 Some medieval rabbis claimed that today 's Western Wall is a surviving wall of the Temple itself and cautioned Jews from approaching it , lest they enter the Temple precincts in a state of impurity . Many contemporary rabbis believe that the rabbinic traditions were made in reference to the Temple Mount 's Western Wall , which accordingly endows the Wall with inherent holiness . Most secular scholars believe however that these traditions originally pertained to a western wall of the Temple itself , and since the 1500s , were gradually applied to the surviving retaining Western Wall of the Mount . 
