Almost immediately after the horrific Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, most Orthodox Jewish congregations began the practice of saying additional Tehillim (Psalms), usually chapters 121 and 130, after the three daily prayer services. In addition, many congregations, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, added the short Acheinu prayer, a prayer for the release of captives that dates to the Middle Ages. This 53-word prayer emphasizes the collective pain the entire community feels over Jews suffering in captivity:
“Our family, the whole house of Israel, who are in distress, or in captivity — who stand either in the sea or on dry land — may the Omnipresent have mercy on them and take them out from narrowness to expanse, and from darkness to light and from oppression to redemption, now, swiftly, and soon!”
Read Full Article »