A very strange story was reported in the news yesterday evening, and has since gone through a few changes.

Supposedly, a yeshiva bochur at the kotel pulled out some of the notes in the cracks to see what people write. One of those scraps of papers turned out to be a check made out to the tune of $100,000!

I wonder who the check was made out to - cash? God? The Kotel?

The report initially came in through Ynet. According to the initial report, the fellow told his father who subsequently called Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel, and told him about it. Rabbi Rabinovitch said it was clearly a donation to the holy site. Obviously, he wanted the check.

That was the father. the son had other ideas. He checked with a lawyer and discovered that legally he could cash the check and keep the money. They tracked down the donor and found out that the check was real and the money was in the bank to cover it. I don't know why the donor told him that - maybe he thought God was calling. the donor should have seriously upset his check had been removed.

The fellow was advised to not talk to anybody until after he would cash the check.

The office of Rabbi Rabinovitch confirmed they had been contacted about such a story. he went on to condemn the act of removing it from the Wall.

According to Ladaat's reporting on the story, the father sent the check to the offices of Keren L'Moreshet HaKotel. They checked the check and the money will be going to the foundation to support and maintain the Kotel.

According to Kikar's report, the check was made out to "the Kotel". The office of the Keren says they had been told about it but have not yet seen the check. They later added to the story sayign it seems to be a practical joke, and criticized the yeshiva bochur for the prank, especially during the Nine Days.

The Bechadrei report says the police claim it never happened and the hone call to the Keren must have been a prank.