Fast Fact #42
The Kotel, a.k.a. the Western Wall, is one of four retaining walls of the Temple Mount that survived the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The 11th-century poet Ahimaaz ben Paltiel is credited with the earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term “hakotel hama’aravi” (the Western Wall) to describe the section that’s visible today. His ancestors were captives whom Titus brought to Rome after destroying Jerusalem.