2,000-year-old Western Wall stones get cared for ahead of Passover

On a typical Jerusalem sunny day, the 2000-year-old stones of the Western Wall seem to emanate their own light, while a variety of birds quietly enjoy their nests between the cracks of the wall or fly over it, cawing loudly as they have been doing for centuries.

It was on one such day that conservators from the Western Wall Foundation and the Israel Antiquities Authority began the conservation work to get the site ready for the Jewish festival of Passover. As announced on Monday by the IAA, such works included injecting the stones with some special mixture to preserve and reinforce them.

“The Wall’s 2,000-year-old stones are subject to natural weathering and we are making sure to strengthen them,” Yossi Vaknin, IAA Head conservator in the Western Wall area. “Our routine biennial inspections enable us to track the condition of every single stone. We have an ‘identity card’ for each of the hundreds of stones in the plaza and monitor dozens of features.”The Western Wall’s stones are 2000 years old. (Yaniv Berman/IAA)

“Our most recent survey revealed that it was necessary to treat the ‘peel’, or outer layer, of several stones,” he added. “Our work on the historic wall is nondestructive. We do not drill into the stone, but delicately inject dissolved stone into the gaps and fissures. limestone-based grout is injected into the fissure as a liquid, and when dry, the crack is repaired. It is the best possible method of ‘healing’ the stones and the ultimate defense against weathering for the most important stones in the world.”

The operations are carried out with the approval of Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel. For this purpose, some 18 years ago, Rabinowitz held special consultations with several halachic authorities, including Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the head of Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox Jewry in Israel at the time.

The wall and its plaza are generally inspected twice a year, ahead of Passover and Rosh Hashanah, to prepare the area for the millions of visitors that in normal years pour to the sites.

“Over 12 million people visit the Western Wall Plaza each year,” Director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation Mordechai (Suli) Eliav said. “Although this year, in the shadow of Covid-19, people are increasingly ‘visiting’ the Western Wall virtually, we are already preparing for the return of visitors to the Wall,” he said. “The Western Wall Heritage Foundation is making every endeavor to preserve the Wall’s ancient stones and ensure its stability for the safety of worshipers and visitors.”“The Wall’s stones are subject to natural weathering and we are making sure to strengthen them,” (Yaniv Berman/IAA)

While awaiting for the visitors to come back, doves, ravens and swifts enjoy the relatively quiet times.

“The Western Wall is a unique ecological environment that supports its own life forms,” Vaknin explained. “A lot of plants have taken root in the Wall’s stones – particularly thorny capers, golden drops and golden henbanes.”

“As part of our conservation work, in recognition of the importance of the site’s unique flora and fauna, we also preserve this ecosystem while guaranteeing the stones’ stability, thus ensuring that the Western Wall will remain strong for at least 2,000 more years,” he concluded.