Post offices in Jerusalem are swamped every year with letters sent from all over the world and addressed to “God, Jerusalem,” “God, Israel” or “God, Holy Land,” and had in the past mailed them back to their senders due to lack of a specific address.
But Postal Authority Director-General Yossi Shelly said the letters will now be transferred to the Western Wall, where thousands of Israelis and tourists stick written prayers in between the stones every year.
The site's rabbi, Shmuel Rabinovich, has in recent years "delivered" notes from letters sent to the holy site, which Jews believe to be the remnant of the Second Temple. This initiative is dubbed “Letters to God.”
“Dear God. I pray you’ll help me get a better job, protect my marriage and bring love to my husband,” one letter stated.
Rabinovich and other officials at the site delivered letters from three large boxes within the wall on Wednesday.
‘My husband loves my dogs more than me’
Most of the letters come from Jews and Christians, mainly from Eastern Europe but also from Israel, the United States, Australia, Uruguay, China, Kenya and Hong Kong. The majority of notes arrive around the holidays, especially Easter and the Jewish New Year, the Postal Authority said.
A note written by a Christian woman stated: “I need a serious prayer for my family and special prayers for my depressed daughter and son who suffers from a drug addiction.”
Other notes were more eclectic, the Postal Authority said, citing one where a person asked God to help him cheat on his matriculation exams, a prayer from a woman concerned that her husband loves their dogs more than her, a man who wanted help losing weight and a soldier praying to be accepted into an officer’s unit.
An Israeli child wrote: “My special heartfelt request is that no one will die.”
