Western Wall Foundation cleans tens of thousands of prayer notes ahead of High Holidays

Tens of thousands of prayer notes sent from around the world and placed between the stones of the Western Wall (called the Kotel in Hebrew) over the past half-year were removed Monday morning ahead of the upcoming holidays. 

As every year, in preparation for the Fall holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot), also called the High Holidays, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation held the traditional removal of prayer notes from the stones of the Western Wall that had been placed over the past six months. 

The notes will be transferred to a designated burial site for disposal according to Jewish practice. 

The tradition of placing notes in the Western Wall goes back at least 300 years and predates the modern State of Israel by over two centuries. Jews traditionally pray for a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year. 

The removal of the prayer notes follows Jewish halachic guidelines, using disposable gloves and wooden utensils to preserve the sanctity of the place and the personal content of the notes. 

The notes are collected in special bags and buried with worn-out holy books, including prayer books, for permanent burial in a cemetery on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. 

In Jewish practice, any holy writings, especially those which contain the name of God, are not thrown into regular trash. Instead, they are placed in a special place called a genizah and later buried, similar to a human corpse. 

According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, hundreds of notes are sent every day through the foundation's website, along with hundreds of thousands of other notes that worshippers and visitors to the Kotel place throughout the year. 

The notes are usually collected twice a year, before Passover and before Rosh Hashanah, and taken for burial on the Mount of Olives. 

Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, offered a prayer for unity in Israel as the notes were collected. 

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation noted that among the notes received via the website this year were requests for peace and reconciliation from people living in countries hostile to Israel, including Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sudan, Jordan, Egypt and Kazakhstan. 

Over the past year, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation's website has received prayer notes from more than 140 countries and territories worldwide. Volunteers place these notes between the stones of the Western Wall. 

Recently, a Christian organization began offering the same service for Christians wanting to send prayers to the Western Wall, or other sacred sites in Israel. 

Alongside the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Ukraine, and Canada, notes were also received from surprisingly distant countries, including India, South Africa, Indonesia, Taiwan, Jamaica, Kenya and Nigeria.