 According to Jewish Law , one is obligated to grieve and rend one 's garment upon visiting the Western Wall and seeing the desolate site of the Temple . Bach ( 17th century ) instructs that " when one sees the Gates of Mercy which are situated in the Western Wall , which is the wall King David built , he should recite : Her gates are sunk into the ground ; he hath destroyed and broken her bars : her king and her princes are among the nations : the law is no more ; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord " . Some scholars write that rending one 's garments is not applicable nowadays as Jerusalem is under Jewish control . Others disagree , pointing to the fact that the Temple Mount is controlled by the Muslim waqf and that the mosques which sit upon the Temple site should increase feelings of distress . If one hasn 't seen the Wall for over 30 days , the prevailing custom is to rend one 's garments , but this can be avoided if one visits on the Sabbath or on festivals . According to Donneal Epstein , a person who has not seen the Wall within the last 30 days should recite : " Our Holy Temple , which was our glory , in which our forefathers praised You , was burned and all of our delights were destroyed " . 
