The heavenly decree was sealed: "The Holy Temple should be destroyed, and the Jews should be driven out of their land!" Then G-d said: "But the Western Wall should not be destroyed, so that there should always be a reminder that G-d's Glory resides there!"
The Jews could not and would not forget their Holy Temple. Every year on the ninth of Av, the Jews assembled at the Western Wall to pour out their hearts about the destruction, and to beseech G-d to rebuild the Holy Temple.
The Romans could not bear to see how resolutely the Jews kept to their religion, and how holy they regarded the Western Wall. The Romans hit upon a plan of how to remedy the situation; they issued an order that all gentiles who live in Jerusalem must dump their garbage daily near the Wall.
Day in, day out, the heap of garbage grew. Bit by bit the whole Wall was covered. The Jews mourned anew.
Many years went by. A very righteous Jew from outside of Israel came to Jerusalem to pour out his heart to G-d over the destruction. He walked through the streets of Jerusalem, seeking the Wall, but the could not find it. Everyone he asked shrugged their shoulders; they had never in their lives seen the Wall.
The Jew, however, did not give up hope. Day and night he looked for the Wall. Once, he came upon a huge hill of rubbish and wondered how so much garbage came to be accumulated at this place. He noticed a very old woman carrying a heavy sack on her back.
"Old woman, what are you carrying?" the Jew asked her.
"I am carrying a sack of garbage to throw on the hill."
The Jew inquired, "Do you have no room closer to home for garbage, that you are forced to bring it here?"
"It is an old custom for us to bring the garbage here. Once there stood here a huge stone wall that the Jews regarded as holy, so we were ordered to cover the wall." She emptied her bundle and returned home.
Tears poured from the Jew's eyes. "I will not move from here until I find a plan how to remove the dirt and reveal the Western Wall once more."
Suddenly an idea came to him. The Jew started back to town and whispered to everyone he saw: "They say that a big treasure lies buried beneath the hill of dirt over there."
He took a shovel and a bucket and began digging in the dirt. A short while later many more people arrived. The whole city of Jerusalem was aroused at the announcement of a huge treasure lying beneath the hill. They dug for a whole day till the upper stones of the Wall came into view. The sun set and the people went home to rest from their day's labor. The Jew then took out some golden coins, covered them with dirt and left.
The next morning, soon after dawn, there was an uproar by the hill. Someone had found a golden coin, and so did a second, and a third. The people started to dig with even more enthusiasm.
Every day they dug deeper and deeper. Every day a few golden coins were found. But, they were certain the real treasure lay at the bottom. The Jew spent his entire fortune on his mission to uncover the Western Wall.
For forty days the people dug around the Wall and sought the treasure. Finally the whole Wall was cleared of garbage. They did not find the treasure, but in front of their eyes a big stone wall appeared.
Suddenly a great storm broke out and a torrent of rain came down. It rained for three days, washing the Wall clean of any traces of dirt. When the people came out to see what they had unearthed, they saw a handsome wall with huge stones, some of them as much as ten feet high.
On the spot where Abraham brought Isaac to be sacrificed, where the first Holy Temple, built by King Solomon stood, and the second Holy Temple, built by Ezra and Nehemiah - on this very spot the third and final Temple will be built, when Moshiach comes.
From Talks and Tales
