Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger has issued a prayer for the safe return of captive soldier Gilad Schalit which he plans to distribute on Tuesday, to be read in synagogues throughout Israel on Yom Kippur and weekly on Shabbat after the Torah reading.
Captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.
Photo: Courtesy
Metzger himself read the prayer out loud for the first time at a special rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Monday night that drew 10,000 protesters demanding the return of Schalit, who has been held by Hamas in Gaza since June 2006.
Calling on God to strengthen Schalit and to speedily reunite him with his family, Metzger said that he has raised the issue of the young man's fate with religious leaders around the world, including Muslim ones, and has asked them to do what they can to secure his release.
"If there is a possibility to return him a day or even an hour earlier and that opportunity is not seized, then this is a crime," Metzger said.
Although the rally was mostly secular in nature, it drew heavily on the theme of atonement. In a modern version of a Yom Kippur prayer, teens and young adults who had never met Schalit stood on a small makeshift stage in the square and publicly begged forgiveness for failing to secure his release. Looking out at the protesters, each one said, "Forgive us Gilad."
One university student, Uri, said he was very aware that "we are standing here in the open air while you are there in intolerable conditions."
"Forgive us Gilad that we, the Israeli students and the future leaders of the country, have not done enough to release you," he said.
Israeli Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
Among those who took the stage was Shlomo Goldwasser, whose son Ehud's body was held by Hizbullah for two years before it was returned this July.
But tonight, he said, he was addressing the audience not as "Udi's father, as most people knew him, but simply as a frustrated citizen who is upset that the Israeli government appears to care more for the rights of those living in Gaza then it does [for] Gilad.
"What is happening here?" he asked and called on the government to prioritize Gilad's rights.
In the 834 days that Gilad has been held captive, the elected officials have worried about their seats, the global market, the budget - everything, in fact, but securing Gilad's release, he said.
This is true even though the return of a soldier is one of the motivating symbols for the youngsters who enter the army to defend the government, said Goldwasser.
"There is no problem without a solution, and the nation which chooses is calling on you from here to return Gilad," said Goldwasser.
In a spontaneous move, Gilad's father Noam took the stage toward the end of the rally, which had been organized by a grassroots movement of friends and concerned citizens. Noam had intended simply to listen, but he was moved by what he heard to publicly thank the public for standing up for his son.
"Public support has grown as the days pass and it has strengthened us to continue our seemingly endless fight for Gilad," said Noam.
"I have no words with which to thank you," he said. He told The Jerusalem Post after the rally that he knew attempts were being made to free his son, but that to date there was no progress.
After the rally a number of teens from the Scouts youth movement, scores of whom had attended the rally, gathered around him to speak with him.
Some of them handed him a book of poems that had recently been released in honor of Gilad. As protesters scattered, a group of teens from the Bnei Akiva movement sat on the pavement and sang songs.
Behind them, taped to the pavement, were handwritten messages to Gilad from people across the country. Small children drew pictures with hearts on them and adults wrote out their own personal messages.
As they left the rally, one of the organizers urged those who attended not to let a day pass without taking some action to bring Gilad home.
On Monday, the exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, said that talks with Israel over the possible release of an Israeli sergeant were "at a standstill." Mashaal blamed "a lack of reliability of Israeli negotiators" in the discussions toward a swap deal.
The Le Figaro newspaper quoted Mashaal on Monday as saying that Israeli negotiators continue to rehash issues already agreed. The daily said he gave the interview from a residence in Damascus.
Last month a ministerial committee finalized a list of 450 Hamas prisoners who could be released in exchange for Gilad. Hamas has since rejected that list.
AP contributed to this report.
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