JERUSALEM (JTA) — Workers at the Western Wall emptied the holy site of layers of notes from its cracks and crevices for the New Year.

The notes were removed Wednesday morning under the supervision of the rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich. The notes will be buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem.

Visitors to the wall traditionally write their prayers and hopes on pieces of paper and insert them into its cracks.

In addition to the notes that visitors place in the wall, the Western Wall Institute receives tens of thousands of notes through its website and by fax to be placed there, the office of the Rabbi of the Western Wall said in a statement.

The notes are removed from the wall twice a year, before Rosh Hashanah and Passover, using wooden sticks dipped in the mikvah.