Every year, tens of thousands of worshippers visit the Western Wall during the [Hebrew] month of Elul for the traditional selichot prayers, especially for the central selichot events on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and the eve of Yom Kippur.  But this year, due to the restrictions, the prayers at the Western Wall will be limited to 2,500 people only.

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In order to abide by the required directives and preserve public health, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation decided that entrance during these dates will be with entrance permits chosen by lottery in accordance with regulations, thus preventing unnecessary grief among the many worshippers interested in coming to the Western Wall for selichot who would be disappointed not to be allowed in due to Health Ministry restrictions.

Selichot times when entrance will only be allowed with entrance permits:

From Thursday night, 21 Elul until (including) Erev Rosh Hashana, 29 Elul (September 10 – 18, 2020), and from the evening after Rosh Hashana, 2 Tishrei until (including) the day before Erev Yom Kippur, 9 Tishrei (September 20 – 26, 2020); a total of 13 days of selichot

Entrance permits for the Western Wall will be for 11pm until 1:30am. 
Please note that for the rest of the hours of the day, the Western Wall will be open based on availability, as it has been until now.

Registration for the lottery will open to the public on the Western Wall Heritage Foundation website at http://www.thekotel.org beginning on today- Thursday (September 3rd) until Sunday (September 6th) at midnight.  It will be done by entering complete details including ID or passport numbers.

* Anyone can register for any of the above selichot days and can register up to ten people under one name as long as all their relevant information is entered as well.

* Each person will have the possibility to win one entrance only for one of the selichot nights.

* The lottery will take place on September 7th under the supervision of The Western Wall Heritage Foundation’s lawyer and accountant.  The list of people who will receive entrance permits will be publicized on the Foundation’s website.  Likewise, announcements will be sent to the winners on Wednesday, September 9th.

* Entrance to the Western Wall Plaza will be conditioned on scanning the digital entrance permits along with presentation of each worshipper’s ID card or passport.  Children under 7 who appear on the ID card appendix do not require a permit.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation notes that on these days there will be live broadcasts from the Western Wall on the Western Wall website.  Whoever cannot physically come to the Western Wall will be able to watch and participate from home.