This morning, exhortations to pray are being heard across the entire Israeli political spectrum, from religious leaders to secular politicians. In Israel - where national and religious identities are intertwined - prayer is as much a social phenomenon as a sectarian commitment, is as much a cultural ritual as a religious experience. The call for Israelis to pray has a therapeutic function unique to a modern society with an incomplete separation of church and state - it brings Jews together as Israelis and Israelis together as Jews. In Iran, religion determines the state. In the West, the state circumscribes religion. But in Israel, the two spheres exist in an interdependent tension - the Holocaust proved that Judaism needs a Jewish state to survive while the tumult of the late 90s proved a Jewish State needs Judaism to stay vibrant.
In many ways, this tension was crystallized in Prime Minister Sharon himself. Throughout his life, he remained a man deeply devoted to Jewish immigration, to Jewish identity, and to Jewish Statehood – but he also lived a personal life very close to secular. For the vast majority of his political career, he was the flag-bearer of religious Zionism – until he decided that the security of all Zionism required abandoning the Gaza settlements. No one can know to what extent he genuinely prayed, but it's certain that he understood the importance of Israelis coming together to pray for him.
Today’s entry at the mostly left-wing, largely secular Ha'aretz is therefore as appropriate as it is devestating and heartbreaking:

Arik Melech Israel.