Q&A: Prayer for the Hostages
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Prayer for the Hostages
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Is praying that the Bibas family members are still alive a vain prayer?
After Hamas announced that they are no longer alive?
And regarding the other hostages, when the person praying does not know their condition, should one pray only that they return alive or dead, and that "if any of them is alive, he should return alive"—meaning conditionally, and not just say it outright…
Answer
This has nothing to do with Hamas's announcements, which in any case are suspect as manipulation. One does not pray about a state that already exists (in my opinion, one does not pray about anything, but that is a different discussion).