JERUSALEM: Ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover the chief rabbi removes thousands of notes to God left by worshippers at the Western Wall

Record ID: 643415

  • Title: JERUSALEM: Ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover the chief rabbi removes thousands of notes to God left by worshippers at the Western Wall
  • Date: 6th April 2014
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (APRIL 06, 2014) (REUTERS) DOME OF THE ROCK AS SEEN ON TOP OF WESTERN WALL VARIOUS OF WORSHIPERS PRAYING AT WESTERN WALL VARIOUS OF WORSHIPER PUTTING NOTE INTO CRACK NOTES IN WALL'S CRACKS VARIOUS OF CHIEF RABBI OF THE WESTERN WALL, SHMUEL RABINOWITZ, USING STICK TO PUSH NOTES OUT OF CRACKS (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) CHIEF RABBI OF THE WESTERN WALL, SHMUEL RABINOWITZ, SAYING: "It is Pessach eve, people have in the past few months been placing their (notes with) requests from God. We pray so that God may heed their prayers. This is the place where King Solomon asked that every prayer, every request, of every person, 'that he may place his palms at this dwelling', so that God may hear his prayer." VARIOUS OF MAN USING STICK TO PUSH NOTES OUT OF CRACKS MAN REMOVING NOTES OUT CRACKS (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) CHIEF RABBI OF THE WESTERN WALL, SHMUEL RABINOWITZ, SAYING: "It is written in the Torah not to put iron on the alter on sacred things, iron is something that kills, iron is something that destroys. We use wood that is not something that desecrates, doesn't hurt, doesn't destroy, that is what they did at (the time of) the temple and that is what we do here." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE USING STICKS TO PUSH NOTES OUT OF CRACKS VARIOUS OF MEN CLEANING NOTES FROM THE GROUND MAN USING HIS HAND AND STICK TO PUSH NOTES OUT OF CRACKS (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) CHIEF RABBI OF THE WESTERN WALL, SHMUEL RABINOWITZ, SAYING: "This place is a sacred place to the Jewish people, and the Jewish people's notes. This is the wall of their tears. Generations upon generations had dreamed about reaching this place." VARIOUS OF CLEANING PROCESS
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA1F7U0CILD80J0IRSZSQ585KXA
  • Story Text: Jerusalem's Western Wall's chief rabbi cleared notes sent to God by worshippers on Sunday (April 6) from ancient cracks in the Western Wall, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Passover.
    Millions of people visit the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, every year, leaving written prayers on pieces of paper wedged into the cracks of the ancient stones.
    As chief rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz makes sure there is room for future prayers. Twice a year his team collect the hundreds of thousands of notes and bury them.

    "It is Pessach eve, people have in the past few months been placing their requests from God. We pray so that God may heed their prayers. This is the place where King Solomon asked that every prayer, every request, of every person, 'that he may place his palms at this dwelling', so that God may hear his prayer," said Shmuel Rabinowitz.
    Some letters are sent to the wall by fax or email -- often for a small fee.
    Rabinowitz said he places hundreds of letters a year received by the post office addressed simply to "God in Jerusalem".
    The men use sticks to prevent harm to the ancient stones, extracting thousands of small notes from the cracks in the wall.

    "It is written in the Torah not to put iron on the alter on sacred things, iron is something that kills, iron is something that destroys. We use wood that is not something that desecrates, doesn't hurt, doesn't destroy, that is what they did at (the time of) the temple and that is what we do here," added Rabinowitch At most hours of the day the Western Wall is lined with people deep in prayer. Many lean forward and touch their foreheads to the stones. With eyes closed, they whisper their wishes and kiss the wall when they have finished praying. Leaving notes of prayers and pleads, has been adopted by members of many faiths around the world.

    "This place is a sacred place to the Jewish people, and the Jewish people's notes. This is the wall of their tears. Generations upon generations had dreamed about reaching this place," said Rabinowitch.
    The Western Wall is a remnant of the compound of the Second Temple that was destroyed in 70 AD. It stands today beneath a religious plaza known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
    The entire wall stretches for about 500 metres (1,650 feet), although much of it is concealed underground. The exposed part where people gather to pray is about 50 metres (165 feet) long and about 15 metres (50 feet) high. Israel captured the Western Wall together with Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.
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