There is an old Jewish tradition of writing one prayers and placing the  note in the Wall.

As the holiest site to the Jewish people where King Solomon’s Temple once stood, the Wall is the retaining wall that Herod built to enlarge the Temple Mount for the second Temple.  It is the closest place to the Holy of Holies where the Kohen Gadol, High Priest, performed the Yom Kippur service.  The holiness is palpable.

There is a kabbalistic tradition that all the prayers from around the world ascend to Jerusalem to the Wall and then ascend to Heaven.

So, it is a natural outpouring of prayer and emotion to write one’s missive on a kvittel, a note, and place it in the Wall.

Through the centuries, one symbol of the Jewish People has miraculously remained intact: the Western Wall.

During the 2,000 years of the Jewish exile and dispersion from Israel, many wars have been fought over Jerusalem. All told, the city has been destroyed and rebuilt no less than 9 times ― with each conqueror further attempting to obscure the glorious Jewish past.

But through the centuries, one symbol has miraculously remained intact: the Western Wall. It represents the indestructibility of the Jewish people.

Song of Songs 2:8-9

The voice of my Beloved! Behold it came suddenly to redeem me, as if leaping over mountains, skipping over hills. In His swiftness to redeem me, my Beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart. I thought I would be forever alone. But behold! He stands behind our wall, observing through the windows, peering through the lattices.

Midrash Rabba, Song of Songs 2:4

“Behold ― He stands behind our wall” ― this refers to the Western Wall of the Temple. Why so? Because God has sworn that it will never be destroyed.

Midrash Rabba, Exodus 2:2

Rabbi Eliezer said: The Divine Presence never departed from the Temple, as it is written, ‘For now I have chosen and sanctified this house so that My name shall be there forever and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days’ (II Chronicles 7:16)… Even when [the Temple] is destroyed, it remains in its sanctity… Even when it is destroyed, God does not leave it.

Rebbe Acha said: The Shechina (Divine Presence) will never depart from the Western Wall, as it is written, “Behold ― He stands behind our wall” (Song of Songs 2:9).

Midrash Rabba, Lamentations 1:31

When Vespasian had subdued the city, he assigned the destruction of the four ramparts to the four generals. The Western Wall was allotted to Pangar. Now it had been decreed by Heaven that this should never be destroyed because the Shechinah dwells in the west. The others demolished their sections but Pangar did not demolish his.

Vespasian sent for him and asked, “Why did you not destroy your section?” He replied, “By your life, I acted so for the honor of your empire; for if I had demolished it, nobody would know (in the time to come) what it was you destroyed; but when people look at the Western Wall, they will exclaim, ‘Behold the might of Vespasian from what he didn’t destroy!’”