The Western Wall rabbi has filed a police complaint against the administrator of a Facebook group called "Notes I found in the Western Wall," who has posted countless photos of notes purportedly torn from the crevices of the holy stones. For generations, Jews visiting the holy site have placed notes, often containing prayers, between the stones. Since they were never intended or expected to be read by other people, let alone uploaded to the Internet, the contents are sometimes intimate and touch upon the most personal, painful issues for the writer. The chief rabbi overseeing the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, said that he was "shocked" by the violation of worshipper's privacy and the desecration of a holy place. "The custom of placing notes in the Western Wall is an ancient one," the rabbi said, adding that the removal of these notes and their public dissemination was a "despicable act and a violation of the intimate covenant between man and his maker." Since the Western Wall is a public place, Rabinowitz explained, there is no way to protect the notes. "It is the personal responsibility of every human being to respect and honor the worshippers and to uphold their privacy," he said. Twice a year, Rabinowitz and his assistants collect the notes left in the Wall and bury them in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Meanwhile, in light of the police complaint and the media exposure of his Facebook page, the administrator, who goes by the name of Amos, has claimed that the notes on his page are fabricated and that the entire page is nothing more than a hoax. He also announced that he will close the page even though the number of "likes" has doubled since the media began reporting on the page on Monday.
