Video: 500 Women Pray for Jonathan Pollard in Hevron

Esther Pollard leads moving prayer service in the Cave of the Patriarchs for the release of Jonathan Pollard and for the strength of Israel.

Elad Benari - Arutz7/INN - September 15, 2011

Esther Pollard joined over 500 women to lead a moving special prayer evening in Mearat HaMachpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hevron on Wednesday. The service, organized by the Women in Green movement, was meant to invoke the intercedence of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people buried at Mearat HaMachpela for the speedy release of Jonathan Pollard and for strengthening the people and land of Israel.

Esther Pollard, Jonathan's wife referred to her husband's declining health after 26 years in a United States prison and also spoke of the great importance of working to free Pollard as a it would strengthen Israel.

"Jonathan is a key to the Redemption of the people of Israel," she said, quoting the late Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu who was particularly close to Pollard, and, explaining that his incarceration is a reflection of the condition of the entire Jewish people.

The women spent the remainder of the evening in the Machpelah Visitors Center adjacent to the cave. Women in Green leaders, the indefatigable Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, screened a film on the daily struggle for the redemption of lands waged by the Women in Green movement in the hills of Judea. Afterwards, the women heard an uplifting, spiritual vocal performance by singers Odelia Berlin and Keren Golan.

The evening concluded with the women getting up to dance, full of hope for the release of Jonathan Pollard and other Prisoners of Zion, and with the hope that in the new Jewish year (which begins in two weeks) the people of Israel will "dwell in the full width and breadth of its land, safely and securely".