by Rabbi Yisrael Rutman

In times of crisis, such as this week has been, there is a tendency to feel helpless. What can one do for the kidnapped or their families? Perhaps if one is a soldier in the present Gaza operation one could feel that he is doing something to force a speedy resolution to the crisis. But for the rest of us, what is there besides following the news?

It reminds me of the story told by a rabbi of my acquaintance about his encounter in the post office on the day of a terrorist attack in Israel. When it came his turn and he stepped up to the window, the clerk asked him if he had heard about the attack. When he admitted that he had not (he doesn’t follow the news regularly), the clerk berated him, “You don’t even know what’s going on!” he said.

But the insinuation that he was somehow uncaring because uninformed of the latest tragedy, did not faze the rabbi. “And what have you been doing about it?” he inquired.

“Doing about it? Er, I haven’t been doing anything. What am I supposed to do?”

“Well,” the rabbi answered, “now that I know what’s happened, I plan to pray for the speedy recovery of the survivors. Just knowing about it means nothing.”

So this week, the prayers after the Torah reading took on a special urgency, as we waited to hear word about the fate of Jews kidnapped by the Palestinians. Every Monday and Thursday before the Torah is returned to the ark we recite a series of prayers for the welfare of the Jewish community. They conclude with: “Our brothers, the entire family of Israel, who are delivered into distress and captivity, whether they are on sea or dry land—may the Omnipresent One have mercy on them and remove them from distress to relief from darkness to light, from subjugation to redemption, now, speedily, and soon—and let us say Amen.”

More than once I came home to find my wife and children reciting Tehilim (Psalms). There is a tradition to do so when someone is in mortal danger. The statements of faith and trust in G-d found throughout Tehilim become a merit for the endangered soul, since that person is the cause of the recitation.

In fact, although it went unreported in the general media, a spiritual mobilization of international scope has been undertaken. Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger was the first to contact the parents of the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, and in a personal visit with the family, he promised to make “every possible effort, both spiritual and material, to save their son.” To that end, he organized special prayer gatherings in Israel, England, Belgium and elsewhere. Through his contacts with Muslim clergy in the region, he has also been trying to effect Shalit’s release.

In Itamar, the hometown of Eliyahu Sheri, the kidnapped yeshiva student, Rabbi Natan Chai, the local chief rabbi, and Rabbi Chaim Druckman, a leading rabbinical figure and close friend of the family, were there to give their support day and night. A special prayer assembly was held in the local synagogue.

Emissaries were sent to the gedolei Yisrael, the spiritual luminaries of our generation, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Steinman and Rabbi Chaim Kaniefsky to ask for their blessings. Rabbi Steinman was asked about the significance of such a spate of kidnappings and killings (two Israeli soldiers were also killed in the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit). “Every year I am fearful in these weeks of [the Torah portions] of Korach and Chukat, which concern disunity (machloket) and disrespect for Torah leaders. What to do? they asked. “The answer,” said Rabbi Steinman, “is already written in the Torah—strengthening interpersonal relations and being careful in speaking about gedolei Yisrael.”

In such tragedies, it is customary to check the mezuzot, to see that all the rooms which require them are outfitted with kosher ones. Accordingly, a delegation from Chabad visited the Shalit home with a supply of mezuzot.

As I write these lines, the discovery of Eliyahu Sheri’s body has already been reported. But the fate of Gilad Shalit remains unknown. It is a great mistake to think that we are helpless to affect the outcome. There is still time to ask the Omnipresent to have mercy, and to bring Gilad ben Aviva home unharmed.

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