Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

A day before Tisha B’Av, a large Jerusalem stone falls at the Western Wall

A comment on Israeli society, or an odd coincidence?

Was it a historical metaphor, a comment on current affairs, or just a strange coincidence? 

The day before Tisha B’av, the day on which the Jewish people mourn the destruction of Jerusalem, a piece of ancient Jerusalem stone roughly the size of a brick fell onto the prayer area in front of the Western Wall during prayer services.

The stone that fell at the Western Wall. Courtesy of the Western Wall Heritage Association

With Jews around the world already on edge and preparing to observe the first Tisha B’Av since Oct. 7, the fallen stone could be read as ominous — or fortunate, as no one was injured in the incident. 

But Jews, and Israelis in particular, have been bracing for another stone to drop — a looming attack vowed by Iran and Hamas in retribution for the July 31 assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the terrorist group’s leader, in Tehran. (Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the assassination.)

Widely considered the holiest site in Judaism, the Western Wall is believed to be the last remaining outer wall of the Second Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and dates to Herod’s refurbishing of the Temple complex around 20 B.C.E. Today, prayer services are held there throughout the day, and early-morning prayer services were being held when the stone fell from the Machkameh Wall, which abuts the Western Wall to the south.

According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the Makhkameh wall was built around 700 years ago by the Mamluks. Engineers who visited the site said the wall was not a structural risk.

In addition to the destruction of both Temples, Tisha B’Av commemorates a number of ancient Jewish tragedies, including the crushing of the Bar Kokhba revolt and the Biblical testimony of the 12 spies.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.