Goldin and Shaul
The Goldin rule: Rabbinate approves new prayer for Shabbat, holidays
New prayer initiaited by New York Jewish community calls for the bodies of IDF soldiers killed in Gaza to be returned for burial in Israel.
Israel's Chief Rabbinate has approved a new prayer to be recited at synagogue until further notice - a prayer for the return of the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, Israeli soldiers who were killed in captured by Hamas in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.
The idea to write such a prayer came from the American community of Ramath Orah in New York who approached the Goldin family and told them that the community would like to establish a prayer to be said on holidays and Shabbat for the return of their son's body.
The chief rabbi with Goldin's parents (Photo: Shaul Golan/Yedioth Ahronoth)
Goldin's father Simcha turned to two rabbis who established the precise wording of the prayer and approached the Rabbinate for approval.
Chief Rabbi David Lau said that adding a prayer was no simple matter, but gave his approval due to the importance of the issue.
"We pray for IDF soldiers, security forces and this missing or imprisoned every Shabbat at synagogue," said Lau. "I call on (everyone) to add the special prayer. It's our moral duty to the Goldin and Shaul families - to pray for the return of their sons' bodies to bury them in Israel."
Simcha Goldin welcomed the new prayer and said, "It's important to understand that there are still two soldiers in Gaza and we need to return them. When we talk these days about the ease we want to give the other side, it's important to make the return of the bodies a condition."
The text of the new prayer reads in Hebrew as follows:
אב הרחמים שוכן מרומים ברחמיו העצומים, הוא יפקוד ברחמים את החיילים הקדושים והטהורים הדר בן שמחה וחדווה לאה ואורון בן הרצל וזהבה, שמסרו נפשם על קדושת השם. מנשרים קלו ומאריות גברו לעשות רצון קונם וחפץ צורם בעוז ובענווה.
יזכרם אלוהינו לטובה עם שאר צדיקי עולם, יביאם לקבר ישראל, ככתוב ואל עמו תביאנו, וינוחו בשלום על משכבם ונאמר אמן.
