Prayer for Israel in Parashat Yitro

On Feb. 3, 2024 –the first Shabbat Yitro following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas – Bill Miles offered on the bima of Temple Emanu-El in Providence these words prefacing the prayer for Israel.

Thanks to fellow Emanu-El-ite Benny Mer – himself originally from Israel – I had the privilege to live for seven months in a small village in the Upper Galilee, within eyesight of Lebanon. Until my wife Loiza joined me, I was the only Jew living there – in a Druze village called Horfesh.

In part I was there to improve my Hebrew. One of the first new words I learned was neder – a vow, a pledge. With you, I am now honoring my neder.

Although the Druze religion is said to be secret, it is no secret that, of the seven prophets the Druze revere (including Avraham and Moshe), it is Yitro (Jethro) whom they revere the most. And since Yitro gave his daughter Zipporah to marry Moshe, ALL descendants of Moses (and I assume that includes some of us here this morning) are, in some sense, part Druze.

It is also no secret that, in Israel, Druze men serve in the IDF in higher proportions than do Jewish Israelis, especially in combat battalions. And, as a result, Druze suffer proportionately more casualties.

Before Oct. 7, there were already dozens of young Israeli Druze buried in the military cemetery of my small village, Horfesh.

Since Oct. 7, two more – Jawad Amar and Anwar Sarhan – have also fallen, in IDF uniform, in the struggle against Hamas.

Beyond Jawad and Anwar, from neighboring Druze villages there are six other of these followers of Moses – and especially of his father-in-law Yitro –who have also been killed in defense of Israel: Jamal Abbas, Sofian Dagash, Salman Habaka, Adi Harb, Daniyel Rashid and Alim Sa’ad.

When my friend, the Druze principal-turned-superintendent Emad Fared, finished pronouncing these names in a WhatsApp recording, he added, in Hebrew, Yihyi Zichran Baruch: “May Their Memories Be For a Blessing.”

In a few moments, as part of the prayer for Israel, we will ask that God bless Medinat Yisrael – the State of Israel – and Migeenai Eretz – the Defenders of the Land of Israel.

So that, in the end, there will be shalom and simchat olam yoshveha – lasting joy to her inhabitants.

Since living in the Upper Galilee, I have yearned that this prayer includes the Druze inhabitants who defend Israel, as well as their loved ones who survive the fallen ones.

And so my neder, my vow, asking that even here, in Providence, we make space in our hearts for all ISRAELIS, Jewish and not, making daily sacrifices – including the supreme sacrifice – for Medinat Yisrael.

Shabbat Shalom

Note: Since Shabbat Yitro 2024, at least four other Druze IDF soldiers have been killed in combat in Gaza and in Lebanon: Alim Abdallah, Nael Fwarsy, Jala Ibrahim and Wassem Mahmoud.

BILL MILES, a professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston, has been a member of Temple Emanu-El with his wife Loïza since 1989. His initial four months in the Druze village of Horfesh were sponsored by a grant from the Israel Institute.