Tweet Your Prayers @TheKotel » Western Wall

As real as it gets

Alon — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:31:41 +0000

Shalom all!

I know many of your don’t have the luxury I’m fortunate enough to have – to have Holy Jerusalem within reach!

I found these amazing spherical virtual tours and I think this is as close as one can get without actually being in the Western-Wall! I hope you enjoy them! Play around with your mouse on the virtual Western-Wall below!

Blessings from the Holy Land,

Alon

The Kotel in 1870

Alon — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:10:37 +0000

Shalom everyone!

I was pleasantly surprised to find an amazing picture on Wikipedia. It’s a picture of the Kotel (the Western-Wall) taken in 1870! 140 years ago! Imagine that!

Here is the photo (since so much time has passed, it is in the public domain.

(Click to enlarge)

(Source)

I can day dream for a long time while looking at this picture, trying to imagine all the changes that happened in the world in the 140 years since this picture was taken, and all the changes in the near proximity of the Kotel.

One thing that did not change, and always intrigues me, is the shrubs growing and blooming from the crevices. For at least 140 years they’ve been there – never died, never changed. Here is a picture I took at the Kotel myself not long ago (click to enlarge):

Take your time and let your imagination carry you when you think about the changes the Kotel has “seen” in all these years, and how the shrubs remained every-green.

Blessing from the Holy Land,

Yours,

Alon

A Present for Passover

Alon — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:13:35 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyJX2SRPYns

Free app now available! Please install, rate & comment!

NHK News Story

Alon — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:02:37 +0000

Shalom everyone!

On October 15th I was interviewed by Japan’s #1 TV station – NHK. The crew and I also went to Jerusalem together, where they filmed me placing your prayers in the Western-Wall.

When they interviewed me on my home court, they wanted to show me ‘in action’ so they asked me interact with my followers on Twitter (which means, you!). The story was broadcasted a few weeks ago in Japan, and this is what the Japanese population saw:

If you look closely (click on any photo to enlarge), you’ll see me tweeting you guys and asking to say Hello to NHK TV.

Then, they showed your reactions:

and:

The NHK crew was completely surprised when they saw the dozens of tweets that greeted them hello. I think it’s pretty nice to see this interaction between you – the people who consume media and manufacture “New Media” – and the “Old Media”, like the TV stories.

Here are a couple more pictures from that day:

Here you can see the end-result – The river of blue prayers inside the Western-Wall:

and here’s the camera-guy making sure he has this blue river on video for the Japanese people to see:

Thanks everyone for interacting with me in front of the cameras!

All the best from the Holy Land,

Yours,

Alon

One Kotel, Many Prayers (Pictures)

Alon — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:11:30 +0000

Shalom everyone!

Last Thursday’s trip to Jerusalem was one of the most fun I’ve had. There was such a festive atmosphere there, with many Bar-Mitzvah celebrations, and no one could stay nonchalant.
Here are a few pictures from last week’s ride to Jerusalem. Many beautiful pictures from Jerusalem will be added to the Gallery section soon!

Click on any photo to enlarge.

First thing’s first – arriving to the right place!

Taking your prayers to the Kotel itself:

…and making sure the Kippa (Yarmulke ) sits securely on my head:

Looking for my special niche in the Western Wall…

…and finally getting set up:

many minutes and many prayers later that day…

More pictures to come!

If you can, please consider helping out by making a donation:

Best regards from the Holy Land!

All ready for tomorrow :)

Alon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:57:50 +0000

VIDEO – Placing your prayers!

Alon — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:26:38 +0000

Shalom everyone!

It took me a long time to edit and upload to the web, but I think you’ll enjoy the end product. Here’s a 2 minute clip my friend Dan and I shot at the Western-Wall some time ago, when we took 3,812 prayers with us.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgDYALck0z8

What do you think?

Yours with love from the Holy Land,

Alon

Pictures from the Western Wall

Alon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:53:56 +0000

Shalom all!
A couple of weeks ago I took another box full of your prayers to the Kotel (the Western Wall) and stashed them in the crevices of the Wall. Along with me was a crew of the Japanese TV station NHK. If you send your prayer between the 1st and the 14th of October – than your prayer is in these photos!
Here are some of the pictures I took, you can click your mouse button on any of them to enlarge:

All your prayers in a nice wooden box:

I love the way the prayers form a ‘blue river’ of paper:

Here’s the camera man making sure he has a good shot of the ‘river’:

And finally, mission accomplished:

If you can help, please consider making a donation to help keep this service operational. Click on the button below:

I needed a bigger box

Alon — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:59:15 +0000

Shalom all!

Yesterday, Friday the 2nd of October, I was in Jerusalem with my childhood friend Dan, who is currently visiting Israel. We toured Jerusalem and the first stop was obviously the Kotel (the Western Wall). We took a lot of pictures and videos, some of them very special and exciting; I will sort the files soon and share them with you on this site. I also have a couple of surprises I think you’ll like . In the meantime, until I have everything sorted, I’ll share just two photos with you.

As you may remember, the first time I took prayers to the Kotel, I carried them in this box:

Now, yesterday, even though each prayer was made from a smaller piece of paper, I needed a slightly bigger box. Observe:

Would anyone like to guess how many prayers are in the box? The closest guesser will win a special prize.

As promised, I’ll upload more pictures and videos soon.

Take care and have a good weekend!

Alon

UPDATE Oct. 5th: OK, it’s time to reveal the actual number of prayers + announce the winners. I must say I enjoyed the past two days. This game was fun and I hope to find more of these kinds of joyful games. Are you ready? (drum roll please)

First, the people who guessed the closest are:

John Henry Bourke who guessed 3,876 prayers.

Karaleigh Salmi guessed 3,789 prayers (she also guessed one million, by the way).

Denise Lange with a good guess of 3,850 prayers.

George Koprowicz who guessed 3,840 prayers.

And the actual number is… 3,812 prayers!

So, congratulations to the four of you who were the closest, and a special appreciation to George who was off by just 18!

You are each awarded one cookie, reedmable only in Israel. Actually, email me to discuss a somewhat better (yet still modest) prize.

Thank you all for participating, and feel free to suggest more ideas for games.

Best from the Holy Land,

Alon

Tweet Your Prayers in pictures

Alon — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:07:39 +0000

Shalom all!

I prepared this short blog post to show you, in pictures, how the prayer-processing looks on my end. Hope you enjoy:

1. Printing: After the prayers have been received, the next step is printing them. Fortunately, I posses the amazing one-of-a-kind prayer printer!

2. Rolling: When the printer has finished printing (or, the toner ran out), the pages are cut to strips using a utility knife. Then the strips are rolled into small scrolls. Here’s how it looks like when we’re just getting started:

And a good few hours later:

3. Driving: Now that the prayers are ready, it’s time to go to Jerusalem!(I should mention that this road-sign was photographed while I was at the passenger’s seat ):

4. Getting inside the Old City: We have arrived in Jerusalem. The Old City has a wall surrounding it, and the Jaffa Gate is the nearest place to go through:

We have reached the Western Wall – the Kotel! Here’s a picture of a wooden box filled with prayers with the Western Wall in the background:

Here’s a picture of me standing on a chair, sticking my hand inside the Wall:

And eventually…

These are just some of the prayers that were placed. At the end of the day, all the prayers from the box found their final resting place in the Western-Wall.

You can also watch the entire process on a video report Reuters made about me & TweetYourPrayers (Link).