DESCRIPTION:
HaKotel = The Waling/Western Wall;

Sung by The one 'N only - The late Israeli Singer Ofra Haza.

Lyrics - Translation:

A girl stood facing the kotel (western wall)
She drew her lips and chin close to it.
She said to me, the shofar's blasts are strong
But the silence is even stronger.
She told me: Zion, the Temple Mount
She was silent, about the reward and the right.
And what shone on her forehead at evening
Was the purple of royalty.

The kotel - moss and sadness.
The kotel - lead and blood.

There are people - with a heart of stone.
There are stones - with a human heart.

The paratrooper stood at the kotel.
Of his whole division - the only one.
He told me that death has no image
But it has a diameter -
Nine millimeters only.
He told me, I'm not shedding tears
And again lowered his glance.
But my grandfather, God knows,
Is buried here, on Har Hazeitim (the Mount of Olives).

The kotel......

She stood, dressed in black, at the kotel.
The mother of one of the infantry soldiers.
She told me, it's the eyes of my son that are shining
And not the candles on the wall.
She told me: I'm not writing
Any note to hide between the cracks.***
Because what I gave to the kotel only last night
Is greater than any words or writing.
--
Amda na'ara mul hakotel
S'fatayim keirva v'santeir.
Amra li, t'kiyot hashofar chazakot hein
Aval hash'tika od yoteir.
Amra li, Tziyon, Har Habayit
Shatka li, hag'mul v'hazchut.
Uma shezahar al mitzcha ben arbayim
Haya argaman shel malchut.

Hakotel - eizov v'atzevet
Hakotel - oferet vadam
Yesh anashim - im lev shel even.
Yesh avanim - im lev adam.

Amad hatzanchan mul hakotel
Mikawl maklachto, rak echad
Amar li, lamavet ein dmut
Ach yesh koter -
Rak tish'a millimeter bilvad.
Amar li, eineni domei'a
V'shav v'hishpil mabatim
Ach saba sheli, Elohim hayodei'a,
Kavur kan b'Har Hazeitim.
Hakotel.....

Amda bish'chorim mul hakotel
Imo shel echad min hachir
Amra li, einav na'ari hadolkot hein
V'lo haneirot shebakir.
Amra li, eineni roshemet
Shum petek litmon ben s'dakav
Ki ma shenatati lakotel rak emesh
Gadol mimilim umik'tav.
___________
The Western Wall (Ha-Kotel Ha-Ma'aravi) in Jerusalem is the holiest of Jewish sites, sacred because it is a remnant of the Herodian retaining wall that once enclosed and supported the Second Temple.
It has also been called the "Wailing Wall" by European observers because for centuries Jews have gathered here to lament the loss of their temple.
The Western Wall Plaza, the large open area that faces the Western Wall, functions as an open-air synagogue that can accommodate tens of thousands of worshipers. Prayers take place there day and night, and special services are held there as well.

HISTORY
The Western Wall was built by King Herod in 20 BC during his expansion of the Temple enclosure, and is part of a retaining wall that enclosed the western part of Temple Mount. According to the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus, construction of the walls took 11 years, during which time it rained in Jerusalem only at night so as not to interfere with the workers' progress.
In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple. During the Ottoman Period (beginning in the 16th century), the wall became the Jews' chief place of pilgrimage, where they came to lament the destruction of the Temple.
For centuries, the Western Wall was located in a narrow alley just 12 feet wide that could accommodate only a few hundred densely packed worshipers. But in 1967, immediately after the Six Day War, Israelis leveled the neighboring Arab district to create the Western Wall Plaza, which can accommodate tens of thousands of pilgrims.
At the same time, the Israelis made the wall about 6 1/2 feet higher by digging down and exposing two more tiers of ashlars (squared stones) from the Temple Plaza's retaining wall that had been buried by accumulated debris for centuries.