It is forbidden for Jews to give away parts of the land of Israel, even for “promises” of peace.  The only thing that has come out of Gaza since the Israeli government evicted 8,000 Jews from their Gaza homes is rockets and increasing Hamas terror (as well as worsening living conditions for Gazan Palestinians).  Since Israel left Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians have fired 5,000 rockets into Israel.  The current Israeli military campaign is a response to this Hamas terror.

Thank G-d, the first aerial strike against Hamas was successful. However, the Isaeli government says the military operation has just begun.

We pray that we will see victory of the kind that will bring true peace. With people like Hamas, seeds of peace do not grow in the soil of negotiations, no matter how much manure you add to it. (I will refrain from further gardening analogies that would include weeding and salting slugs.)

Rabbi Brody who lives in Ashdod on the coast of Israel recaps the situation thus far.

Below are Psalms to say when the Land of Israel and the Jewish people who dwell within her are in danger.

Psalms 83, 121, 130, 142

These should be said aloud, but need only be loud enough for you to hear the words yourself. If you feel the quality of your concentration is enhanced by saying them in a normal voice or crying them out, that should be done. The words are vessels, powerful vessels. Into these vessels one should place powerful spirit and intention, especially if you are moved to tears. Your spirit is like a bow, and the words are your arrows. Aim well. Give them strength to pierce the Heavens.

English is fine, which is why I posted English here. If you read Hebrew, you should say these Psalms (or “Tehillim”) in Hebrew even if you don’t understand the words. In that case, you should read the English first a couple times to know what you are saying.

There is no limit to the number of times you can or should say Psalms.  The same goes to personal prayer in your own words and native language.  I personally find it powerful to say Psalms and add my own prayers afterwards or in between the Psalms, aligning my own words to the themes of the particular Psalm.

I think you will find the first Psalm (83) most relevant to the war against Israel. See how those who hate G-d’s people are the same today as they were when Dovid HaMelech (King David) wrote these words!

Psalm 83

1 A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.
2 O God, keep not Thou silence; hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God.
3 For, lo, Thine enemies are in an uproar; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head.
4 They hold crafty converse against Thy people, and take counsel against Thy treasured ones.
5 They have said: ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.’
6 For they have consulted together with one consent; against Thee do they make a covenant;
7 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;
8 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
9 Assyria also is joined with them; they have been an arm to the children of Lot. Selah
10 Do Thou unto them as unto Midian; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook Kishon;
11 Who were destroyed at En-dor; they became as dung for the earth.
12 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and like Zebah and Zalmunna all their princes;
13 Who said: ‘Let us take to ourselves in possession the habitations of God.’
14 O my God, make them like the whirling dust; as stubble before the wind.
15 As the fire that burneth the forest, and as the flame that setteth the mountains ablaze;
16 So pursue them with Thy tempest, and affright them with Thy storm.
17 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek Thy name, O LORD.
18 Let them be ashamed and affrighted for ever; yea, let them be abashed and perish;
19 That they may know that it is Thou alone whose name is the LORD, {N}
the Most High over all the earth. {P}

Psalm 121

1 A Song of Ascents. {N}
I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come?
2 My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is thy keeper; the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul.
8 The LORD shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and for ever. {P}

Psalm 130

1 A Song of Ascents. {N}
Out of the depths have I called Thee, O LORD.
2 Lord, hearken unto my voice; {N}
let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If Thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 For with Thee there is forgiveness, that Thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning; yea, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.
8 And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. {P}

Psalm 142

1 Maschil of David, {N}
when he was in the cave; a Prayer.
2 With my voice I cry unto the LORD; with my voice I make supplication unto the LORD.
3 I pour out my complaint before Him, I declare before Him my trouble;
4 When my spirit fainteth within me–Thou knowest my path– {N}
in the way wherein I walk have they hidden a snare for me.
5 Look on my right hand, and see, for there is no man that knoweth me; {N}
I have no way to flee; no man careth for my soul.
6 I have cried unto Thee, O LORD; {N}
I have said: ‘Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’
7 Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low; {N}
deliver me from my persecutors; for they are too strong for me.
8 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks unto Thy name; {N}
the righteous shall crown themselves because of me; for Thou wilt deal bountifully with me. {P}

Guest post by Reb Ari

I recently verified this story from the grandson of the couple involved.

My friend’s elderly grandmother, Miriam, remarried a number of years ago to R’ Shalom. They live in Jerusalem. R’ Shalom is now in his mid nineties and in his youth he studied in yeshiva in Mir in Poland and had the opportunity to spend a week at the home of the Chofetz Chaim (R’ Yisroel Meir Hacohen Kagan, zs’kl). A few nights ago, in the middle of the night he woke and told his wife that the Chofetz Chaim had appeared to him in a dream and simply said that Moshiach will be here soon. The Chofetz Chaim said that it is time to get ready and to spread the message. My friend’s father (Miriam’s son) asked his rav, Rav Asher Weiss if this is something to take seriously. His response was that we are clearly standing right before Moshiach, and it certainly should be taken seriously and we should undertake to do Teshuva.

The second story I heard directly from the people involved.

There is a young girl about eight years old who needs a refuah (אביבא מלכה בת לאה) - she is currently in the hospital with loss of vision. Please pray for her. She has been in and out of the hospital for chemotherapy, and she has had multiple complications. A few months ago she had been in a coma for an extended period of time. When she finally came out of the coma, one of the first things she said was, “Did I miss the weddings? Did I miss Moshiach coming?” Her two older sisters were not engaged yet (I don’t even know if Aviva knew they were dating), but both became engaged and were married over the following few months. I was at the sheva brachos (post-wedding celebration).

May Hashem heal Aviva Malka bat Leah along with all the ill people of Israel with the coming of Moshiach, Amen.

—————————————————————-
Reb Ari wrote a beautiful inspiring song about the coming of Moshiach: To listen, click here

Lyrics of “Finally Here”
As he walked home from yeshiva,
a sound reached his ears
clear and majestic, unmistakably near
Joy filled his heart
HE’S FINALLY HERE!!! Moshiach’s finally here!!!
He ran all the way home
said to his dad,
“Did you hear it - the shofar
or am I going mad?”
“Not now, my son,
can it wait ’til later, when the business news is done.”

CHORUS:
Where is our hope, our faith, our pride?
Where’s the desire, the love deep inside?
When we say we want Ben Dovid to come
We can’t fool ourselves or the Holy One.

She heard it, at first faintly
a note long and clear
steadily the sound grew
’til it was all she could hear
Joy filled her heart
HE’S FINALLY HERE!!! Moshiach’s finally here!!!
She rushed to the kitchen,
got on the phone.
“Sister, can you hear it
or is it me alone?”
“Can you call back tonight?
I’m facebooking now, so I hope it’s alright…”
CHORUS

When we finally hear the shofar
After all these many years
Our emotions can run deeply
moving us to tears
Joy will fill our hearts
WHEN HE’S FINALLY HERE!!! When Moshiach’s finally here!!!

We must strengthen our hope, our faith, our pride.
We can find the desire, the love deep inside.
When we say we want Moshiach to come
We can reconnect to the Holy One.

UPDATED: 5:50pm PST 07/02/2008.

May G-d have mercy on those injured and murdered today, and their families.

Appropriate Psalms to say at times like this are
Pslams 142 - (we must put our faith in Hashem in times of trouble)
Psalms 130 - (Hashem, please, have mercy on us and hear our cries)
Psalms 83 - (Hashem, please do not let the evil dominate Your people. Smash those who hate You).

Video from Tamar Yonah’s blog:

Update on Israeli TV Commentary:

1. Smiling officer?
The reason the officer at the beginning of the live footage is smiling with his pistol is that they  thought they had shot the terrorist and wounded him.  Then suddenly the terrorist continued his rampage, which is the footage you see in the video.

2. Pedestrian almost run over
Half way through this video you see a red circle on the screen. There is an Israeli motorist who rolled out of the way of the terrorist’s wheels literally inches before being crushed to death.

3. Arab Israeli citizens
The commentator discusses that “the security level around Israel is on high alert because any terror attack always increase the motivation of other would-be terrorists.” She notes that this is the second Israeli Arab who has turned terrorist on the Israeli population.

I would add that the fear is that these Arab Israelis, unlike the Palestinians I dealt with at checkpoints, have blue ID cards just like every other Israeli citizen. The ID cards allow them access to anywhere in Israel. Essentially the ID card means that they aren’t Palestinian, and therefore not a threat.

The Israeli government assumes that these Arabs are more loyal to the state of Israel than to Hamas, Hezbullah, Islamic Jihad, Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, Iran, or anyone else.

The young man you see shooting the terrorist is the brother in-law of the young man who stopped the Mercaz HaRav terrorist (although the commentator does not note that).

Both terrorists had Israeli ID permits since they live in Eastern Jerusalem.
Both terrorists were stopped by armed, religious Israeli civilians¹

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(Source: Jpost.com)
Three people were killed and 66 were wounded - one moderately and the rest lightly - on Wednesday afternoon when a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem.

A half-dozen cars were flattened and others were overturned by the Caterpillar vehicle. A bus was also overturned, and another bus was heavily damaged.

The attack, at the junction of Jaffa Road and Sarei Yisrael St., set off a panic in the area and left a large swath of damage in the heart of the capital. Traffic was halted, and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded.

A car was dragged several meters by the bulldozer before being crushed under the vehicle. A baby was pulled out by a passerby before the vehicle was crushed, with the child’s mother still inside

“People started screaming ‘he is running us over, he is running us over,’” recounted traffic policewoman Elinor Nahum, 22, who was the first to react, firing at the bulldozer and apparently hitting the terrorist. Another policeman then climbed onto the vehicle and was lightly wounded in a struggle with the attacker.

Finally, an off-duty soldier took a gun from a security guard at the scene and shot the terrorist, who cried “Allah Akhbar” (God is great) before being killed. The soldier, Moshe Plesser, was assisted in neutralizing the attacker by Eli Mizrahi, a member of police’s elite Yasam anti-terror unit.

Plesser, 18, is the brother-in-law of IDF officer David Shapira, who killed the terrorist in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack on March 6.