On Wednesday, the evening of Rosh Chodesh Nissan (the first day of the Hebrew month of Nissan), 25th of Adar, 4:30 p.m. (Israel time), millions of Jews from Israel and around the world will participate in the largest joint prayer ever held to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Within a relatively short period of time, hundreds of thousands have contracted the virus, and tens of thousands around the world have died from it. In the past day, the number of Israelis diagnosed with coronavirus has spiked dramatically.
Therefore, all the Jews in the Land of Israel and the Diaspora will come together and pray to stop this horrific pandemic, and pray for the health of the world - each person separately at home, but the entire nation praying at the same time, in a united prayer.
The prayer will be led by Chief Rabbis of Israel Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. It will be broadcast here on Arutz Sheva.
"Our role as observant Jews is to appeal to the Creator of the world," explained OU Israel CEO Rabbi Avi Berman. "We are on the eve of Nissan and Chazal (our Sages - ed.) teach us that in the month of Nissan we were redeemed and left Egypt, and that salvation will come now again in Nissan."
"We have no doubt that when we are united as one," Rabbi Berman continued, "we reach the highest spiritual peaks. Therefore hundreds of rabbis and community leaders around the world come together for a joint prayer with the People of Israel in their Land, in order to create the spiritual strength for this unique prayer. I have no doubt that when the People of Israel unite, our heavenly prayers are answered in order to willingly remove this terrible plague from us."
Additional leading rabbis will also take part in the prayer session, together with the heads of Jewish communities in Israel and around the world.
These include: Chief Rabbi of France Rabbi Chaim Korsia; Rome's chief Rabbi, Rabbi Rocardo Di Segano; Beijing's Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Shimon Frondelich; the head of the New York Yeshurun Congregation, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein; Chief Rabbi of Rio De Janeiro, Rabbi Netanel Tzipel; Chief Rabbi of Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu; Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg, Chief Rabbi of the Boca Raton, Florida, community; Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of OU Kashrut and head of the Shomrei Emunah community in Englewood, NJ; Rabbi Elazar Maskin, rabbi of the YICC community in Los Angeles; Rabbi Heshy Billet, of the Young Israel community in Woodmere, New York; Rabbi Avi Berman, CEO of OU Israel; Rabbi Arie Matanky, head of the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago; Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Designated CEO of the OU and Rabbi of the Bnai Yaakov Shaari Zion community in Baltimore; Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, Chairman of the RCA and head of the Abraham Joseph Community in Toronto; Rabbi Shalom Baum - Rabbi of the Keter Torah community in Teaneck, NJ; and Rabbi Dr. Zvi Hirsch Weinreb, Honorary EVP emeritus of the OU.