Ahead of election day, Israelis offered special prayers for America from a significant biblical site, the Ancient city of Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant rested for 369 years. About 150 Orthodox Jews gathered to pray for America: “For strength, success, and guidance in these times. Together, binding by hope we pray in this difficult moment.”
Yisrael Ganz, the governor of the Binyamin Regional Council in Samaria told CBN News, “We’re at a critical time of a war of good versus evil. We’re in a critical time when our enemies are trying to drive off the Jewish [people] from the Heartland.”
Ganz, who hosted the event, said, “From here we pray that God will shine His face from everyone to work with Him and do what He can for the United States of America, for Israel, and for the whole Land.”
Ganz had a special message for America: “Raise your head. We have to fight with our enemies. We have to believe that God will lead us for the good way.”
He continued to encourage the people of America, “We have to stand strong together, strong America, strong Israel and we’re to think about the Holy Land.”
In the Bible, in the book of Samuel, Shiloh is the place where Hannah cried out to God for a child and He provided her heart’s desire giving her a son who became one of the greatest prophets of Israel, Samuel.
The Orthodox Jews prayed the daily morning prayers and psalms for the “good of America.”
Eliana Passentin who is the International Desk Director of the Binyamin Regional Council told CBN News how she came up with this powerful idea.
“We were speaking to our friends overseas in Congress and Senate and friends in different ministries all over the world. And I said to them that I'm really praying. I'm standing in my home in Eli looking down at Shiloh, and I'm praying for their success, for the success of America. And then I said, ‘Why don't we have a prayer for America?’”
Passentin shared the idea with Christian and Jewish friends around the world who were astounded by her idea during the war.
“They said, ‘What? You're going to stop everything you have? Your sons are away at war. You're going to stop in the middle of your war and pray for us?’ And I said, ‘of course.’"
“And they were so humbled and excited to hear that we are going to stop our lives to take everyone here for our morning prayer, for a special prayer for the United States of America,” she said.
Passentin said Christians, especially in America, understand Israel’s biblical importance, and they pray for Israel. “And now it's our turn to say thank you to you. Thank you to the people praying for us all over the world. Thank you to the United States of America for being by our side. And this is our chance to say thank you, and we pray for you.”
Rabbi Menachem Baabad brought about 50 students from Netivot Yosef Yeshiva (a religious boys’ school) to join the prayers. He noted they will be the next generation defending Israel.
“We want to pray that it will be good for America. And we want to thank you for all the support that America has given the State of Israel. With the help of God, we believe that prayer works in the world, and it will do good for the world and America is part of the world,” Baabad told CBN News.
Josh Reinstein, President of the Israel Allies Caucus, was one of those who came to pray in Shilo to pray. He called it a blessing to pray for America.
“Since October 7th, we've seen that around 80 percent of Americans are standing with the nation of Israel. We see that tens of millions of Bible-believing Christians are praying for the peace of Jerusalem every day. And we said, ‘You know what? We need to do something for America.’ And what we decided to do, is come together and pray also for America,” Reinstein told CBN News.
Reinstein expressed it was a blessing to pray the morning prayers at Shilo.
“It was a very exciting time to be here in Shiloh with people from Israel, praying for America, praying for peace and prosperity. We all believe in the power of prayer. So, this isn't just a nice thing to do. This is significant. And we hope that Hashem (God) answers our prayers.”
The special prayers concluded with a long blast of the shofar followed by very joyful dancing and singing, “Our Father lives, the people of Israel live.”
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