In a moving tribute during the Hallel prayer, that took place this morning at the foot of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, with Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and Rabbi Eyal Yakubovich, and with the participation of thousands, Elnatan Goldstein, a soldier who was wounded in the Gaza war, was given the honor of opening the Torah Ark, and praying for victory in the war, release of all hostages and the healing of the wounded.
The prayer, which has been held on Passover for about ten years, with the number of worshippers increasing every year, began at sunrise. Additional prayers are expected to be held on Wednesday at Ma’arat Hamachpelah (the Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, and on Thursday in Safed.
"Already from the beginning of the Hebrew month of Nissan, we have felt the atmosphere of redemption," Rabbi Eliyahu said. "The truth is, we've been in an atmosphere of redemption since the moment we were born. Every day a person must regard himself as if he left Egypt, and we are living in a generation in which we feel both the slavery and the freedom, both the maror (bitter herbs) and the matzah (freedom)."
Rabbi Eliyahu also spoke about the hostages: "In the past year, every time a hostage is released and says that they ate half a dry pita, I am reminded of Yachatz (a stage in the reading of the Haggadah, where one breaks a matzah into two pieces, half is eaten immediately and the other half is eaten at the end of the Seder). Why do we need a Yachatz? Why do you break the matzah? That's what they did in Auschwitz. They were given half a dry pita. When you hear that the hostages shared a pita between them, we understand what it is all about."
"You hear the torture they endured, the beatings they received, the slavery where they were chained, just like in Egypt. And then you hear about the spiritual strengths that they came out of captivity with," Rabbi Eliyahu concluded.
In addition, ahead of the holiday, a new and moving rendition of a Berdichev melody, with Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and Rabbi Uriel Sa'id, and with the participation of thousands who came on Sukkot for the traditional Hallel prayer in Hebron, was published.