Kvitel

[3] The writing, giving and reading of a kvitel is treated very seriously by Hasid and Rebbe alike, and is executed according to specific protocols.

[4] Kvitelach are also placed on the graves of Rebbes and tzadikim (plural of "tzadik," or Jewish holy man) with the hope that the soul of the deceased will intercede for the petitioner in Heaven.

[5] It is a centuries-old custom for Jews to place kvitelach containing personal prayers to God between the stones of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

This practice is not mentioned in the writings of the early kabbalists, nor in the works of the school of Isaac Luria (1534–1572), the father of modern Kabbalah.

This personal appearance of the Jew before Moses, the tzadik (Jewish holy man), foreshadowed the ceremony of the giving of a kvitel by the Hasid to his Rebbe.

[11] In Hasidic courts, the kvitel is inscribed with the names of the petitioner and his family members, along with their specific requests.

It was said of the Bohusher Rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchok Friedman, that when he read a kvitel, he put his whole being into the piece of paper before bestowing his blessing.

[22] The Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, was known to scrutinize each kvitel and point out errors in the writing of names of people he had never met.

"[22] When Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, the Belzer Rebbe, was hiding from the Nazis in the Kraków Ghetto in 1942, he accepted a kvitel from one of the men who was assigned to protect him.

[24] It was said of "great Rebbes" that in their presence, petitioners would be struck with awe and would accidentally hand over a blank piece of paper instead of the kvitel.

[16] In the court of Vizhnitz, it was known that if the Rebbe asked for a cigarette to smoke in the middle of reading a kvitel, it was a sign that the petitioner's request had been accepted.

[25] It is a common practice for Hasidic Jews to place kvitelach on the gravesite of a Rebbe or tzadik with the belief that the soul of the deceased will pray for them in Heaven.

[8] The practice of placing prayer notes in the Western Wall has also been adopted by Christian pilgrims and people of other faiths.

[7] Foreign dignitaries who have publicly placed a kvitel in the Western Wall include Pope John Paul II in 2000,[33] U.S.

[36] Pope Francis inserted a handwritten Spanish language text of the Lord's Prayer in the Wall during his visit in 2014.

Twice a year, Rabbi Rabinovitch and his assistants collect the hundreds of thousands of kvitelach left in the Wall and bury them in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.