The ancient custom of writing prayers to the Almighty and inserting the “kvittlach” in cracks between the stones of the Western Wall in Jerusalem has moved into the 20th century.
The Israeli government’s Bezek telephone company announced it has opened a special Fax-to-the-Heavens department. Now anyone, in Israel or abroad, can send a facsimile message to God by dialing a designated phone number in Jerusalem: 02-612-222.
The messages will be collected by a special Bezek worker and, when a sufficient number of messages have been received, they will be taken to the ancient Western Wall, the last remnant of to the ancient Western Wall, the last remnant of the ancient Temple.
There the notes will be inserted into cracks between the massive stones.
The new service costs the normal charge for a fax call, with no additional amount charged for the hand delivery to the Wall.
But customers should beware: Bezek gives no guarantee the message will be received by the addressee.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
