The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau, conducted a special prayer session on Wednesday afternoon for rain, leading a group which stood in the middle of the waters of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) on an island that has come to symbolize drought. The island in the southern Kinneret was created after drought led to a decline in the level of the lake.
The rabbi arrived by boat with rabbi of the regional council Rabbi Shlomo Didi and other regional rabbis, as well as the head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, Idan Greenbaum.
The prayer, held in cooperation with the council, was attended by many farmers who are members of kibbutzim near the Kinneret, and students from the region's schools.
The group stood several meters from the waters of the Kinneret. At the conclusion of the prayer, Chief Rabbi David Lau said, "We must remember that we are one people, and there is one Kinneret for all of us, and as one nation we all hope that our prayers will be answered though brotherhood and friendship, and we will merit a winter that will come to be rainy, and that the blessing of Heaven will rest upon all of us.”