Could people help others at the wailing wall if people actually read the notes?

That might be well intentioned but the notes are left there for a reason and that reason isn’t to be read by others. They are prayers intended for God and God alone, placed at the most holy spot on Earth accessible to Jews.

And that is why you aren’t placed in a position of trust/confidence.

If those people wanted help from other people, they would ask their friends, neighbors, etcetera. But they are asking God. Not only that, but they are going out of their way to travel to THE Holy Site in order to deliver their message.

While I have no doubt you mean well, the simple truth is that Halakha (the Jewish law) specifically and explicitly forbids it. It’s not your note, and you are not God, so you have no right whatsoever to read it. In fact, its akin to taking the note from God’s hands as He reads it, and I don’t think noble intentions are enough to excuse being directly rude to God.

Maybe people could help others, but at what price? By desecrating their holy places, violating their laws, and disrespecting their deity? I’m sure they’d be thankful for your blasphemy.

Nice thought. It can’t be done because of the reasons mentioned above, but it’s a nice idea.

I would bet, but no way to know, that many notes at the wall are not things people can easily grant. Things like health, improving relationships with friends and family, asking for peace. I just doubt those notes are asking for money or material things except maybe shelter if someone is without it. Just a guess though.

They’re probably in Yiddish anyway, so you couldn’t read them, unless you speak Yiddish.

Probably in dozens of different languages.

Yiddish? I think there are only about a million people in the world who speak yiddish fluently enough that they would write in it. Maybe it’s more than I think.

Meh, just a big old wall of text.

Let’s put things it in perspective. In general people do not wish for things within their control. I’m willing to bet there are no wishes for something simple like a Red Ryder BB gun. But let’s say there was. Could you, would you, answer that request?
The Japanese have a similar tradition. They write wishes on paper at a temple (usually after making a donation). The wishes are burned to send them up to heaven, destroying the evidence and ensuring privacy.

Here is an interesting scheme. I wonder how much money they make in a year?

@LuckyGuy Hard to say, really. There are many legitimate organizations that facilitate e-mail/fax prayers to the Wailing Wall for free, so I imagine they don’t make as much as one might think. That said, I’m not 100% sure that particular one is legit, nor do I have enough interest in sticking my own note in the wall to separate the wheat from the chaff here.

@jerv Nowhere did it say individual notes were going in the wall. I’m guessing, and it is only a cynical guess, they have an app that collects all the messages over a period of time, day or a week, and they print them in one tiny piece of paper in 1 pt type. Surely God can read 1 point just as well as he can read 12 point. The tiny scroll is giving to someone who makes a regualr trip to the wall, and gets a small gift for his effort