The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall or the Kotel, is a place of prayer and pilgrimage sacred to the Jewish people. It is located in the Old City of Jerusalem and is the only remains of the retaining wall surrounding the Temple Mount, the site of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem. The wall is considered uniquely holy by the ancient Jews and is the holiest site in Judaism. The Western Wall is the remnant of a retaining wall built by King Herod to support the expansion of the Second Temple complex in the first century. The wall dates from about the 2nd century BCE, though its upper sections were added at a later date. Jewish devotions there date from the early Byzantine period and reaffirm the rabbinic belief that “the divine Presence never departs from the Western Wall”.

The Western Wall plays an important role in Judaism due to its proximity to the Temple Mount. Because of the Temple Mount entry restrictions, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray outside the previous Temple Mount platform, as the presumed site of the Holy of Holies, the most sacred site in the Jewish faith, lies just behind it. The Western Wall is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Israel, attracting pilgrims, diplomats, and celebrities who come to pray and experience the palpable spiritual atmosphere of this sacred site. Many people have the tradition to write their own private prayers on small notes and place them into the cracks in the ancient stones of the Western Wall. More than one million prayers are placed in the Western Wall each year, and they are cleared out twice a year and buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem.