A senior Israeli rabbi published a biblical-style prayer calling for the downfall of Iran’s clerical regime, as reports of nationwide protests and a sweeping internet shutdown fueled new religious and political commentary in Israel.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed and a senior figure in the Religious Zionist world, shared the text during what Israeli outlets described as a night of intense unrest inside Iran.
In the prayer, Eliyahu wove together direct quotations from the Torah and Jewish liturgy with a contemporary plea focused on Tehran. He thanked God for granting strength “to strike our enemies” and echoed the Leviticus verse, “You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.”
He then moved to language drawn from the Book of Numbers, “Rise up, Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered,” before adding a blunt, present-day request aimed at Iran’s leadership.
According to the text published on his own social media, Eliyahu asked God to “destroy the leaders of Iran” whom he said sought Israel’s destruction, while also urging protection for “the people rising up against them” and calling on Iran’s security forces to “help, not fight” the protesters.
Israeli coverage linked the prayer to the latest reports of mass demonstrations in Iran and an unusually broad communications blackout. Analysts at the Critical Threats Project and the Institute for the Study of War said Iran sustained a nationwide internet shutdown, likely to disrupt coordination and obscure the scale of repression, with connectivity reported at about one percent of normal levels during the blackout.
International reporting also described a fast-moving confrontation between Tehran and Washington, with Reuters reporting on Sunday that Iran warned US President Donald Trump that any US attack would trigger retaliation, including against Israel and regional US bases.
In parallel, Al Jazeera reported that Iranian authorities described the protest movement as “riots,” announced large-scale arrests through semi-official outlets, and imposed sweeping internet restrictions as demonstrations spread to multiple cities.
Eliyahu’s prayer did not remain a standalone post. Israeli outlets reported that he also held a women’s prayer gathering alongside his daughter, Rebbetzin Rachel Bazak, in what was framed as an international event focused on Iran’s upheaval.
Other rabbis joined the Iran debate
In the past day, additional rabbinic commentary circulated, especially in Chabad-affiliated media that framed Iran through a messianic, prophecy-heavy lens.
Rabbi Mendi Lifsh, a Chabad emissary in Beit Shemesh, published a piece arguing that current events fit a Talmudic line often rendered as “Persia will fall into the hands of Rome.” He explicitly identified “Persia” with today’s Iran and “Rome” with the Christian West, and he argued that a US role in Iran’s downfall would signal proximity to the messianic era.
Lifsh’s article presented the framework as interpretation, not verified forecasting, but it illustrated how some religious voices were mapping modern geopolitics onto ancient categories, with “Persia” as Iran and “Rome” as the West.
Separately, Chabad.info published a security commentary by Avishai Afragon that described the Iran unrest as a major internal crisis and highlighted the information chokehold created by the blackout. The piece also tied the moment to historic Jewish texts and figures.