Every year there is a day that is sacred to Australia and New Zealand. It is when we remember our beloved ANZAC’s. Although the date chosen to commemorate our soldiers was one that ended in major casualties and retreat, the heroism of the Battle for Gallipoli Campaign became legend and continued throughout the First and Second World Wars and beyond.
On the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah last year, the people of Israel awoke to a nightmare. At daybreak on that fateful October 7, red alert sirens sounded across much of the nation, sending millions of Israelis rushing to their bomb shelters as waves of rockets rained down from the skies. Soon it was clear this was no ordinary rocket attack.
Over recent decades, official visitors to Israel felt obliged to make a pilgrimage to Sderot, near Gaza, to view the rusting heaps of Hamas rockets on display behind the town’s police station. Even presidential candidate Barack Obama stood there in 2008, insisting he would never tolerate his daughters living under the constant rocket threat faced by Israelis in the western Negev.
On Monday we will mourn hundreds of mothers and fathers, children and babies, and young people who were brutally tortured and murdered on the last day of Sukkot, a day that should have been one of rejoicing.
Beginning in the evening of the 2nd October, God’s command in Numbers 29:1 will be observed. “In the 7th month on the first day of the month…you shall have a day of blowing (the shofar).
First held in 2012, an annual beauty pageant open to elderly Jewish women in Israel who survived the Holocaust, is sponsored by the charity, Yad Ezer L’Haver, in cooperation with the ICEJ. The contest gives these women a moment to recapture the beauty of their youth, particularly since certain rites of passage were robbed from them as youngsters during World War II.
Never underestimate the power of prayer. As reported in the latest edition of the Word from Jerusalem magazine, an estimated 25,000 Christians from over 170 nations around the globe regularly take part in the daily prayer gatherings.
While many of us have deep concerns about rampant anti-semitism, a question we are frequently asked is: What practical ways can I show my support to our Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia?
Last Sunday Israel went into an Emergency Situation to allow the IDF Home Front Command to enforce various restrictions. But thanks be to God! A coordinated pre-emptive strike by 100 Israeli Air Force jets at 4:30 AM neutralized the threat, destroying thousands of rocket launchers before they could be fired.
In the walls surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem there is even a gate called the Lion Gate, although the ‘lions’ carved beside the gateways are really panthers! They were the symbols of the Mamelukes who ruled in that part of the world from 1260 – 1517.
The Lahav Farm is transforming the lives of war trauma victims through farming and animal therapy, and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has been there from the start, helping to pioneer this unique place of refuge and recovery from the conflict.
Due to the constant rocket threat, scores of Israeli families have been evacuated, their homes left abandoned. Yet many residents have courageously remained, holding onto their homesteads and businesses, refusing to become refugees in their own country.
Your embassy in Jerusalem for over 40 years.
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