The Western Wall of what?

This morning I drove over to a gorgeous Yorkshire market town to visit a primary school and talk to Year 5 (9-10 year olds) who had been learning about Judaism and had invited me as a guest speaker to address the class. As usual, I gave a little introductory spiel then invited questions. This group of kids were exceptionally engaged, curious and well meaning. And they were obsessed with the Western Wall. With the power of Google and an amazing smart screen, we were able to zoom in and look at pictures, maps old and new, and explore the current Jewish practices directed at the Western Wall (for example every synagogue's ark - where the Torah is stored - faces in that direction), or actually at the Western Wall (writing prayers and folding them into the crevices of the bricks) but when I asked them, "so what's it the Western Wall of?" no one could answer.

So I explained about the Temple, and then how it was destroyed, first by the Babylonians (in 586BCE) then rebuilt, then destroyed again by the Romans (in 70CE) and they were asking me about why it was destroyed, and was everything destroyed, and I explained that some of our stories are sad, and we're still sad about it now, and even have a day every year to cry about what happened (Tisha B'Av) but it's OK because it was a long time ago and we're still here and there's lots of amazing things about being Jewish too. But it's important for us to know our past, and the Western Wall is what is left of that ancient time, and it still holds such a crucial and powerful role for us today., and that's amazing....

And of course, of course we looked at a photo of the area from a distance, and we talked about the Abrahamic faiths, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Al Aqsa Mosque, and how beautiful and complicated the layers of history are for this tiny plot of land that is probably the same size as their school grounds....

And I could have gone on and on and on. The thing was, I was waiting for some animosity, some hint of something they'd heard, or seen in the past nine months to challenge me about what's going on now, and it just didn't happen.

They were open minded, open hearted, curious, confident, seeking expansiveness of understanding, not afraid to ask questions, and truly, deeply, listened to the answers.

However much these kids learned today, believe me, I learned more.