MOMENTUM IS BUILDING: 20 Knesset Members send letter to Israel’s chief rabbis, urging them to call National Day of Prayer on Monday

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Momentum is building to call all 10 million Israelis to participate in a corporate National Day of Prayer as early as Monday.

As of press time, the chief rabbis have not made any decision or announcement.

But well-placed sources tell ALL ISRAEL NEWS that the concept is actively being discussed, and we will keep you posted on every new development.

Last Wednesday, ALL ISRAEL NEWS published a column urging Israeli leaders to call for such a day, based on 2 Chronicles, chapters 6 and 7.

In those chapters, the Lord God of Israel promised King Solomon that in times of war, famine, drought, deadly diseases and other national disasters, the people of Israel can turn to Him in humble, honest, genuine prayer and He will listen to them, grant them victory, forgive their sins, and heal them physically and spiritually.

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land,” vowed the Lord God Almighty in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

By God’s grace, the column resonated with various Orthodox Jewish leaders across Israel who immediately began contacting colleagues and building their own movement to persuade the country’s two chief rabbis to take the lead on this.

Oded Revivi, the Orthodox Jewish mayor of the city of Efrat – located just south of Jerusalem and close to Bethlehem – was the first to go public.

At 10:32 a.m. on Thursday, Revivi reposted my column on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, with this comment:

“Although coming from an Evangelical…there is no doubt that there is a place to declare a National Day of Prayer – maybe this coming Monday when will mark the 30th day [since] the terrorist attack on Simchat Torah.”

Then, at 1:27 p.m. local time, Revivi issued a statement to the press in Hebrew urging Israel’s chief rabbis to take the lead on this important initiative.

Momentum accelerated further on Friday when Israeli Rabbi Yehuda Glick sent a formal letter to Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, and Rabbi David Lau, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, urging them to designate Monday as Israel’s National Day of Prayer.

Glick got the letter signed by 20 Members of Knesset, as well as several other prominent Israeli rabbis.

Later on Friday, just before the Sabbath began, Tuly Weisz, another Orthodox Jewish rabbi – and his ISRAEL 365 project – published a story about Glick’s letter, helping to publicize the effort within religious Jewish circles heading into the weekend.

These developments have been very important.

After all, it is essential that the effort to call a National Day of Prayer in Israel is truly a Jewish initiative – led by enthusiastic Orthodox Jewish leaders – and supported by Evangelical Christians but not led by us.

This is likely the only way the idea would be embraced by Israel’s two chief rabbis.

More and more Israelis are playing a vital role to make this happen.

But Rabbi Glick has been especially instrumental, and I asked him to share with ALL ISRAEL NEWS readers why he has been working so hard to bring this about.

“Psalm 126 refers to the fact that in the future the Nations will remind us and bring to the attention of the people of Israel that Hashem [the Lord] is doing great things for them,” Glick wrote in a statement that he texted to me.

“And only then do the people of Israel realize the greatness of Hashem's deeds for His people.”

“Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Psalm 126:2-3)

“Today as we in Israel are experiencing great and painful challenges – and we are deep in the trauma and the post traumas of war – my dear friend, Joel Rosenberg, a leading Evangelical author and leader, aroused my attention that Israel has not yet established a day of fasting and prayer due the situation,” Glick continued.

“I believe that this should have been a Jewish Rabbinical initiative from the beginning,” he noted. “But once it was on the table I immediately called upon my dear friends – Rabbis and other public leaders – to grab it and announce it and lead the effort. And the sooner the better!”

To me, it is encouraging to see the momentum that is building.

As Evangelicals in Israel and around the globe, let’s support this effort in every way possible.

Nothing is more important right now than for the entire nation of Israel – all 10 million of us – to humble ourselves before the Lord, confess our sins, call on His Name, seek His face, turn from our wicked ways, and admit that only He can truly save us in this, our darkest hour.

The following is a translation of the Hebrew letter that Rabbi Glick wrote and sent to the chief rabbis.

To the Honorable Chief Rabbis of Israel

Honorable Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef Shalita

Honorable Rabbi David Baruch Lau Shalita

The subject: Establishing a National Day of Prayer on the thirtieth day since the Simchat Torah massacre

Honorable Chief Rabbis of Israel – on this coming Monday, it will be thirty days since the terrible and cruel massacre that took place in our country on the day of Simchat Torah.

Since that bitter and hasty day, we have been in the midst of a hard war with the cruelest of our enemies, a war that is costing us an unbearably heavy price from us every day.

As we know, Jacob our father prepared himself for the meeting with Esau, in three ways – with presents, prayer and the possibility of war.

These days the people of Israel are mobilizing the reserves en masse for war.

We are mobilized to give our soldiers gifts.

But what about prayer?

Is the nation of Israel united as one in prayer?

The Great Maimonides writes in the book of Laws, "It is a mitzvah from the Torah to cry out and call out with trumpets for every trouble that befalls the congregation."

We are in a time of no greater trouble.

We Members of the Knesset from the various political factions hereby turn to you and request that a call be issued from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to all the people of Israel for a day of prayer and crying out to the Lord.

We suggest that the Chief Rabbinate issue a call to the entire public to gather in the synagogues in every city and town and in every locality to cry out before the Lord, God of the world.

In our humble opinion, such a call that comes from you, the Honorable Chief Rabbis of Israel, will be powerful.

It will encourage the entire public to gather together in all the synagogues all over the country on this coming Monday for a day of praying and crying out to the Lord, God Almighty, saying, “Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance, and pastor them and carry them forever.”

And such prayers will be fulfilled, "for the Lord will not desert His people and His inheritance He will not forsake" and "The Lord will save us, the King will answer us on the day we call."

With respect and greetings,

Members of the Knesset