Tag Archives: Israel

September 15, 2013 · 6:11 am

Inside Israel

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

Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, the day of repentance, the day of dread, the day that it is said all the hearts are examined, and those who are appointed for death, will be written for death, and those appointed for life will be written for life. Then the books are closed and sealed.

“G’mar khatima tova” is heard every few minutes. Literally it means: “may you finish with a good signature stamp.” We wrote in English − in my childhood days − “May you be inscribed in the book of life.” Others wish me also “tsom kal’’ or an easy fast and I respond, “tsom mashma’oti” or “may you have a MEANINGFUL fast” and then we enter into a short conversation concerning the true meaning of a fast before God.

A Hebrew language teacher advised me to say “tsom mo’il” or may you have a beneficial fast.

“What?” I asked. “Why is that better then a meaningful fast?”

My boss was quick to answer: “I want my fast to give me points.”

Wow! Talk about saying it as it is.

“Well, when I fast, my desire is to draw closer to God and to find those things that stand in the way of a deeper relationship, and repent from them,” I said.

He thought and said, “You must be ahead of me.”

But I added, “No. I could NEVER have enough points to win my way into the book of Life. I am way lower then you.”

His answer was from the teaching of the sages: “Those lower are far ahead…”

So it is at the time of Yom Kippur. The seriousness of it impacts the entire nation, a nation of people seeking to secure their place in the book of life. I am in the midst, SECURE that my name IS INDEED written in THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE. How wonderful to be both without fear or dread, and be assured that I have the adequate atonement.

It is almost sundown and the streets are silent as people finish up their last meal. I caught the last bus and train home from work. The buses stopped at 1:00 and the trains at 2. The television and radio stations shut down at the same time, and our airspace and airport are also closed, along with all of our borders. We are effectively sealed off from the world to be sealed in with God and here in Jerusalem it is silent.

Many of the believers take this time to fast as well, not to obtain atonement and gain points to get into the book of life, but hopefully, after spending special time asking The Lord to examine our hearts for any sins of compromise, presumption, unforgiveness, hardness, whatever we may have been blind to– to pray for the blinders to be taken off our nation and our people. For the veil must be be stripped from the eyes and YESHUA must be revealed as He says is Zech 12:

“And they shall look upon Him Whom they pierced and mourn for Him as for an only begotten Son.”

The Pascal Lamb IS among us and His once and for all time sacrifice IS sufficient and oh what reason for rejoicing! Zechariah 8:18 speaks of a day:

Zech 8:18 “And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.”

The entire chapter, indeed the book, is full of promises yet to be fulfilled, but I have heard people say, “How can a fast be a joyful feast?”

Oh, what joy to feast on The Lord and His heart for Israel during this fast. To me it already is a joyful feast and I long for the day that it will be for the entire nation.

The synagogue service is really a culmination of a month of prayer. For the past ten days many have been praying prayers of slichot or forgiveness at the western wall or in their synagogues at 4:30 in the morning. There have been daily special prayers and reading of scripture mid day and evening and into the night. Many, if not most, of what is read in synagogue and being prayed is directly from scripture and very passionate. But as is true in Christian churches, so it is in synagogues, people can sit hardened and unrepentant under The Word. People can harden their hearts, stiffen their necks, close their ears and remain blind.

On shabat, our Pastor’s wife challenged us to examine our own hearts once again concerning this issue of forgiveness before The Lord’s supper (tsudot h’adon in Hebrew):

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

“And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Years ago, as I was struggling and losing the battle to forgive a sister who seemed continually to hurt me, I suddenly understood my unforgiveness had the power to bind her so she could not be loosed in heaven. The awful understanding so horrified me that I seemed to stand on a precipice looking at the power we had toward one another, and The Lord set me free to forgive. Although I still struggle at times, the impact of that view has stayed with me all of these years. I have been forgiven MUCH. How dare I not forgive everything? I stand in the midst of a people who long to know that forgiveness.

This morning at prayer, a sister visiting here from another country for this season of feasts and conferences, shared that last night after being at a prayer conference, she had been able to witness to a group of 5 locals. She was amazed at how hungry and open they were to hear the good news. I envied her ability to share so freely.

Most Israelis will accept much more willingly the testimony of a gentile believer then a Jewish one. Indeed, today at work I had a strange experience that used to be much more common and it took me a bit aback. Some new immigrants came in to see the doctor where I work for the first time and we began to talk. They just arrived a week ago from the state of Texas. When they asked where I was from and I told them, suddenly the woman took a deep breath and looked askance at her husband and I remembered that look. She had been warned about me. She began to ask some specific questions which left little room for doubt.

I don’t feel worthy of the title: dangerous.

Years ago large groups of people were warned by their rabbis to stay away from me as I was such a dangerous woman, but I thought my lack of fruitfulness had stripped me of that distinction. But of course, the knowledge of Him – His Name – is dangerous. Dangerous to the enemy and to all we hold dear in this life, and the knowledge of Him so radically changes EVERYTHING.

Years ago, before we moved here, a young Israeli man stayed in our village to work in the fishing industry there. We became very close and I talked to him much about The Lord. One day I said to him, “I can not convince you. You ask Him yourself. Ask Him, ‘Do you have a Son, is He The Messiah, and is His Name Yeshua (Jesus)?”‘

He bowed his head and did just that and to my shock, he crumpled in a heap on to the floor. He began to weep and to pray. But when it was over he said to me, “Do you know what I just did? I have separated myself from my people, my nation and my family.”

Well, I knew that feeling partially. I remember thinking, “Uh oh. I’m Jewish. What will happen to my parents,” but I didn’t understand then Aam Israel – the people/nation so ancient and so veiled. I had been in the captivity (dispersion or diaspora or scattering) for too many millennia to fully understand.

So, the kitchens of Israel or at least most of Jerusalem are closed now for 25 hours. Darkness has fallen and the synagogues are full. The vehicle-free streets are full of children riding bikes. Although we are sealed off and silent, today also marks 40 years since the Yom Kippur war and 20 years since the disastrous Oslo “peace accords” were signed.

People are dying as I write in Syria. Iran is plotting our demise and the world stands on the precipice. It is the right moment to stand sealed off before The Lord.

And, of course, Wednesday night we get to, once again, to dwell in our little succa’s (booths) for a week and rejoice together. What a great great God we serve. He certainly knows what is best.

If you choose to fast and or pray along for this nation, it might be a good time to read the book of Hebrews. It is so rich in truths which are still hidden here.

Thank you so much for caring and for even reading what I write. I am so blessed by you, dear sisters and brothers.

Lovingly, your sis J

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September 8, 2013 · 8:16 am

Inside Israel

Apples and Honey – “Shana Tova oobrakha oometookha” (Good and blessed and sweet New Year.)

The time is winding down and the air is fragrant with food preparations as the streets begin to clear, with only an occasional car whizzing by to make it home before sundown. Soon the shabat horn will sound and the blasts of the shofar will begin. The streets are rapidly emptying and the very air is changing, quieting, and anticipating change in a new year.

I wrote the above last night before we left for the home of dear friends who live in a lovely apartment, across town with a spectacular view of the Eastern Jerusalem hills into the desert. We celebrated together, looking into The Word, blowing the shofar, partaking of the traditional foods and wondering again at the symbolism, so deep and delightful, surrounding every word and every food. GOD, and His SON YESHUA, revealed in the simplest things − take… eat… this is My body broken for you. He is seen everywhere, and was wonderfully present in the fellowship of the body.

Taf shin ayin dalet (looks like this in Hebrew: תשע”ד) – or the year 5,774 – arrived with the setting of the sun. Jewish tradition says that it is now 5,774 years since the 6^th day of creation and the birth of Adam.

As we drove over to our friends apartment, my eyes were drawn to a bearded father and his two sons. A joyful formally dressed little group. Each boy cradled a package larger then himself. Each one had a long beautiful shofar wrapped in a soft shawl held with such a sense of importance and awe. It was delightful to watch them and to hear their father speaking to them, teaching them of the honor and dignity with which they should treat the shofar, as an instrument of worship, and as an instrument of war.

Our internet news had an excellent story for the new year about one of the only 3 shofar makers in Israel. It shows how a shofar is made and the short video is really worth watching. It is delightful and I encourage you to watch it. You can watch it here.

Although we discussed what the New Year might hold, there was a shabat rest which we all settled into, trusting Him to see us through whatever lies ahead as we keep our eyes fixed on Him and our hearts tender to hear Him and do His will.

Traditionally, today is the day that the Book of Life is opened in heaven and is said to remain open until the sundown on Yom Kippur, in about 8 more days. Yom Kippur is the most solemn fast day in the year −the day of repentance. From now until then (actually the entire month) are called “the days of awe” and deep soul searching is taking place. Restoration is made, relationships which have been broken seek to be healed, people examine their actions, responses and motives. It is taken quite seriously (obviously not by everybody but by those who care…and there are many) and it is said that whether we live or die this year will be sealed on Yom Kippur as our hearts are searched.

My earthly father died on the second day of Rosh h’shana. He longed to hear the shofar blown. So a rabbi came to his hospital and blew the shofar for him. There was such relief on my father’s face and then he left.

The day is lovely today with perfect weather and a refreshing cool breeze. We enjoyed the silence of the city and listened to the birds while we sat outside drinking our morning coffee out behind our apartment, surrounded by trees and flowers. I heard a dove’s wings and looked over to watch it fly up to the branch above me. As I watched, it dropped a large feather. I got up, retrieved it, and examined with wonder its intricate beauty and design. And I delighted at the fact that I have never actually seen a bird dropping a feather before, watching it float from the bird to the ground. I was thankful that even now I can enjoy new experiences.

This life is such a wonder, isn’t it. Such a gift we have to be called to serve Him, The King of kings . Yet, in the midst of everything, He gives us things which so personally speak to us and delight our hearts. We really can do nothing but worship Him.

May each of you be BLESSED in this new year with more of Him. I am thankful for you and send much love.

Your sis in Jerusalem, J

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September 1, 2013 · 9:19 am

Inside Israel

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. ³When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁴But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. ⁵When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. ⁶When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey; they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys.⁷And when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. ⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. ⁹When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God. (Numbers 10:1-10)

And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets. (Numbers 29:1)

There is not a great deal of scripture concerning the Feast of the Blowing of Trumpets, but there has evolved a great deal of tradition. Through tradition, we Jews celebrate the New Year on this day − although scripture tells us that Passover is the New Year − and call it Rosh h’shana, or “the head (rosh) of the(h) year (shana).”

We were told to make two silver trumpets, but traditionally rams horns, or shofarim have been blown. Although I’m sure that silver horns were used in temple times, and perhaps still are by some, many beautiful rams horns today have silver work encircling them. Many of you, I know, have a shofar of your own and blow it at significant times.

It is a most beautiful and even haunting sound, for those of you who have not heard it. When Israel found that she was once again, in possession of the Old City and Jerusalem was reunited after 2,000 years, the sound of the blowing of this rams horn at the Western Wall by the Chief Rabbi still sends chills through all of us. (You can hear it here, around the 39 second point in the video.)

So, although we celebrate with assembling together, the giving of gifts, sharing apples and honey, and traditional meals, the commandment stands for it to be a day of “the blowing of trumpets.” It seems to awake the spirit within us when we hear the blowing of the shofar throughout the neighborhood.

My father died on the second day of Rosh h’shana, and although he was so very ill and in the hospital at the time, he determined that he must hear the rabbi blow the shofar…and he did. The rabbi came into the hospital, blew the shofar, and my natural father heeded the call that will come to all flesh.

The trumpet was to be blown when the congregation was being called to move. It was to be blown one way to call all of the people together and another way to call the leadership together. It was to be blown when we were going to war against an enemy and it was to be blown when we rejoice before our God. It was always a call to attention, and always a call to change where we are looking − whether to war, to move, or to rejoice. Actually, all THREE of these things speak to my situation right now.

What a wonderful commandment! How beautifully The Lord does things, caring about small details, and orchestrating our lives according to His score − if we have ears to hear.

So we as a nation are preparing for the feast that will begin at sundown on Wednesday evening. But it is a very subdued preparation this year as the uncertainty of the situation around us has many people on edge. The shops are much emptier then usual. Part of this, of course, is due to the economic situation, but even those of us who will skimp on meals will prepare. There is a tension underlying everything. It is easily perceived, but not being much spoken of.

For myself, I also stand against it as well. As I prepare dinner tonight there is a knock on the door and a young religious family comes to look at our apartment. Daily people are coming over to see the apartment which we have lived in for 19 years, now up for sale for nearly half a million US dollars. “Where do they get the money?” my husband asks. I don’t know. They are not immigrants.

They are also far younger then us and have bank loans available or families or whatever. We have better. We have GOD Who IS Our Provider and Who will lead us in the way that we should go to the right place to live. The main battle for me is to keep my heart in faith which equals peace. It is still a battle.

For those of you who have joined us in prayer, our younger pregnant daughter and husband have happily arrived at the home of our older daughter − surprising them. Thank you for praying that he will find work and that they will be able to settle into a place of their own SOON…also for her health and for her to find the right care that she needs. Thank you so much for your concern for our family amidst your prayers for the fulfillment of God’s purposes , His HEART for this nation and the Church in relation.

I must go and get dinner on the table, but I greet you all in His Love from the heart of Jerusalem, His crucible. May HE be glorified and blessed and may you be blessed. May we each have ears to hear His trumpet sound.

Lovingly,

your sis J

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August 18, 2013 · 7:28 am

Inside Israel

Dear Brothers and sisters, beloved in Him Who is above all, I greet you, thankful for a moment to write and to update you on certain things…well…perhaps it is selfish as it is I who need to reach out and touch the body and receive the stability that comes through His people. It has been in intense time.

Ana and I just returned from the hospital, my second trip for the day. I share this just to give an impression of the intensity.

Yesterday I got up at 4:30 and had a good time with Him before leaving for work . My boss has been away and I needed to be there for one of my ‘vacation’ weeks. My husband was going to take Ana to her day camp (kaytina) at 8am and I would pick her up at 3:30 on my way home. I arrived at work at 7 and was surprised by a phone call from my husband at 7:40.

“I am having severe chest pain and my blood pressure is high. What should I do?” he asked.

“Where is Ana?” I asked.

He had set her up with some play tasks and she was fine. I caught a cab home, committing the calculations to The Lord in a battle to walk in all that I believe. Although the drive home seemed to take forever, we arrived behind the ambulance which I was able to direct to our door. I supplied necessary information while trying to reassure Ana that all was fine and “would she like to play ‘doctor’’.

Husband was packed off into intensive care ambulance and Ana and I found another taxi to her kaytina. The driver gasped when I told him that I needed to go the congested center of town and then way off to the far west side. I again tried to block all calculations and take on His yoke. The rides seemed to take forever and I finally arrived at the emergency room at 10, having been moving at top speed since 7:40.

Husband was diagnosed with unstable angina. I was so thankful that he hadn’t had another heart attack incurring further damage. He was going to be sent up to cardiology. Ana went home with a friend at 3:30 but by 5 I left to pick her up. One of my husband’s clients is a young almost-doctor – fifth year medical student – and she stayed with us the whole time. When she heard that Ana’s friend lived at the farthest part of town possible, she said that she would drive me there and then take us home. The only catch was that she didn’t know where this address was and neither did I.

I kissed my husband goodbye and asked that he call when he knew what room he would be in and we took off. About an hour later I took a deep breath and said, “Shay’nee, would it be ok if I pray and ask for The Lord in Whom I believe to guide us? And that would be Yeshua.”

We had been driving in circles asking directions every few blocks. “Sure,” she said.

So I took a DEEP breath and prayed a simple prayer, ending In The Name of Yeshua.

She looked at me. “I thought that you were Jewish,” she said.

“Oh. I am. But I believe that Yeshua IS our savior and I am His disciple.”

Hmm!”she answered and the questions began, just like with Mali.

However, almost IMMEDIATELY we found our way and she said, “Wow. I think He answered your prayer!”

Well, I KNEW He did, so we hadn’t much more time to share, but I could only stand thankful that He had opened TWO strong doors this week.

My husband had a tsentur (heart catheterization) this morning. After I dropped Ana at kaytina, and I was able to establish him back comfortably in his room before going to pick her up. He is doing well. They found no new blockages and are putting him on blood thinners. He can come home tomorrow. I didn’t think I could add ONE MORE EVENT into this very special, intense time, but God, in His mercy, enlarges our capacity for Him and prepares us for things to come. He must have apparently said, “Pour it on.” THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!

In my last letter I did NOT include a request directly from my husband. In my conviction that I am NOT to mention such things, I would not have, but he directly asked me to ask all of you if: if there is ANYONE who might consider at this time investing in buying a flat – this one – in Jerusalem.”

There. I asked. I know that many many of you would LIKE to, but he is asking if someone feels led and is ABLE to. And I am being obedient to my husband and asking. I believe that I told you that our landlord IS putting this place that we have lived in for the past 19 years up for sale.

A dear friend who is also a writer, gave me her books this past week and as I was reading I thought to share part of something that she wrote. This is from Why Care About Israel by Sandra Teplinsky. I share it as I KNOW that when you take on His heart for Israel, you are part of the battle, and MANY of you have already experienced this:

“Why does Israel draw out the best and the worst in us? The Jewish nation is designed to test and expose the hearts of humanity. Like a threshing floor, she sifts our souls.

Long ago God picked a spot on earth to “put [His] Name forever” (2 Chronicles 33:7; see also 1 Kings9:3). That spot-Jerusalem’s Mount Moriah – originally served for centuries as a threshing floor. (A threshing floor, as you may know, is a place where wheat is sifted from chaff by repeatedly tossing both up in the air.) It was there that God halted a plague sent in judgment against Israel. King David purchased the threshing floor and, at God’s instruction, built an alter on it (see 2 Samuel 24:15-25). Later, on this precise plot of real estate, David’s son Solomon constructed Israel’s Holy Temple. There God’s Gory dwelt, unequaled in grandeur anywhere else on earth. This place is now known as the Temple Mount.

Is the Temple Mount any less a threshing floor in our day then it was when David bought it three thousand years ago? This dry and dusty hilltop sifts nations’ souls through their contests over its control. And little wonder, for here our Jesus will return in splendor to rule and reign – something His enemies are scrambling to prevent. The Temple Mount will prove the ultimate testing ground, the place where Messiah and anti-Messiah, and the followers of both, will someday be exposed. The site could be called Spiritual Testing Ground Zero, rendering Jerusalem and the rest of Israel a test zone surrounding it. A test God wants you to pass – because it is a test of love.

Does this mean everything Israel does is right? Of course not; the test would prove less genuine if issues involving Israel were so simple. Though matters are complex, Israel is ultimately about Him, and if you know Him as the God of Israel, your heart beating with His, you know the Answer…”

I just thought that might confirm some of your thinking during these critical times that we are in. The “peace process” is again underway with its vitriolic humanism setting the agenda and Israel’s God being mocked with nearly every word. Right now, the release of the murders is underway and there are sporadic riots around the city, while the western countries are chastening us sore for building in the country that He gave us. Will we serve man or God? May we all say, “As for me and my house, we WILL serve The Lord!”

Off to bed. May we be strengthened in one another for His Glory. Lovingly, and THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS (younger daughter has been quite sick again and also in hospital for another brief stay).

your sis in the midst,

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August 11, 2013 · 8:38 am

Inside Israel

Our computers went out while I was at work today, meaning that neither Molly (her name is actually ‘Mali’ – short for ‘Malcha’ or ‘queen’) nor I could bury our faces in news or email during our quieter moments. Some of you grabbed ahold of ‘Mali’ when I wrote about her and have prayed for her. She is one of the two young secretaries that I work with from time to time. She has been very depressed since her father died suddenly.

“I started taking an antidepressant drug 2 weeks ago.” She said, with a still-depressed expression. “Do you think that would hinder my job opportunities?”

The conversation turned several corners and I shared a bit more about my past with her and how Yeshua flooded me with His Joy. I didn’t expect what came next (be instant in season and out of season).

“So Who exactly IS this ‘Yeshu’ anyway?” she asked.

“I don’t know who ‘Yeshu’ is (that means “false messiah” and is how He is called by not-yet-believers here) but I can tell you Who YESHUA is.” I said.

To my surprise she began asking me how to pronounce His Name – and then… she said “Who was He? Where was He born? Why did He come?”

Where was He born?? Didn’t she know? I asked her what she had heard about Him and she said “I know NOTHING about Him at all. I have never heard about Him.”

I prayed. Mali does NOT speak English and I was going to have to share with her in Hebrew. I prayed for anointing from Him alone and that my poor language ability would not hinder her or stand in the way. “Why, Mali, He was born right here. He is a sabra and He was circumcised in Jerusalem in our Temple before the second destruction.”

She was so surprised! “What? He was Israeli? What happened?”

I told her that He had never left Israel but spent His full life here – how He preached the way to Life and how He rebuked the rabbis for teaching what was NOT written in the Tenach, but the traditions of men. Then I asked “Mali…do you believe that there is a Moshiach (Messiah or Christ)?”

She answered “Yes, but it ISN’T ‘Yeshu’ because the rabbis say it isn’t.”

I grabbed my small Bible and said “But Mali, the SCRIPTURES describe Moshiach perfectly.”

As I told her about Isaiah 53 she wanted to know if it was “our” prophet or “theirs.” I told her that all of the prophecies about Messiah are ours, just as Messiah is ours and that what the Christians read in the Old Testament is our scriptures. Then He opened the door for me to share my testimony with her. She was glued to every (poorly spoken but I trust anointed) word.

When I met Him, He showed me, also someone who knew nothing of Him, why He came. I told her – “Mali, read it yourself. Take the Tenach, and read, but do this: pray first and ask God IF HE SENT HIS MESSIAH AND IF WE KNOW HIS NAME. Pray that every time you read. DON’T read the commentaries, the Mishna and the like, but read the SCRIPTURES. It is NOT hard to understand and you do NOT need a rabbi to lead you. Ask God’s Spirit to lead you. Don’t take my word for it.”

I told her how when I met Him I really thought that I was the only Jew to believe, but now I know so many, and I told her of the many, many sabras (born here) who believe.

Our time of sharing was almost undisturbed and long enough. I was surprised and blessed by this opportunity and have no doubt that He is answering prayer because He Is The I Am.

My time with you to write is so short and I have only a million or two things that I wanted to share. I began writing what is below 9 days ago and left it to finish, but that has not happened, so I will share it and see if I can add on to it:

______________________________________

I greet you dear brothers and sisters on this first of August. May The Lord be blessed and glorified in all of us and may you be blessed.

Sizzling summer is here and so is our Little GRANDDAUGHTER, so thank you for all of your prayers. (I will share about her more at the bottom) She is scheduled to be with us through the 22^nd of Aug, so this will be a quick update as so much is happening here, but at the same time I have really so many observations that may have to wait until after our visit.

I am sure that you all know that we have, once again, been pressed into the compromising position that is opposed to God’s Word: to give up the land that He promised and He restored, in exchange for peace. A friend of mine here, the wife of a pastor, shared a Word that she had received from The Lord (this is NOT a sister who says that much) and it bore such witness to my soul that I asked her to write it out and I would like to share it with you:

“As I shared with you on the phone today how I was troubled by the wording of these negotiations being called “The Final Peace Agreement” and that it does not fit the Jewish people. The Lord spoke to me early this morning and said, “The Jewish people are not the people of ‘THE FINAL’ – THE JEWISH PEOPLE ARE THE PEOPLE OF ‘THE ETERNAL!'” Isn’t that amazing

I looked up in the Webster dictionary for the word “Final” as (an adjective), and look what it says,

1. Not to be altered or undone

2. Relating to a conclusion

3. Being the last in a series, process or progress

4. Relating to the ultimate purpose or result of a process

5. Relating to or occurring at the end or conclusion

The word “Final” as (a noun) is as follows:

1. Something that is final

2. A deciding match, game, heat or trial

3. The last examination in a course.

Then of course, I looked up the Webster dictionary’s definition of “The Eternal”, (as an adjective) and look what it says:

1. Having Infinite duration – Everlasting

2. Relating to Eternity

3. Characterized by abiding Fellowship with God

4. Continued without intermission – Perpetual, seemingly endless

5. Valid or existing at all times; timeless

The word “Eternal” (as a noun) is as follows:

1. GOD

Thank you for allowing me to share all this with you today.

While we spoke on the phone she had shared with me that the word ‘’final’’ brought to mind the nazi ‘’final solution’’ and she had begun to pray, “Lord, this word ‘final’ – it makes my blood chill. What is this ‘final?’ You have the ‘final Word’ so please tell me how to pray. What you see above was spoken into her heart to her great surprise. (This is where I stopped writing)

By now we understand that our Prime Minister took what he believed to be the best of 3 evils that the international community was forcing upon us: we are scheduled to release 104 terrorists. NOT the ‘usual terrorists’ but terrorists with blood on their hands, in other words, they have been directly involved in the murder of non military civilians. We have not done this before. It would be as if we told America they had a choice: agree to give up Texas and California before negotiating with the Mexicans, or agree to stop ALL building, or release the Boston Marathon bombers. (Proportion wise? Thousands of them.)

I am afraid that we are not being led by God, but that once again we are bowing to the pressure of the world instead of bowing low before our God and casting ourselves upon Him. God open our eyes.

It is time for me to prepare dinner but I want to tell you that our younger pregnant daughter is responding to the home care that she is receiving and is stable on anti- nausea drugs which she administers by I.V. herself, checked every 3 days by a home visit nurse. Oh thank you for your prayers for them. And also for our Granddaughter Ana. I ask you to continue both. Ana is just 7 and is finally settling in after the ‘l..o..n..g’ trip with El Al’s unaccompanied minor program. We are having quite an intensive little Bible camp, she and I, and I am praying for her to truly come to Know Him and claim Him as her own to love and to follow, and to have fullness of His Joy. She has battled the same deep sadness that I had from infancy, and our family has known, but HE IS THE VICTOR. Thank you.

I am sorry for this truncated letter. I look forward to a portion of time to really write. It does come with much love. His WORD has been so alive and I long to share.

LOVINGLY,

your sis J

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July 28, 2013 · 6:12 am

Inside Israel

Answered prayer is always for His glory and I want to update you on how our younger daughter is doing, as so many of you have been praying for the situation and it has indeed stabilized. Thank you SO very much.

I told you she was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum. She is now in a ‘home care’ situation with a nurse visiting every other day. The nurse first arrived with boxes of medical supplies, an I.V. (intravenous hydration bag with the water solution balanced with electrolytes to keep people hydrated, like those given in hospitals), an IV pole, boxes of IV saline solution bags, syringes, and anti nausea meds to insert into the IV 6 times daily. Plus a course to teach her how to administer the IV with the meds by herself, etc.

This was the most ‘exciting’ part to her because from the time that she was a tiny child she wanted to be a doctor. Finding out that she was profoundly dyslexic dashed that dream for her and now, here she is, being given a real hospital to play with at home. That was her response when she FINALLY skyped us the other night.

She was weak and puffy but felt encouraged, and even happy. There are standing orders at the hospital to admit her immediately if she comes to the emergency room. She has seen a doctor, dietician, and psychiatrist and heard the Baby’s heartbeat. She is not fearful anymore and is convinced the Baby is healthy and that this will all pass, at least by the end of 9 months. She has even felt the Baby move.

I located an organization dealing with hyperemesis gravidarum and have learned a great deal for myself. They were very supportive and sent a local volunteer to encourage her and loan her a baby heart monitor. They gave her a $100 gift certificate for Baby needs. Wow! The head of the organization explained that they do this because women are so ill they often opt to kill their babies. They need to meet others who have endured and let them know it is truly worth it and that it does eventually end with the joy of having a child. I am impressed and thankful and know this is TRULY an answer to your prayers. I even believe that she will NOT be this ill for the full 9 months.

ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS, several of you have contacted me to tell me that either you live in the area or know someone who does and who would be willing to go and encourage her and or do some meal preparation. This was my main prayer − outreach ministry through believers.

Our daughter truly has known The Lord and loved Him. Her husband has not yet known Him as I explained. He was brought up in a Jewish ultra-orthodox (Haradi) family (the oldest of 15 children). They are both backslidden, but both from different places. Both are really tender ‘Truth seekers’ so I believe with all of my heart that The Truth, The Face of Yeshua, will and IS pursuing them. Our daughter knows who my friends are. Yet she was so happy when I offered for each one to contact her and to come and visit. (She is alone in bed everyday.) THANK YOU DEAREST BODY OF MESSIAH. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND WALK.

A brief update from our ever volatile front row center seat is called for right now:

Unless you have been enjoying a wonderful remote vacation, you likely know by now the Americans have succeeded in announcing the re-start (yet again) of ‘peace, peace, where there is no peace’ talks. The talks are scheduled to begin next week and already the rhetoric is heating up. Here are two quotes:

“The collapse of the upcoming round of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians may lead to the eruption of another intifada,” Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) warned on Monday. Tibi, who served as an advisor to deceased Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat and remains close to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, said he has sensed the “bottled-up rage on the Palestinian street over the occupation and the missing of the opportunity.” (Please understand: Ahmad Tibi is a member of our Israeli Knesset (Parliament). He is not part of ‘Palestine,’ part of the ‘other side,’ he is Israeli.)

While Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmud Abbas said: “While Netanyahu declares any agreement will be brought to referendum, Jordanian paper releases interview with PA chairman conducted immediately after renewed talks statement. Abbas says ‘any solution must remove Israel permanently from Palestinian land’

When we arrived in 1994, the first ‘peace agreement’ had just been signed on the White House lawn by Arafat and Rabin. It was signed amidst pools of blood and further negotiations continued as the pools widened and deepened. Oh, that is Israeli blood that I am talking about. There were bombings, terror attacks, kidnappings. Through it all, the world kept telling us ‘Israel, be patient! It is ‘only’ a few frustrated extremists trying to kill the fragile peace.’ ‘Peace’ became a holy word- a god – where human blood became a sacrifice upon the alter to the god of peace.

As a front row viewer, I believe that I am being honest when I say that there is NO ONE IN THE WORLD who longs for peace more then the Israeli people, but it is NOT peace at any price. We know this land is not ours and it has been taken away from us before by The Owner because of our disobedience. It is not ours to give away, that would be stealing what is His and despising our birthright.

Speaking the Hebrew language has opened up an honest window to see into the Israeli heart. As I listen to the songs on the buses and even in the liturgy, ‘peace’ is possibly the main longing of the soul and subject of the songs.

I have been so very grateful for the MANY opportunities I have to ‘make peace’ one on one with Palestinians, to sit and talk and open hearts and allow them to see into mine. That one on one honesty opens REAL doors of peace. But even that is not the Real Peace which ONLY comes clothed in Yeshua h’Meshiach, Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. Aside from Him there just IS no peace.

My prayer is that He will anoint me and all of my beloved sisters and brothers here to EFFECTIVELY share Him – to freely give as we have received, to plant into fertile ground that which will produce kingdom FRUIT, 100 fold and make way for The Prince of Peace again. This time I pray He is recognized and embraced by all.

As I close, I would like to ask prayer for a 41 year old Mother of 4 (?) who is in home hospice care, dealing with great pain in the last stages of breast cancer which has overtaken most of her body. She had initially refused treatment for the cancer until it was too late. Her name is Ayella Weitzman. I have loved this dear woman. I told her husband, Daniel, I would be praying for them. Thank you.

May His Peace rule in your hearts (and mine) through the knowledge of Him and as we gaze at Him face to Face.

Lovingly,

your sis J in Jerusalem

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July 21, 2013 · 1:12 pm

Inside Israel

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

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 9^th day of the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar) is observed this year beginning Monday night the 8^th through Tues sundown the 9^th. 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 9^th 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

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 19^th year since making aliyah (immigrating).

We became Israeli citizens on the 18^th of July, but we left Alaska on 4^th 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! ⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ⁶And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷You 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. ⁸You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹You 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 23^rd 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:

¹¹Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: ¹²I 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. ⁷For we brought nothing into this world, and it iscertainwe can carry nothing out. ⁸And 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 29^th 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

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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