Egalitarian prayer section remains closed after huge Herodian-era boulder crashed down

Though archaeologists differ on whether a danger remains, the prayer section remains closed since a huge boulder crashed down onto the platform.

By: World Israel News Staff

The area near the Robinson’s Arch egalitarian platform at Jerusalem’s Western Wall remains a “danger zone” after a huge Herodian-era boulder crashed down on Monday.

The hefty boulder, said to weigh 100 kilograms, landed with a crash on a wooden platform at the Western Wall Plaza near a woman who was in the middle of praying at the site. The woman was shocked but was not hurt. The boulder made a huge whole in the deck.

The boulder fell from a Herodian-era section of the Western Wall, constructed by limestone blocks quarried two millennia ago.

Archaeologist Zachi Dvira, head of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, told Times of Israel on Monday, after inspecting the Western Wall, that the whole area is a “danger zone.”

Others quoted by the Times doubted that there was still a danger.

The boulder was transferred Wednesday by the Israel Antiquities Authority to the care of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which will be responsible for examining and preserving the stone until a decision is made regarding its future.

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz will discuss possible options with engineers from the Antiquities Authority, after which he will hold a Jewish legal discussion on the matter with a number of other rabbis.