15 December 2005
Yesterday, Israeli mailmen performed their semi-annual delivery of letters to God, which, like U.S. letters to Santa, are deemed too precious too discard, and in Israel, are instead placed unopened between the stones of the Western Wall.

Letters to God delivered to Western Wall in Jerusalem By The Associated Press God’s got mail. Postal workers on Wednesday dropped off hundreds of letters addressed to God at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. “This place is the holiest place for the Jews, and it is the first gate for prayers. That’s why a prayer in this place is important and these notes are important,” said Shmuel Rabinovitch, chief rabbi at the site. Advertisement The postal service sorts over 2 million pieces of mail daily, and inevitably some of those letters come addressed to the Holy Land, Jesus or God. Rather than consign the letters to bins of undeliverable mail, letters addressed to God are collected and deposited at the Western Wall a few times a year. The Western Wall is revered by Jews as a remnant of King Solomon’s Temple, and many people come to the wall to pray and slip notes with requests between the ancient stones. Rabinovitch said people of all faiths were welcome to offer prayers at the wall or through letters because the Temple was intended to be a house of prayer for all nations. Postal authorities consider the letters private conversations with God and do not open them. Letters come from all corners of the globe, including a few from predominantly Muslim nations like Indonesia.