The Wall

Jerusalem, Israel
October 1999:

This Israeli soldier stands guard atop the wall surrounding the three great monotheistic religions' holiest of shrines. Known to the Jews as the Western Wall or ha-kotel ha-ma'aravi and to Christians as the Wailing Wall or El-Burak to the Palestinians, the wall represents massively important events in these three religions. The wall is the only remaining structure of the original temple which was built by Solomon and later destroyed and then rebuilt by King Herod. The Muslims revere the sight for their story goes that Mohammed tethered his horse there when he left for his "night journey to heaven". This wall forms the base for another very important landmark in the three faiths, the Dome of the Rock or Haram esh-Sharif.

To get to this point on the way to the sacred sights, one must pass through a gauntlet of metal detectors and pat-downs by M-16 wielding soldiers. Tension is high and faces are usually long.

Below, we see the segregation of Jewish men from women praying at the wall. Small pieces of papre are inscribed with a prayer and inserted into the cracks of the ancient building blocks...I delivered two one evening...