Category Archives: Jerusalem

May 19, 2018 · 3:25 am

Harry Truman and the Jewish Haberdasher

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My new weekly column entitled, “Harry Truman and the Jewish Haberdasher,”can be read by clicking here.

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May 13, 2018 · 8:29 am

Inside Israel

SHUK

The Shuk in Jerusalem

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 —

May the Lord be glorified.

It is 2:30 am and I should be asleep.  I need to work tomorrow, Sunday, Jerusalem Day, and I love to write about Jerusalem and Jerusalem Day in particular. But this prayer request is pressing me to write.  Perhaps prayer request is the wrong word – it is more of a call to pray!

 I told you that this week would possibly be pivotal here and for all of the Middle East and the world.  You probably know by now that Israel struck some 70 mostly Iranian bases in Syria this week after 20 missiles from Syria were fired at us.  It was a major confrontation.  That was Thursday.

  On Friday was the continuation of the Hamas Gaza “days of rage” dubbed “the march of return.” It has gained momentum because of much false news reporting. 

TUESDAY 15TH OF MAY (please note that we are some 8-12 hours ahead of North America according to the clock) the call has gone out to Palestinians and their supporters worldwide to come to the borders of Israel and storm them…tear them down.  This Friday saw some 15,000 rioters at the borders causing fires, even setting their own gas pipe line on fire, along the fence and setting wheat fields in Israel aflame using kites with incendiaries attached into Israel. 

 I understand that there are gatherings at the borders of Lebanon and possibly Jordan as well.  Also within the Hamas-run Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria there is definitely the strong possibility of participation.  

 The 15th of May is called by the Palestinians –Nakba Day (catastrophe day). They call it a day of rage that commemorates the birth of the modern State of Israel according to the Gregorian Calendar.  Hamas has fanned it into a major day over the past 10 years. 

 So today, Sunday 13th of May is Jerusalem Day.

Tomorrow, Monday the 14th of May, is the day that the US Embassy is formally opening in Jerusalem.

Tuesday the 15th of May is the day set to be “the mother of all days of rage” with the storming of the borders of Israel from all sides and within led by the Gaza Hamas leadership.

Wednesday the 16th of May begins the month of the Ramadan fast.

 “The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:  “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.   And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.  In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness;…” ZECHARIAH 12:1-3 (of course, great promises follow this section)

There is NO FEAR, and surely without a doubt, we have many promises that HE WILL BE GLORIFIED and that ALL OF ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED.  But we also see that many, many things will first happen and many waters will be passed through. 

 BUT HE HAS TOLD US TO PRAY. AND TO WATCH AND PRAY.  Habakkuk prayed without apology “Oh Lord, in wrath remember mercy.”  It is time to pray the scriptures on our faces.

 PLEASE enter your closets and pray before Him Who hears, those of you who are called as watchmen for the Lord on the walls of Jerusalem.  I believe that we are entering that time.  

In my take of things, we are a body, but individually all rather little and simple.  We are not called to leave the battle to the spiritual giants whoever they are, but to each do our part.  It is not up to us to decide how small and insignificant it is.  I think of the disciples told to feed the multitude and they said, “Lord! I have NOTHING! Only this small insignificant amount!,” but HE took it…HE blessed it …HE broke it…and it was MORE THAN ENOUGH.  

Each of us has our portion. Be it big guns or a piece of bread and a small fish.  We can pray…even a little. 

 As I said, I felt that this call to prayer had to go out now.  I hope that we see no need ultimately. I will now try to sleep.  May The Lord be glorified on the borders of Israel and in Jerusalem…and in each of us!

 Lovingly, a sister in Jerusalem.

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May 10, 2018 · 9:14 am

Prayers for America (5/10/2018)

The United States moves its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem next week in defiance of the Palestinians and most of the world, likely further heightening tensions at a time of tumult in the region.

US President Donald Trump is set to make good on his pledge in December when he broke with decades of precedent and recognised the disputed city as Israel’s capital to global outcry.

The embassy inauguration due to take place Monday caps his decision but comes at a particularly fevered time, after weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel. (Rest of article can be seen here.)

My prayer today:

Lord, I pray for Your peace to rest upon Jerusalem and for Your blessings to fall upon President Trump for his boldness in moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. May Your Spirit continue to strengthen President Trump’s resolve to defy world opinion by his backing of Israel. (Based on Psalm 122:6)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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April 29, 2018 · 9:01 am

Inside Israel

SHUK

The Shuk in Jerusalem

Greetings again, dear brothers and sisters,

I know that it is perhaps too soon since my last letter, but I did want to share what I have seen and heard while it is yet fresh in my heart.  May you be encouraged and blessed and may THE LORD alone be glorified and edified!

“for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it”.  MATTHEW 13:17

I suspected that Israel turning 70 would be dramatic even though I am always amazed when I walk around Jerusalem. The city is a clear example of The Lord’s ability and faithfulness to fulfill His own promises.

The grieving that I began to describe in the letter that I sent you on Remembrance Day, seemed deeper this year.  How was that possible? It is terribly deep EVERY year.  As I watched films and saw photos of soldiers and families, it hit me afresh that not one picture was taken on foreign soil but all HERE…in our neighborhoods, around the corner and down the block in this very tiny country…because these, our sons and daughters, husbands and wives really are defending the land that is in front of their houses, our houses. I

It is all so personal and all so in your face ALL the time.  There are no faceless people, even though the population of the country is approaching 9 million. They are daily on the train with me. Many are soldiers whom I laugh with and pray for and whose packs I trip over as it is strewn in the aisle.  I tell a sleepy soldier to mind his bullets as they are slipping out, or another that his phone is ringing.

But then it happened: the crowds gravitated back to Har Herzl (Mount Herzl).  Streams flowing into rivers and then becoming an ocean of people.  I watched and then turned on the television.  I like to watch the ceremony (“tekes” in Hebrew).  It is truly like having a finger on the pulse of a patient.  It is only in Hebrew and I can understand much of it, and so it means a lot to me.

Always it seems as though it is IMPOSSIBLE to go in a hair’s breadth from deep and real mourning into rejoicing, but now I have come to expect that they will pull it off, AGAIN. Nevertheless, I lift up a prayer because there is the heart and morale of this people who still do not know Him at stake.

And this is the 70th year!

The Biblical significance of the numbers do not go unnoticed here. Seventy is perfection, completeness, I could go on and on. Most of you know, and this country knows, and seems to me to be looking up with expectation.  Everyone is excited. Everyone over 70 remembers…

The ceremonies are opened and the prayers are spoken and embraced.  The trumpet sounds its minor notes and moves to the major ones and the flag is raised. The eyes look upward.  The ceremonies are intermingled with song, prayer, poems, speeches and a theatrical show in lights and dance. This years was spectacular.  The story of our people from the beginning.

How in the world did they do this: turn the stage into Mt. Sinai one minute and a flood of the words of all of the prophets in Hebrew in the next? Drones flew over adding displays to the sky.

But it is NOT the ceremony – dramatic and emotional though it was – that I want to describe to and share with you.  Not the speeches that moved the heart and inspired and brought tears again and again:  Not the memories that reminded us that THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT IT IS!

Let me share with you a few things that turned my head.

I am moved by our national anthem, HaTikvah.  I waited for it at the end of the ceremonies and there in my living room alone when it began I stood to my feet to sing http://www.hebrewsongs.com/?song=hatikva  .  When it ended, I turned off the television to go out into the streets and I STILL heard HaTikvah being sung loudly.

I checked the TV and radio and they were off. So I went out onto my merepesset and there across, the street and spilling over into the street and all around, hundreds of people stood straight and tall singing with one voice raised spontaneously. “Eretz zion, vey Yerushaleyem…”

It was one of those defining those moments!  A moment of deep deep transported emotion, transported into the full knowing that INDEED GOD IS DOING THIS.

And you might roll your eyes at that statement, thinking it is just fleshly emotion, if you did not KNOW The Word and He Who gave The Word and made the promises, but I know that I am speaking to people who have also read and been quickened by The Holy Spirit to KNOW that GOD IS FULFILLING HIS WORD. GOD IS BRINGING HIS PEOPLE BACK TO REVEAL HIMSELF for the last days HAVE been written about and…well…here we are!

At work yesterday, each patient shared about their day and their wonder at it all. I asked people and heard many stories. Twice I was in for a personal shock.  Tova told me that she was a baby in 1948 when her family arrived from Romania. They went to Jerusalem which was shortly besieged by Arab armies, and there was no food.

She told me about being a small child in war and starvation and then she said, “I am sure that we would have starved to death except for these things: care packages.  They kept us alive.”

I began to shake.  Do you know how the stirring of a childhood memory can cause you to shake?  Perhaps it just touches something so tender but there I was shaking.  “Tova, I was born in NYC in 1946 and brought home EVERY DAY from the time that I was in kindergarten. We would pack those care packages with our own hands.  I brought around a can to my neighbors and said, ‘Pennies for Israel!’ And yes Tova, I DO know about those boxes.  My young heart really DID care as we packed them!”

We stared at each other and hugged with tears.  What a strangely intense moment.

A little later I was sharing that experience with Binyamin and Sylvia. They are in their 80s and 90s and seemed like typical New Yorkers to me so it never occurred to me that perhaps they had immigrated first to the US as children. But they had, from the war.  And it startled me when Binyamin started recounting the awful times that this world has seen and referred to the great depression.

I had always heard about it from my parents who grew up in it and were greatly impacted by it, but it always seemed to me as if the war overshadowed even that.  Suddenly Binyamin explained something I never understood before. “You know, there was NO FOOD in THE WORLD!  Do you realize that we lost our 6 million, but 42 million people died in the war. The earth was scorched.  There was no one to farm the land that wasn’t burned and there were no farmers. The animals had no food and died.  The factories were burned and gone. THERE WAS NO FOOD EXCEPT IN AMERICA!”

Growing up in America, if I had learned about that I didn’t understand it fully.  It never hit me, but it DID hit me that moment as I watched him describe the world wide hunger and starvation after the war.  And again I shook.  “THANK YOU LORD FOR OUR DAILY BREAD.”

I have one more vivid experience to share before sending this and running off into a way too busy day:

We, once again, joined our kehila (congregation) at the home of dear brother and sister who live in the hills above Modi’en to share barbeque (‘mangel’ in Hebrew) fellowship, song, and testimony. As we left, one of the young soldiers asked for a ride back to Latrune where he was meeting other believing soldiers.  Happily we took him and as we stopped at the bus stop in Latrune to let him off, a young woman at the bus stop, tanned and sporting a huge backpack, ran up and asked if we were going to Jerusalem and if she could have a ride.  As the door swung open to let her in, a second young woman with several backpacks ran up and asked the same question. This one in accented English, so we took her as well.

As we asked each one about themselves and how their celebration had been, the second one took over.  She did not speak Hebrew as she was a 19-year old German tourist from Berlin who did not know WHY she came to Israel. “Probably for the weather.”

My husband asked her if this had been her first Passover and she burst out, “Oh YES! Do you KNOW that they don’t eat bread for a whole week? I have never heard of such a thing!  It was awful!  AND they have this thing called Shabbat when the buses do not run. Amazing!”

I asked her, “Have you ever read the Bible? All of these things are written about in there.”

She laughed, “Oh no! I have never even seen one but I will likely read one now, after the Quran, of course!  They have some interesting stories I hear…”

We did not have much time, but I admit to being shocked that this German girl from Berlin knew nothing about the Jews.  I thought that the Holocaust was taught extensively in Germany and assumed that the basics of who the Jews were would also be understood. And this young woman had never even SEEN a Bible…

HOW QUICKLY I FORGOT MY OWN IGNORANCE!  How can I be truly thankful until I remember how MUCH GOD HAS TAUGHT ME AND the way that HE has lead me in my ignorance.

AND YET HE CONTINUES TO LEADS. (IF we will let Him).  You, me, this nation and yours. May we glorify HIM and may this, our 70th year be the year of revelation and of revival.

LOVINGLY,

your sister J

 

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April 26, 2018 · 9:07 am

Prayers for America (4/26/2018)

 

God loves Jerusalem. He loves it so much that when He creates a new heaven and a new earth at the end of this age, He will also create a New Jerusalem.

Not only that, but God shall dwell on a throne in New Jerusalem.

My prayer today:

Lord, help American believers to actually believe Your Word enough to wholeheartedly pray for the peace of Jerusalem until it becomes an actuality.  (Based on Psalm 122:6)

Just a reminder: on May 14, 2018, the new American embassy will open in Jerusalem. Let’s continue praying for America to continue forward on this.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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April 22, 2018 · 8:21 am

Inside Israel

SHUK

The Shuk in Jerusalem

Greetings dear sisters and brothers,

May this letter be an encouragement to you, and ALL GLORY to God Almighty, Who created the heavens and the earth, and His One and only Messiah and Son Jesus, Yeshua, Who saved us and brought us to our Father.  May He be praised with our whole hearts and may we tell of all of His marvelous works.  May we sing praises to His Name.

“To the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David. “

 “I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” (PSALM  9:1-2)

YES, LORD.

What perfect timing.  I will explain.

My husband and I took the train to the bus last night and then walked through a park to our health clinic.  We had a question for the skin doctor and the way to get it answered is to run up to the clinic and push your way in. Really!

It is NOT our nature, but after years of NOT getting urgent questions answered we have learned that sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zone.  The train was quite crowded for that hour and as we are only one stop from Mount Herzl (housing our national military and state cemetery) and two stops from Yad v’shem (the Holocaust memorial) and The World Zionist Museum, we were in for a surprising sight.  It is the time to remember “the dead sons.”

But let me back up a bit in the time line and remind you of a few of the events of the past several weeks:

1)  We are in the midst of “the Friday wars” on the Gaza border…week 3 has past and 4 is coming up,

2) Iran has blamed the Allied attack on Syrian chemical weapons base directly on Israel and has promised to retaliate directly and strongly soon.  We are preparing).

3) A week ago we commemorated Holocaust Remembrance day meaning that 4) beginning with the siren at 8 PM tonight we begin our Memorial day in remembrance of Israel’s fallen soldiers and terror victims.

AND 4) TOMORROW night at 8 the ceremony changes from grief to joy as we begin celebrations for our 70th year of Independence.

IT IS AN EMOTIONAL COUPLE OF WEEKS.

So, setting the ‘backdrop’, I will return to our train ride.

We were surprised by the crowds, but as we approached the next stop, we began to understand.  Hundreds of thousands of people, waves of people were drifting like clouds into the national cemetery and into the Zionist museum area adjacent to it.

I suddenly remembered that several years ago they decided to designate a separate family time BEFORE the official ceremonies which begin tonight.  A more personal time during the laying of the flags on the graves.  It just took us both by surprise, the vast numbers of people!

So many teenagers, toddlers, babies in arms and strollers, young and old and in between. All of them lost someone or many someones. Mothers and Fathers, Sisters and Brothers, Spouses, Friends and Children. It was hard to see such a huge crowd and understand that each one had a loved one ripped from them through war.

“To the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David. “ They were surrounded as if by shepherds for at least a kilometer or more by armed soldiers protecting them.  Ambulances stood by, so many and yet so private, each one alone in his grief.

“It has begun,” I said to myself.

It is tangible…you can feel it, like a heavy mantle of grief. A thick cloud descending and being spread upon us all, to share, to help carry the weight. Because there has been a price to pay and it is dear, and so we share it as families do.  And yet, GOD IS present. God knows and sees and I pray for an opportunity to share His great gift of comfort with some.

There IS something different’ this year.  “What is it Lord?”

I can guess, but I am not sure.  70 is mature.  My daughter and I recalled the wonder with which we participated in the 50th Birthday celebrations of Israel.  When we came Israel was 46. We can all relate to these numbers in terms of human life.

Which is why this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day was particularly poignant.  Sadly we had a stomach virus and I could not watch the ceremonies but we are all aware that the survivors are coming to the end of their journey.  And that the telling the stories is passing on to their descendants.

Kala Zeltzer, now 94 years old, whom I’ve asked for prayer often over the years, left a book on my desk at work for me.  When I opened it, I wept.  FINALLY she had it.  The story of her life with photos. She had worked on this book for years with volunteer writers who sit with the survivors and sift through the unbelievable stories to re-construct a testimony.  And here was Kala’s life and in her shaky hand she inscribed my name. What a gift!

With the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism again, I have been asking The Lord to awaken me to things that I might be dull to and should know, and He is faithful.  There has been a grouping together of genocides and slaughters and a blending of the Holocaust under the mantle of the world’s atrocities as if it is no different.

I was thinking, “Well, perhaps it isn’t really. All flesh is one and man’s wickedness toward others is abominable in all places.”

I didn’t understand until suddenly I felt Him open a window in my heart. I pray that I can translate this into words.  The Holocaust was unique in this way:  It was personal and with calculated purpose – face to face.  Most genocide is a huge explosive, wicked hatred.  It is faceless.  People do not see who they kill or care who they kill.  They hate a group or want a territory or just explode.

In the Holocaust, it was a personal, systematic RAPE of each individual.  They recorded each name, address, personal information, possessions. Methodically and purposefully, they stripped each individual of their name, replaced it with a branded number, stripped them of their clothes, looked into their eyes and cut off their hair, stroked them and took their possessions and then recorded each one, herded them into gas chambers, and rendered them to ashes. BUT IT WAS ABOUT GOD, who had CREATED us from the dust.  IT WAS THE GOD OF THE JEWS WHOSE PLAN AND PURPOSE THEY SOUGHT TO DERAIL ON THE TRAINS TO THE CAMPS.  BUT THEY COULD NOT OVERTHROW GOD’S PLAN!

And SUDDENLY I saw that NO! It is NOT pride to say that the Holocaust stands alone among destructions.  It stands with each act taken by Satan to destroy the plan of God.  If the enemy COULD destroy God’s plans and purposes then woe unto us BUT HE IS FAITHFUL WHO PROMISED.

The enemy tried to abort the first coming of Messiah and could not. So he tries to abort His second coming to this people and the fulfillment of His mercy.  I look at 2 Kings 18– the classic tactics of the enemy through the ages:

“22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? ”…25 Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”… 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” 33 Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?…”

If you have NOT read 2 Kings 18 for a while, it may be a good time to refresh your memory.

Holocaust Memorial day came again in Israel and again Israel stood silent as the siren sounded that dreadful sound.  I took my Grandson out on our merepesset(balcony) to stand at attention and see how it all stops.  They (our daughter’s family) left Israel when he was 8 and now he is 14.

SO, we were ALL pretty FREAKED OUT today while I was sitting and waiting for an x-ray. Suddenly the air raid siren sounded!  EVERYONE jumped up to run for shelter until a woman yelled, ‘No no! I’m sorry!  It was my facebook page!  Someone posted a video of Holocaust Memorial day here and they recorded the siren. I’m sorry.”

A collective sigh of relief, but not very deep as we are aware that the hour is volatile.

On Yom h’Sho’ar,  there is no regular television but the channels that are open, show incredible movies, ones that I never heard of, from all countries, movies similar to Schindler’s List and The Hiding Place.  Other stations show life stories and interviews with survivors or show a still of a memorial flame.  There are no advertisements.

And so it is now.

In a few moments, at 8 PM, the terrible siren will again cry through the sky and all will stop. Tomorrow morning at 11 it will sound for 2 minutes.  It is intense.  I wish that you could experience it.

Again, our television has stopped and the photos of soldiers and terror victims are being flashed on the screen with their dates of birth and date and place of death.  Movies will show intense, depressing, hero inspiring and prayer inspiring movies.  The radio is a treasure trove of first hand testimonies of what eyes have seen in the defense of this country that GOD promised to our people, and God is often spoken about for He indeed has been present.

The siren has sounded now and the cloak of indescribable feelings has again become palpable.  We live in this today, knowing that the tomorrows directly ahead of us are highly volatile.  But today THIS is our path and purpose and tomorrow night, Lord willing, the cloud will rise and the celebrations of the 70th year will begin.

Do you remember that we live so close to Mount Herzl that we can hear the ceremonies from outside and watch the fireworks from our merepesset?

In these days when the tendency is toward burn out and growing cold, may we run into His Arms and press in for more of Him.  Thank you for taking time to read this.  It is written with love and prayer.

Your sister J

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April 19, 2018 · 9:55 am

Prayers for America (4/19/2018)

Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The city rests on one of the most hotly contested sites in the history of the world.

Many, including me, believe the original Garden of Eden was centered in Jerusalem. If this is true, the city has been undergoing spiritual warfare for 6000 years, ever since Adam and Eve walked in the Garden and Satan deceived them.

So, there’s no wonder why President Trump is undergoing such hatred by the media and his enemies. Trump was the first president to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and plans on moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018.

Like most of us, Trump is a flawed person, but God knew his frailties when He chose him to be president of America. I believe Trump’s strength is his stubborn determination to plow forward with his plans, including those for Jerusalem and Israel.

My prayer today:

Lord, raise up people who are willing to stand in the gap before You for President Trump and for Jerusalem during this time period. (Based on Ezekiel 22:30)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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April 12, 2018 · 8:52 am

Prayers for America (4/10/2018)

What has caused the Palestinians to suddenly riot in the Gaza Strip?

And tensions could be much, much higher by May 15, as it will also be one day after the U.S. says it will have officially moved its embassy to Jerusalem — a Trump administration plan which has enraged Palestinians and effectively ended U.S. involvement in any peace process, though the State Department says the U.S. is “deeply saddened” by violence on Friday. (New York Magazine)

Although I pray for the violence to end and for Palestinian lives to be spared, I believe it is the will of God for America to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

So, we need to remember that nothing comes easy in the Middle East, especially for Israel.

My prayer today:

Lord, I pray that You encourage President Trump to hold the course on moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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March 24, 2018 · 9:15 am

Inside Israel

SHUK

The Shuk in Jerusalem

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 —

Greetings Dearest Brothers and Sisters in THE NAME of HIM Whose words alone are TRUE AND FAITHFUL.  May He be blessed and glorified and may you be edified and blessed by Him.

As I walked to work I found myself wondering how many more Springs will I see on this earth?  Morbid?  I don’t think so because all I could do at the thought was worship Him and open my eyes and ears wider to taste the incredible beauty that surrounds at this time of year.

I know that many of you are still battling freezing winds and shoveling huge mountains of snow, but here in Jerusalem our warm and way too dry winter has blossomed into balmy spring days.  The buds are bursting with promises of pomegranates, grapes, olives, cherries, citrus and just so many fruits and flowers too numerous to mention.  The birds see it and sing with such a rejoicing.  Our wild parrots fly overhead, piercing the sky with their songs. Wild canaries join a refrain with my own dear canary. It is like a heavenly chorus of “RESURRECTION.  NEW LIFE. ALL THINGS NEW.”  What can I say?  IT’S JUST BEAUTIFUL!

AND there is a cacophony of the song of peoples as well, here in Jerusalem.

The nations are gathering again and I am watching it from a unique vantage point.

From the nations, Christians are arriving from all over the world to celebrate the Resurrection of Messiah.  Also, from around the world Jews are gathering to celebrate the ancient promises of the Passover. Locals are scrubbing out the leaven and reassuring one another that He looks upon the heart, and that we do “the best we can” to scrub our homes, but the heart is the most important.  How true it is!

I see groups large groups arrriving from Asia, South America and Africa along with many more from Europe and North America and the Island continents of Australia and New Zealand. All of the languages mingle together.

I never thought much in the past about the flavors and customs of worship that the different nations bring with them. I remember being shocked when one year someone referred to the cultural Christianity of America.  I thought, “Oh no!  I just believe The Word as it is.  I am not influenced by the culture…no sir…not me!”

OH YES!

Was I ever wrong. And yet it did take years for me to see it in myself and then a certain helplessness, a crying out to God for Him to change me. I am just flesh and blood, “HELP ME!”

Well, now I RECOGNIZE the influence, but I know that it is only through spending more time in HIS kingdom than on this earth can I be free from its influence and I’m not there yet.  Are any of us?

So, as I walk the streets and see pilgrims from other lands and see how some wear particular identifying clothing. Some wear or carry huge wooden crosses, some carry eggs and I’ve even seen bunnies, some speak of this tradition or that. It is matched just as fully by the traditions that Jews bring with us from other countries, traditions, and even families.

It is like a huge orchestra here right now with so many different instruments playing in front of me. I wonder if this is the year and perhaps The Lord will put His lips to the Trumpet and bring forth a heavenly sound, instead of all of this busy confusion.

My attention was drawn to a VERY old lady, nearly bent in two.  She was wearing an old cotton house dress, the sort that is seen here on VERY old ladies and look more and more sensibly appealing to me these days.  She had a babushka on her head and a shawl around her shoulders and a large cane in her hand.  She was bending even lower than her hunched back normally held her.

As I draw near I saw that she was emptying a bag of food for the cats, who were running toward her.  We have two groups of cat people here, well perhaps three. One just really likes cats. But then there are the cat people. Every community likely has some of those.  They ALSO just really like cats but take it a BIT FURTHER than normal.  But we have a third group and this woman made me think back into our history, for these people were much younger when we arrived in the country and I remember seeing them back then.

As we approach our 70th re-birthday and 50th re-unification celebration, I remember hearing the stories of “THE CATS OF JERUSALEM.”  I was curious as to the great number of stray cats that were SO FAT and well cared for.  They seemed a protected lot and indeed they were and that with good reason.

You might recall that before Jerusalem was restored to Israel, it was under Jordanian control.  The Jordanians had filled the Jewish quarter, including the synagogues of the old city with rubbish and the carcasses of unclean animals. The filth was indescribable.  I know that Mark Twain wrote about it in his journeys to Jerusalem as did many others.

Along with the filth came disease of course and rats and other varmints!  The solution decided upon was: CATS.  Cats were imported and encouraged and treated as dear friends.  They basically became a protected species and EVERYONE considered it their sacred duty apparently, to feed them.  Yes, they DID overcome the scourge of the rats.

When we first came, I remember how they freely roamed restaurants, often climbing up on tables begging for food and I was surprised that no one shooed them away.  There is less of that now, but the cats of Jerusalem remain a reminder of a moment of history.

And history or “HIS story” really is the center of the preparation time that we have entered.  A week from this coming Friday, at sundown, the entire country will sit down to the first Seder (just before Resurrection Sunday), really the centerpiece of the Jewish religion.  Exodus 12:1-3 –

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,  ‘This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.  Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: “On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.”‘

verses 6-11 continue:

“Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.  And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.  Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails.  You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.  And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.”

We know that throughout the First Covenant and the Prophets, the keeping of the Passover is as central as the keeping of the Shabbat and of course the Last Supper is well documented through the Gospels as having been the Passover Seder. This lamb being THE LAMB, The Perfect Lamb without spot or blemish, the perfect Sacrifice once and for all, for you and for me, Who rent the veil and conquered death so freely for us.

It’s just all too big! Too beautiful!  Even more beautiful and more glorious than the Spring – the shadow of NEW LIFE.

It is as if it is stamped over our “kosher for Passover” food labels: THERE IS NO FEAR IN DEATH.  HE HAS CONQUERED THE GRAVE.

But as the people of the Book, most of us still sit under the curse of “Let their eyes be darkened, seeing not to see and hearing not to hear.”

I know that the moment that I saw,  it LITERALLY was as if scales fell off of my eyes and it was instantaneous.

SO, for the present, we are two celebrations of the greatest events of HIS story weaving together in a dance through Jerusalem.

But for us here year around  IT’S ALSO A LOT ABOUT CLEANING AND PREPARATION.  Scrub those cracks and wash those materials, checking each shelf for leaven.  Many clean all books thoroughly to make sure that there is not one crumb in it.  We are reminded that dust is NOT leaven least we break down with the “Passover syndrome.” Out with the old and in with the new as people replace items that they fear might not be clean enough, even tables, refrigerators and stoves. With the FOOD being replaced, the shuk and shops are JAMMED.  The stalls overflow with fresh stalks of huge garlic and fragrant strawberries.  Boxes of matzo and “kosher for Passover” sweets line the road.

And speaking of lining the road, the scrubbers are out in full force, thanks to the City of Jerusalem.  Street cleaning is non-stop.

So, we prepare for another cycle that reminds us “THE LORD IS FAITHFUL, THE LORD IS FAITHFUL…And in the midst I remember that IT IS ONLY ABOUT THE LORD.  NOT what He has done or what He will do, not about His promises or His gifts or His commands or His miracles. It is all about HIM ALONE and I turn to worship The King, just as you do.  Will I be here or in His kingdom at the next cycle?  HE knows, and that is all that matters.  It is about Him and not about us.

WHEW!  WHAT A RELIEF! We really are NOT the center of it all…and that is GRAND!

Least you think that I am ill…no I am not.  I do have some dear friends who are currently fighting for His will in their lives, but it just becomes so clear to me that WE HAVE A KINGDOM…and The King of that kingdom has told us that this world of shadows and pictures is just for now and the best is yet to come!  We shall all gather together in that day at His triumphant feast.  TOGETHER!

May Yeshua h’meshiach – Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the risen Son of The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, be blessed and glorified.

Lovingly,

your sister J

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Filed under Christianity, Church, Hebraic roots, Israel, Jerusalem, Prophecy, spiritual warfare

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March 4, 2018 · 9:40 am

Inside Jerusalem

SHUK

The Shuk in Jerusalem

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 —

BLESSINGS, dear brothers and sisters, In The precious Name of our Lord Yeshua h’meshiach, Jesus Christ.  May you be blessed and encouraged and may the Lord alone be glorified and may He be blessed.

I am sorry that I have been unable to write and remind some of you in a timely manner of the Purim festival that is JUST NOW ENDING. Purim, the celebration of the book of Esther (the book is called the Megillah) has evolved into a 3-day event here, so schools have been closed already since this past Tuesday.

Tuesday night at sundown began the one day “Esther fast.” (It seems to me that fewer and fewer people participate in the fast over the passing years.) And at sundown on Wednesday when the fast ends, the partying begins in un-walled cities.  The entire small book of Esther is read out loud by numerous readers and studied. Noise is made at every mention of Haman the Aggagite.  Costumes are donned to represent the fact that the day determined for the Jews to be annihilated was turned instead into a day of deliverance.

Things are not always what they appear to be.  There are parades and parties all over the country but not in Jerusalem until THURSDAY night wince walled cities are celebrated the SECOND day of Purim. Jerusalem corresponds to Shushan, the citadel.   Jerusalem, being far less secular than most other places in Israel, has a better representation of Queen Esthers and Mordechais.

When I was a child I loved dressing up as the beautiful Queen Esther who was given the anointing to intercede for the people of Israel.  These days, as I have shared before, Purim has taken on much of a “Halloween” air and it saddens me.  None the less, as I traveled home from work today, the streets were full of festive children bringing mishloach mannot or “sent portions,” baskets of goodies to family, neighbors and the poor.

There was singing and dancing and small tents set up to encourage people to study the book of Esther.  I heard a number of times” “And how many times did you hear the book of Esther this Purim?”  Maybe it’s funny, but perhaps my favorite part of the book of Esther is found in Chapter 2 verse 15:

Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

She requested NOTHING but what she was advised…

That line always stops me and I think about the submissive, gentle character of this one who could be used in such an act of intercession. She did not try to figure it out, but submitted to the one who advised her.  How unlike her my nature is, but He can change it, right?

I ran into the shuk yesterday to get some nuts and sweets and fruits for my own mishloach mannot baskets to be given out. There they were – the very first telltale sign of approaching Passover. HUGE BOXES OF FRESH GARLICS.  The first garlic harvest has begun and the rich fragrance fills the air.

“Oh no! Time to start Pesach cleaning ALREADY!”

Now THAT was probably not the most godly response, but it really was my first thought.  I was pleasantly surprised however, when I went to pay for my tomatoes and kishueem (a light green Israeli zucchini).  The stall owner weighted my bags and told me,  “Seva vhetzi shekelim.“(7 and a half shekels).

I handed them back.  “I think you made a mistake.  You said 7 and a half.”

He smiled and said, “See how warm it is?  The price went way down today.”

Wow!  Lovely, although ominous.  Our winter HAS been economical, warm and very little rain.  The worldwide climate changes are everywhere . So for us it handed us a warm and another too-dry winter. Meanwhile, our daughter in London is enjoying the snow. I guess we all hang on for the ride.

Challenges. They come in all forms and our directions are to look up and take our instructions from The Lord. He allows challenges, but the choices are ours. Will it be HIS way?

My husband faced a challenge the other night that was specific to immigrants and my heart went out to him. He has suffered increasingly severe hearing damage and we are thankful that our Israeli plan covers hearing aids.

It was time for another hearing test. The woman giving the test this year was new to us, but I could tell right away that the level of her voice was not in the range that he hears well.  Yet worse than that, when I told her that he does not speak much Hebrew,  she was a bit alarmed and said that she would try to speak in English.  I watched my husband through the glass in his sound proof room with his earphones. As I heard the words being spoken I was pretty clueless as to what the English words were that she was trying to pronounce. My hearing is relatively good.

Oy! I realized that she wasn’t using any “r” sounds (the “r” is soft in Hebrew).  Oh well, He definitely qualifies for new  hearing aids so it won’t really hurt anything. It just highlighted again some of the more subtle frustrations of immigration.

Somehow, in my naiveté, I did not expect the immigrant challenges to be lifelong, but they are, and aging actually magnifies the differences.

Rachel Margalit came to my desk to ask me to make out her prescriptions. She and her actor husband are very secular and worldly, but thoughtful. I enjoy talking to them.  She likes to practice her English on me as they enjoy traveling.

When I answered a question she commented, ”English is such a rich language with so many possibilities.  Hebrew, on the other hand, is so limited!  I prefer English.” 

Now this was a discussion that I had had before and thought much about.  I have heard other secular Israelis make similar statements.  I said, “Oh Rachel.  I feel quite the opposite Yes, English has so many more words to describe things, but I feel as if English is a line drawing, two-dimensional. Whereas Hebrew is a sculpture, three- dimensional.  I had her attention.  “One word in Hebrew, opens a window on so much description. So rich. Each word is a world of its own evoking ancient history as well as future events, just from one word.  It is so incredibly rich – a sculpture.”

She looked as if a light went on and said excitedly, “That is because each word comes from a shorish (3-letter root) so you are right. Every word is rooted in so much meaning.”

She understood and that blessed me as I added, “Yes, and it is all ancient and is all rooted in the Bible, ancient. Our entire history weighs in on each word.”

In many ways the disdain for the Hebrew language and the embracing of the English go hand in hand with a rejection of God and His Word. HIS WORD IS the first dictionary of the Hebrew language, and even now, every word is rooted in the Bible, except some technical ones. So you see, even the LANGUAGE becomes a spiritual battle.

Speaking of spiritual battles: the media!

Perhaps you heard of the three-day closure (strike really) of the Church of The Holy Sepulcher? (A Church shared by Catholic, Russian and Greek Orthodox denominations.)

It is one of the numerous sights here that could possibly have held Jesus’ tomb. Protestants believe that the tomb was in what is now the Garden Tomb, but most of the world’s orthodox religions go with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It attracts MANY tourists.

Perhaps some of you have been there.  The Orthodox religions (the three above and several others) own a GREAT deal of property in Jerusalem and much of Israel.  A small amount is covered by churches and religious places of study, but much of it is used commercially as hotels, restaurants, shops and rental property. “Church (owned) property” has not been taxed here in the past 70 years.  Out of frustration over millions of shekels of unpaid water and electric bills and the recent sale by the Churches of some of this property, the Jerusalem mayor decided to tax Church owned NON-CHURCH INCOME EARNING PROPERTIES (ie: hotels, restaurants etc.)

The response astounded me. It drew a perfect picture of what is happening here on all levels.  The denominations decided to close the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in protest.  The Moslem key-keeper was called and he was told to use the ancient key and LOCK THE DOORS.

Tourists were horrified. Frankly I was horrified.  THEY locked the Church while the foreign media proclaimed loud and clear that Israel had barred entry to the Church.  The U.N. was appealed to. “YOU CAN NOT TAX CHURCHES. THIS IS RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. YOU ARE UPSETTING THE STATUS QUO.”

The media poured it on.

I watched some man on the street interviews with some sad looking tourists. “We saved for our entire lives to come here on pilgrimage and we have been told that the Church is closed!”

The news man asked, “Have you been told WHY it is closed?”

They nod.  “Oh yes!  Israel has started to tax the Churches!  In the whole world NO ONE TAXES CHURCHES.  How could they do that?”

Tourist after tourist repeated what they had been told. Mayor Barkat withdrew the legislation to tax the profit producing businesses on Church owned land [NOT taxing Churches].

The media campaign won.  Again.  It is incredibly frustrating.  And it was a sad witness to a nation needing Him who does not know the difference between one denomination or another, one Church or another.  The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is open again: business as usual.

I got on the bus the other morning and it looked different.  It is bus replacement time and once again we have another new design.

Everyone was commenting, looking around, shaking their heads, trying out different seats.  It’s kind of funny to watch, like kids getting into their parent’s new car, opening the ash tray, rolling the windows go up and down, bounceing on the seats.  Well, we have no ash trays and our windows don’t really open, BUT WE HAVE LITTLE BLUE LIGHTS BY EVERY SEAT WITH AN OUTLET TO CHARGE YOU SMART PHONE OR COMPUTER.

Do YOU have phone chargers on YOUR busses?  If I used a smart phone I would have taken a picture of it for you as it tickled my funny bone.  It has definitely become a common sight to see people running around with a cord looking for a place to plug in and charge.  It is often the first thing that patients do when they arrive at the office where I work. “Where can I plug in my phone?”

Now I can tell them to take the bus.

I am deeply thankful for the many of you who see this email and have a heart to pray for this nation and her people!  Most of you whom I hear from are those whom I have never met.  That is humbling.  You represent so many countries and backgrounds. Yet each one has been touched by the eternal merciful Hand of God and has responded by turning your life over to Him and now we walk side by side.

And we are walking side by side in probably the most dangerous days of this planet’s history, the days of deception.  And yet for every deception that we face, there are HIS PROMISES.

I have been asked numerous times about how to pray for Israel. I take that question with fear and trembling.  How can anyone answer ANYTHING concerning God lightly?  As I searched my heart in His and His in mine, something that I feel is from Him came to me:

ISRAEL IS A TRIAL TO THE CHURCH.  If we DON’T look PAST the physical evidence to the PROMISES AND PURPOSES OF GOD TOWARD ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE, we will stumble.  We cannot take those promises and purposes out of context, but there are just no short cuts. We must see Israel and the Jews THROUGH HIS perspective, through HIS EYES AND PURPOSES.

ISRAEL IS A TRIAL TO THE CHRISTIANS WHO CARE ABOUT THEIR OWN NATIONS.  Yes, that sounds but what I mean is that The Lord Himself may have taught you how to pray for your own nation and shown you many things. BUT IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THAT IS TO ALSO APPLY TO ISRAEL.  When we embrace a truth for our own nation it can be very difficult, even blinding, to realize that it may NOT be what He is doing/saying about Israel.

ISRAEL IS A TRIAL TO THE WORLD.  Does anyone doubt that we are living in the day of judgment?  Judgment is narrow and is that thing that says the time is NOW and no longer later.  Throughout the prophets we see that the unsaved world – the nations – were also judged by HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL WHEN GOD WAS USING THEM TO BRING ABOUT HIS JUDGMENT.  This is heavy and cuts to the heart.

Again and again God says, “I was using you to judge my people and you went beyond Me and hated them and showed no mercy.” One quick example that comes to mind is Ezekiel 35. Each nation is in the midst, to one degree or another, of lifting the heavy stone spoken of by Zechariah.

ISRAEL IS TIRED…IT HAS BEEN A WAR OF ATTRITION WITH TRIAL BY MEDIA. Many of you have spoken of the frustration in your own nations, concerning polarized factions – truth and lies and an upside down world. But I am not speaking of the media in our nation as much as the world media, the world governments and the U.N.

ISRAEL IS A PEOPLE WHO NEEDS TO KNOW HER GOD AND HIS PLANS FOR HER.  And since you KNOW that, I repeat, that I am SO THANKFUL for each of you and for your prayers, mighty and small!  He hears.

MAY THE LORD KEEP YOU AND LEAD YOU AND EMBRACE YOU WITH HIS PEACE.  MAY HE LEAD US ALL INTO ALL TRUTH THAT IS HIS, FOR HIS GLORY ALONE.

Lovingly,

your sister J

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