Amid pandemic, Western Wall cleared of notes in pre-Passover cleaning

Despite the pandemic, the Western Wall undergoes a semiannual cleaning ahead of Passover, with notes cleared from its stones by workers wearing gloves.

“Ahead of the Passover holiday, we continued the tradition and this morning the prayer notes that were buried in the Western Wall’s cracks in the past half a year were cleared, with the use of gloves and disposable wooden utensils,” the authority that oversees the holy site says in a statement. “The notes were gathered in sacks and will be buried with holy books… on the Mount of Olives.”

In the statement, it says 18,000 notes have been sent to the wall via internet since Rosh Hashanah in the fall.

The Western Wall rabbi supervises the ritual and issues a special prayer for those ill with the virus.

“In these difficult days, in which the plague is spreading around the world and threatening our lives, we are gathering the prayers of the entire world from the remnant of our destroyed Temple, with a prayer to the creator of the world that he send us a full recovery and sound health, and save us from this difficult virus that is plaguing us,” says Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch.