the Wailing Wall. So the pupils of the Spanish and German schools went to the Wailing Wall, and the government sent soldiers to accompany them going and returning, as a guard of honor.”

On the question of the use of benches and screens for the separation of men and women during the prayers at the Wailing Wall, the memorandum quotes the testimony of Miss Annie E. Landau, for thirty years resident in Jerusalem as head mistress of the Evelina de Rothschild School. She writes:

“In February, 1929, I shall have worked here for thirty years. From the first week of my arrival I was, for many years, a regular attendant for prayers at the Wall, on Friday evenings, and Jewish Festivals. I never once in pre-War days either witnessed or heard of any trouble at the Wailing Wall between our co-religionists and our Moslem fellow citizens. I myself paid a Jewish man two Turkish piasters per day, during my first year here, to sweep the thoroughfare leading directly to the Wall, but gave it up afterwards as the man complained of the untidy habits of the Arab neighbors who would throw their house refuse into the alley after he had swept it. The Orthodox women, I among them, often went into the little enclosure to say prayers, as many of the strictly observant Jews strenuously objected, then as now, to praying in the presence of women. No objection to this use of the enclosure was ever raised by anyone. Many women liked to pray where the beadle had a stand for oil lights, which were lighted in memory of one’s dead. Sometimes a particularly devout worshipper in the community or an important visitor, a Gaon for instance, would not like women to be in sight and then a screen would be put up. I never knew of any Moslem objection to this.”

GIVES RECORDS OF TRAVELERS

Turning to modern sources the memorandum takes up the records and reports of many travelers. Edward Robinson, an American scholar, wrote in 1841 that: “I went with Mr. Lanneau to the place where the Jews are permitted to purchase the right of approaching the site of their Temple, and of praying and wailing over its ruins and the downfall of their nation.”

Viscount Castelreagh relates in 1847 that: “We were shown the place to which the Jews repair to mourn over their departed glories—to the West of the Mosque of Omar … One corner is considered peculiarly sacred as being nearest to the spot occupied by the Holy of Holies.”

James Finn, British Consul in Jerusalem from 1845 to 1863 notes that: “I have experienced many acts of kindness from the Jews in the Holy Land. Among other affecting tokens of gratitude, individuals have on several occasions resorted to the Wailing Wall to pray for my children, and also for myself, in times of sorrow and sickness …”

The memorandum cites these records of the travelers as well as the reports of French guides and travelers’ directories to show that Jewish usage at the Wailing Wall was common and regular and seen by all travelers.

JEWS PRAYED FOR VICTORIA

A curious incident concerning the arrival of King Edward, then the Prince of Wales, in Jerusalem in June 1862, is recalled in the memorandum. The Prince received a deputation of Jews headed by the Chief Rabbi at the Wailing Wall and in his conversation with the Chief Rabbi inquired if he believed that the Wall by which they stood was a portion of the great work of King Solomon. Impressed by the Rabbi’s affirmative reply, the Prince requested him to offer a prayer for his mother, Queen Victoria. Later the Chief Rabbi followed this with an invocation that the late Prince Consort might rest in peace.

The memorandum also quotes the diaries of Sir Moses Montefiore who reported in 1866 after his trip to Palestine in that year, “that the Governor of Jerusalem during this visit kindly gave me permission to erect an awning for the ‘wailing place’ near the western wall of the Temple, so as to afford shelter and protection from rain and heat to pious persons visiting this sacred spot,” although this permission was later withdrawn.

The diaries of Sir Moses Montefiore are again quoted indicating that at the request of Sir Moses, prayers were said at the Wailing Wall in 1871 for the Prince of Wales who was ill.

Particular attention is called in the memorandum to a volume called “Tent and Testament” by Herbert Rix, published in 1907, in which he expressly states that there was a canvas screen separating the men from the women before the Wailing Wall when he was in Palestine. A picture of the canvas screen mentioned in Mr. Rix’s book is included in the memorandum. The memorandum also quotes Robert Hichen’s “The Holy Land,” which gives the customary description, adding how-