God, c/o Western Wall, J'lem, Israel

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
It was not your typical mail drop. Postal workers on Wednesday dropped off hundreds of pieces of mail addressed to God at the Western Wall. The letters, which were amassed at a nondescript Jerusalem post office over the last several months, came from people of all faiths and from all corners of the world, including some from predominantly Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia. Some were adadressed to "God," others to "Jesus," while others simply read "Western Wall" in a variety of languages including French, Hebrew, Russian and English. Most of the letters, which are put between the ancient stones at the Western Wall twice or three times a year, did not carry a return address. Out of courtesy to the writers, the letters to God are generally not read by postal workers, who only open them and slip them into the wall's crevices with the help of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. Rabinovitch said people of all faiths were welcome to offer prayers at the wall, because the Temple was intended to be a house of prayer for all nations. "People who write are in dire need of help, with some asking for a good job and others asking for world peace," said veteran postal worker Ahuva Cohen. The letters are collected at a sorting station at the city's Givat Shaul post office in large white bins reading "Letters to God" in Hebrew and English. Over 1,000 letters arrive in Jerusalem yearly, with the bulk of them coming before the Jewish and Christian holidays, Israel Postal Authority spokesman Yitzhak Rabihiya said. The letters are removed from the crevices of the Western Wall twice a year, before Pessah and Rosh Hashana, to make room for new ones, a spokesman for Rabinovitch said.