The Kotel - Western Wall Wooden Box Sign

A digital rendering of the Kotel, the Western Wall (Hebrew: HaKotel HaMa'aravi) in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). Customizable text reading "Jerusalem" also appears.. For more than 2000 years Jews, have come to the Kotel to lament the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE and pray for its reconstruction. The Kotel, a small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Temple by Herod the Great. Visitors commonly place slips of paper containing written prayers to God into the cracks of the Kotel. This practice dates back as far as the early 18th century. Over a million notes are placed each year by both tourists and high-profile dignitaries visiting Israel from abroad. The notes are collected twice a year and buried in the Jewish cemetery on the nearby Mount of Olives.