Netanyahu marks Israel’s Memorial Day by donning tefillin

Israel’s secular prime minister dons tefillin to mark Israeli Memorial Day, sharing a photograph of himself with the ritual Jewish items on social media.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu donned phylacteries (tefillin) Sunday, honoring Israel’s fallen soldiers.

A secular Jew, Netanyahu has in the past drawn attention for patronizing non-kosher restaurants and eating shellfish, which is prohibited under Jewish law.

On Sunday, however, the prime minister carried out the Jewish tradition of donning tefillin – leather boxes containing sections of the Torah written on parchment – in honor of Israel’s fallen soldiers and at the behest of a bereaved mother who lost her son during the fighting against Hamas terrorists in Operation Protective Edge during the summer of 2014.

In a tweet Sunday afternoon, Netanyahu released a photograph of himself wearing the tefillin, which had belonged to the bereaved mother’s son.

“And all the peoples of the earth shall see that God’s name is proclaimed over you, and they shall stand in fear of you,” Netanyahu tweeted, quoting the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 28, Verse 10.

“Ruchama, the mother of Moshiko Davino, who was killed during Operation ‘Protective Edge’, brought me his tefillin,” Netanyahu continued.

“These tefillin, which were with him the entire time during combat, are the only thing which survived the explosion which killed Moshiko. There is still a lingering odor of the fire on the tefillin bag.”

“I promised Ruchama that I would wear the tefillin in honor of the memory of Moshiko and in honor of the memories of all our fallen.”

“That’s what I’m doing today out of holy reverence.

“May the memory of our martyrs be blessed and enshrined in our hearts forever.”