Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Notes in the Kotel

It is a tradition, long in the making, to place a note with a prayer or wish, between the stones of the Western Wall, the last remaining part of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Each day, thousands come. Each day, perhaps hundreds of notes are left...space is finite while dreams and hopes are infinite.

How to solve this very real dilemna? Years ago, I saw a grounds-keeper cleaning the Western Wall late at night and he was removing some of the notes on the ground. I was saddened to think that it was his job to simply throw away the prayers of others, perhaps accidentally pushed out of their place as others came to insert their hopes.

No, he told me - each note is holy, each requires a blessing, he said.

What do you do with them, I asked.

Bury them in holy ground, he explained. God does the rest. I was almost afraid to believe him. Could it be true?

Today, before thousands are to arrive for the upcoming Passover holiday, this note was posted to Israel National News. Yes, this is Israel - and the prayers people bring to our holy land are honored. This is so Israel!

Notes Removed From Western Wall Cracks

(IsraelNN.com) Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and his assistants cleaned out the cracks in the Kotel of the thousands of notes placed in them by worshippers Tuesday.

The twice-annual removal of the notes makes room for additional written supplications to be placed in the wall, which is the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

The notes removed are buried in a Jewish cemetery.

No comments: