Haredim flock to Rachel’s Tomb to pray for the IDF – and for God not to make them enlist

RACHEL’S TOMB, Bethlehem — On a regular day, it’s possible to drive from inside Israel’s Green Line straight to Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem in the West Bank.

But starting Monday afternoon, the eve of the 11th of the Jewish month of Cheshvan, until after sundown Tuesday, if you type “Rachel’s Tomb” into the Waze navigational application and follow its directions you will end up at the parking lot of Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium.

Ushers wearing high-visibility safety vests direct crowds emerging from their cars to rows of buses waiting to shuttle the faithful on the 15-minute drive to what is, according to Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, the burial place of the biblical matriarch Rachel.

At the entrance to the tomb, the bus is boarded by two Haredi young men who hand out bags courtesy of the Lelov Hasidic sect containing a bottle of mineral water, a cupcake and a magazine called “Mama Rachel” with the headline, “Mother, how much longer?” in an allusion to the final redemption.

It was on the 11th of Cheshvan over 3,000 years ago, according to Jewish tradition, that Rachel died while giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, as told in Genesis 35:16.

This year on the anniversary of the matriarch’s death, her tomb has become a focal point for a uniquely Haredi rallying cry to support Israel’s ongoing war effort — not through bullets, bombs, tanks and fighter planes, but through prayers and Torah study.

“On the eve of the death of Rachel the matriarch, in view of the severe troubles besetting the people of Israel in the past year, we call on Jewish communities in the Holy Land and in the Diaspora to hold prayer rallies in each and every community,” read a pashkevil, or street notice, posted in predominantly Haredi neighborhoods and in the Haredi press starting last week both in Israel and in major Jewish centers in the Diaspora.

All the major Haredi rabbinic groups in Israel, from various Hasidic movements to Lithuanian yeshiva heads to the Sephardic Council of Torah Sages, signed the pashkevil. Rabbis of Haredi yeshivas in the US such as Lakewood, New Jersey, Baltimore, and South Fallsburg, New York, also signed.

The document urges members of the community to pray for the protection of the Jews from their enemies and laments that for “more than a year the residents of the Holy Land have been beset with distress, exile, captivity” and that “the blood of our dear brothers has been spilled like water,” which seems to be a reference to the Israeli soldiers and civilians killed in the ongoing war being waged with terrorist organizations in Gaza and Lebanon.

War erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.

The day after Hamas’s onslaught, Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group began near-daily rocket, missile and drone attacks resulting in dozens of deaths and the displacement of some 60,000 northern residents from their homes.

Prayers on the anniversary of matriarch Rachel’s death are the answer to the Jews’ troubles with their enemies in Gaza and Lebanon, said the Haredi rabbis. They’re also the answer to another threat facing the Jews, said the rabbis: the forced enlistment of Haredi military-age men.

“This is a prayer rally about the war and the tragedy of IDF soldiers being killed,” said Amram Rabinowitz, the official liaison between the Haredi community and the Israel Police and the IDF, who is responsible for the smooth flow of Jewish pilgrims in and out of the tomb compound.

“But it’s also about saving yeshiva students from attempts to draft them,” Rabinowitz said. “The average Haredi person sees no contradiction between the two.”

But many Israelis do see a contradiction.

The number of IDF soldiers killed or wounded in action continues to rise, and non-Haredi segments of Jewish Israeli society — both religious and non-religious — continue to pay a disproportionately high price in casualties. As such, political and public pressure has risen to end the status quo — in place since the establishment of the state — demanding that Haredi young men share in the war effort, not just by praying and studying Torah, but by joining the ranks of the IDF’s combat units.

But according to Rabbi Daniel De’ei, head of Mosdot Rachel Imeinu (The Institutes of Rachel the Matriarch), what truly protects the Jewish people is constant Torah learning and the merit of Rachel and other righteous figures throughout Jewish history.

“We support Torah scholars who learn here in shifts 24 hours a day except Shabbat, when the tomb is closed to the public,” said De’ei. “Just like there can be no victory without intelligence officers sitting in air-conditioned offices doing their work, not out in the field fighting, so too we need Torah scholars sitting in yeshivas studying.”

Many of the people asked by The Times of Israel to explain why they made the trip to Rachel’s Tomb to pray believed it was self-evident.

“What do you mean why? It’s mama Rachel,” said one woman, whose answer was characteristic and who preferred not to be mentioned by name.

Lital Samuels, who wore a wig and a long dress, said that for her Rachel represents the quintessential selfless woman.

“Rachel is able to arouse God’s mercy for the Jewish people more than anyone else because of all the sacrifices she made for others,” said Samuels, referring to one interpretation of the story in Genesis, according to which Rachel willingly allowed her sister Leah to precede her in marrying Jacob.

“Rachel did not know if she would still be able to marry Jacob, but she nevertheless let her sister go before her. She also sacrificed her life so that Benjamin could be born and she agreed to be buried alone here, and not in Hebron with the rest of the matriarchs, so that she could pray for her children when they went out to exile,” she said.

Samuels was referring to verses in Jeremiah (31:15-17) in which Rachel, long since deceased, is depicted as crying while the Jewish people pass her grave on their way to the Babylonian exile after the destruction of the First Temple.

God answers Rachel’s cries and promises that the Jews will return to their country, which happens about 70 years later when Jews return and construction began on the Second Temple. But the verses are also said to allude to a future, and final, redemption.

“I have one brother fighting in Gaza and another in Lebanon,” said Samuels. “There is a lot of uncertainty but I believe we can turn to Rachel our matriarch to intervene for us before God, and this war will be over and the hostages will return.”

Samuel said she was not bitter that many of the Haredi men who came to Rachel’s Tomb did not serve in the IDF.

“I believe in living and letting the other live. My husband did IDF service and my parents did too — but if someone is seriously learning Torah for the sake of the Jewish people that is no less important than IDF service,” she said.

Rabinowitz, who was constantly interrupted by his team of ushers during his interview with The Times of Israel, said it was difficult to say how many people would show up at Rachel’s Tomb this year.

“Last year, we were still in shock from October 7 so there were no prayers, and two years ago, the day fell on Shabbat. So we don’t really know,” said Rabinowitz. “But we’re preparing for around 60,000 people to come through here between now and Tuesday afternoon.”

A narrow street leads women to their small area around the Tomb while an adjacent hallway is designated for access to the men’s section.

Rabinowitz said that in order to enable the tens of thousands of faithful to access the tomb over a period of about 24 hours, there must be a constant flow of people in and out of the compound, which is not an easy feat since many prayers feel a close connection with “mama Rachel.”

Though the tomb is technically located in Palestinian-controlled Area A, a last-minute change in the Oslo Accords, out of recognition for the site’s historical importance and emotional resonance for Jews — though bitterly opposed by Palestinians — ensured Israeli access and military control.

To protect visitors to the tomb from being shot at from within the surrounding Palestinian population, massive slabs of concrete four meters (13 feet) high and a guard turret were erected in 1996, lending the place a besieged atmosphere.

De’ei said that Rachel’s Tomb was imbued with a unique holiness.

“Since the destruction of the Temple, the heavenly presence can be found at the gravesite of righteous Jews, and in particular at Rachel’s Tomb,” said De’ei, quoting from Rabbi Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman, also known as the Vilna Gaon.

De’ei added that while Rachel was not a deity, Jews should direct their prayers directly to her.

“She is our mother, she was selfless, and therefore God answers her prayers and her crying on behalf of the Jews. That’s why God tells her in the book of Jeremiah [31:16] to stop crying because there is reward for your labor. So we should pray to her,” he said.

“But we are saying something different from God. We are saying, don’t stop crying for us, Rachel, because we still haven’t been redeemed.”