Normally packed with tens of thousands of worshipers, this year only 2,500 lottery-winners will be permitted to attend main Selichot events
During any normal year, the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem’s Old City is filled to the brim with worshipers ahead of the Jewish High Holy Days.
Among many customs associated with this festive period are Selichot, penitential prayers that are recited at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.
Tens of thousands of Jews – young and old, men and women, secular and religious – come from all over the country and from abroad, packing the plaza during the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
But with the coronavirus pandemic, this year is unlike any in recent memory.
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