Image by wikicommons

Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Sunday was cleared of notes sent to God by worshippers, making room for new pleads-on-paper to be put into the cracks of the ancient stones.

Millions of people a year visit the Western Wall and leave written prayers on pieces of paper which they wedge into the cracks of the wall.

Shmuel Rabinowitz, chief Rabbi of the Western Wall, says it is important to make sure there’s always room for future notes.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“As you can see there are millions of letters that are wedged inside the Western Wall. These letters are prayers from Jews and non-Jews, this is a holy place, a place of prayer for everyone,” Rabinowitz told Reuters Television.

The contents of the letter are never read or fully counted by those who collect them, he says, but estimate that in each collection there are enough to fill about 100 shopping bags, each with thousands of notes.

The notes are later buried in Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, he said.

“We are taking out these letters from the Western Wall so that people can be able to make new ones. We protect the privacy of these letters, and we bury them in the ground,” Rabinowitz said.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount