Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participated overnight in the main and final Selichot service ahead of Yom Kippur at the Western Wall plaza and offered a prayer for the well-being of IDF soldiers, security forces and the State of Israel.
Netanyahu attended the service together with his wife, Sara. Also in attendance were Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and Rishon LeZion Rabbi David Yosef, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Kalman Meir Bar, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, government ministers and public figures.
The Chief Rabbis offered prayers during the service for the peace and unity of Israel.
Captivity survivors Eliya Cohen, Rom Braslavski, Elkana Bohbot and Ohad Ben Ami also participated in the event, along with Ziv Abud, Cohen’s partner and a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre. The worshippers cheered them as they arrived.
According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, approximately 150,000 people participated throughout the night in the Selichot services on the eve of Yom Kippur, from the early evening hours through the main prayer service. The crowds filled the Western Wall plaza, the balconies and the nearby alleyways of the Old City basin.
Due to the large number of participants, the service was also broadcast live on giant screens on the outskirts of the Western Wall plaza, on the walls of Jaffa Gate and at IDF Square, courtesy of the Jerusalem Municipality and the Jerusalem Development Authority.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said that nearly two million worshippers visited the Western Wall plaza during the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance.
“We conclude the month of mercy and Selichot with great satisfaction and emotion. During this period, nearly two million worshippers from across the country and from all sectors of Israeli society visited the Western Wall plaza. Among those who came were captivity survivors, bereaved families, wounded and disabled IDF veterans, IDF soldiers and members of the security forces, alongside masses of the people of Israel, who united in a shared prayer for the people of Israel," the Foundation stated.