Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

In moments of crisis, people show who they are.

President Joe Biden delivered a speech three days ago that brought tears to my eyes and to the eyes of many others as well.

“You know, there are moments in this life — and I mean this literally — when the pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world.
 
“The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend.  The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas — a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews.
 
“This was an act of sheer evil.”

After citing some of the atrocities that were committed by the terrorists, Biden went on:

“But sadly, for the Jewish people, it’s not new.
 
“This attack has brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by a millennia [sic] of antisemitism and genocide of the Jewish people.
 
“”So, in this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel.  We stand with Israel.  And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack.
 
“There is no justification for terrorism.  There is no excuse.
 
“Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination.  Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people.”

Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, called the speech, “remarkable”, “extraordinary” and “historic”. He was also attuned to the symbolic language of diplomacy. “I don’t recall a presidential address about Israel — or indeed, just about any other country — in which the vice president and the secretary of state were standing behind the president. It was pretty amazing. They were standing there, just standing at attention.”

At the other end of the spectrum, we have 31 student organizations at Harvard University, and student groups from other universities who were quick to blame the massacre entirely on Israel. How cold. How cruel. The dead have not even been buried. What are these students studying? The Inhumanities?

I fear the next several weeks or months will not be easy ones for Israelis or for Jews around the world. Let’s pray for the brave soldiers of the IDF who will face peril in the coming weeks.

A Prayer for the Well Being of the Israel Defense Forces

May the One who blessed our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah Rivkah, Rachel and Leah, bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Forces, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God, from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

May the Almighty cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy Blessed One preserve and rescue our fighters from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may God send blessing and success in their every endeavor.

May The Kadosh Barukh Hu lead our enemies under our soldiers’ sway and may God grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is Adonai your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

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