As Israel attacks Iran, Jews around the world open their Psalmbooks
At an Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles, psalms to ‘rally the troops’ are added to communal prayer
Benny Factor watches Israeli TV on his phone before evening prayers June 12 at Young Israel of Century City, an Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles. Photo by Louis Keene
By Louis Keene June 13, 2025
LOS ANGELES — As the evening crowd arrived for services Thursday evening at Young Israel of Century City, Benny Factor watched for updates on his phone, which was leaned against a tissue box on the table in front of him. The chyron of an Israeli TV channel he was streaming told the story: “Happening now,” it said in Hebrew. “A wave of attacks has begun in Iran.”
Factor, who immigrated to the U.S. from Israel 45 years ago, was thrilled by the news, and seemed assured about the operation’s success. “Of course I’m happy,” he said. “You defend your house.”
The turnout at Young Israel, an Orthodox synagogue in L.A.’s Pico-Robertson neighborhood, was larger than usual for a weekday evening. With the Israeli airstrikes against Iranian senior military leaders heralding an expansion of conflict in the Middle East — and with Iranian retaliation almost inevitable — Young Israel Rabbi Elazar Muskin added a special section for Israel to the service.
During the services, Muskin led the group of about 45 men and a few women in four psalms. Then the group sang “Acheinu,” a slow Jewish tune drawn from the prayerbook that has become a post-Oct. 7 rallying cry. Finally, Muskin read prayers for the welfare of the state of Israel and for the safety and return of Israeli hostages.
The recitation of psalms, known in Hebrew as tehillim, is an instinctive Jewish reaction to crisis, and the chapters Muskin led responsively were familiar in that context: Psalms 20, 85, 121, 130 and 142 entreat God to save the Psalmist, or the people of Israel, from peril.
The Orthodox Union, the umbrella organization for Orthodox Judaism in the U.S., posted a similar list of psalms to X on Thursday night, appealing for sincere prayers “as Israeli forces courageously undertake defensive strikes against the malevolent Iranian regime and its forces.” The OU also held an emergency tehillim service for women on Zoom.
Those chapters were recited by Jews all over the world Thursday night and Friday morning — including, of course, in Israel. A video from a yeshiva in Bnei Brak, a Haredi enclave just east of Tel Aviv, showed a sanctuary full of students chanting them sometime after 4 a.m. Friday. One account calling for psalms said they were warranted in “the most crucial moment in the most crucial period in Israel’s history since 1973.”
Factor, describing himself as a hardened Israeli, seemed less concerned by the threat of Iranian retaliation than his home country, which had ordered its residents into bomb shelters. “You have to be prepared,” he said. “Not that I’m worried about it, because my opinion is that Iran are paper tigers. They talk too much, but they can’t do anything.”
Daniel Silverman, who attends the Young Israel minyan daily, estimated the turnout Thursday night was 50% larger than a usual day. He was glad Muskin had made those additions, saying they were a way of “rallying the troops” — that is, the power of Jewish communal prayer.
Like Factor, Silverman felt the attacks were overdue. “It should have happened five years ago,” he said. “They know who they’re dealing with. The world isn’t fooled by charlatans.”
