The Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, participated together with Rabbi Yaakov Ariel and other Rabbis in the holiday project of young religious Zionists and answered young people’s questions about joy in the shadow of war.
"We are currently at war," Rabbi Eliyahu began. "A significant part of the war, and perhaps the main part of the war, is the spirit of the people. When the spirit of the people is broken - the system fails. This is how we see it when the spirit of the Lebanese is broken - they do not attack even though they still have missiles that can harm Israel. This was also the case with our dispute on Simchat Torah and because of our internal conflict - we failed even though we had a strong army."
Addressing the question of whether to rejoice during the Tishrei holidays despite the war, the Rabbi stated: "Our role is to do our utmost to uplift the spirit of the people. On holidays we will try as much as we can to give strength to the public. To strengthen them. On Simchat Torah we will be joyful and not sad."
The Rabbi continued and called for strengthening the people of Israel and the soldiers: "The duty of the priest who exhorted the troops before battle in Deuteronomy was to uplift the spirit of the soldiers. Today we need to speak and act like that priest with strengthening words and deeds."
In conclusion, the Rabbi provided an example of the required joy: "We must remember Rabbi Akiva who saw foxes coming out of the Holy of Holies. There is no doubt that he also saw destruction, captives, murder and torture. Rabbi Akiva understood that weeping could be disaster and catastrophe for the people of Israel. He chose to see the good future and laugh. And the sages told him he was right, and this is how a nation is built. He was right and we need to follow his path."