News Brief12:30 PM

(IsraelNN.com) Almost 10,000 youths and Israelis from across the country participated in a religious-Zionist rally at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium on Tuesday, under the slogan "Rise and Be Encouraged," in memory of the eight young Torah students who were murdered at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem 30 days ago.

Eight torches were lit in honor of the slain, with Sergeant David Shapiro and Rabbi Yitzhak Dadon being awarded certificates of honor for acts of bravery during the terror attack, in which an Israeli Arab shot eight yeshiva students to death inside the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva.

Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu addressed the crowd, saying "The government's most important mission these days is the establishment of yeshivas and settlements, the approval of outposts, and the encouragement of the national birth rate."  Rabbi Abraham Zuckerman, head of the Bnei Akiva yeshivas, also addressed the crowd saying "once Israel was all ours, and we did not hasten to settle and populate it.  This is a sin that requires amending."

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski said, "We mourn and are immersed in sorrow – but we do not despair […] Israel will emerge victorious; our victory is hidden between the yeshiva walls."