Prior to Rosh Hashana 5783 at the Western Wall: Rise in number of visitors and prayer notes

Prayer notes that had been placed between the stones of the Western Wall were removed this morning (Tuesday) as is customary prior to the new year.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation: “On the eve of Rosh Hashana 5783, we can report on a blessed rise in visitors from Israel and from around the world at the Western Wall as well as in the New route of the Western Wall Tunnels “The Great Bridge” and the New visitors Center “The Chain of Generations”, as well as a rise in the amount of prayer notes placed these past six months between the stones of the Wall. This is a peak never before seen at the Western Wall.”
The notes are collected using disposable wooden utensils and placed in earmarked geniza containers. The notes were collected in special bags and will be ritually buried along with other sacred books that are transferred for geniza to the Mount of Olives.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, accompanied the note removal personally, as he always does, and prayed for the tens of thousands of visitors who had written their prayers in these notes.
The custom of placing notes in the Western Wall was documented over three centuries ago by the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh. The prayer notes are placed all along the Western Wall, including between the stone courses exposed in the Western Wall Tunnels.
Hundreds of thousands of notes are placed by visitors and worshippers in the Wall. In addition, this past year, about thirty-thousand notes were sent through the website from all around the world, including: the U.S., Slovakia, Brazil, South America, Colombia, Germany, Holland, Canada, England, Russia, Venezuela, Ukraine, Indian, Mexico, Argentina, and Taiwan.