Category Archives: Israel

July 21, 2013 · 1:12 pm

Inside Israel

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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 …

Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.  (Matthew 6:16-18)

Blessings to you from quiet, subdued Jerusalem.  May The Lord give us His Light into all that will glorify Him.

We had incurred some ‘city hall’ issues that needed to be attended to, and being my day off I needed to go down to city hall to see if they were open during their usual hours or if they were closed for the tisha b’av fast.

Things like that change every year. One year it will be open, and another close. One year everyone will seem to be fasting, and another not. One year I will hear weeping and prayer through the night and another not.  This year, our city hall was closed and, interestingly, so were most of the shops on Jaffa Road.

The law states that restaurants and places of entertainment should be closed but other stores do as they wish, so in the past I had only seen restaurants or stores with religious owners closed.  Being that so many were closed, I did not have to maneuver the crowds and had ample opportunity to observe.  It surprised me how many cafes were open. I understand that there must be service for tourists, but this year I did not see many closed.  Many tourists were, in fact, on the streets and some of them were obviously wondering what had happened.

Grocery stores, the shuk, public transportation, and so forth all function as normal on tisha b’av and it has been an individual choice for the 19 years that we have been here: to work or not to work.  The train was blissfully, well, not ‘empty’, but there were some seats at times and no pushing.  So it struck my funny bone to watch a family of tourists from Europe, armed with maps and plenty of food, having succeeded (with the help of passerby) at buying tickets in the automated booth, observe the bright yellow ‘IN-OUT ‘arrows painted on the sidewalks.  I told you about our unsuccessful campaign to teach locals to ‘let the crowds off of the train BEFORE you rush on’.

I was reminded just how different life is here as I watched the dad of the visiting family observe the arrows, instruct his family where to stand, push one of the teenagers further back on the arrow, and wait for the train.  It was so, well, ‘neat, orderly, and EASY’.  Why can’t we do that?  Cultural differences can be glaring and humerous and I have found that my response is a test of my walk with The Lord, one I don’t always pass. Yet, He is patient to help me learn.

There are other interesting things.  Since it is also Ramadan, Moslems are also fasting during the day hours, and Jaffa Road was full of Moslem Arabs, as well as Jews, strolling along the street.  The religious or observant men who are fasting today are obvious.  The tradition is not to cut your hair or shave from Shavuot (Pentecost, the feast of weeks) to lag b’omer (the ‘bon fire’ night) when you can cut your hair and shave for one day. Then it begins again until tisha b’av, so, by now the fasting men are obvious not only because they look quite ‘holy’, serious, hungry and sad, but because they are also very shaggy.

It started me thinking even more about fasting and what it is for and WHO it is for.

Probably many of you have read the old book,  God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis, but even if you haven’t, or if you have read others, my favorite text simply came from the scripture mentioned above in Matthew 6, which I interpreted this way:

‘Fast unto ME…secretly…tell only ME…and I will search your heart’s motives and either set them straight (my heart’s motives) or change them.  Do NOT appear unto men to fast.’

To me, that seemed simple enough.  So in my life, and maybe yours, there have been ‘seasons of fasting’ and ‘choices to fast’, times of regularly scheduled fasting and other times when it seems woefully impossible to fast and even failed attempts.  Among the faces that I see around me today there are some whom I am sure are really seeking God.  I heard that there were many many thousands at the western wall last night for prayer and reading of the book of Lamentations as well as full synagogues all over the city.

During the news broadcasts there is time given to a rabbi to share a devotional explaining tisha b’av, and since I listen to the news in English I can only hope that what is shared on the Hebrew news is deeper, somehow more meaningful.  In my readings of the prophets the reason for the fast rings loud and clear. It is NOT to mourn the destruction of the temples and the dispersion, NOR hatred between brothers, but to REPENT FOR THE SIN that turns our faces away from our God toward other things and other gods and causes our hearts to harden and REQUIRES punishment.  The fast itself accomplishes nothing without the heart, eh?  And I’m thankful that God can turn our hearts and open the eyes of every hungry heart. I am praying that He will appear to hungry hearts today.

But the grave events that have historically impacted the Jewish people on tisha b’av did not stop today.  We were shocked to receive today’s news (article below is part of an article from ynet just now):

EU bans contracts between member states, settlements

New decree restricts any Israeli entity beyond 1967 lines from EU funding, prizes, grants. Housing Minister Ariel: Decision reminiscent of Holocaust

The European Union has decreed that contracts between EU member states and Israel must include a clause stating that east Jerusalem and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) are not part of the State of Israel and therefore not part of the contract, it was reported on Tuesday.  (*Please note that they also included the Golan Heights)

The decree, which will go into effect Friday, will forbid any cooperation, awarding of grants, prizes and funding for any Israeli entity in the specified areas.

The EU’s funding, direct and indirect, of Israel bodies which operate in the settlements has long drawn fire from various organizations within the Union. The EU is severely opposed to Israeli construction beyond the 1967 lines and has acted repeatedly to draw a clear line between Israel and its settlements in the West Bank.

The latest decree resulted from the EU Foreign Affairs Council’s directives of December 2012, which stated that “all agreements between the State of Israel and the EU must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.”

However, the directive will not harm funding for research institutes, such as the Hebrew University, which employs settlers in their staff. Government ministries, which have offices in east Jerusalem, such as the Justice Ministry, will still enjoy the EU’s cooperation as well.

An EU official said on Tuesday that Israel should not be surprised with the directive, as the issue has been repeatedly addressed and forewarned by EU officials.

The new directive, said the official, is in line with opinions in the EU which have been prevalent for several years.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office MK Ofir Akunis said in response: “It’s a wrong and regrettable decision. Such steps – even before the Palestinians announced they are even ready to return to the negotiation table – are pushing the peace talks away, not drawing them closer.”

“Let them know even in Europe – Judea and Samaria are not ‘occupied,’ they’re the homeland of the Jewish nation.”

Housing Minister Uri Ariel said in response to the decree: “This decision is tainted by racism and discrimination against the Jewish people which is reminiscent of the bans against Jews in Europe over 66 years ago,”

Minister Ariel added, “The Israeli government must not, under any condition, be a part of any future agreement which includes a clause that Judea and Samaria are not a part of the sovereign State of Israel.”

The Yesha Council stated that “To our regret, in Tisha B’av Europe has returned to a policy of boycott and segregation against the State of Israel. Europe’s unrestrained support of the Palestinian Authority has turned it into a non-neutral element.

“The Israeli government must instruct the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry to immediately halt all European projects in Judea and Samaria until this unilateral decision is aborted.”

So, the day is drawing toward a close and our landlord just came and told us that she is looking into selling the apartment that we live in and asked if we want to buy it.  Thankfully, she told us that we would be able to sign another one-year lease so I have another ‘issue’ to help learn the stance of faith vs. doubt (fear, worry, sin) Again I have not heard more from our younger daughter but I have been overwhelmed with the loving prayerful response on her behalf.  God bless you!

I must go so will sign off quickly.

Loving blessings,

your sis J

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July 14, 2013 · 9:46 am

Inside Israel

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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 …

What are your thoughts occupied with as we heard toward tisha b’av next Monday night and Tuesday? I’ve been thinking about those little mistakes in communication that snowball into huge conflicts between people and communities. The children that grow up estranged because their parents were too busy to say “I love you.” The couples that stopped listening to each other because they didn’t understand each other. The religious sectors that split apart because they never took the opportunity to learn to value each other.

When we talk about Sinat Chinam (baseless hatred) in Israel, it’s important to realize that so many of our fights can be avoided if we take the time to maintain the relationships we have, and fill them with love and beauty instead of jealousy and suspicion. If we can do that as a nation, we’ll never have to fast on tisha b’av again.

Wishing you an easy and meaningful fast.”   (from the local ‘janglo’ weekly letter)

Greetings and Blessings, dear sisters and brothers, May The Lord be glorified, blessed, worshipped… may you be blessed!

As ramadan is being observed by the world’s Moslems, the tisha b’av fast appears on the horizon.  Tisha b’av (or 9th day of the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar) is observed this year beginning Monday night the 8th through Tues sundown the 9th.  Aside from the fast day of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, this is the most solemn fast day of the Jewish year.  It is not observed as widely as Yom Kippur (which is commanded in scripture and actively observed by a large majority of Jews) but it IS observed by a surprising number of even secular or nominally observant Jews as well as the religious.

As I have told you recently, I have been going through this interesting season of having my morning devotional reading ‘disrupted by The Lord’ after 37 years of following His initial directions to me, and have been having an intense time reading and re-reading the major prophets again and again (along with other portions in New Covenant and Psalms), so this day is making a very present and living impression on me this year, even more so then in past years.

The 9th of Av commemorates the actual date of the destruction of BOTH the first and second temples and the punishment of the surviving remnant being sent out of the promised land of Israel into the diaspora.  You can read Jeremiah’s account of the date in Jeremiah 52:6-7 –

6 By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

7 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain.

I have also shared many times over the past years lists of the unusual number of cataclysmic events that have taken place among the Jews through out modern history on this same date.

People prepare for this time of often very real repentance and heart searching in many ways.  The very religious men do not shave or cut their hair from Shavuot until tisha b’av, so there are many fully bearded men around right now.  There is also a general feeling of mourning in the air and I have heard many greetings which include a blessing for Jerusalem.  The teaching is that the judgment of God comes upon the people of Israel mainly for ‘brother hating brother’ (sinat chinam, in Hebrew).  Of course this is partly true according to the scriptures as hatred, or lack of love, produces selfishness, oppressing, cheating, theft and the like.  But the Scriptures make it clear that there are other reasons for the judgment of God upon the children of Israel: (I have been writing them down during these 6 months of reading through the major prophets).  Some of them are:

Forsaking Him (our first love); serving other Gods (like material goods, the flesh, new age ideas…?), worshipping the work of our own hands, giving heed to seducing spirits (counterfeit works of a spirit other then HIS); defiling His land; rebellion; pride; not finding delight in The Word of The Lord; covetousness; dealing falsely; will not hear correction; following the dictates of our own heart; forsaking Shabat; following Eastern ways; arrogant tongue; despising this inherited land; lack of mercy…oh my, the list goes on.

At the top of this letter I copied a small paragraph that opened a local weekly email information site, and similar exhortations and encouragements are appearing in newspapers, in short messages on radio and tv and on billboards (at least in the Jerusalem area).  ‘Prepare your heart to seek The Lord…do not let Jerusalem go again…’

I was in the Old City on Tuesday and many large groups of youngsters, soldiers and older folks as well, were on ‘learning tours’, reviewing the history surrounding the destructions of the temples.  They stop to read scripture and pray. On tisha b’av itself, the book of Lamentations is prayed/read during the fast and many people stay up all night weeping and even dressing in sackcloth and ashes.  We can scoff at what is ‘religious show’, but I, for one, know that God hears hungry hearts and my prayer is that this will NOT be a religious tradition, but that there will be breakthroughs in hearts; that The Holy Spirit will convict, and draw the hungry to Yeshua, Whom He is well able to reveal!  AND… that He will indeed, CREATE hunger in the hearts of those who may be crying out of tradition only.  He is able.

I have not been well, so will close and go to bed now.  What a season we live in, eh?  His ways are so above our ways and His thoughts so above our…and I am thankful for that!  I send you much love.  God bless you and keep you and make HIS FACE to shine upon you…and give you (HIS) Shalom.

Lovingly,

your sis  J

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July 7, 2013 · 8:44 am

Inside Israel

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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 …

Summer activity seems to overtake many of us suddenly and I know that some of you will not find time to read this.  There is some personal news at the end of the letter though, particularly for those of you who know us.  I am so glad that The Lord is the same, yesterday, today and forever and that HE isn’t suddenly ‘caught up’ in summer activity…OR in problems or illness for that matter.  That’s so comforting!

As I went from the shuk to prayer meeting yesterday morning before going to work, my eyes suddenly ‘flashed back’ to earlier ‘first impressions’ and I was able to observe with ‘new eyes’ again some of the wonders of life here that I saw at the beginning of this part of my path.  Perhaps it is because we are about to celebrate our 19th year since making aliyah (immigrating).

We became Israeli citizens on the 18th of July, but we left Alaska on 4th of July (the tickets were cheaper then as people tend not to fly on that day) which was sort of symbolic I guess.  We were totally clueless as to the new life that lay ahead.  I had never been here before, and my husband had come once on a short ‘tourist trip’. We didn’t know aleph from bet, (the Hebrew alpha bet) had no idea where we would live or what we would do.  The map that I had looked at was the map in the back of my Bible (yes…before computers!) We literally sold and gave away everything that we owned, burned all of our bridges, and at the not-so-young age of 48+ left all that we knew for what we didn’t know because we believed (correctly thank God!) that it was HIM Who was telling us to do this.  We were slightly acquainted with ONE person here and she found us temporary board in a room of someone’s apartment.  That is how our walk here began.  Shell shock! So, 19 years later, my routines have become somewhat set, and it was a blessing to suddenly see again as if it were my first time.

Friday morning, it is my ‘habit’ to go to Intercessors for Israel 6:30am prayer meetings for a half hour before going on to work. This week, memories flooded me. I remembered my ‘wonder’ at the buses, where the radio blared and the people talked and sang and ate. Since I take the 6am bus on Fridays I had been deeply moved by the fact that the state run radio stations began  (they go off at midnight and on at 6am) with the words of ‘the smah’…the prayer most important in Judaism…the words from Deut 6:4-9

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

These words are to Judaism what The Lord’s Prayer or sometimes the 23rd Psalm are to Christianity, so it would be as if your radio stations would begin each day with those Words in the morning reminding the country Who we look to first above all.  It blessed me to listen and to pray as the sunrise was casting its first rays above the mountains round about Jerusalem.  Sadly, about the time that the train started service, the broadcasting system put an end to this practice that had been in place since we first got radio here.

None the less, the assortment on the 6am bus is almost always the same, so we greet one another as one reads the newspaper and another the book of Psalms and a third eats perhaps a yogurt or cucumber, tomato and pita…typical Israeli breakfasts on the run.  On Friday I get off at the shuk to buy a challa (shabat bread) and some fruit and vegetables as everything in the city will close before sundown until after the shabat following sundown on Saturday.  At 6am, very few stands are open, but there are enough for me to get what I need and then run down Jaffa Road to prayer meeting.

As I leave the shuk I watch the Friday morning ritual of the street sweepers. Do all cities still have street sweepers?  Ours take their job very seriously and really do it well.  I am always impressed by them as it is not what you would call the most desirable job and yet I never sense these people feeling sorry for themselves or angry or see them slacking at work.  I pass the area from which they are ‘sent out’ with broom and equipment and enjoy listening to the ‘pep talk’ that they receive from their ‘commander’ who reminds them that they are cleaning the streets of Jerusalem and that they should do it proudly.  They run off slapping each other on the back and ready to begin. Why does this catch my eye?

As one who is ‘always cleaning house again and again and again’…I sometimes lose both my joy and energy in the midst of the task.  My task is so small compared with what faces these sweepers who work in the shuk. It is non stop mess and garbage and they keep at it with an energy, encouraging one another, that really speaks to me.  If they can do this monotonous job day after day, it challenges me to do mine for Yeshua with joy and for His glory. It is their level of obvious contentment that teaches me in this day ahead of me…it challenges me to plumb the depths of the command that The Lord gives me to ‘be content in ALL things’ as I read in so many verses (here are two but then there is Heb 13:5,  and so very many others.  You know them I’m sure:

11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (Phil 4:11)
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it iscertain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 1 Tim 6:6)

So…as I walk past the ‘challenge of the street sweepers’ I come again to the ifi morning prayer meeting as I have since this particular Fri. morning group began so many years back, to pray in small groups for particular situations in our country and surrounding ones.  All too soon it was off to work for me, but my ‘fresh look’ at the street sweepers kept my eyes awake.

I remembered my amusement at the lack of Western ‘political correctness’ and how everyone talks to strangers all of the time.  That brought to my memory the reminder of the becoming aware that in this land of the Book and the Law…the laws are NOT ‘rigid’ as they are in the West…they are not black and white…they…hum…’float’ (for want of a better word.  It took me awhile to understand this.  Here is an example:  In America if I took a letter to the post office, they would weigh it and tell me EXACTLY how much postage it needed. If they were wrong, I would get the letter back marked ‘insufficient postage’.

Here, oh yes, there are charts, charges and regulations…but I might well walk up to the post office lady and she might say ‘9 shekels’ and I might say ‘Oh no!  I only have 7.5’ and…depending upon who she is, she might say ‘zeh lo mishonay!’ (It doesn’t matter) and either put 7.5 postage on it or take the shekel and a half our of her change purse.  We don’t HAVE ‘insufficient postage’ stamps here.  Period.

Then there is ‘making a scene’.  Again, a man approaches a window at the post office (we do LOTS of transactions at our post offices: they are banks, we pay bills there, we submit forms there and various other tasks) and the teller says ‘You are missing a signature’.  You can expect excitement!  ‘WHAT?!? They TOLD me that THIS is what I need!!  I CAN’T POSSIBLY come back!  My kid needs this for school TODAY!’  Sometimes fights ensue…but SOMETIMES we hear things like ‘You can’t?  He really needs it today?  Ok.’ Stamp stamp stamp – and the customer walks away smiling.  You can REASON with the clerks.  You can also cry.  I found that out the hard way.

As a new immigrant I cried A LOT! Suddenly I became ‘they made somebody’s mother cry!’ and others in line would rush up with water or a chair – it must have been quite humorous to watch from afar (although it never felt funny at the time).  So what is this: manipulation?  Mercy? Sloppiness? Protexia?  Probably a combination of all three to a different degree, but it was culturally different to me.  It was no longer black and white, but there were many ‘grey’ areas and this was helpful to learn as I realize that I will never fully understand the ‘ways of the system’. (although I have been told that NO ONE really understands it)

It is fun to remember some of these early impressions and lessons, particularly as planes fly over.  You all know that the situation here increases in intensity daily.  The sudden eruption of Egypt again – our neighbor to the south- has led to great instability in the vast Sinai region and once again de-stabilized our border.  To the North of us the Syrians continue to kill one another and our hospitals receive wounded for their border area nearly daily as word of mouth travels and families in the south bring their loved ones to the border asking for mercy.  Again our ‘peace’ process is gaining momentum so there are (again) bomb scares daily as that seems to be the ‘natural fruit’ of the ‘peace process’ (and the foreign governments do not seem to see the irony of this).  In other words, life continues as usual.

PERSONAL NEWS:

I was deeply blessed by a dear sister last weekend.  She works for a volunteer organization and they are blessed with an apartment right on the beach in Netanya that they allow their workers to use periodically for a time of retreat and refreshing.  She had reserved it for last weekend and INVITED ME AND ANOTHER SISTER TO JOIN HER!  Oh what joy to have a change of scenery and intensity and to share the sweetest of fellowship in Him!  I have rarely received such a cup of cold water and I am happy to report that I have been so graciously refreshed and doused in Love!  I had to come home early as I have had an infection and am allergic to just about all antibiotics, so needed to receive 5 days of slowly administered antibiotic by infusion, spending 2 hours daily in a nurses station after work.  I was well prepared with His GRACE to go through this, for which I am so thankful.

Some have been asking how things are going with our Granddaughter.  She is scheduled to arrive on 29th July and we are SOOOO excited!  She is a tender 6 years old and has had her suitcase packed for 6 weeks already!  I guess she takes after her ‘Savtalai’ (Grandmother) as I have been getting stuff for her ‘room’ for at least that long! Thank you so much for your prayers!

But for those of you who know us…our situation…have followed our family, some of you for more then 35 years(!) we do have news. Our youngest daughter, who was married just a year ago, is expecting their first child!  She was told (as I was) that she could never have children and they are THRILLED! Of course, she has had MANY physical and emotional problems and they are still NOT (yet) walking with The Lord… they are poorer then church mice BUT happier then larks…and, yes, I ask for prayer for them!  They live in Minnesota USA and the Baby is due in early Jan.  No…they have no car…no insurance…she is high risk pregnancy and is NOT feeling well…BUT…She IS a child of promise and HE IS ON THE THRONE! So I will BLESS them and pray and I wanted to share our joy with you!

MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU AND MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON YOU FOR HIS GLORY!  May we be discerning and sensitive to His direction for this most narrow of seasons in which we life.

Lovingly,
your sis J

 

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June 30, 2013 · 9:16 am

Inside Jerusalem

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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 …

Although most of us picture doves as white, the doves of Jerusalem are that beautiful ‘doe’ color, like a deer.  Perhaps you wonder why I write so much concerning nature.  Today I believe I understood the reason , besides the fact that I have always loved nature.

When we first made arrived, we found that our new reality demanded that we find work as soon as possible.  Not being able to handle my new language at all and NOT having many qualifying skills AND being 49 years old at the time, I was happy to be offered a job with a rather well known international ministry.  Being in this intense part of the world, there are probably more large, international ministries functioning here then anywhere else on earth, and not just ‘English speaking ones’ either.  It is the same with news media outlets. There are more world news media groups stationed here then anywhere else on the earth.  That should say something because if you’ve been here,  you know what a tiny city Jerusalem is.

When I was offered work with this ministry I asked them to pray with me as there were some doctrinal issues that they held that I could not stand in agreement with, not foundational ones of course.  They prayed and assured me that I was the one for the job and it would be fine.  I was so thankful for the work as the main part of my job was answering many of the letters that they received and I loved that.  We began each day with Bible reading and prayer and I loved the fellowship, inspite of our differences.

But the area that I was not in agreement with allowed them to embrace a false prophecy, which led them to the verge of bankruptcy. Most of the staff had to be immediately dismissed, including me.  It was then that I found out that they had not been paying into our form of ‘social security’ for me, which the boss was required to do. This left me, after a year and a half of working, not being able to receive unemployment.

The Lord certainly works everything to the good and for His glory. It turned out to be the beginning of an intensive course in learning to REALLY trust Him and walk by faith in a new dimension.  I had no work for two years after that.  Plus, my husband was not in the country at the time – another story that ends up glorifying Him. I felt firmly that He was directing me to work in a secular job, immersed in my new ‘culture’ rather then to work again with a ministry. He surely has directed my path.  But what in the world does this all have to do with ‘nature’ and ‘doves’?

Just this:  Because we are such a small body here and so dispersed, I now have very little opportunity for fellowship outside of our weekly meeting, but today I realized just how much He speaks to me through His creation.  I understood that I daily ‘fellowship’ with Him in this manner (as well, of course, in His Word and in prayer) and am edified.  No, it does NOT take the place of ‘fellowship’ with the body (HIS perfect design) but He always provides when we want His will, and this is part of my current provision.

And now, back to our doe colored doves.

Jerusalem is covered with doves.  I have learned that if they are nearby as I walk and don’t look directly at them or speak to them (yes…I do that and readily admit it), they will stay where they are. But if I look at them or speak, they will fly away.  Now we all know that The Holy Spirit came as a dove so as I learned this I have thought about how The Holy Spirit did not come to speak of Himself, but to point to Yeshua, to bring into remembrance everything that He said and to magnify Him…not to draw attention to Himself.

But yesterday my attention was drawn directly to a dove sitting on the ground next to a wooden fence along my path.  He looked at me and I sensed that he was injured.  I went toward him and he did not move, but kept watching me.  I saw that his gentle breast had been harmed, most likely by a cat.  I reached down to pick him up, but stopped. Where would I bring him?  There was no place nearby that would make him less prey for another cat attack, nor could I bring him to work. He would be petrified.  I know enough that if I were to touch him, he would carry my ‘scent’ and that might be worse.

So, I stood and prayed simply that The Lord, Who cares for all creatures, would care for him mercifully, and went to walk on.  A bit further I felt just bothered to leave him like that so I turned to go back and then I saw a most unusual sight.  Another dove flew down and began to peck at him and flap his wings angrily.  I felt so bad, thinking that he was being attacked UNTIL I saw him reluctantly move. Then, after some more pecking and harassment, move again, and suddenly, hesitantly, he took off in unsteady flight to a tree.  The second bird came to rescue him and had likely been watching when I stooped down.

Immediately I thought of so many of the painful and harsh things that seem to come into our lives when we feel most vulnerable and I wondered at the goodness of God to ‘afflict us in His faithfulness’ (as is repeated over and over in Psalm 119, that marvelous teaching Psalm)  for example 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.  And verse  71 It is good for me that I was afflicted,that I may learn Your statutes.

Do my ‘parables’ drive you crazy?  I hope not.  I gather strength as mana to go through my days as He blesses me with these encouragements.  I actually thought about it as I was faced with my daily train ride.

Two days in a row I arrived halfway to my destination when the loud speaker announced a‘hefetz ha’shood’ or an ‘unidentified object’ that the bomb squad was being called out to investigate. We are usually advised to ‘walk’ or ‘possibly wait up to half an hour’, but this week, the first time, we were told that we would all have to get off of the train as the driver was being told to turn around and go in the other direction.  The lady-older-then-myself with some 20 kilos of cherries that she had just bought at the shuk began to grumble loudly, as did the very old man with a walker.  Soon there was quite a rebellion taking place as it was noon and the sun was hot and the train was crowded with elderly people with packages or young mothers with babies.

I decided to walk rather then listen to the rage.  Thankfully today we were allowed to sit and wait.  As we did I looked around and it hit me for the first time that our trains carry perhaps a pretty odd assortment.  They are full of baby carriages and strollers, often twin strollers.  There are lots of shopping carts (mine included) and then there are walkers, canes, crutches, wheel chairs, Seeing Eye dogs, shopping bags, suitcases and myriads of backpacks, not to mention weapons.  More then occasionally there are also the ‘tools of the trade:’ a mop and bucket, large tool box, computers or assorted furniture being brought home.  Sitting next to me today was a woman with a portable oxygen tank attached to her nose.  In front of us stood a young girl with BOTH a rocking horse and a plastic push ‘bike’.  And then there are all of those pregnant women.  No wonder the train is always so crowed.

Things here are more volatile and tense then ever, if that is possible.  I think back to the beginnings of the ‘revolution’ in Egypt that began very shortly after the US President visited there, and how ‘revolt’ has been sparked in almost the entire region.  The nations on all of our borders are shaking and smoldering. And the world is so foolishly trying to ‘solve the problems’ with embarrassing rhetoric and shallow human reasoning that knows almost nothing of the ancient roots of the problems, nor of The Maker Who is watching over His Word.

The latest moves to ‘arm the rebels’ in Syria, while screaming and crying about all of the people dying, is so pathetic that it can not be seen as funny.  More weapons will NOT stop the bloodshed.  I look at my Bible and see so many circumstances for which there was NO HUMAN SOLUTION.

Take, for example: the Sea in front and the Egyptians behind as the Israelites came out of Egypt.  Perhaps, it was thousands in the wilderness without food in both the ancient days during the 40 years in the wilderness and the nearer days when Yeshua said ‘How many loaves have you?…Bring it to Me!’  What about Legion howling in the tombs or the lame man waiting for the stirring of the waters?  AND how about Yeshua dead in the tomb?  Oh my, there is no end to examples. In fact the Bible is FULL of situations that there was NO human solutions.

Yet we live in an age of ‘humanism’ and seem to actually have a foot in the door of the one world system that will carry the mark for buying and selling.  I can see much more clearly how that could be possible now.

When our value added tax went up 1%, I somehow thought that my bills would also go up 1%, but  I have NO understanding of economics. Bills (especially grocery bills) have shot up a whopping 25%. Since wages don’t increase, I think of how young families who are not prepared by The Word, mixed with faith and the fear of God, will withstand taking such a mark.  From my vantage point the world appears to be spinning faster and faster out of the control of the nations and their leaders.

There are those of you who pray for our nation. And also, I am aware that there are many who might read some of these letters who don’t find time to pray.  PLEASE don’t take ANY condemnation from me when I mention those who do.  It is ALL unto The Lord and we ALL do what we can and believe we are called to do.  Please be released from any condemnation over this.

I would like to ask for specific prayer for a 60 year old problem that I believe our nation is poised to impose a solution that is perhaps unjust and I am very concerned.  As you know we have a Bedouin population.  The Bedouins are a fascinating people.  They are nomads who I suspect are the people described in Jeremiah 35:1-12. They live mostly in the Negev where they move their goats and camels from place to place living in tent like structures with large extended families.  (Google Bedouin if you are unfamiliar with them.)

Over the years efforts have been made to settle them in villages and extend benefits to them: education, health care, sanitation etc.  They are currently listed as the most rapidly growing population in the world.  Their land claims are not written down.  Israel is a small nation and wants to establish its borders.  Legislation has just passed to establish the Bedouin in villages against their will which strikes me a lot like ‘American Indian Reservations’.

I have a long personal history with Indian Reservations. So, my heart breaks at the thought that the same awful injury might be done here.  Please pray that this legislation is somehow overturned and some just solution is found.  The Druze population in the North was also nomadic and they were peacefully settled into villages, but I have a very bad feeling about this Bedouin decision.  Thank you for praying if The Holy Spirit brings it to mind.

But in the midst of all of the ‘distressing news’, you likely haven’t heard of the more then 30 wounded Syrians from both sides of the conflict that have been treated in Israeli hospitals as friends or family bring them to our borders.  Also, a lovely ‘peace prize’ was just awarded to our fast response health motorcycle paramedic service which was founded by an ultra religious man and an Israeli Arab working together.  They have no political agenda. They simply share a passion for saving lives and have formed a nationwide service that rushes to all emergencies.  In this context, a Jewish man with a kippa (skull cap) has delivered a Moslem baby and a bearded Moslem man has delivered an orthodox Jewish baby.  Lives are saved and the result is trusting friendship. Peace is made through kindness, one on one, in the small ways that we can.  He is our Peace. He HAS broken down every wall.

It is I who enjoy sharing, so I thank you for making time to read.  Come and visit???  God bless and encourage you ever nearer to His Heart beat.

Thank you for continued prayer for our younger daughter at this time.

Lovingly,

your sis J

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June 23, 2013 · 8:55 am

Inside Israel

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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 …

He is precious and to be glorified and blessed, and as His Blood-bought body, how very precious are each of you!  … for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people…” (2 Corin 6:16)  WOW!   May you be blessed and encouraged, as I am today with a fresh ‘glimpse’ of the fact that He is ‘enough’…He is ALL!

I had to giggle as I watched the news brief last night.  In very serious tones it was reported that a ‘caucus’ on the USA has been formed in our Knesset (Parliament – Congress) to ‘study and teach about the United States, it’s government system, history, geography, social systems and culture.’  I always wondered what a ‘caucus’ was but had never pursued it.

In this case I understood it to be a committee formed to study the USA and report back and teach the other Knesset members.  They all looked so serious as they sat around learning like students in a 6th grade class, absorbing new information and ideas.  The reporter explained that everyone thought there already HAD been such a thing for years, but there hasn’t been, and it was high time that we began to understand ‘where America was coming from’.

Of course, as a ‘former American’ this seemed funny to me…studying American culture in particular …but then I realized that it isn’t.  As I wrote in my last email, we are still a third world country dressed up as a first world one. But we are a third world country with a passion for learning and searching out truth (yea!) and I suspect that our policy makers are puzzled at America’s approach to dealing with the current problems in the Middle East.  This has been brought to a head by the situation in Syria and the current ‘policy’ to ‘arm the rebels’.  Everyone here is scratching their heads and so our politicians are now going to study ‘what makes them tick over there?’  Perhaps someone would find this food for prayer.

I want to thank you for your prayers for me personally.  I am walking free in Yeshua today by the power of The Blood and The Spirit, thanks to the help of a dear sister whom He used to pray with me.  How thankful I am for people who pay the price to be spot on (silver bullet prayers I call it…if any of you remember the Lone Ranger) through obedience on their knees.  I see now more clearly how to stand against the occasion that the enemy took to chain me up through the stress that The Lord is exercising me with these days. I am truly flooded with joy, peace AND better health today, in spite of the fact that the stress remains and increases.  He is so very good!  I love the way He uses His body as we walk according to His ways.

I find that I have less and less opportunities on the bus and train these days to talk with people, as iphones and ipods have literally taken over.  Everybody seems to be plugged in and fewer people are talking…or even looking up :-\  in this electronic age.  At work today, however, I had an encounter that perhaps contains a window that is both common to all man and also unique in some ways.

The part of my job that I dislike the most concerns a list that we receive every 3 months from the health fund. The job falls to me to call some 80 or so patients who received services during the past quarter but did not pass their plastic card.  (the Doctor gets paid by the card being passed) Now…this entails me disturbing people who may live cross town and to explain to them as patiently as I can in my best Hebrew that, yes they DID order something and that even if they DIDN’T pick it up, we DID do the work, print it out, etc, and that it is all recorded in the perfectly accurate computer (‘No…It didn’t make a mistake…no…I am not lying…No…it was really you…’) and that even though it is inconvenient for them to travel across town, wouldn’t it be nice to pay the doctor (since it isn’t from their pocket anyway).

Sometimes people argue and yell at me and I find that the most distressing part of my work.  This month I approached it with a good and cheerful attitude…until I came to Shlomo Alkalai!  I LIKE Shlomo.  He is a gentle man of about 60 who has had a really tough time.  I called him and asked him to please bring in his card.  I was totally unprepared for the abusive yelling that followed.  I finally said ‘Shlomo…I won’t listen to this.  I am hanging up the phone’ which I did, and promptly folded my list and stuffed it into a corner, heart pounding in my ears.  ‘That’s it for phone calls.  I’m NOT up to this!’ I decided. That was last week.

Just as I was getting ready to leave today Shlomo appeared at the door with his card.  Again he began to yell at me and I simply didn’t answer him.  I didn’t even look at him.  This was hard as I always liked Shlomo and he always liked me…what had happened?  Dr. Meshulam appeared and told him to stop yelling at the secretary ‘Zeh lo na’aim!’ (literally ‘that is not nice’) he said sternly.  Shlomo yelled ‘I am NOT yelling’.  We looked at each other and he began to share with me some things that I already knew, and others that I didn’t.  Shlomo is (I think) an accountant.  He is a kind and gentle man but his wife, Ruthie, suffers for many years from extreme depression for which she has been hospitalized often and remains heavily medicated.  Then she passed through several severe bouts of cancer requiring chemo and radiation that affected her legs (how they don’t know) and she is now in a wheel chair as well.  She has gained about 100 pounds during this time.  They have one lovely daughter who has succeeded in becoming a lawyer in the midst of all of this.  She lives in Tel Aviv.

Shlomo has had to move his office into his home since Ruthie must be watched 24 hours a day.  Their daughter, who works until 8 at night comes home once a week, cooks all night and spends the night so that Shlomo can go out the next day (one day a week) to buy groceries, run errands (like this one that I was imposing on him), pay bills etc.  The bills have piled up and as I listened the tears began to roll down my face.  I was thinking what a burden it was for him to have to come across town to run his card through.  We spoke at great length, both apologizing, of course.  I kept praying for access to The Holy Spirit to speak words of encouragement, but as the words kept pouring out of him I realized that what he needed to do he was doing.

Sometimes when we go through too much ‘trauma’ in our life, we sort of have to ‘recite’ it to ‘validate’ that all of this is really happening.  I learned that through my own experience, particularly when you are walking a lonely path.  All that I could do was listen and trust that as he saw my tears he would receive some comfort.

And now to take him to prayer. He and his family need prayer.  I make a distinction between a ‘religious’ man and a ‘God fearing’ man.  Here, the ‘religious’ fit certain criteria…dress a certain way, eat a certain way, pray a certain way.  Shlomo is a ‘God fearing man’.  A man who prays, goes to synagogue, keeps the kosher laws.

Perhaps someone will be given a burden to pray for this family, and that is why I share.  I want to thank you for allowing The Lord to lay whomever He does upon your heart.  I am always blessed to humility when one of you writes and asks how ‘Molly’ is or tells me that you are praying for ‘Rivka’ or ‘Amos’ or  ‘the taxi driver’.  It only needs to be one…but whom The Lord burdens, He also empowers.  Thank you!

And thank you again for praying for me and my family and for our nation and people. These emails have been a bit anemic lately, and I apologize for that, but I offer it to Him and am thankful for a moment to fellowship with you.  I would ask particularly for prayer for our younger daughter and her husband right now.  Thank you so much.  May we all draw ever closer and ever deeper to His Heart and may we let Him strip away all that hinders, for His kingdom and for His glory,

Lovingly,
your sister J

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June 17, 2013 · 9:40 am

Inside Israel

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Due to a glitch in my memory bank, I forgot to post Inside Israel yesterday. This is the newsletter where we will hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua.  So, put on your prayer shawls and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is …

Greetings in The Name of Yeshua, Jesus, Lord of lords, King of kings, THE only true Messiah,

May He be blessed and glorified, and may you be blessed and edified.  And may we ALL grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him (not through my letter, but just through His working in us and His Word and prayer! – This has been my constant prayer for myself lately.)

When people come to visit this land for the first time, I try to prepare them for one major cultural ‘difference’ that they never seem prepared for: the subject of ‘manners’…or rather the lack of them.  ‘RUDE!’ is generally a word that I hear a great deal when describing Israelis once off the tour bus… and I can understand the misinterpretation of the actions.  I say ‘misinterpretation’ because I believe that ‘rudeness’ should not necessarily be judged by ‘action’ but by ‘intent’.

I had been prepared for the situation before we made aliyah, by my brother in law, who is Israeli but sadly does not live here.  This is how he described it: ‘Israel is a third world country dressed in first world clothing; sort of like a gorilla in a tuxedo’.  He continued: ‘An Israeli will push you over and break your leg trying to get on the bus before you, but then will pick you up, carry you on his back all the way (running no less) to the hospital…pace up and down in front of the operating room while they piece your leg back together, visit you every day with flowers, chocolate and home cooked meals (if not sleep on the floor beside you) AND… you will be at his shabat table and every family occasion for the rest of your life once you recover!’

I found that pretty accurate!  There is simply NO malicious intent in Israeli ‘rudeness’!

When we first came (actually the first week and my very first time on the bus alone) I was downtown and went to get on the bus.  There were lots of ‘old ladies’ (like me now) trying to push on to the bus before me, so, ‘naturally’ I stepped aside to let them on.  Just as I prepared to get on the bus, he closed the doors in my face and took off!  I burst out crying. (Very mature response, but I was still pretty much in shock by all of the changes that immigration was bringing) 

Several women approached me to comfort me and to see if they could help and maybe pour some water down my throat (perhaps I was thirsty?).  ‘What is the matter?’ the one who could speak a bit of English asked.  ‘He closed the door in my face as I was about to get on!’ I blubbered.  They looked puzzled, ‘but you kept stepping aside!’ they reminded me.  ‘Of course…all of those old ladies wanted to get on…’  Now they REALLY looked puzzled.  ‘But why didn’t YOU get on?’  You get the picture?  I soon learned how to push my way on to the bus and not get left behind.

There actually IS a sort of ‘method’ to it all…and it is NOT considered rude.  The truth is…life here is not quite ‘easy’, always pressured…and everyone is trying their best to get something ‘accomplished’ …there is just no time for the ‘niceties’ of ‘space’ between people.

Uh oh!  This became a real testing ground for me…a grinding stone for The Lord to work on areas of my life that I did not want exposed.  (does that sound like your Lord too?)  There are definite reasons that I was born in NYC and had DETERMINED (by the age of two I think!) that I was ‘out of there!’ and going to live in the most far away from people and quiet place I could find.  Thus I lived in the remote Alaska bush for 15 years and never had any intent to leave.  I was a hermit by nature.  Proverbs 18:1 tells me what The Lord thinks about my love of being a hermit:

“A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.”

The King James Version translates it this way:

“Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh [and] intermeddleth with all wisdom.”

The King James version sounds quite different, which I had interpreted to be a ‘good thing’ for many years.  When I read the New KJ translation it sent me to the Hebrew… which I couldn’t understand…so I went to parallel versions.  I have come to see that the NewKJ is far closer to the meaning…and I have had to ask The Lord deal with this area of my flesh that loves its s-p-a-c-e and privacy and quiet etc.  It has not been an easy lesson and I am still learning it, but sharing His love for this nation and its people (in general…He is oh so dealing with my heart to love people INDIVIDUALLY) drives me to want them to be understood correctly.

Now…what was the point of all of this?

A humorous thing has occurred!  I have shared much with you about our ‘new lite rail system’ that is NOT appropriate for Jerusalem!  Its fine in Europe, or Seattle, or probably most places in the world…but in Jerusalem?  It is a disaster, at least for those (like me) who have to ride it daily!  Occasional riders and tourists seem to love it, but it is a nightmare for the commuters and this is not just my opinion. I would say it is nearly 100% across the board express this opinion… vocally …daily, and there have been many demonstrations and ongoing letters to the editor…all a waste of breath. 

Now…let’s see if I can describe (just) one of the problems:  the doors.  There has been a serious problem at each stop as perhaps 20 people push to get off while, simultaneously, approximately 20 people push to get on.  There is a ‘stance’:  head down, hands in fists in front of your chest, mouth open yelling a variety of things, and the push and shove begins.  It can get quite nasty (and occasionally funny) and there has been no solution.  There had been ‘guards’ at stops yelling ‘don’t push! Don’t push!  Let them off before you get on!’ to no avail.  Once on the train the conversation always turned to ‘These awful trains!’

Last Friday morning I went to the train stop and was greeted by some new very bright yellow markings all over the side walks; they were lines and arrows resembling traffic lanes.  Not really ‘normal’ traffic lanes, but the kind that you see at very busy intersections where there had been a lot of deadly accidents.  These are seriously ‘aggressive’ lines and arrows that scream ‘This way dummy!  NOW that way!’ 

Since I leave quite early in the morning, there were as yet no people around, but on the way home there were smiling young people dressed in bright red giving out freebies.  We Israelis love freebies!  Who doesn’t? They were giving out a free candy along with a little cartoon booklet showing people how to ‘WAIT’ until the passengers get off BEFORE you try to get on.’  All of the cartoon characters were smiling; they did NOT look Israeli!  We took the little booklet and the candies and waited for the train.  Everyone stood behind the yellow lines and smiled at the red-jacketed workers…UNTIL THE TRAIN CAME.  The battle was on once again!  It is definitely funny.  A dear sis mentioned last night that this campaign was probably started by the complaints of North Americans or Brits and she was likely right!  By the way, the happy cartoon characters also grace posters sprinkled around the train stops.

(I just looked for photos of the campaign for you, but found only this article from a secular Canadian online site that gives you an idea plus photos http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/06/its-unpleasant-and-people-push-each-other-jerusalems-light-rail-transit-starts-a-courtesy-campaign/   It’s funny…but also an eye opener if you read the ‘comments’.  ‘Standing in defense of Israel’ can be emotionally painful as I am sure that most of you are aware. One of the things that I noticed in the article was the mention of the couple (2 I believe) of Jewish kids provoking fights with Arab kids on the train.  There was no mention of the (also 2 I believe) stabbings of Jews by Arabs on the train. Note the hostility.)

Explaining Israel…the Jews…it all comes back to The Word…it has ALL been written…and He has provided us with The Holy Spirit…the Interpreter, The Guide Who will lead us into all Truth so that we can rightly divide The Word of Truth.  I am so thankful that He does all things well and as I have been seeking lately to understand His WAYS IN (His) JUDGMENT and to grasp how we are to respond during HIS TIMES OF JUDGMENT, I am reminded that Israel is to be separate, alone and that He too was despised and rejected.  So my only purpose here it to try to remove some of the stumbling stones from before the feet of those of you who may be able to walk here for a limited period of time as a tourist or short term volunteer.

I have rambled on for a long time and should go, but I find that every time I write, I linger in a sort of ‘virtual fellowship’ and I think of the names of those of you on the list and I am so thankful for His way of weaving us into His body together…praying for one another…building one another up in His Holy Spirit.

I have several unspoken (sorry) personal family requests for prayer and I thank those of you whom He has burdened with ‘carrying my family’.  I also have a prayer request for a dear sister (not here) who has just been diagnosed with cancer and will begin treatment soon, although I will not mention her name.  There is another sister among you to whom I write who has recently been deserted by her husband who unexpectedly turned from The Lord who surely needs prayer.  I know that if He wants any of you to carry these before the throne He will enable and remind.

May The Lord fine tune each of us for HIS GLORY alone, and may we be about His business.  LOVINGLY, your sis here.

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June 9, 2013 · 8:18 am

Inside Israel

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As you have probably guessed by now,  I’m not Debbie, but since she’s taken a sabbatical, I will host Inside Israel where we will 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 …

Greetings dear sisters and brothers,

Oh, I am blessed!  I have had a rare day of being able to stay near home and not need to ride the public transportation that provides so many interesting stories. But all around me this land bares witness to the absolute faithfulness of the eternal promises as given by The covenant keeping Almighty God, and so I am thankful for a space to write to you.  May HE be glorified and may you be blessed.  And may I be a faithful witness – eyes to see for you here, where His temple, His body, IS being built!

As I walked to the shops and to the bank this morning, I was ‘nudged’ in the spirit to ‘notice how quickly things change.’  As we all attempt to adjust to the dramatic climate changes, I am sure that I am not the only one looking with wonder at some of those changes.

Today is a lovely break from the early heat waves that we have had (the ‘sha’arav’ or ‘ham’seen’ – which are hot dry winds from the deserts to the south) and I looked around to see the first miniature pomegranates swelling the bulbs of what were spectacular blooms on the trees just earlier this week. Whereas the grapes were also minute but perfect clusters, each tiny grape is now elongated and defining itself while the appearance of similar clusters on the pepper trees signal the developing handfuls of red pepper corns that promise to appear later in the season.

As I looked around I saw all of the lush summer colors and deep heavy green leaves and fronds that have begun to replace the sweetness of the spring exhibit.  Neither is more delightful to the eyes, senses or spirit then the other…all truly speak to me of the faithfulness of God, His capacity for beauty (as beautiful as this is it is only of seed of what we shall see in heaven!),  His order in the changing seasons and His patterns reflecting His majesty.

When we first made aliyah we saw bouquets of BLUE flowers hanging from vines that climbed up tall trees…something we hadn’t seen before.  They have become commonplace to us now as have date palms and the public gardens filled with sweet-smelling herbs, nuts and fruits.  All of this beauty around us and yet He must exhort me again and again to ‘worship Him’ to ‘praise Him’ to ‘glorify and magnify and LOVE Him’.  Truly He is ALWAYS ONLY worthy of all praise!…even in the shops.

As I went into the shop, all of the workers were busy replacing every price in the store with a higher one.  New signs had gone up on Sunday reminding everyone of a fact that we all knew too well: ‘Value added tax has now been raised to 18% as of today.  Prices may be higher at the cash register then they are marked on the item.’

It was just a few years ago that a law went into effect requiring stores to post prices.  Before that it was always a big surprise and you could haggle about it.  It was also only a few years ago that value added tax was placed on food items at all!  I commented to one of the clerks that 1% DIDN’T mean 1 shekel (about 30 cents in USD a 5th of a British pound.).  She smiled sadly and shrugged knowingly.  ‘I know…they are just raising ALL of the prices more then the 1%!’  Only fruit and vegetables have been exempt from this new tax…AND (a blessing for those of you who come and visit) v.a.t. is refunded to tourists at the airport as they return and present their purchase stubs.  That was a BIG fight in the Knesset.

Indeed, this year’s budget was a huge issue all around.  An interesting thing took place; over the past couple of years there have been ‘social demonstrations’ due to the state of the economy.  The situation changed the results of the elections here dramatically and the ‘darlings’ of the social change movement rose to receive much power.  Our Prime Minister wisely (I think) took the most outspoken leader elected from this movement…and made him FINANCE MINISTER!  He basically said; ‘Ok.  You want change?  Here are the facts and figures.  YOU are responsible for them.  YOU do it!’  He had ZERO experience in this area.  He was faced with the reality of the numbers and immediately…raised taxes.  The most painful of these to the poorer people (more then 50% of the population) is the value added tax.

Most of us don’t pay for more then housing and food as it is…and now the food is even higher and the housing NOT more affordable but going up as well.  The addition of value added tax for tourists ALMOST passed, but the tourist industry is too important here…both as an ‘industry’ AND as a moral value:  Our government is very aware that when a tourist comes he may well see the truth for himself…and…if he sees…he may speak out and influence others.  So, you, as a tourist, will receive an 18% refund on your purchases IF you present your receipts (KEEP THEM AND DO THIS!) at the v.a.t. desk in our airport before you leave.

A heart warming thing happened last night as my husband and I went to sign our Granddaughter up for summer ‘kay’tina’, which is summer day camp.  Kay’tina is a big thing here…not just in summer, but year around.  It is likely an outgrowth of the kibbutz movement upon which the modern state was founded.  Everybody lived and worked communally and the children were also cared for communally.

Since everybody is STILL working ‘communally’ – the after school movement – ‘kay’tina’- has grown and refined into a lovely and creative ‘institution’ of sorts.  Children can go to kay’tinot that are about cooking, sport, animals, creative arts, academics, any sort of interest…or simply PLAY.  Since I will need to be working during part of the time that our Ana will be with us, we chose the YMCA kay’tina after receiving tons of recommendations.  The YMCA is in a very impressive building near the old city walls here in Jerusalem where it has stood for more then 80 years!  (you can see some beautiful photos of it here.)

Most of you have likely read the great soldier of faith OSWALD CHAMBERS’ My Utmost for His Highest or one of his other books.  He had a room in this YMCA where he did much writing.  It serves people from all communities here, both Arab and Jewish as well as internationals.

Having prayed for direction, we went to inquire about registration (feeling VERY old and nervous among all of the young parents) when a friend from kehila (fellowship or ‘church’) came along side to help and encourage us!  She works there.  This was a ‘big mountain’ for me…a step of faith in many ways and venturing into an area that I haven’t dealt with before as our youngest daughter was already 13 when we arrived.

Mission accomplished, we went out and found the train about to arrive.  Finding a seat we were soon informed by loud speaker that there was a ‘hefetz hashood’ ahead (unidentified object) and that we would be delayed as the bomb squad was dealing with it.  Groan!  Not again!  A whir of sirens filled the air as the bomb squad rushed passed.  We settled into our seats, thankful for them as it was late, and I pulled out the papers and read them thoroughly.  Suddenly I jabbed my husband in the side and pointed to a line at the bottom which read “DUE TO THE CURRENT COST OF LIVING WE HAVE DECIDED TO REDUCE OUR PRICES”!!  We knew that we had made the right decision!  Wasn’t that a lovely thing that they did??

I thought about it again as this morning during devotions  as I was touched by John 21:6 –

“And He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.”

I thought about it and about the way I walk through my daily life:  They were ‘fishermen’.  It was their trade.  They were good enough at it to have earned their livelihood.  HOWEVER…they became the servant of Another Master.  They didn’t grow rusty or lose their talent…but they were in the flesh and not in the Spirit.  How often I try to make plans and decisions in the flesh!  How often He must remind me that I am NOT ‘my own’ but have been bought with a price!  He will not prosper plans that I make on my own.

“Trust in The Lord with ALL your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.  In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He WILL direct your path.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Why do I need to learn this lesson daily?  He is just so very patient with me!  And so, I trust Him to lead us in all that lies before us.

Our defense spending cuts were just announced as I watched the news, and the reserve soldier’s training has been cut…not good.  The battles in Syria rage, taking a huge toll on human life there, but no good outcome either way.  On one thing both sides agree: as soon as this is over, the announced focus is to turn to the Golan Heights…our North.  Meanwhile, the Turkish uprisings which appeared to be a small rebellion, is heating up surprisingly and has become a question mark.  And Egypt?  Still full of unrest and shaking.  Islam is entrenching itself in full leadership in country after country around us.

It is past time for me to go and get dinner ready so I must close.  We have truly been blessed by friends and friends children (also friends) who have visited over this year…and those of you who write.  God bless you all.  May we walk together to glorify Him and finish the work that He has given each of us.

Lovingly, your sis

J

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June 2, 2013 · 5:40 am

Inside Israel

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As you have probably guessed by now,  I’m not Debbie, but since she’s taken a sabbatical, I will host Inside Israel where we will 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 …

Greetings to you with love.  May you be blessed and may THE LORD be blessed and glorified!  The ‘stories’ FOLLOW my ‘babblings’ this time, so if you want to skip down…the letter is divided into parts.

Life is NEVER boring here…not that I have ever been ‘bored’, but it would be awfully nice to have some less intense times.  NEVERTHELESS…God, Who really does encompass our paths and hedge us in if we are His, does not give us more then we can handle as we seek His Face first.  His rest and peace in the midst of the storms is more then theory, and I feel an increasing urgency to learn that lesson firmly NOW.

Planes have been flying overhead through out the day and night for the last several days and what we know is that tensions on our northern border (Lebanon and Syria) are rapidly heating up.  There has been increasing tension on our southern border with Egypt as well, but it is the North that has seen the most recent border skirmishes.  Both Iran and Hezbollah have seemed to try to unite the Syrian people by calling for a full scale assault on the Golan Heights (our ancient region of Bashan which was allotted to both the tribes of Gad and Joseph – Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh), so our northern areas have been on particularly high alert.

As our country watched with sadness the devastation of the violent tornado in Oklahoma USA, we also saw a local gunman enter a southern bank and shoot 4 innocent people before killing himself.  He had been denied a loan of 6,000 shekels (about $1,600) and he saw no end to his financial situation. This is virtually unheard of here in Israel even though many many are suffering from the economy. There are suicides, but rarely this sort of violence.  It stunned the country at the same time as the tornado. Intensity seems to be increasing in all areas of life, doesn’t it; in the weather…in politics…in moral areas…Intense, extreme and polarized seem to me to describe our times…or is it just from my vantage point?

I think that I mentioned that about 6 months ago The Lord stopped me in my ‘devotions track’ one morning and seemed to say to me ‘I want you to change the way that you read.’  Those of you who have known me for a long time may remember that when I first met Him I said to Him ‘This is Your Book.  Will You please tell me how You want me to read it?’ and He did.  He told me to begin in Genesis 1 and Matthew 1 and to read at least a chapter in both places, consecutively, every morning  (in other words a chapter in the first covenant and a chapter in the second, from beginning to end over and over) and NOT to change that pattern ‘until He told me’. 

Well…for more then 38 years now I have followed His wonderful lead and so was really thrown when it felt as if He said to change.  Was it the enemy??  But no…He said to ADD a chapter of Psalms daily.  Now, I get up at 4:30 to be able to have at least a full hour with Him…so I said…’Ok…but it may cut in on my prayer time…’  A week later He said ‘I want to change how you read.’ … ‘Uh oh…is this really YOU?’ I wondered.  ‘I want you to add a chapter of the Major Prophets daily.’  Wow!  That means that I am reading in FOUR places each morning.  Here I go.  Well…I was ok until I was in Ezekiel and suddenly came to the end of my first covenant readings that lead up to … the major prophets.  ‘Do you want me to skip and go to the minor prophets?’ I felt confident that OF COURSE He did.  ‘No. Read right through.’  So I found myself in Isaiah AND Ezekiel…Psalms and the new covenant.  Then it was Isaiah, Jeremiah …then Ezekiel and Jeremiah… and each morning I have been begging Him for (and receiving, I believe) BALANCE and His Spirit to hear what He wants me to hear…because I would NEVER recommend that ANYONE be so heavily involved with the major prophets on their own…the sheer weight of the message and battle is enough to challenge anyone’s balance it seems to me. 

So…I was moving along and this week I also came to … Jude!  ‘Revelation comes after Jude!  Tomorrow I will be in Isaiah, Jeremiah AND Revelation!  WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY TO ME, LORD?’

Well…I must admit that I feel as if I am getting a general picture of what He is trying to say to me; and that is that I am learning a great deal about ‘God’s ways in (times of His) judgment’.  He is NOT ‘pressing me’ to stand up like a prophet or to be fearful or even to do more by way of preparation then we here normally do, but I am seeing how, over and over again He commands His people to ‘glorify Him in the midst’ and to ‘look to Him’ and to ‘rest in Him’… He is ONLY merciful…even in the midst of judgment.

BUT…although THIS is what is going on with me, I know that most of you would rather hear about things that are taking place here…

So I will begin with:

‘Meeting Rivka’.  As I went to check in for a doctor’s appointment, an elderly (more even then me) lady pressed ahead of me and told the secretary that she didn’t have an appointment but needed to see the doctor.  This is the kind of thing that makes both doctors and patients that do have appointments, groan.  As I went to sit down, the lady went to the coffee machine and fiddled with it.  ‘Do you know how to use this?  Could you help me?’ she asked me in English.  I went over and figured out what she wanted, but when she handed me the money it was barely half of what was needed, so I just made up the rest.  She was somewhat feeble and walking with a stick, so I suggested that she take a seat and I would bring it to her.  She was very thankful and I sensed that she was lonely and somewhat ‘lost’, so I sat next to her.

Rivka (who is 84 I found out) began her story with ‘My husband died 4 weeks ago and I don’t have an appointment.’  I looked into her deeply sad, panicky eyes and took her hand; ‘Oh, I’m so very sorry.  Was your husband ill for long?’ I asked.  The story began to pour out.  It was not always coherent but it was powerful.  Rivka was from Germany and she was about 9 years old she thinks on Kristallnacht.  If any of you are unfamiliar with the event, it is well described here:

On November 9–10, 1938, the Nazis staged vicious pogroms—state sanctioned, anti-Jewish riots—against the Jewish community of Germany. These came to be known as Kristallnacht (now commonly translated as “Night of Broken Glass”), a reference to the untold numbers of broken windows of synagogues and, Jewish-owned stores, community centers, and homes that were plundered and destroyed during the pogroms. Encouraged by the Nazi regime, the rioters burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, and killed at least 91 Jewish people during the two days. They also damaged many Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood aside. Kristallnacht was a turning point in history. The pogroms marked an intensification of Nazi anti-Jewish policy that would culminate in the Holocaust—the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews.

She told me that she remembers that her father couldn’t walk and her mother wouldn’t leave him but arranged for Rivka to be put on the ‘kinder transport’ which was a project that rescued Jewish children and brought them, mainly, to England.  That was the last that she saw of any member of her family.  She remembered being in a convent in Riga Russia.  She recalled being in France and finally with a wonderful family in London.  She beamed as she spoke of them with deep loving appreciation.

Somewhere along the line she fought in the underground in France and knew Menachem Began.  She met and married her husband when she was 15 to enable him to escape from Germany.  So much of her story ‘floated’ in time and was confused, but I very soon saw that it was not due to Alzheimer’s or dementia, but to serious post traumatic stress…this precious lady was traumatized by her life.  She told me that her granddaughter wants to write her story, but that she has never even told her children because she ‘mustn’t talk about it.’

There was such deep pain in her eyes and I could see that the death of her husband had lit a match to her smoldering memories.  I touched her again; ‘Rivka, you have been so incredibly brave!  My, your life has displayed such valor and courage, but you can not keep all of this pain inside.  Let others hear and share…and let others help you.’ We talked for about an hour before I was called, but I told the doctor to take her first.

‘Please come and visit me!’ she requested.  ‘Please give me your phone number.’ Her need is so great.  Did I share The Lord with her?  Only in that I sat with her, and touched her hand and asked her to open her heart. I felt no anointing to share Him in words but perhaps you will pray for her?  This is something that we see here a great deal and Israel, sadly, is ‘professional’ at knowing how to help these people; people who came out of the holocaust and were brave and productive…almost ‘normal’…until the end of their lives when ‘yet another’ trauma, like the death of a spouse, stirs the ashes and the pain comes to the surface.  Perhaps you will pray for Rivka, whom I could not share with?

And perhaps you would pray for Naomi and Dan whom I did share with but under strange circumstances.  Dan is a very famous lawyer…ruthless…a sad man.  Naomi can be really annoying.  They are not ‘easy’ people to like.  Inspite of all of their ‘worldly successes’ they also have their grief; they have an institutionalized schizophrenic son.  Asaf is about 40 and has never given them anything but pain and they are heartbroken.  In spite of the fact that I find them difficult to like, they seem to LOVE me!

So…Dan had the LAST appointment on Friday at the doctor’s office that I work in.  Friday is a hard day and I feel like a race horse at the gate as the work day comes to a close.  I am not always ‘happy’ to see latecomers.  Just as I was getting ready to close up, Dan walked in late, with Naomi who announced ‘I know that I don’t have an appointment, but I don’t feel well.’

My heart was NOT feeling particularly compassionate; Naomi NEVER ‘feels well’…and it was getting toward shabat.  My boss, Yosi, asked them to sit and wait while he made some phone calls, so I sat down with them just to talk for awhile.  ‘Where did you go for Shavuot?’ I asked her.  ‘Oh, we just stayed home.  We didn’t do anything.  What about you?’ she asked.  ‘We went to a friend’s house in Na’alay.’ I answered.  ‘We had a WONDERFUL time.  It is so beautiful out there.’  Naomi and Dan are very curious about our background so she asked ‘Oh, are these American friends?’  I told them ‘No, they were born here.’

They were very happy to hear that we have sabra friends and she immediately wanted to know where I knew them from and HOW I knew them and WHEN I see them…so I finally said ‘Well, we are all in kehila (congregation) together.’

Now, you have to picture this.  It is a very small room and my boss is there on the phone.  Naomi doesn’t hear very well so she speaks loudly.  Perhaps you remember the saga of me trying to tell my boss about my being a disciple of Yeshua and how all doors have been closed.  So here is Naomi shouting ‘Congregation?  Are you RELIGEOUS (they are NOT!)?  What KIND of congregation?  WHAT WHERE HOW??’  I took a deep breath and prayed quickly, saying as quietly as I could ‘I am a Messianic Jew (Yehudi Meshichi) ’.

She looked at Dan ‘What did she say?  What is that? What does it mean?’ My boss was preoccupied on the phone – ‘She believes in yeshu’ he said. I corrected him; ‘His Name is Yeshua.’  ‘yeshu’ means ‘may his name be forever blotted out and it is like using The Lord’s Name as a curse.  It is how HE is generally referred to here.  ‘yeshu??’ She asked loudly?  ‘Is that what you believe?’  Dan nodded and I said ‘Yes.  I am a disciple of Yeshua h’Meshiach.’

My boss got off the phone and called them in.  I felt wonderfully elated and not fearful.  I have wanted to tell my boss for years, but the door kept slamming shut.  Would this be the day?  Would I loose my job?  Had a door been opened for Naomi and Dan to hear?  ‘Lord!  Use this awkward seed for Your glory!’  I left before they came out and my boss has not mentioned it to me, once again.  I believe that he knows who I am but chooses not to confront me and then need to fire me.

Naomi and Dan?  They will ask!  They will be majorly curious now and I am excited.  May The Lord anoint me to lead them to The Well of comfort for their hurting hearts!

I am thankful for every opportunity that I get to share Yeshua with someone and I pray that He prepare the hearts that no seed would fall to the ground, but that it would bring forth fruit for the kingdom.

God bless and encourage you.  Lovingly, your sis

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May 26, 2013 · 6:34 am

Inside Israel – Pentecost (Part 2)

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As you have probably guessed by now,  I’m not Debbie, but since she’s taken a sabbatical, I will host Inside Israel where we will 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 …

And, speaking of The Bread, the two challot (‘challa’ is the three twined braided shabat bread) that I am hoping to bring to our gathering tomorrow are rising on my stove.  Our fellowship plans to gather together to worship The Lord and bring our own thanksgivings to Him.

Shavuot is actually the 50th day following Passover (which is why it is called Pentecost in English) during which time the grain harvest is ripening and taking place.  We are told in scripture to ‘count the Omer’ (grains of wheat) for 7 weeks of 7 days (49 days) and there is a meditation for each day (again Leviticus 23) and when the time of the grain is full and the grain is full in it’s head, it is really a time to thank God for the new grain harvest – grain being the ‘staff of life’ – and the first fruits of the land as spring and the land is now literally covered with new life!

As the life of the next generation … the seeds… are already amazingly present in each generation…this is evident in all of His creation.

As I walk the several streets from the bus to my work in the morning I have been writing to you in my head.  Here it is… May…and yet what strikes me most is that the fall fruits are already alive in their bursting buds!  My head spins with this visual example of the ‘cycle of life’ that God has given; beautiful grape vines, clean from the rains, press their paths over gates and hedges and already there are evident miniscule clusters of what will become, Lord willing, lush grapes that won’t ripen until their fullness during the fall feasts of Sukkot.  Dazzling my eyes are the florescent pink orange ‘horn’, the dramatic buds of the pomegranate which will signify the fall feasts as well.  I see the fig leaves in full fan already being pulled downward by the heavy dates beginning to develop.  As if a colorful ‘frame’ around this activity, the bright yellow lemons beg to be picked and the air is permeated…full of the fragrance of more flowers then I could take note of … more colors then my eyes can define… all of this and so much more God has given even to us now in our disobedience!

What awaits us in the fulfillment…!  Overhead the swallows (as they are called in America) or swifts (as they are called in Europe) literally darken the morning sky as they feast of the little bugs.  I watch them darting around at a speed that boggles my mind and wonder at how they navigate around one another and buildings.  It is literally a display of nature that one need only to look up to see.  I have had to laugh because as I wait at my bus stop (after getting off the train…) in the morning, it is on a crowded narrow street.  The people crowd into the little ‘tachanat’ or ‘waiting station’ and sort of ‘tolerate’ the time.  One day the swallows (swifts) were just THICK and I was enraptured looking up and watching them.  I took a sudden look around and EVERYONE was gazing up instead of at the ground.  That brought a prayer to me ‘Lord!  Looking up may we see You!  May we FIND You!  Look, Lord!  We are looking UP!’  He is truly so good!

And as truly as the life of the fall fruits are already growing so wonderfully in the bud as the spring harvest takes place, perhaps…dare I say… that this is true in the Spirit as well as the natural?  As Shavuot was given through the hand of Moses…The Holy Spirit came on the self same day through Yeshua h’Meshiach…One God, one seed, one bud, one Fruit…In Him alone is life.  Maybe THIS year?  Even THIS day?

There is much more to share, but I think that in this letter I don’t want to mix the wonder of the seed of what He does and is doing with more words.

Lovingly, with blessing, your sis

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May 19, 2013 · 6:16 am

Inside Israel – Pentecost (Part 1)

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As you have probably guessed by now,  I’m not Debbie, but since she’s on a sabbatical, I will host Inside Israel where we will 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 …

And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Shabat…fifty days…you shall offer a new grain offering to The Lord.  You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves…of fine flour…baked with leaven.  They are the firstfruits to The Lord.” Levit 23:15-17

“And it shall be, when you come into the land which The Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it,…and say to Him ‘I declare today to The Lord my God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us…’”  Deut 26:1-3 

“And when the day of Pentecost (SHAVOUT) had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting…and there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven…we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”  Acts 2:1-12 

May THE LORD alone be glorified and blessed, and may you, His precious blood purchased ones, be blessed and encouraged as we each struggle along the path.

When we made aliyah (it will be 19 years this coming July), I sat on the plane crying out to God with one prayer and one only, but one that continued for the entire long long flight: “SANCTIFY MY EMOTIONS!  THEY ARE TOO BIG FOR ME!”  This past week I spoke to Him about it: ‘You did not answer that prayer…my emotions are still too big for me.’

He impressed my heart with an answer that I did not expect.  ‘I did answer your prayer.  I DID sanctify them.  But I did NOT change who I made you to be…like it or not.

I took a step back.  My emotions are ‘sanctified’?  What does this MEAN?

His economy is different then mine.

In like manner I approach this high holy day…one of the (only) three high feasts, when all of the men of Israel were COMMANDED to come up to Jerusalem and present themselves and their offerings before The Lord in Thanksgiving.  (the other two being Passover-unleavened bread – resurrection- and Sukkot – feast of tabernacles)

The longer that I stand here in Jerusalem, the more He and His ways, His economy of things, become BOTH a deeper mystery AND an open book to me…now that can’t make any sense!  But it is as if He FILLS us with Light and understanding only to show us how much MORE there is that we can’t see then end of and we must cry out ‘Lord!  Expand the pegs of the tent!  Enlarge my capacity for You!’

These major holidays seem to amplify that to me.

Shavuot (‘weeks’) is also Pentecost: the day when The Holy Spirit was poured out for the first time in Jerusalem as the “devout men from every nation under heaven’ (Acts 2) were gathered along with the rest of the ‘devout’ men of Israel in Jerusalem to bring their tithes and offerings and to rejoice before The Lord, AND to repent and remember all that The Lord had done.  Although I was blessed to be filled with The Holy Spirit soon after I was saved, the ‘holiday’ of Pentecost never seemed to deeply move me, although I TRIED.

Likewise, during all of my growing up years, we did not celebrate Shavuot.  It was only after making aliyah that I really saw the celebration…and quite a celebration it is; and beyond that, GREAT joy arises in my heart as it approaches.  Part of the reason for that I see in the verse above from Deut that says… “…and when you come into the land…”  It has seemed to me that a veil has come off as we ‘came into the land’.  Why?  Don’t know.  Obedience?  Perhaps.  Fulfillment of His plans?  Maybe. Don’t know.  All that I can say, and bare witness to is: OH!  What a glorious day of rejoicing His Presence in His Spirit, for those who know Him, and for rejoicing in His acts, for those who don’t yet know Him.

How is it celebrated here in Jerusalem?  Well…this is the ‘cheesecake and milk’ holiday.  Why?  Don’t ask me…OR most of the rabbis for that matter…no one seems to know!  Now the interesting part of this is that the fullest account that we have about how to celebrate this holiday is given in Deut 26 and Levit  16 and 23 where we are told to bake two fresh loaves to present at the temple (along with sheep etc and our tithes of the first fruits) and the loaves are to be ‘waved before The Lord’ as an offering of Thanksgiving.   (Exod 23, Levit 16 and 23, Numbers 28, 29 , Deut 16 and 26 all contain information about Shavuot)

So…where does the ‘milk’ come from and why does everyone stuff themselves with cheesecake and blintzes?  Well…funny that you should ask…and if you want a good laugh, go online and google ‘Why do Jews eat dairy on Shavuot?’  The answers are very funny and speak for themselves.  But I would like to turn it into a prayer:  May my brethren after the flesh…and indeed…all of us…me too…thirst after the pure milk of the Word in a way that it may not be quenched by anything else…but the living Bread of Life.

(Continued in Part 2)

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