Prayer notes were removed from the Western Wall on Wednesday, as is customary every year ahead of selichot (penitential prayers) and the High Holy Days.
The notes were removed using single-use wooden tools and placed in geniza (hidden away) containers. The notes were then collected in special bags and will be buried along with other sacred books and documents on the Mount of Olives.
Accompanying the note removal was Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, who accompanies the note removal every year and prays for the thousands of visitors who have placed their notes among the cracks in the wall.
The custom of placing prayer notes in the Western Wall dates back at least three centuries, and every year, thousands of notes are placed all along the walls, even between stones uncovered in the Western Walls Tunnels.
An average of 3,500 prayer notes are sent via the Western Wall Heritage Foundation's website. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 alone, 100,000 notes have been sent from all over the world, including Jordan and the UAE.
Starting Thursday, the Western Wall Plaza will be divided into prayer capsules, and during selichot, entry will be permitted for no more than 10,000 worshippers at a time.
