HaGaon HaRav Zilberstein delivered his regular shiur Monday night in his shul in the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood of Bnei Brak and expounded on several wartime shailos.

At the end of the shiur, there was a warning from the Home Front Command to stay near bomb shelters as a siren would soon be sounded. HaRav Zilberstein immediately instructed all those present to move to the bomb shelter, where he continued the shiur.

One of the participants asked the Rav whether to recite the bracha of Hamapil before going to sleep since there would likely be sirens in the middle of the night. HaRav Zilberstein responded, “Say Hamapil because the bracha can be their downfall (להפיל). You’re stronger than them, you said Hamapil. They didn’t say Hamapil—they said to kill Jews.”

Someone then asked a shaila: If he got up for a siren after Alos HaShachar, can he go back to sleep? HaRav Zilberstein responded, “You can’t sleep anymore. Now you need to recite Kriyas Shema and Tefillah and afterward you can go to sleep.”

HaRav Zilberstein then said words of chizzuk to the participants, saying, “I want to bless you, my dear ones. There’s no other nation that does things like this when there’s a siren. All the other nations, during sirens, begin to chatter and ask if Trump is right, etc. There’s one nation that, during a siren, everyone is gathered at a shul and learns Torah. I want to tell you, there’s no other nation like this nation.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)