Notes to be burried
Photo: Reuters
Western Wall prepares for Passover
Workers begin clearing out thousands of prayer notes left between ancient stones ahead of holiday. Wall's rabbi tells Ynet notes are buried in Mount of Olives: 'We make sure no one reads them'
Passover is coming, and even the Western Wall is being prepared ahead of the holiday. On Sunday, Western Wall employees began clearing out the thousands of notes placed between the wall's ancient stones.
The notes are cleared from the wall twice a year, under the supervision of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, and buried in the Mount of Olives.
Collecting notes under Rabbi Rabinovitch's supervision (Photo: Reuters)
"Twice a year we remove the old ahead of the new and clean out the notes buried within the Western Wall. These are large amounts, partly due to the large number of people that visit the site during the year and also because of the technological means that enable us to pass on requests from all over the world," the rabbi told Ynet.
"Western Wall employees collect the notes in large bags, and out of respect bury them in the Mount of Olives. They are extracted with wooden sticks instead of metal ones so as not to damage the holy stones," Rabinovitch added.
"We, of course, make sure that no one reads the notes before they are buried. So as not to disturb the worshippers, the process is carried out during relatively slow hours at the Wall, and not in the busy hours, so the process takes three days."
