On Monday morning, near the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, Tzfat's Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and Rabbi Eyal Yakobovitz led thousands in special Passover prayers, accompanied by music and song.

The prayers have become a decade-long tradition as the number of attendees swelled into the thousands, began before sunrise. Monday's were dedicated to victory in the war against Israel's enemies, the release of the hostages still held by the Hamas terror group, and the recovery of the wounded.

Additional prayer events are planned for Wednesday at Me'arat Hamachpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron and Thursday in Tzfat.

Speaking at the event, Rabbi Eliyahu said, "From the beginning of the month of Nissan, the atmosphere is one of redemption. The truth is, the atmosphere is one of redemption from the time we are born, since, 'Every day, a person must see himself as if he left Egypt,' and we are living in a generation that feels its work and the freedom - the maror (bitter herbs) and the matzah (symbolizing freedom - ed.)."

"Over the past year, every time a hostage is released and relates that they ate half a dry pita, I think of 'yachatz' (the third part of the Seder, where we split the middle matzah in half). Why do we need yachatz? Why do we split the matzah? That is what they did in Auschwitz, they gave them half a dry piece [of bread]. When you hear the hostages who were released saying that they split a dry pita amongst themselves, you understand what they faced."

He added, "You hear the tortures they endured, the beatings they received, the slavery in which you are bound exactly like in Egypt. And the spiritual strengths which they left there with."

Ahead of the holiday, a clip from the Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles) prayer was published, featuring Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and Rabbi Uriel Sayed singing the "Berditchever Niggun."