Hours before one of the biggest nights of their summer, Beitar Jerusalem's players set football aside for a Torah scroll and an afternoon prayer. According to ONE, the squad gathered for Mincha in Cyprus on Thursday - the fast day of Tisha B'Av - with kickoff against AEK Larnaca only hours away.
The timing was no small thing. Beitar are opening their 2026/27 European campaign with the away leg of a Conference League second qualifying round tie at AEK Larnaca, kicking off at 19:30 local time on Thursday evening. Tisha B'Av, the fast marking the destruction of the two ancient Temples in Jerusalem, ran this year from sunset on Wednesday, July 22, until nightfall around 20:11pm on Thursday - meaning the whistle would go before the fast itself had ended.
That left several Beitar players effectively taking the field for a European qualifier while still fasting, a detail the travel schedule was built around rather than ignored.
Per ONE, Rabbi Raskin, who traveled with the squad, arranged for a Torah scroll to be brought along so the players could hold a proper communal reading and prayer even on the road - a small logistical effort that underlined the group's intent to keep its religious routine intact regardless of the fixture list.
Assistant coach Moshe Ohayon appeared among those pictured at the gathering, based on photographs published alongside the report.
The session carried a second, lighter thread too. Forward Omer Atzili's Hebrew birthday fell on the same day, and Rabbi Ami Faikovsky used the moment to bless him in front of teammates: "I wish you abundant blessings ... may everything you do succeed, and may you continue being a special person with a great heart," he said, according to ONE.
Atzili, who rejoined Beitar last year, is no stranger to Cypriot football himself, having previously played for Omonia Nicosia before returning to Jerusalem.
The wider travel plan reflected the calendar squeeze the club was navigating. The squad flew out to Cyprus on Tuesday evening, then held its final training session and pre-match press conference on Wednesday - both wrapped up before the fast began at sundown - leaving Thursday itself as a day split between religious observance and match preparation.
On the pitch, the assignment is straightforward enough: see off AEK Larnaca over two legs for a place in the next qualifying round, with the second leg set for July 30 at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.
For a club whose fan base and self-image lean heavily on tradition, the image of players huddled around a Torah scroll in a Cypriot hotel, fasting on the day of their biggest match so far, was always going to resonate back home - regardless of what happens on the scoreboard on Thursday night.
