Incoming IDF Chief of General Staff, Lt-Gen Herzi Halevi, and outgoing Chief of Staff, Lt-Gen Aviv Kohavi came to pray at the Western Wall. The rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz; IDF chief rabbi, Brig-Gen Rabbi Eyal Krim; and the director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Mordechai (Suli) Eliav, also participated.
The chiefs of staff recited chapters of Psalms, the prayer for the welfare of IDF soldiers, the prayer for the welfare of the State of Israel, and the prayer for hostages and those missing-in-action. Afterwards, they each prayed a personal prayer and placed notes between the stones of the Western Wall.
Here, at this site, that carries the 3,000-year-old memory of the Jewish nation, I vow to lead the IDF as a defender of the State of Israel and its citizens with the same values and spirit that led generations of soldiers and commanders defending the state, the nation, and the land.
Lt-Gen Herzi Halevi
IDF’s 23rd Chief of General Staff
