Dozens of notes written by Holocaust survivors living in the US were placed in the Western Wall last week as part of a special event held by the World Zionist Organization and Holocaust Heroes Worldwide.
"Thank you God for helping me to escape living hell," read one of the notes, sent by Sally Doeman, a 95-year-old survivor who lives in Miami.
The notes, with prayers and requests written on them, were collected during the coronavirus pandemic from survivors living in Florida, most of whom have never been to Israel and will not be able to visit due to the pandemic and their age, according to a press release about the special event.
The event was broadcast on Zoom so that the survivors could watch from their homes. At the end of the event, the survivors spontaneously broke into song, standing and singing Israel's national anthem, “Hatikvah” (The Hope).
"We are happy for the privilege of allowing Holocaust survivors in the Diaspora to send requests and prayers to the Kotel and to be excited with them," said WZO Deputy Chairwoman Tova Dorfman.
"We are recognizing 80 years since the Nazis' 'final solution' to destroy the Jewish people – and when the last of the Holocaust survivors still living among us get to pray from near or far in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish state, it is a message of victory."