Monday, March 30, 2009

Spring cleaning and a burial

One of the traditions of visiting the Kotel or Western Wall is putting a prayer or wish note into the cracks of the wall but have you ever stopped for a moment to think about what happens to the notes after one leaves? Ha’aretz provides the answer.
As masses of Jews begin intensive preparations for the upcoming Passover holiday, employees at Jerusalem's holy site, the Western Wall, have embarked on a spring cleaning of their own.

Western Wall workers have started to remove the thousands of notes left by visitors in the cracks of the wall - including U.S. President Barack Obama - filled with wishes and prayers.

The notes are removed using wooden sticks dipped in the mikveh, or ritual bath, supervised by the Western Wall's presiding clergyman, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. They will then be taken for burial, to make room for an upcoming year of written. requests
I never thought of burying a note...the imagery strikes me as a triffle odd, and then, it leads me to wonder what happens with the prayer or wish after burial?

2 comments:

Jim said...

I believe old Torah scrolls (that can no longer be repaired) are buried...

K. Shoshana said...

Absolutely with Torah or religious writings, its just that I gave little thought to the idea that notes would be buried too and there is a kind of beauty to burying them.