President-elect Reuven Rivlin visited the Makor Chaim yeshiva at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion on Monday, where two of the abducted teenagers, Naftali Frenkel and Gil-ad Shaer, are students. Rivlin spoke with the students after being greeted by yeshiva head Rabbi Dov Zinger. "I came to you today not only to give strength, but to receive it. You are full of inner strength, faith and vision," Rivlin told the students. "This is not how I imagined my first visit in Gush Etzion upon my election. I come here to offer my embrace and pray with you for our boys, your friends. All of our hearts are captivated along with Eyal, Naftali and Gil-ad and with the courage and heroism of their families. "We are in a crisis, and in this hour of turmoil we are fighting. Until today we have withstood tests and we will continue to do so. We are a strong country that realized the Zionist, Jewish and democratic idea." Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) also visited the yeshiva, and told the students: "This is our country and we will restore deterrence to the State of Israel." Also on Monday, some 200 people gathered in the Knesset for a mass prayer service for the three abducted teens. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein led a prayer for their safe release, reading out the names of their mothers in accordance with Jewish tradition. Edelstein's deputy, MK Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas), blew a shofar, and MKs -- religious and secular -- read verses from the book of Psalms. Among the MKs in attendance were Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid), Isaac Herzog (Labor), Yair Shamir (Yisrael Beytenu) and Nachman Shai (Labor). In the women's section were Ayelet Shaked, Orit Struck and Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli (all Habayit Hayehudi), along with Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid).
President-elect visits yeshiva of kidnapped teens
"I came to you today not only to give strength, but to receive it," Reuven Rivlin tells students at Makor Chaim yeshiva at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion • Two hundred people gather for mass prayer service in the Knesset for the three abducted teens.
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