Dating back to ancient times, the Jewish people are uniting and fasting on Thursday for the liberation of besieged Israelis.
Horrified by the unconscionable slaughter at the hands of Hamas terrorists that claimed 1,200 Israeli lives and some 100 hostages, the Jewish community that normally connects over food is connecting over abstention.
“We have a traditional practice for times like this: ta’anit tzibbur [Hebrew for communal fast] – a fast that draws the entire community to come together for the liberation of those in crisis,” the Hadar Institute said on its Facebook page on Wednesday.
The Upper West Side-based Jewish educational institution, which led the fast on Wednesday, invoked the dozens of Israeli hostages – “babies, small children, entire families, the elderly and Holocaust survivors” – and noted that “we have an obligation religious and community to defend ourselves.” stand up for the victims and cry out to God.”
About 500 rabbis and leaders from around the world – including Canada, France and Argentina – participate in Thursday’s dawn-to-dusk fast.
A man with an Israeli flag attends a solidarity service for Israeli victims of the deadly attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas at the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest on October 11, 2023. Zsolt Szigetvary/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Just as food is synonymous with Jewish days of celebration, fasting is synonymous with a commandment to commemorate past tragic events, serving as a reminder to improve one’s customs.
“It is an accepted practice for Jewish communities, in times of trouble and distress, to declare a public fast on a particular day or days, in the hope that the power of prayer and charity, fasting and self-purification, will bring heavenly salvation,” he wrote. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz in “A Guide to Jewish Prayer.”
Those seeking to strengthen each other and reinforce Jewish unity enjoy the initiative.
The Jewish community will fast for the release of Israelis terrorized by Hamas. Hadar/Facebook
“Jews around the world will fast tomorrow. “I don’t know the last time in history that the Jewish community instituted a fast,” journalist and Jewish activist Daniella Greenbaum Davis. wrote in X. “We are begging our god: please. Stop this bloodshed.”
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel.
And it’s not just Jews who feel compelled to participate. “As a Catholic, I will join. I hope you are good!?” an user wrote in X.
“There is a long tradition in Judaism of decreeing additional fast days in times of crisis and community need,” Hadar executive director and organizer of the fast, Rabbi Avi Killip, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
People participate during a demonstration in Israel’s Fiftieth Anniversary Square, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on October 10, 2023.Isaac Fontana/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock American-Israeli families whose loved ones are missing and believed to be hostages of Hamas in Gaza speaks at a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 10, 2023. Debbie Hill/UPI/Shutterstock
“In facing these attacks, which were so deliberately against Jews, it feels powerful to have an ancient Jewish ritual mode of response, and I feel grateful to have that outlet.”
Mark Twain’s prophetic quote, “History does not repeat itself but it often rhymes,” evokes another hastily held Jewish communal fast.
Queen Esther tried to prevent Jewish annihilation by exhorting the Jewish people “not to eat or drink for three days, day or night,” and ultimately managed to crush her enemy in the ancient Persian empire, part of modern-day Iran. It is a bitter parallel, given that Iran is strongly considered to be behind Hamas’s despicable attack on Israel.
Israeli soldiers remove the bodies of civilians who died days earlier in an attack by Palestinian militants at this kibbutz near the Gaza border, on October 10, 2023 in Kfar Gaza, Israel.Getty Images
Fasting is generating a sense of unity among those seeking to constructively channel their grief.
“In hours of extreme shock and helplessness, Jewish tradition turns to public fasts,” Katja Vehlow, a conservative rabbi based in New York, wrote on Facebook.
“I quite like the idea of a community day of prayer on behalf of the hostages in Gaza, especially for diaspora Jews. I invite you to immerse yourself in this tradition, to lament, cry and gain hope as we gather strength for what comes next.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn