After being displayed in the Knesset and later at an exhibition in Ben-Gurion Airport, the Western Wall stone will now join its counterparts. The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation will return all Kotel stones currently displayed across Israel to the official genizah site (storage room for sacred texts and items) designated for stones from the Wall. The decision was made Tuesday during a special meeting at the office of the Rabbi of the Western Wall, attended by the Chief Rabbis, senior government ministers, and officials from the Antiquities Authority.
Western Wall Stones Are Not Museum Artifacts
During the meeting, rabbis emphasized that Western Wall stones are not museum pieces but sacred objects, and must be treated with the dignity due to the holiness of the Kotel. Prior to the meeting, participants toured the official genizah site, where dozens of stones that fell from the Western Wall during the destruction of the Second Temple are already laid to rest.
Western Wall Stones
The decision includes the return of stones currently displayed at various locations around the country to their final resting site alongside other sacred stones. Among these are stones housed at the President’s Residence, the IDF headquarters, the Israel Museum, and storage facilities of the Antiquities Authority. One of the largest is the 5-ton stone currently on display at Ben-Gurion Airport.
It was also decided to uphold the sanctity of the genizah site itself, including fencing off the area and issuing public guidance to avoid handling or repurposing these stones.
The Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Eli Eskosido, clarified: “The Antiquities Authority will act on sacred matters in accordance with the position of the Chief Rabbinate, which holds that all the stones should be returned to genizah beside the other Western Wall stones.”
