RABBIS: PRAY FOR FAILURE OF PEACE TALKS

 

By Kobi Nachshoni

ynet

October 5, 2013-10-05

On backdrop of reports of progress made in negotiations with Palestinians, prominent religious Zionist rabbis call on public to say special prayer ‘for wholeness of the land’

Prominent religious Zionist rabbis are calling on the public to say a special prayer “for the wholeness of the land,” on the backdrop of reports of progress made in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and “the growing pressure on the prime minister to agree to additional withdrawals, Heaven forbid.”

In a “manifesto” issued by right-wing rabbis and national-religious yeshiva heads, they order worshippers to add to the Amidah prayer, which is said three times a day on weekdays, a segment written by the late former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu against the plan to “tear our ancestral land.”

The collective call to add a segment on the most important part of the morning, afternoon and evening prayer is not a conventional thing. It is usually done only at real times of crisis, like during drought. Now the public is urged to do so when saying the Amidah prayer, when opening the Holy Ark and while lighting Shabbat candles.

‘Protect and save us from our enemy’

The call will be published this weekend in the religious press and leaflets handed out at synagogues. It has been signed by Rabbis Chaim Druckman, Dov Lior, Shmuel Eliyahu, Dov Wolpe, Avichai Ronsky, Yehoshua Shapira and others.

“Our father, our king, nullify the schemes of our destroyers,” Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu’s prayer says. “Please merciful God, with your many mercies, annul severe decrees and don’t give your land to disgrace, to be controlled by gentiles. Protect and save us from our enemies, and give us the valour and courage to build and plant your holy land, and may we live to inherit our land.”

“For several months now, peace negotiations are being held around the demand for additional concessions of parts of the Land of Israel,” the rabbis wrote in their manifesto.

“We can see for ourselves that government ministers, deputy ministers and Knesset members are alarmed by disastrous plans as well, and are issuing statements these days focusing on one matter: The wholeness of the Land of Israel is in danger!”