The Internet provides tremendous opportunities for reaching out at levels never before possible. It also provides the ability to be unique and creative in all sorts of realms in life. When these two opportunities are combines and taken advantage of, the results can be amazing.

Alon Nir, a 25 year old guy working on a secondary degree in economics, was interested in behavioral economics, internet based entrepreneurship, and of course - making a change. One day Alon comes up with the idea of how he was going to make this change - he joins Twitter and offers a service - tweet your prayers to the Kotel, with his twitter name being @thekotel. This also led to Alon opening his own website, called Tweet Your Prayers.The truth is the service is not SO unique, as for years already you could have sent in various ways prayers to the Kotel - fax, chabad, thekotel website, etc. However, the medium and form used was unique, and the energy brought to the project was especially unique.

I have found Alon to be an intriguing person with an even more intriguing project. Over the time I have followed him and his project, Alon has been interviewed in news media around the world, his story has been carried all over the place, and he has touched thousands upon thousands of people, giving them the opportunity to have their prayers sent to the Kotel from wherever they are.

Among all the interviews I have read with Alon, the questions always seemed pretty similar, and I had questions I would have liked to have seen asked but they never were. I asked Alon if he would be open to an interview, and he happily obliged.

So here goes, the interview with Alon, a.k.a @TheKotel...


@TheKotel: Thank you for asking me questions I was not asked before! Had been interviewed dozens of times - and finally - new questions!

1. How much of your time does this project take up? Are you able to keep your regular job while doing the Kotel Project?

@TheKotel: It consumes a lot of my time, a great portion of it. I was not able to hold a steady job and do the Kotel in the same time. I decided to go with Tweet Your Prayers because I realized that I was fortunate enough to be given such an amazing opportunity, an opportunity to help many, touch lives, and make a change. Money has been tight, I'm still living with my parents and have to borrow money to make University payments. In October I had to forgo going to a conference in LA, in which I was asked to speak and present TYP, and there's another conference in NYC in April, and I hope to be able to make it there. If anyone out there can help in any way, help is direly needed and would be immensely appreciated.


2. Of all the possible altruistic projects a person can take up, how did you come to tweeting prayers rather than a soup kitchen or assisting the elderly, for example?

@TheKotel: That's a good question. I'm an internet savvy guy, and have been involved in different online activities for a good few years now. I guess it was just natural for me to give from myself through an internet based activity. It's not the first time I've done something like that - I used to have a website that encouraged people to live "greener" lives by suggesting small, hardly felt, changes in their lifestyles and presenting them with the monetary incentives to do so. By the way, I also volunteer, on occasion, at a dog shelter in Tel-Aviv.

3. In the video of your presentation, I noticed that you do not appear to be religious - I didn't see a kipa - though of course appearances can be deceiving. Are you religious? traditional?

@TheKotel: This service has nothing to do with what I believe in - it's all about what the users believe in.

4. How often do you go to put the prayers in the wall? Does it get to be such a big project that it keeps you from your normal activities? or has this become your main activity?

@TheKotel: As mentioned, it takes a LOT of my time. Regarding your question, I think this post says it all: http://www.tweetyourprayers.info/2009/10/i-needed-a-bigger-box/

5. rubber bands - tape - what have you found to be the best way to keep them closed? How long does it take you - how many can you roll an hour?

@TheKotel: Regular adhesive or tape are my preferred solutions. Rubber bands are much more time consuming and quickly hurt your fingers. Incidentally, if anyone needs 2000 rubber bands - I have a few left over :) .

6. What about privacy.. you read em - right? Are there any issues of people asking you to keep certain things private? is there a promise of confidentiality? Are people concerned about you knowing their most private concerns?

@TheKotel: I take people's privacy and the sanctity of their prayers very seriously, and I don't read the prayers (mind you, some people prefer having their prayers out there for the world to see).

7. What is the most inspiring story you can think of, you can remember offhand, that you have experienced since you took on this project?

@TheKotel: There are so many, some of them I shared in the presentation I have (NOTE from RG: the video was embedded last week, and is embedded again at the end of the interview), and since then more amazing things happened. Feel free to mention any of the stories I spoke about in the "keep the faith" part of my presentation (especially the first two).

8. In what way has this Kotel project affected you the most on a personal level?

@TheKotel: It has completely changes my life and touched me deeply. I can express in words how grateful I am that all this happened. Whatever happens to me in life next, I will always know that when I was 25 I created something that touched literally thousands and thousands of people worldwide. I'm so happy for giving people hope, self-belief, confidence. I also know that one person can truly make a difference and that we should never think that our capabilities are limited. Look at me - with a 89 cents investment I created something that made worldwide news and gave thousands a service they will remember and cherish for a long time. I just hope I'll manage to keep going (as mentioned, money is tight) and spread my message to as many people as possible. I encourage all of the readers to watch the video of my presentation - and they'll know what message I'm talking about.

9. How do you find enough cracks in the wall in which to stuff all the thousands of notes?

@TheKotel: take a look at the photos - there's one big crack that can fit a whole lot of notes :)

Check Alon out on Twitter, at Tweet Your Prayers, watch his videos, peruse the many pictures of "The Kotel" activities on his website, donate to his project (via his website), and most of all, Alon's message is be inspired to make change in the best way you can. You can also contact Alon by email at tweetyourprayers@gmail.com