Herzog urges public day of fasting and prayer for hostages, Sephardic chief rabbi agrees

During a swearing-in ceremony of new rabbinical judges at the President’s Residence, President Isaac Herzog asks the rabbis to declare a national day of fasting and prayer for the remaining hostages held by terror groups in Gaza — a request Sephardic Chief Rabbi David Yosef says he accepts, according to Herzog’s office.

“I call on you to mobilize, and I urge you to act with all your strength,  first and foremost by proclaiming a nationwide day of fasting and prayer for our sisters and brothers held by murderers,” Herzog says at the ceremony, per a statement from his office.

“May it be God’s will that through such steps — also paving the way for the necessary diplomatic moves — our brothers and sisters soon go from distress to relief, from darkness to light, and from bondage to redemption,” he continues.

Yosef, the head of the Grand Rabbinical Court, agrees to the request, though only specifies statewide prayer, and not a day of fasting, in his response, also published by Herzog’s office.

“We accept the president’s request. In the coming days, we will proclaim a day of prayer and outcry for all our brothers and sisters in distress and captivity, and for our soldiers on the battlefield,” he says. “With God’s help, may we receive good news even before we have time to do so.”

“These are turbulent, challenging days,” Herzog tells the rabbis, who are being appointed to both the Grand Rabbinical Court and regional rabbinical courts. “Intensive negotiations have been underway in the past 24 hours. We must use every avenue, step, and tool at our disposal — and with creativity, responsibility, and commitment initiate moves that will bring them home urgently, all of them, down to the last.

He stresses that as public and religious leaders, the rabbis have a “vital role” to play, and must “awaken the hearts of the nation and decision-makers” to the plight of the hostages.

The president says that Israel needs Torah scholars who not only pursue knowledge in Jewish and worldly studies, but who “above all… dwell among their people — sharing in the public’s pain and joy.”