Davening for “Our” Soldiers?

When Jews are in danger ח”ו our first reaction is to daven. Since the outbreak of the 2023 Israel-Gaza war some have tried to channel our tefillos into various programs to ‘partner’ with the IDF. Where does this come from and what’s it all about?

The idea originally emerged during the 2006 Lebanon War and was promoted by the chief rabbi of Rechovot, Rav Simcha Kook. He partnered with Pesach Lerner, then the executive vice-president of The National Council of Young Israel, who helped spread the idea in the US. It was implemented during Operation Cast Lead in 2009 and again in the 2014 Gaza War when Project Shmira was founded in Baltimore to coordinate the program worldwide. Project Shmira claims to create a “spiritual Iron Dome” and foster interconnectedness and unity. An article about Project Shmira for UnitedforIsrael.org writes, “A single act of kindness on behalf of an unknown soldier thousands of miles away exponentially increases one’s connection to Israel and the armed forces on the front lines.” In an article advocating participation in Project Shmira, Aish.com declares, “The army trains its soldiers to think in terms of a unit. In the same way, the Jewish people today need to think in terms of our collective unit. The only way to overcome our enemies is by banding together.”

In 2014 R’ Yisroel Elya Weintraub gave a shmuess to bochurim in Ponevezh Yeshiva responding to the “Elef la’Mateh” program (later printed in קונטרוס לכו ונשובה pg.19). He called it, “Something that was never heard of and never seen, not by our rebbeim and not by their rebbeim, never before was there something like this! And the name of this chiddush is Elef la’Mateh.” He explains that of course we should daven for a yeshuah and for everyone to come home safe, “. . .but to make a shutfus? To look as if there’s some connection between our machane and their macheneh? This is treif!” He goes on to show how this has engrained in people a comepltely krum perspective on the State of Israel and its wars עיין שם.

Again in 2023, shortly after the war started in Gaza, Elef la’Mateh was back along with a spin-off of the original idea. Formalized by the Eretz Hakodesh party of the World Zionist Organization it was called Achim b’Tefillah. From their website:

With tremendous mesiras nefesh, they battle with tanks and weapons, but they know where their true strength lies. As the country is asleep, there is a shortage of tehillim and tefillah during these dangerous hours. We, who live in America are awake between the hours of 6-10 p.m. It’s our turn to arm up. It’s our achrayus to bolster their strength, to give chizuk our soldiers with our tefillos. They feel the difference, they sense the strength of our words. And they have no one to ask, but us. . .

Other than the absurdity that the irreligious soldiers in the IDF “know where their true strength lies” and don’t really believe that their military success depends exclusively on their physical strength; this is a rebranding of the same idea described by R’ Yisroel Elya: to make a shutfus between us and the IDF. That we’re all one big macheneh. That we are doing our small part for the war effort. . .