Two leading Israeli rabbis told Jews to make some changes to their daily prayers on Sunday, following the US attack on Iran's nuclear sites.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed, announced that Jews should not have to say the tachanun prayer.
Speaking in a video shared online, Eliyahu explained, "There is no tachanun today. There is a prayer of thanks (mizmor letodah)."
He then proceeded to recite a blessing, which he said should be recited today: Hatov metiv. This is a blessing often used for occasions of joy, specifically for when joy belongs to two or more people.
Eliyahu then further said a quote from the Book of Esther (chapter 6, verse 13): "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish stock, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him." The quote in question is said by Zeresh to her husband Haman, the villain of the story, who seeks to wipe out all the Jews of Persia, and foretells his downfall.
Why not say tachanun?
Eliyahu's video message comes following US President Donald Trump ordering airstrikes on multiple high-profile Iranian nuclear targets. This includes the Fordow facility, which Israel was not able to damage and which only highly specialized munitions, such as US bunker buster bombs, could have taken out.
The tachanun prayer is typically recited every weekday and is a prayer of supplication. Jews fall on one of their arms and say a prayer begging for God's forgiveness. However, if is often omitted in times of joy where Jews believe God is blessing them, such as during weddings.
Popular Israeli mystic: Jews should say Hallel due to US attacks on Iran
Another senior rabbi, the kabbalist Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi, also shared a video message in the wake of the US attacks on Iran, saying Jews should say the Hallel prayer in honor of it.
"The people of Israel should say Hallel for this miracle," he said in a video message.
The Hallel prayer, literally meaning "praise," is a compilation of psalms bridged together by blessings that is recited on most Jewish holidays. The purpose of the prayer is, as the name implies, to praise God.
However, it is also recited by some congregations in other circumstances. For example, Shareith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, has a tradition to say Hallel on Thanksgiving, a tradition that goes back to 1789, as a means of praising God for the establishment of the US.
Ben Artzi, who has a sizeable following in Israel that regularly shares video clips of his sermons, further made a prediction in 2017 that Israel would attack Iran's nuclear program, which he then followed up on in a video earlier in June 2025.