Tens of Thousands Visited Western Wall for Final ‘Selichot’ Services Before Yom Kippur

October 7, 2022

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Tens of thousands of people visited Jerusalem’s Western Wall overnight on Monday, October 3, for the final penitential “selichot” prayer services ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday, which began Tuesday evening. 

The “selichot” service, a litany of penitential and supplicant prayers, is held nightly in the period before the Day of Atonement.  Sephardi Jews recite it beginning a month before Rosh Hashanah, while Ashkenazi Jews start the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. 

According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which administers the holy site, pilgrims have paid more than 1 million visits to the Western Wall during this six-week period. 

Monday night’s service, which was held at the main plaza of the Western Wall, was led by a professional cantor. Israel’s two chief rabbis — the Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef — presided over the service, along with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. 

“In this unifying moment, let us pray for peace between one another. Let us pray that we always succeed in seeing the good of our comrades and not what they lack, let us pray that we be connected to one another and joined to one another in unity, fraternity and love,” Rabinovitch said in an opening sermon. (TOI / VFI News)

“For your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,  your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”’. - Matthew 6:8-10

The articles included in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Vision for Israel. We try to provide accurate reporting on news pertinent to Israel, the Middle East, the diaspora, and Jewish issues around the world—and we hope that you find it both informative and useful for intercessory prayer.

Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said on Monday, October 3, that there is no point in negotiating with Israel on any sort of arrangement, since the path of jihad is what will lead to the “conquest of Palestine.”

In a speech marking the 835th anniversary of the conquest of Jerusalem by Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, Mashaal said that Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are the goals of the awakening of the Islamic nation. "The conquest (of Palestine) will only be achieved through jihad, resistance and martyrs", he stated, adding that "the way of the conquest will not be through negotiations, since Jerusalem will not be returned through fake peace agreements with the enemy, or through normalization whose purpose is to mislead the nation and turn the first enemy into an ally in the area." 

"Israel is our first and most dangerous enemy towards Palestine and the region," Mashaal emphasized, noting that "the West Bank is now burning under the feet of the occupying invaders and is in a jihadist fight.

"In this campaign, Mashaal said, the Israeli Arabs and the Palestinian Arabs in the diaspora are part of the fight, while at the same time, the hands of the Gaza Strip are on the trigger. "We want Arab and Muslim blood to bleed on the land of Palestine. When you see Palestinian blood mixing with Arab and Muslim blood, know that we are on the verge of liberation (of Palestine)," added Mashaal. (INN / VFI News)

“God, we ask that you protect us from hostilities and people who seek war against our nation. We hope that peace can be achieved, and that those with vile intentions will not see their plans succeed.”

Schoolgirls in Iran have been waving their headscarves in the air and chanting against clerical authorities, in an unprecedented show of support for the protests engulfing the country. 

Videos verified by British media showed demonstrations inside schoolyards and on the streets of several cities. They echoed the wider unrest sparked by the death of a woman last month, who was detained for breaking the hijab law. 

In Karaj, girls reportedly forced an education official out of their school. Footage posted on social media on Monday, October 3, showed them shouting "shame on you" and throwing what appear to be empty water bottles at the man until he retreats through a gate.

In another video from Karaj, which is just to the west of the capital Tehran, students are heard shouting: "If we don't unite, they will kill us one by one." 

In the southern city of Shiraz on Monday, dozens of schoolgirls blocked traffic on a main road while waving their headscarves in the air and shouting "death to the dictator" - a reference to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters. (BBC / VFI News)

“God, we ask that you protect Iranian girls and women from having their rights violated, and that they are treated and respected equally by all. We trust that the turmoil will soon be resolved and all innocent citizens will regain what they lost.”

Iran’s budding revolution went global this weekend as protesters took their fight to the streets of our western capitals, living testimonies of the growing public support Iranians have mobilized as they continue to call for freedom. 

The governments of the West have, so far, been absent from the party, hiding behind empty declarations of solidarity. In the absence of tangible actions, they equate to no more than whispers against the brutality of a regime which has already claimed dozens of lives and imprisoned over a thousand intellectuals, artists and social media influencers in a few short weeks. 

The West may soon learn that its apathy may cost its institutions dearly. If the Islamic Republic claims supremacy within the confines of its borders, its agencies have long exported its ideology, its outposts and networks of influence peppered across our capitals – the symbols of a will to rewrite our democracies to the mad ambitions of its mullahs. 

Unless the West comes to terms with the lenticular reach of the ayatollahs, we may soon find ourselves the unwanted hostages of dynamics threatening not only the integrity of our state institutions, but of our very national security. For we have ignored the writing on the wall, thinking ourselves immune to Tehran’s influence – whether by arrogance or sheer political naivety. We have allowed our capitals to become instrumental in exporting Khomeini’s ideology; the regime’s men are left free to exploit our laws and institutions to pervert our spaces, with all the risks that entail. (JPost / VFI News)

“You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked.” - Psalm 12:7

For those living in Israel, rocket attacks from Gaza are not uncommon. But in the towns of Ofakim, Netivot, and others in the south of Israel, the lack of shelters remains a huge problem. Most of the residents don’t have access to bomb shelters or safe rooms. During the recent Guardian of the Walls operation, a war that went on for 11 days, more than 4,360 rockets were fired at Israel. We were urgently contacted to help provide lifesaving equipment designed for these emergencies—specifically: mobile shelters. Watch as we deliver them, along with the hope of a safer future for their communities.

WHEN FIRE RAINS FROM THE SKY | Vision for Israel

Following an expose by Israeli media, a budget will be transferred to bulletproof buses in Judea and Samaria.

The 15 million shekels will be transferred following a demand by MK Orit Strock (Religious Zionism). The additional funds were approved by the Knesset's Finance Committee. 

In September, it was reported that the Electra Afikim bus company, which operates buses throughout Judea and Samaria, told the Kiryat Arba-Hebron council that it would cancel all trips to the area, due to a significant lack of bulletproof vehicles after a number of vehicles were damaged by terror activities. 

Responding to the passage of the budget, Strock told the Israeli media outlet, "The delay in the budgets for bulletproofing buses, at the height of a terror wave, is loud, clear, abandonment. This government abandons the residents of Judea and Samaria twice: By abandoning the land to terrorists, and by preventing the protection of civilians." 

"It's unthinkable that we can't find a single source in the coalition for whom this issue is important enough, and that we need my involvement and that of the opposition in order to free up such a critical and basic budget." (INN / VFI News)

“God, we ask for protection against terrorist activities, so that we can live and travel safely within our region, without constantly fearing potential attacks.”

A new study has found that nearly half of French Jews worry about their children’s safety enough to ask them to hide their Jewish identity outside of the home. 

The study by Jewish People’s Political Institute (JPPI) found that 45 percent of French Jews prefer that their children not reveal in public that they are Jewish, and a corresponding increase in worldwide antisemitism, particularly in France and Germany. 

The survey found that 20 percent of French Jews were the victims of an antisemitic physical assault, while 37 percent said they frequently or regularly felt unsafe as a Jew living in France. 

Given the results of the study, the JPPI urged the Israeli government to combat the resurgence of antisemitism by strengthening the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jews and to work to combat antisemitism worldwide. (INN / VFI News)

“God, we ask that Jewish people are shielded from anti-Semitic attacks throughout the world, and that they need not fear hate crimes or hate speech and that everyone can state proudly their heritage without second thoughts.”

Pelicans migrate via Israel each summer to reach wintering grounds in Africa, normally starting to arrive in mid-August. They do not stay long before flying off to the Sinai Desert and continuing down the Nile to reach their winter ponds.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority has stopped feeding migrating pelicans in the north of Israel this year, to reduce the chances of bird flu decimating concentrated flocks. 

In December 2021, an outbreak of avian flu in the poultry industry spread to wild birds, a first. Among the victims were some of around 500 pelicans that had arrived toward the end of the pelican migration season, and had stopped in the Beit Shean area south of the Sea of Galilee. 

Authorities believe that feeding programs designed to keep the pelicans and other birds away from agricultural fields and fish farms wound up concentrating them in a way that made it easy for one bird to infect another. Experts note that the exact way in which bird flu spread so rapidly among wild birds is not yet fully understood. (TOI / VFI News)

Forty-four pure gold coins were recently found hidden in a wall, during excavations at the Banias archaeological site within the Hermon River Nature Reserve in the north of the country, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday, October 3. 

The hoard, weighing about 170 grams, was found stashed within the base of an ashlar stone wall. Archaeologists assessed that the treasure was hidden by its owner during the Muslim Conquest of the area in 635 CE. 

“The discovery reflects a specific moment in time, when we can imagine the owner concealing his fortune in the threat of war, hoping to return one day to retrieve his property,” excavation director Yoav Lerer said in a statement. 

“In retrospect, we know that he was less fortunate.” “The discovery of the coin hoard may also shed light on the economy of the city of Banias during the last 40 years of Byzantine rule,” Lerer said. 

Some of the coins were identified as being minted by Emperor Phocas (602–610 CE), and others by Emperor Heraclius (610–641 CE). The latest of the Heraclius coins were dated to the time of the Muslim Conquest. 

Israel Antiquities Authority coin expert Gabriela Bijovsky said the Emperor Heraclius coins are of particular interest because they depict a time-lapse record of his family. “In his early years as emperor, only his portrait was depicted on the coin, whereas after a short time, the images of his sons also appear,” she explained. “One can actually follow his sons growing up – from childhood until their image appears the same size as their father, who is depicted with a long beard.” (TOI / VFI News)

The suggestions, opinions, and scripture references made by VFI News writers and editors are based on the best information received.

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