Israel Update #2

This picture was taken in Wadi David at En Gedi, Israel.

As I drove past the modern hotels and shopping district of West Jerusalem, I wondered what I would find on the other side of town. I was following the route mapped out by the GPS system, on my way to the Dead Sea and the oasis of En Gedi. I entered the double tunnel that carries traffic under Mt. Scopius and emerged in another world: This was the Arab section of town and it’s noticeably shabbier. The hotels and glittering stores were gone and the building boom that has hoisted construction cranes all over West Jerusalem seems to have bypassed this part of the city. Just a few more kilometers down the road to Jericho, and I was in a third world country – treeless desert with Bedouin shanty/tents, camel rides for tourists and obvious poverty. And ironically piercing this almost lunar landscape, plummeting down through the barren hills, ran a busy, new 4-lane expressway. The contrasts in Israel can be startling at times:

· T*Two Muslim men performing their afternoon prayers on the front lawn of the YMCA on King David St.

An * An all-vegetarian Sbarro Pizza next to a Burger King without cheeseburgers: kosher cooking forbids mixing meat with milk products like cheese.

· * *A young lady enjoying a day at the beach carrying a well-worn military issue rifle.

It’s a fascinating country, not easily reduced to a few pat clichés. In addition to the contrasts, there is a social complexity in Israel that seldom makes it through the sound bites we hear in the U.S. Israelis come in different shapes, colors, cultures, outlooks and religions – rather like Americans. On any street in Jerusalem you are likely to see Hassidic ultra-orthodox with their side curls and black hats, tattooed secular Jews in t-shirts or halter tops, visiting American kids with the New York accents – each boy with a little skullcap carefully pinned to his hair, Muslim women in their long dresses and headscarves, young soldiers (male and female) armed and in uniform, and backpacked, camera-snapping tourists from all over the world. There seems to be tolerance toward virtually everyone - even the Jews can’t tell you what constitutes a Jew! That makes the hostility toward Jewish believers in Jesus Christ saddening.

I continued this past week teaching the class on Hebrews through Revelation. It was a wonderful treat to see the response to the Word of God. Wednesday night, as the week before, I taught the entire congregation along with the students. At that point we were in James and, since Pastor Sam requested it, I make some rather pointed applications – including some comments about “the demons also believe and tremble.” The response was good, all except one couple: the young lady kept interrupting: laughing and making loud comments. She eventually got up and left. The next night, the students told me that her name was Vika and she was very troubled. She had told someone that night that she couldn’t stay in the room because I was talking about her, and what I was saying was true. But by God’s grace, Friday night both she and her boyfriend, Sergei, professed faith in Christ! The Word of God is powerful.

We wrapped up on Saturday – Shabbat. I preached again in Tel Aviv in preparation for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It was a blessed time of fellowship with these dear believers. I then drove about ½ hour to Petach Tikva to finish the course. After 5 hours of teaching, we were all exhausted. But we were able to cover most of the material and they grasped it very well. After a short night in Jerusalem, I was back up at 3 am to drive to the airport to catch my flight to London and then to Accra.

I thank the Lord for the opportunity to spend this time in Israel. Both the teaching and the touring were encouraging to me – En Gedi was particularly awesome. Thank you also for your prayers. I am in Accra for this week, attending a Christian Economic Development Institute. More on that later.

Grace and peace,

Dan.