Tonight and tomorrow, Jews worldwide will commemorate Tisha
B'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both Temples in
Jerusalem as well as other calamities throughout Jewish history.
Jews in Jerusalem have commemorated Tisha B'Av for centuries by
visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem and crying over the
Temple's destruction and the daily desecration of this holiest
of Jewish sites by the Muslims who built their mosques on its
site as a symbol of Muslim supremacy. But in 1948, for the first
time in recorded history, Jews could not visit the Wall. While
for the previous two years the British disallowed visits to the
Wall during the fast day, there were always at least a few who
managed to get through. In 1948, for the first time in the
history of the city, no Jews were allowed to live in the Old
City of Jerusalem and no Jews were allowed to visit. Old
Jerusalem was Judenrein. Dozens of synagogues had been destroyed
by the Jordanians within days of their occupying Jerusalem,
including the famous Hurva synagog