ONE NATION, ONE LAND, ONE GOD

In recent days a group of 19 Jews were clandestinely brought to Israel from war-torn Yemen.  The Rabbi of the group brought with him a 500-600 year old Torah scroll. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, more than 51,000 Yemenite Jews have immigrated to Israel, most arriving in the mass transfer in 1949 called Operation Magic Carpet.  Only around 50 Jews remain in Yemen and these have chosen to remain there in spite of there now being no organized Jewish communal life nor indeed even a Rabbi. Most of these live in a special compound next to the American Embassy in Sana'a, where they can be protected. However this protection would be lost should the Americans leave.

Some of the new arrivals from Yemen

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Report-Some-of-the-last-Jews-of-Yemen-brought-to-Israel-in-secret-mission-448639


Who are the Jews of Yemen?

A family of Yemenite Jews walking through the desert to a gathering point in Aden during Operation Magic Carpet
By Kluger Zoltan - Israeli National Photo Archive, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4903313

The origins of the Jewish community of Yemen are somewhat unclear. According to their own traditions a group of wealthy Jews left Jerusalem and came to Yemen some 42 years before the destruction of the First Temple, which occurred in 586 BCE (BC), but some historians believe that trade routes had  already brought Jews to Yemen more than 400 years earlier, during Solomon's reign. Both versions may contain truth. Whatever the case, this was an ancient and unique Jewish community, with a rich culture which they have now brought with them to Israel. These new immigrants and their descendants play a significant role in Israeli life and are now well integrated into the modern Israeli state.  

This event reminded me of the prophecies in Ezekiel regarding the regathering of the 'lost' peoples of Israel.

http://sounddoctrineminstries.weebly.com/uploads/8/8/6/4/8864463/1338593.jpg?679

 

"Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,   “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’  Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’—  say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ ²⁰ And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.²¹ “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; ²² and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. ²³ They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
²⁴ “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. ²⁵ Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. ²⁶ Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ²⁷ My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ²⁸ The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

          Ezekiel 37: 16-28

 

Prior to the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles, the people of Israel were divided into two kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel in the north, and the kingdom of Judah in the south. When the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom, in the years leading up to 722 BCE (BC), they scattered the people of Israel throughout the Assyrian Empire of the time, and repopulated the Land with people from other conquered groups. The northern tribes are often described as the "Lost Tribes of Israel", as their exact whereabouts is unclear, and their descendants are thought to have assimilated into the local peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia. Assyrian  bas-reliefs show however that the Israelites were exiled in family groups, which may well have maintained the customs and beliefs for many generations. Of course these families are also likely to have joined up over time with other similar groups. It is quite possible therefore that pockets of Israelite ethnicity survived long after the exile, even to the present day.

 

The southern kingdom, comprising the tribes of Judah, Levi and Benjamin, were conquered later, by the Babylonians, who took the leaders and the wealthier echelons of society into captivity, together, to Babylon. The poor remained in Judah or emigrated to the south, some reaching Ethiopia and Africa via Egypt. The large group from Judah that were taken to Babylon, remained largely together and retained their distinct identity. It is they whom we know today as the Jews - the word coming from Judah. As a result of the edict of Cyrus a group of Jews, together with some remnant of the northern kingdom, returned to the Land of Israel and rebuilt Jerusalem, re-establishing a strong Jewish presence. I believe that this is the group represented in the prophecy above by the stick of Judah and the people of Israel, his companions. However, what of the other stick - the stick of Joseph, in the hand of Ephraim and the people of Israel? Where are these people today and is God bringing them back to the Land to be reunited with the stick of Judah, as promised?

 

Only God really knows where all these people are, but He does know! And He will bring his prophecy to pass, and is doing so. Slowly and quietly some groups of the 'lost' tribes of the northern kingdom are being identified and brought back to Israel.  Perhaps the biggest group is the Ethiopian Jews, most of whom were airlifted to Israel in 1991 after they were declared  by the Chief Rabbi as being descended from the Tribe of Dan. Today there are about 135,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent living in Israel.

Ethiopian Jews kissing the Land as they arrive in Israel
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/static/Resize/pictures/468x282/492261.jpg

 

 Another large group came from  the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand in Central Asia, thought to be descended from the Tribes of Issachar and Naftali. There are also over 1700 members of the Bnei Menasseh, or as they call themselves, Menmase, from the border area between India and Myanmar (Burma)  already living in Israel and many thousands of others waiting to come http://www.bneimenashe.com/history.html.

 

Some members of the Bnei Menashe arriving in Israel in 2012
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20841382

 

 

 There are also many other groups under investigation and members of some of these have also immigrated to Israel. DNA testing has provided hard evidence that  the Lemba of southern Africa are of Israelite origin. The priestly class of the Lemba even has genetic links to the Jewish Kohanim, the priests. The Pashtun of the Khyber Pass region between Afghanistan and Pakistan are another group with demonstrable cultural and religious links to ancient Israel.

http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/lemba-tribe-in-southern-africa-has-jewish-roots-genetic-tests-reveal

 You can learn more about these groups and the search for them on " The Quest for the Lost Tribes " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEHuWG6TFAQ&list=PLNDSHEDjg3UHi8GcK7vkkScHb5MtXsdoi&index=1

 

What an exciting time to be alive!!! It is sometimes easy to forget that when we get caught up in the day to day of life in Israel. How good it is to be reminded that  we are all part, albeit a tiny part, of a much larger, intensely exciting story. It puts my petty, personal cares into something of a more healthy perspective.  

 

What a wonderful future lies ahead. Please join me in praying for the outworking of God's promises and for the quest to find these 'lost' people and bring them home. Remember too that they are just humans, like you and me, and are coming to a very strange world. It is not an easy transition. They often come from poor, backward communities, where modern amenities are unknown. They are being catapulted into a fast, 21st century society where they have to learn the language, find homes, get education and find jobs. They also, very sadly, often face discrimination and rejection after they arrive here. Often the generation gulf between the immigrant parents and their Israeli-born children is immense and stressful. Please pray for them.

 

In parallel we are continuing to see a large influx of Jews mainly from France and the Ukraine.  Overall Jewish immigration reached a 15 year high in 2015 with record numbers, 7900, coming from France. Although often wealthy and usually well educated, it is still a difficult transition. With the increase in Anti-Semitism and terror in Europe we can only expect the immigration from Europe to increase in the future. It seems perhaps that the completion of the prophecy of Jeremiah is beginning to materialize. 

 

Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’   but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

Jeremiah 16: 14-16

 

 Many fishermen have already gone out to the nations  calling the people to come, and many have responded, but yet many remain. Could it be that the time of the fishers is drawing to a close, and the time of the hunters beginning? I would suggest to any Jews or Israelites in Europe, indeed anywhere, that now is the time to seriously consider making aliyah (immigrating) to Israel. The remaining window of opportunity may be very short.

 

 



 

FROM MIDDLE EARTH TO THE MIDDLE OF THE EARTH

O Lord, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep.
A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool understand this.
 When the wicked spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.

 But You, Lord, are on high forevermore.
 For behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For behold, Your enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

 

Psalm 92:6-9

 

Wellington Airport



This week I made a four day journey from "Middle Earth" (New Zealand) to the Middle of the Earth (Israel), as I returned home from saying a final goodbye to my mother who passed away on Boxing Day. 

In New Zealand Middle Earth mania is rampant as tourists flock to the country to see the stunning sets and landscapes used to film the Lord of the Rings trilogy and, more recently, the two Hobbit movies. Needless to say, the tourist industry and the country as a whole is playing up the association of New Zealand with Middle Earth, and especially "The Shire".  For example, air passengers arriving in the capital, Wellington, are greeted by a sign on the terminal building welcoming them to "The Middle of Middle Earth" (see above).   Inside the terminal they will find huge sculptures of Gandalf and the Giant Eagles suspended from the ceiling, and of Gollum and other characters from the films scattered here and there around the concourse.
 

Air New Zealand?  in Wellington Airport

As strange as it may seem, I couldn't help but think the parallel between New Zealand and the Shire, the home of the Hobbits, peculiarly appropriate. New Zealand, far from the center of things on our planet, actually about as far as you can get, is still an island of peace and tranquility, where people live a simple yet abundant life valuing the good things of domesticity and stability. There is an appealing innocence about it which is so like that of  home of the Hobbits in the Shire.

However as I set forth on the first leg of my journey, a flight from Dunedin to Auckland, I was astounded by the almost total lack of airport security. I just walked into the terminal and onto the plane. No searches, questions or even x-ray machines. I could have been carrying a Kalashnikov under my coat, and no one would have noticed. Delayed for six hours in the Auckland airport I was further shocked  by the repeated announcements asking the owners of various unattended suitcases and parcels to come and claim them. New Zealanders just do not seem to understand the threats involved in international travel in these days. When I commented on this to a fellow traveler, he just said, "Well we don't need all that security here". No? I hoped he was right, but I feared that one day that particular bubble may burst.

 

Surely even in New Zealand people read the papers and see the news? There are many worrying signs of encroaching darkness and evil, but what will it take to make this nation wake up to the threat to its treasured way of life? Less than two weeks earlier Australia was experiencing its first jihadi-related terrorist attack in which two hostages were killed. As I arrived back in Israel, France was under a series of attacks in which 17 people were killed by jihadi terrorists (see more on this below). Nowhere is safe anymore. The darkness is spreading and is even at the very borders of the 'Shire'.

 

That said I must say I enjoyed my brief stay in 'Middle Earth' in spite of the sadness and grief of my mother's passing.  New Zealand is a beautiful country with stunning landscapes, friendly, peace-loving people,  and a prosperous way of life. How lovely it was to be able to walk alone around my brother's little town late into the long summer twilight and feel totally safe! It made me long for the day when the Messiah, Yeshua, will return to destroy the rule of evil and establish peace on Earth.

 

Here are some more views of 'Middle Earth':

 

Lupins in the Hollyford Valley



Mitre Peak, Milford Sound



Mirror Lakes

  Too soon, it was time to return to a more familiar reality,  the stresses of daily life in the Middle of the Earth, Israel. I arrived in the middle of a winter storm which brought high winds, flooding and snow to the whole region. Though the snowfall in Jerusalem wasn't as severe as last year's record breaking storm, it was enough to close the schools and bring the city to a standstill for three days.

Children play in the snow in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613109,00.html



Sport in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613109,00.html

Flooding in Kiryat Yam 
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613109,00.html



It was a bit of a shock for me coming from pleasant summer temperatures in the high 20s Celsius in New Zealand to a maximum daytime temperature of only 1degree, snow and frosts during the night here in Jerusalem. I haven't felt warm since my return, but I am grateful to have a warm, dry house, electricity and everything else I needed to weather the storm. So many people in our region are trying to cope with it in tents and makeshift shelters. My heart goes out to them.



 A Syrian refugee hangs her laundry outside a tent at a refugee camp in Zahleh town, Bekaa valley, east Lebanon. http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2059291.1420740822!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg

 

TERROR IN PARIS

 

Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’  but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

 “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

 

Jeremiah 16:14-16

 

This past week the people of France and indeed of the whole world have been horrified by the vicious attacks, first on the Charlie Hebdo offices and then on the kosher supermarket in Paris which left 17 innocent people dead. We were horrified yes, but not surprised - the writing has been on the wall for a long time. French Jews,  the largest Jewish population in Europe, have been facing an increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric and actual attacks on their persons and properties both from the neo-Nazi right and from the increasingly radicalized jihadi - Islamic fringe.

 

Once numbering around half a million in number the Jewish population in France has decreased considerably in recent years as many have left the country to move to the UK, North America and to Israel.

 

Ynetnews reports that figures from the Immigrant Absorption Ministry corroborate claims that Jews are fleeing France. In 2014 a record number of 6,600  French Jews moved to Israel, a 32% increase over the previous year. French Jews are now the largest group of immigrants coming to Israel. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4613620,00.html

 

Israeli absorption services are now busy gearing up to receive a new influx of French immigrants following the Paris attacks. Many French Jews are expressing the perception that a line has been crossed and their future in France is now untenable in the face of the growing, and increasingly violent, anti-Semitism there.

 

I believe that in the coming years more and more of the Jews of Europe will flee. Europe has an enormous and powerful Muslim population, which is becoming increasingly radicalized, and the liberal, democratic governments are powerless to effectively fight the threat of terror. Other threats too are arising, such as the recent Russian invasion of the Ukraine which also sent many Jews fleeing.

 

We should not be surprised. As the prophecy in Jeremiah clearly says, God will bring back the children of Israel from all the lands to which they had been driven. First he would send out the 'fishermen', who would seek to convince them to come back to Israel.  For many years now those fishermen have been faithfully going out into the nations of Europe with their message, but there has been little response, especially from the more prosperous, western nations. Now however it appears the time of the hunters has come. I believe the Jews of Europe will soon be forced to flee for their lives.  Many may initially flee to other countries, such as the USA, Canada or Australia, but there too the hunters are gaining strength, and ultimately the only place they will find a welcome is here in Israel.

 

In those days Israel will come to know their God once again. Israel, already rebirthed physically, will eventually also be rebirthed spiritually and know their Messiah and the hand of God. The prophecy of Jeremiah 16 concludes with these words:

 

“Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that My name is the Lord."

 

Jeremiah 16: 21

 

hallelujah and amen!