An Israeli university student has opened a Twitter site where visitors can tweet private prayers to be placed in the crevices of Jerusalem's Western Wall, a Jewish holy site that faithful believe provides a direct line to the Almighty.
"I take their prayers, print them out and drive to Jerusalem to put them in the Western Wall," Alon Nir, a resident of Tel Aviv, told Reuters.
Nir's Web site, twitter.com/thekotel, allows followers to send him their short prayers — each no more than 140 characters long — which he then promises to deliver on a regular basis.
Nir now has his hands full, with hundreds of new followers every day. He's already placed about 1,000 rolled up scrolls between the giant stones of the Western Wall, he told Reuters.
Several charitable services deliver prayers sent by e-mail, text message or fax to be wedged into the wall, which receives about 1 million hand-written notes every year, but Nir said he feels a duty to properly handle the prayers through the microblogging service.
"People trusted me with their innermost feelings and secret thoughts ... and it's my duty to provide them with what I promised," he said.
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