In a call publicized on Israel’s national radio stations, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar says this Thursday must be a day of fasting and introspection.
The Rishon LeTzion, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, has called upon the public to spend this coming Thursday in fasting, introspection, and prayer, in response to the swine flu epidemic. He said that those who cannot fast a whole day should fast a half-day, or at least engage in a “fast of silence,” i.e., to refrain from talking about anything other than Torah study.
Both Voice of Israel and Army Radio broadcast the call widely. This Thursday is the second day of the three-day post-Passover Bahab series during which extra penitential prayers are recited, and when some do not eat.
Rabbi Amar said that a similar epidemic led the Amoraitic sage Rav Yehuda to declare a fast day when a plague hit pigs in his area. The Talmud (Taanit 21b) states that though diseases do not generally pass from animals to humans, this case is different as the digestive systems of pigs and humans are similar.
Rabbi Amar, who issued the call together with Rabbi Tzion Boaron of the High Rabbinical Court, said that at time of danger, Judaism teaches that each individual must “return to G-d” and review his actions to see where he may have sinned.
The rabbis’ call states that in light of the fear that the disease may turn into a worldwide plague, “we must follow the custom of our forefathers, and cry out unto G-d when we face trouble… It is an obligation upon every individual to review his actions, both between himself and G-d and between himself and his fellow, and return to G-d with all our hearts, and to study Torah more frequently and more intensely; and G-d, Who does not ignore the prayers of the many, will once again have mercy on us, for unto Him is the salvation.”