Is the Western Wall the only remaining portion of the Second Temple?
Upvote:2
Religious tradition indicates that the Western Wall is a relic of the Temple [Midrash Song of Songs, 2-9], although it is not clear in the text whether the Western Wall is actually part of the Temple or just part of the Temple Mount;
In more detailed descriptions of Jewish writings from the time of the house, the wall did not look part of the house but part of the mountain above it was the house [mishnaiot kodshim-midot]
Upvote:5
It's probably more correct to call it part of the Temple complex rather than of the Temple per se, but that's really a matter of definition. The Temple Mount, of which the Western Wall is one of the retaining walls,* is the outermost zone from which, according to Jewish law, certain impure people are excluded; on the other hand, for example, sacrifices can't be offered throughout the Temple Mount, only in a zone within that, called the Courtyard (azarah).
As you said, the Western Wall is in fact continuous with the other walls around the Temple Mount, and all of them seem to be of Herodian vintage or earlier. The special status of the Western Wall is based on various Talmudic and Midrashic statements that associate the Shechinah (Divine Presence) with the west in general, and with the western wall of the Temple in particular.
* There is a responsum by Rabbi David ibn Zimra (a prominent 16th-century authority on Jewish law) that appears to identify it as the wall of the Courtyard. However, the consensus of later authorities is that it's the wall of the Temple Mount.
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