In light of the war of the ‘Iron Swords’ currently occurring in the Holy Land, we are bringing a number of prayers that Moreinu HaRav, Eliezer Berland, Shlita wrote a few years ago to read and instruct us:

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PRAYER TO RESCUE AM YISRAEL IMMEDIATELY FROM THOSE WHO SEEK OUR DESTRUCTION

Ribono Shel Olam, the merciful and compassionate Master of the World, Who is full of compassion.

We pour our hearts before you like water, about the Jewish blood that was spilt like water.

The Victor of all victors, the Hero of all the heroes, the Strongest of all the strong ones.

Please, see via our eyes, and come and fight our battles, because we were delivered over for mockery and derision before the eyes of all the nations.

And we were left ‘ownerless’, given over to strangulation, burning, murder and stoning.[1]

And each and every day, the nations of the world place amongst us devouring, blood-thirsty wolves, and sentence us to be slaughtered, burnt, strangled and stoned.

And each day, the curse is multiplied from the previous day.

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And it’s already close to 2,000 years that we are wandering from exile to exile, to captivity, amidst hunger and disgrace.

And in the days of the Inquisition, they burnt us at the stake.

And in the time of the Holocaust, they put us in ovens.

And still, the nations of the world aren’t satiated with our flesh and blood, and they are still eagerly seeking after Jewish blood, and are bringing upon us aggressive, destructive wars.

Similar to the bloody crusades that happened in the era of Rashi, Rabbenu Tam and the Baalei Tosfot.

And the blood of Israel is being poured out in the streets day and night, at every hour of the day, and from every corner we are hearing the cries of widows and orphans, and of bereaved parents, and almost entire families are being annihilated from one week to the next.

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The stench of death is rising up to our windows, and our enemies are stopping us from walking in our streets.

And every heart is melted like water, and our blow is mortal.

For the plague has reached to Yehuda, the affliction has reached to the gate of my people, until Jerusalem.

“For this I will lament and wail; I will go about delirious and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals and mourning like owls.”[2]

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God, don’t be silent! Don’t be deaf! And don’t be still, God!

For behold, Your enemies are in an uproar, and those who hate You have raised their head.

Against Your people they plot deviously, they are holding counsel against those sheltered by You!

They said, ‘Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, so the name of Israel won’t be remembered any longer!’

For they take counsel together as one, they strike an agreement against You.

The tents of Edom and the Ishmaeilites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal and Ammon and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.

Even Assyria joined with them, they became the strong arm of Lot’s sons, Selah.

Do to them what was done to Midian, and to Sisera, and to Jabin at Kishon Brook, who were destroyed at Ein-dor, and they became dung for the earth.

Make their nadivim (nobles, but also means benefactors) like Orev and Zeev, and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna.

Who said, We will conquer the pleasant habitations of God for ourselves.

O my God!

Make them like the whirling chaff, like stubble before the wind!

Like a fire burning the forest, and like a flame that sets mountains ablaze!

Like this, pursue them with Your tempest and terrify them with your storm!

Fill their faces with shame, and then they will seek Your name, Hashem.

Let them be shamed and terrified forever, then they will be disgraced and they will perish.

Then they will know that You – Whose name is Hashem – are alone, Most High, over all the earth.[3]

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For one day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand (elsewhere).

I would rather stand exposed at the threshold of my God’s house than to dwell securely in the tents of wickedness.

For a sun and a shield is Hashem, God. Favor and glory does Hashem bestow.

He withholds no goodness from those who walk in perfect innocence.

Hashem, Master of Legions!

Praiseworthy is the man who trusts in You.[4]

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And fulfill within us the verses:

“Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.

‘Speak consolingly to the heart of Jerusalem, and tell her that her time [of exile] is up, and that her sin has been forgiven, for she has been given double for all of her sins, from Hashem’s hand.

A voice calls out in the wilderness, clear the way for Hashem, make a straight path in the desert, a road for our God!…[5]

Go up on a high mountain, O herald of Zion, raise your voice strongly, O herald of Jerusalem.

Raise it, don’t be scared!

Say to the cities of Yehuda, ‘Behold, your God! Behold, my Lord Hashem will come with His strength, and His arm will overpower for Him.

Behold, His reward is with Him, and His wage is before Him.

[He is] like a shepherd who grazes his flock, who gathers the lambs in his arm, who carries them in his bosom, who guides the nursing ewes….[6]

Every valley will be raised and every mountain and hill will be lowered.

The crooked will become straight and heights will become valley.

The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.[7]

[1] These are the four types of death that can be prescribed by a Bet Din, a Jewish Court of Law, for transgressors.

[2] Micah 1:8 – the Prophet then continues: “For her wound is grievous, for it has come to Judah, it has extended to the gate of my people, up to Jerusalem.”

[3] Tehillim 83.

[4] Tehillim 84:11-13.

[5] Isaiah 40:1-4.

[6] Isaiah 40: 9-11.

[7] Isaiah 40: 4-5.

To download the original Hebrew, click here

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Prayer about the terrible straits of the Jewish people

Ribbono Shel Olam — Master of the Universe, Who can do everything, and that nothing can impede [Your] purpose from You, give me the merit to feel from now on the terrible distress of the Jewish people and the Jewish blood which flows in the city streets day and night, until there is no house where there is not a dead person.  Therefore, I have come before You, Master of Kindness and Mercy, please have pity now, have mercy now on the slaughtered flock, for all concealed things and all hidden things which have been since the creation of the world are revealed before You, and I only long for, desire, and yearn for You, that You Yourself will rectify all that I have blemished, and behold, I return in repentance and yearn for only You, as it is written, “As the deer longs for brooks of water, so my soul longs for You, God.”  And I know faithfully that, behold, I am guilty in all the terrorist attacks, tragedies, and horrific murders, for only because of my blemishing of the covenant all these terrible tragedies have come about.

Therefore, I have come to plead before You, Master of Mercy, that Your greatness is beyond investigation.  And let me merit to rectify completely all my blemishes of the covenant, and to merit from now on to guard my eyes and not to blemish at all the holy covenant, chas v’shalom, and through this, it shall be fulfilled: “He devoured wealth, but will disgorge it,” and all the sparks of holiness will return to their place, and through this, the soul of our awesome and holy Rebbe will be drawn anew, and the complete redemption will come speedily in our days, in the blink of an eye, Amen, Netzach, Selah, Va’ed.

To download the original Hebrew, click here

“God, Do Not Be Silent” — Prayers for the Salvation of the Jewish People, Part II