The chief rabbis of Israel are recording sermons of encouragement for Israeli soldiers serving in Gaza.
The Jerusalem Post reported that 10,000 MP3s were being prepared for distribution this week by the Israel Defense Forces’ Jewish Consciousness Field, provided free of charge by an anonymous donor or group of donors.
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger cites Maimonides in his recording and urges soldiers to "trust in God and know that war is being waged for the sanctification of His name … and not to fear." He adds that a soldier "should not think at this time of his wife or of his children or of his mother and father."
Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar called the Gaza operation "a holy mission that is being waged in the name of the entire Jewish people."
A pamphlet was also being distributed to rabbis in the field entitled "Jewish Consciousness Emphases for Cast Lead."
JCF head Rabbi Tzadok Ben-Artzi writes in the booklet that IDF rabbis should say the war is justified because its goal is "to save the Jewish people from its enemies," and that it is part of a much larger mission designated for the Jewish people to eradicate evil in the world. The latter statement, said the Post, is baased on the teachings of the first chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook.
