About 100 people joined in a public prayer and protest outside the United Nations in New York on Sunday afternoon. The theme of the event, held on the afternoon of the Tisha B'Av fast day, was Jewish mutual responsibility. Speakers mentioned the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia, Jonathan Pollard, the Argentinian Jewish community, the Iranian and Arab jihadist threats to Israel, captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, and more. Signs at the protest-prayer gathering told passersby that the participants were praying for Israel and for Jewish

Signs at the protest-prayer gathering told passersby that the participants were praying for Israel and for Jewish communities in danger.

communities in danger.

The event, sponsored by Amcha-Coalition for Jewish Concerns and the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, began with an afternoon prayer service held behind police barricades at the Isaiah Peace Wall opposite the United Nations. 2008 marks the 31st consecutive year of public Tisha B'Av prayer services at the U.N., first at the Soviet Mission and, with the fall of the U.S.S.R., at the Isaiah Peace Wall.

The Director of the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jews, Barbara Ribakove, called on the Israeli government to facilitate the immigration to Israel of thousands of Falash Mura still in Ethiopia. A flight from Addis Ababa that arrived last week, the government announced, was the last that it will be sponsoring to bring immigrants from Ethiopia. The Falash Mura are people whose forefathers converted from Judaism to Christianity, but who seek to return to the Jewish fold and to Israel. They have been recognized as such by Israel's Chief Rabbinate, but they must undergo an Orthodox conversion to be considered Jewish.

"In a week, the Israeli cabinet will meet to decide if any more will be selected to come to Israel. Even for those selected the bureaucratic process will take many more months. We are feeling hungrier, thirstier and more tired during this Tisha B'Av fast," Ribakove said, "but for the Falash Mura Jews, Tisha B'Av will not end tonight. There will be hunger, weariness and despair unless we help."

Howard Jonas, C.E.O. of the IDT Corporation told the crowd: "We're standing in front of the U.N., a very bad place, where many would like to do evil to Israel given the opportunity. In the past, we protested for Soviet Jews. It seemed the Kremlin would never fall, but it did and the Jews came out. Today, the situation is even worse. Oil money is flowing to our enemies; Iran is trying to wipe us out. But right and God are on our side. It's right to protest and to pray."

Amcha-C.J.C. national president Rabbi Avi Weiss spoke after the Torah was read: "We remember Gilad Shalit and all the other missing Israeli soldiers. Our hearts go out to Jonathan Pollard. This November Jonathan will enter his 24th year in prison. To my knowledge, no Soviet Jewish Prisoner for Zion spent so much time incarcerated. Jonathan: We are with you, we are one with you."

Touching on the latest news from Russia, Rabbi Weiss said, "If Israel were to step an inch into Lebanon, there would be emergency U.N. Security Council meetings. But when Russia invades Georgia, there's no official word from the U.N., which is a cesspool."  The rabbi applauded a group nearby that was protesting the Russian attacks in Georgia.

"We're in the eye of a storm," Rabbi Weiss continued, "to the north of Israel is Hizbullah, to the south Hamas and the Moslem Brotherhood which would like to take over Egypt. Iran, with missile technology supplied by China, threatens genocide against Israel. We may be in the eye of the storm, but we will not be silent. We will raise a voice of light, of Torah, of love for our brothers and sisters in Israel. We raise a voice of love for our brethren in Argentina, where July 18th was the commemoration of the 14th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of A.M.I.A., the Jewish community center. We say: no more darkness - only light! Only that which is good. Only that which is noble."

Other speakers at the gathering included noted author Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Rabbi Steven Burton of  Congregation Shaarei Shalom and Amcha-C.J.C. activist Hillary Markowitz. Prayers and the Torah reading were led by J.M. in the A.M. radio host Nachum Segal and by Irving Ruderman.