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Friday, November 16, 2012

War Prayers and War Halachot

Arutz Sheva:
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has called on Jews to seek divine protection as well as taking safety measures. He declared Friday that worshipers should say Psalm 83 for the safety of Israeli civilians and soldiers after opening the Aron Kodesh, both on the Sabbath and during the week, for the duration of the military operation.

In addition, he called to recite the Avinu Malkenu prayer, not said on the Sabbath, at the end of weekday morning services (Shacharit). The prayer beseeches G-d as “Our Father, our King” to show mercy and grant divine protection.
Also, at Arutz Sheva:
Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Former chief rabbi Ovadia Yoeph decided, Thursday evening, to hold a massive gathering of prayer for spiritual awakening and on behalf of the soldiers, Sunday afternoon at 4:00 at the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The chief rabbi said, "The people of Israel lives, and its success depends on its unity and faith." He sent out a prayer of recovery for the wounded and condolences to the families of those who were killed, concluding, "It's our duty, at this hour, to strengthen the residents of the south and our heroic soldiers in prayer."
Also there:
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Tzfat, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Friday about the relevant halacha (Jewish law) for observing the Sabbath during the ongoing rocket assault from Gaza.

He noted that during a time of war, Jews say the prayer, “Give thanks to G-d because his kindness is forever,” omitting the words “because it is good” that are usually said. “Why not say ‘because it is good’? Because it isn’t good.”

“We do our task because we have no choice, but it’s important to know that we do not love war,” he explained. “We want peace. But now, when we need to fight against villains like those in the Gaza strip, it is a positive commandment to fight them.”

Reservists who think they may be called to service should prepare a bag with the things they need before the Sabbath, including items not used on the Sabbath such as a mobile phone, Rabbi Eliyahu said.

Soldiers who have been called to service should do whatever they are asked to do in order to prepare. “Checking ammunition, [shooting on the] firing range – everything is allowed, even though he is not certain that his unit will go into Gaza,” the rabbi said.

“During the battle itself one must fight bravely with no mercy for the cruel, because those who are merciful to the cruel are ultimately cruel to the merciful,” he added.

Civilians living in southern and central Israel should set their radio to the quiet channel before the Sabbath begins, he said. Those in the north should not turn on the radio, even to the quiet channel.

“In general, one should continue life as usual – go to synagogue, etc,” Rabbi Eliyahu said. “If there is a rocket alarm one must take cover, even during the Amidah prayer. But in that case, stop praying, but silently, no talking. When the incident ends, return to the same place and continue from where you stopped.”

Everything needed in case of rocket alarms should be prepared in advance, he noted. If a family forgot to prepare a light for the reinforced room and must take shelter during the Sabbath, and children are crying because they are afraid in the dark, a child may turn the light on, he said.

Rabbi Eliyahu concluded with good wishes for the nation. “May G-d watch over and protect and save and take mercy on all of his sons and daughters, on the people of Israel, on all the soldiers. May He give wisdom and knowledge to the commanders to make the right decisions, courage to our leaders to protect the people of Israel without fearing the nations of the world at all,” he said.

8 Comments:

At Sat Nov 17, 11:12:00 AM 2012, Blogger Neshama said...

Thank you for bringing this important and relevant info to us. It would take me hours to collect all this. And I live in Jerusalem. I heard the siren go off after my husband was already in Shul, but honestly I wasn't afraid. HaShem is in control of everything. And if I had to I know to go into the stairwell on the second floor, away from a window. I also hope the 'leaders' allow our soldiers to get aggressive in going after the enemy. But I wish they would bomb more of their infrastructure to keep them busy for years!
Shavua Tov

 
At Sat Nov 17, 11:23:00 AM 2012, Blogger Neshama said...

I forgot to say that hearing gunfire is a regular happening every Friday night, coming from the Arabs that live near Har HaBayit. They have their weddings on Friday night.

 
At Sat Nov 17, 02:19:00 PM 2012, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Should we not pray for civilians in Gaza as well? Surely not everyone there deserves to be killed.

 
At Sun Nov 18, 06:59:00 AM 2012, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To "Anonymous": everyone who keeps bloodthirsty terrorists in his house or lets them use their civil buildings and infrastructure as ammunition and weapon stores is a fair war target according to the Geneva convention. Please get informed before issuing any personal opinion.

They are so barbarian and cruel that they use their own babies as shields, just to show the poor dead kids' bodies to the leftist media and blame Israel.

And, as a general note on the new "trend" of sending missiles to Jerusalem: I can't help but thinking that, as soon as the first rocket falls onto a Jewish home in the Holy City (Ch'v'Sh), one second later both stupid bubbles (yeah, you know what I'm talking about) will be blowing up in the air, and the Temple Mount is gone forever for them !!!!

P/S: now that the leftist liberals, "piece" lovers, gays and their boyfriends etc. are at risk of being targeted on the sunny lazy beaches of Tel Aviv, *NOW* i believe the Israeli Guv'mint will be compelled to take things more seriously. All these years while those pesky bearded black-hats and their wives and babies (why oh why so many babies!!!) were running for their lives into the shelters, that was not a big issue for the mainstream politicians.

What a sad picture of Am Yisrael !!

We must unite and be strong !!

R. Halevy
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

 
At Sun Nov 18, 10:05:00 AM 2012, Anonymous Anonymous said...

R. Halevy, you're living "there" (Rio de Janeiro) and I'm living "here" (Ramat-Gan).

I would ask you (politely) not to badmouth Am Yisrael as a whole in a time of war, especially in writing.

Maybe your energy would be better employed by praying.

Thank you very much in advance.

Your sister,

Avigail
Ramat-Gan, Israel

 
At Sun Nov 18, 10:22:00 PM 2012, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just like in times of old when Avraham sent Hagar away, Hagar flung her Yishmael under a tree and the creator heard the child's cry, so to is it now where they send their children as a sacrifice to the front lines yelling to the world for pity and the world listens, hopefully very soon the merit of Ishmael will expire and Hashem will act for his names-sake.

Let us humble ourselves in service to our G-D and thereby merit in experiencing the full redemption.

 
At Mon Nov 19, 12:04:00 PM 2012, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Sister Avigail,

Don't get me wrong, I feel no joy at all in criticizing my beloved brothers in Israel (not even the leftists, the liberals and the gays!!).

With a broken heart, I'm pointing to hard facts which show the utter division of the Israeli society into groups that barely communicate with each other.

I do pray for the life, integrity and survival of all Israel, and the fact that I'm presently "there" (i.e. in Galut) doesn't mean that my heart and thoughts are not in the Holy Land every minute of my life.

I have very dear relatives in Ashkelon and also in the Moshav Sde Boker. My eldest son has been already studying for 3 months in Jerusalem (planned stay: until January 2013) at the Yeshivat HaKotel through the Massah international program.

That said, I have great respect and admiration for everyone performing the mitzvah of dwelling in the Land, be they religious or not. What I find very difficult to accept is the deliberate action of those who call themselves our brothers but openly side with our enemies to destroy Israel from inside, using the very free speech and individual freedom granted by the State.

Hope to have clarified my viewpoint regarding such a delicate subject.

Shalom & be well,
R. Halevy

 
At Tue Nov 20, 06:10:00 PM 2012, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Brother R.,

Thank you for answering me. I have no doubt you are only animated with Ahavat Israel and I thank you for your prayers.

I was just trying to point out that, maybe, there are more opportune moments than a time of trouble like this one to insist on our People's shortcomings.

More, in such a time like this, nothing coming out of our minds or our mouths or our hands should be anything else than baseless love for each other, which is what HKB'H expects from us, especially now.

I hope I've made my intentions clearer :)

G-d bless you and all Am Israel, wherever they are.

Avigail

 

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