(VIDEO AND PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE) 

More than ten thousand people participated this morning, Friday, in an organized andunifying prayer event commemorating the yahrtzeit of the Chafetz Chaim, Maran RabbiYisrael Meir Hakohen from Radin, who was niftar on the 24 th of Elul. Exactly at sunrise, morethan ten thousand worshippers from the entire country joined together in a mass unifyingprayer before the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah, in the midst of the days of repentance and mercy.

In the central prayer in the plaza of the Kotel Hamaaravi, the Western Wall, crowds ofYeshivah boys, Bnei Torah and Kollel men led by the Torah giants, the great Gaon RabbiShmuel Eliezer Galai, shlita, the great Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu Abba Shaul, shlita, and the greatGaon Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Stern, shlita, called out in prayer and Tehillim in the memory ofthe Saintly Maran Chofetz Chaim in order to strengthen the study of his rulings andteachings which have become a basic foundation stone of each and every Jewish home in the world.

It must be noted that at the same time that the mass prayer event took place in the plaza of the Kotel Hamaaravi marking the day of the passing of the Chofet Chaim , of saintly memory, crowds of participants in 26 different countries lifted their hearts in prayer in a unifying electrifying international event with the pinnacle being the event at the Western Wall Plaza.

The nosi of the International Torah Organization “Dirshu”, who established the mass prayers on the great day of the Yahrtzeit of the Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi David Hofstedter, said today that ” his comprehensive encompassing Torah knowledge and his rulings by the author of the “Chofetz Chaim” are the pillar of Halachah in these latter generations and everyone joins together in the “Daily Daf Hayomi of Halacha”. Tens of thousands of participants throughout the world learn his books and his Torah knowledge especially regarding “Shemirat Halashon” – ‘Guarding One’s Tongue’- and the love of each and every Jew. His teachings of guarding one’s tongue on how to be careful not to slander or to gossip are studied thoroughly and have become a unifying banner of holiness in our generation. On this great day we all remember and join in the central unifying message of the importance of guarding one’s tongue, learning Halachah and loving one’s neighbor.”