Inside Israel

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is —

“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.’ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem. “And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. Zechariah 12:2-8)

I greet  you with a longing heart to lift up praise and worship worthy of the Lord. May our love for one another, our encouragement of one another, our admonitions and edifications and exhortations to one another be a blessing to Him. May The Lord be glorified and blessed, and may you be blessed and encouraged for His glory.

Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim) began this evening (now yesterday evening) as the sun was going down. Not just any anniversary of the day that Jerusalem was liberated, but the 50th year since she came again into the inheritance God Almighty intended for the children of Jacob. It takes reading from Gen 1:1 – Rev.22:21 to begin to get a ray of understanding, enough to humble us − knowing that we will NEVER see the whole picture in this life. But, oh, we KNOW that it will be breathtaking!

YOM YERUSHALEYIM  looks like this in Hebrew ‫יום ירושלים

Fifty years ago today on the Hebrew calendar, Jerusalem was liberated from Jordan and like the rest of those whom the Lord had sent into exile, She came home.

It has been QUITE a week here (this may be the understatement of the year).  I listened to all of the meetings with US President Donald Trump as it becomes daily even more impossible to trust the media. So I listened carefully, giving far more time to the coverage than I would have chosen, but I’m glad that I did.  Yes, I have opinions and observations and wonderings, but they are all dwarfed in the face of YOM YERUSHALAYIM. This 50th anniversary of GOD’S HAND  landing here and re-writing history in a matter of a shocking 6 days.

Today is the 24th of May, 2017 and I walked most of the way to work this morning, despite my current lack of physical strength. I wanted on THIS day to walk these streets, pray these streets, sing these streets, and open my eyes to whatever He would show me.

Although I left my apartment at 6:15, the train, which ran all night last night – usually it stops between 1 am -5 am – so the celebrations could take place all through the night. The train was full of religious people, making their way to the Western Wall.  Oh yes I DID so want to go this morning to thank Him, but of course I thanked Him as I walked and sang amidst the birds, the flowers, and flowering trees, wondering what it all means. I prayed for mercy and the fear of God, God ALMIGHTY

You KNOW of course, that Allah is NOT the same GOD, right? I have told you before that written around the inside of the Dome of The Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, are the words (in Arabic) “Allah is one AND HE HAS NO SON”.  He said it himself.  If we say that Allah is the same God that we worship, then we are denying Jesus, period.

And so I sang: (no this is not me singing Psalm 147:12, 13, but a better rendition.)

I HAVE A FAVORITE QUESTION that I ask everyone at this time of year who is old enough to remember:  “WHERE WERE YOU ON THIS DAY IN 1967?”

The answers usually bring tears to my eyes and a sense of awe as each one speaks of “the miracle that GOD has done.” Their eyes ALWAYS mist over.

Shlomo Levi  is not our patient, but Dr. Meshulam’s patient.  I’ve seen him over the years but usually Dr. Meshulam’s secretary is working and I don’t serve him. However I was alone on Friday when he came in.  His jet black hair belies the fact that he is 81, which I saw when I opened his chart.  “Adon Levi, where were you at this time back in ’67?” I asked.

He looked shocked for a moment and then as if transported to another place, that mist fell.  “I was at the Kotel (the Western Wall),” he said.

I thought that he meant he had followed the throngs in after it was taken, the thousands of survivors that poured weeping through the Old City gates, to touch the remaining wall of the temple, denied to them for 2,000 years.

‘Yes?’ I asked, urging him to continue.

“You have heard of Motta Gur?” he asked.

“OF COURSE,” I answered, remembering the iconic Corporal who led the advance.  I was carrying around his proclamation in my purse to give out to people as a reminder: ‘The Old City is in our hands!’  He wept over the radio as he made the earthshaking announcement. Later promising before God in prayer – also written on my copy of the proclamation, that we would watch over Jerusalem faithfully,  keeping her for God.  OF COURSE, we ALL know Motta Gur.

Shlomo began to quietly speak, “I carried his radio equipment.  I had to stick to him like glue, but I was there when he made the proclamation.”  Tears began rolling down BOTH of our faces and I jumped up and gave this small religious man, not much taller than I am, a big hug and thanked him.

His eyes shined with the wonder of His memory, he pulled out his teudot zehut  (Identity card) and said, “I was given this special stamp in my ID.”

I looked at a seal of Jerusalem and the notation of honor to those who took part in the battle for the liberation of Jerusalem.  “It was a miracle you know,” he said.  “There was NO way that we could have done it.  The fighting was fierce…we were weakened with no food or water for so long…out-numbered…it was a miracle!”

Yes, it WAS a miracle, and those words are repeated again and again with each story.

I was surprised when I asked Avi where he was on that day.

In 1967 I was a wild hippie, out of college, and didn’t THINK of Avi being a kid, so it took me back when he said, “Well, I was only seven so I couldn’t fight but my Mother kept us children in the shelter. But I lived in Sanhedria and the Jordanian barbed wire – and so the fighting – was on our street – fierce fighting.  I kept trying to peak out.  My Mother had a job keeping us down and quiet.  It was SO exciting when the guns became silent and the people began running out, yelling, ‘The Old City is Free!’ They were dancing and crying in the streets and thanking God.  I didn’t understand really but we were all so happy.”

The city really did a marvelous job of security closures while U.S. President Trump was here.  The street closings, as difficult as they always are, seemed much more orderly this time, and although not easy, I WAS able to get a taxi home as opposed to when U.S. President Obama was here. Then I had to walk the lengthy distance home.

My taxi driver was seventeen in 1967, JUST under the eighteen year age where he could join the army. BUT he was welcome to join the “mitnadev” or “volunteer army,” running errands, filling sandbags, bringing messages, food, and water. 

“I lived in Mamilla.  Do you know where Mamilla is?’ he asked.

Mamilla, like Sanhedria, was RIGHT on the border with Jordan, right against the Old City walls.  My dear friend Tamima has delighted me with her stories of growing up there and then being there for the liberation.

“Yes I do.  My friend Tamima grew up there.”

He looked at me. “Tamima Ben Tzvi?  Yes, I know Tamima.  We were all together like one family back then.”

We smiled.

“It was all so intense…so much shooting…wounded…helping at the hospitals…but then it was over.  My two friends and I walked ALL around the walls of the Old City.” He shook his head in wonder before continuing. “And then we walked to Hebron where we went to Machpelah (the cave of the Patriarchs, where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah are buried…the burying plot purchased by Abraham as recorded in Gen 23:1-20) to pray and give thanks for this great miracle. (This taxi driver was not religious).

Others told me of defending their kibbutz or smaller community outside of the city with furious fighting and miracle after miracle. GOD WAS ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE AUTHOR OF THIS ASTOUNDING GIFT.

I handed out my copies of the proclamations made at the wall by Motta Gur and Rabbi Goren, the Rabbi who is seen in all of the historic photos blowing the shofar on that day of days back in 1967. (You can check the photos here.)

I must close now. My husband has come home for supper.  May His joy overflow to you and HIS concern, His heart, His plan and His purposes.  I once again quoted from Zechariah 12 at the top of this letter.  Thank you for praying with us as the world closes in on us, but our God will not be mocked.  He has been glorified, He is being glorified (though not enough) and He WILL be glorified.

God bless you.

Lovingly,

your sister J in Jerusalemnn