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Category: Schindler's Society

Published: 27 February 2018

Billy Graham passed on February 21, 2018, less than 24 hours after the first Schindler Society meeting in the Knesset. His granddaughter, Cissie Graham Lynch, was in Jerusalem with our Evangelical Faith Advisors and received personal condolences from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Billy Graham completed 70 years of bible ministry to 185 nations, conducting 415 gatherings to over 200 million people. Rabbi Tuly Weisz taught at our February 20 Schindler Society Scripture study and wrote this article:

In 1973, when a coalition of Arab armies launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the State of Israel found itself in a state of shock and in desperate need of weapons. The Rev. Billy Graham, who passed away last week at the age of 99, picked up the phone and convinced his friend President Richard Nixon to assist his other friend Prime Minister Golda Meir.

The Rev. Graham’s call helped persuade the U.S. to provide an emergency airlift of essential arms that rescued the Jewish state from the overwhelming Arab onslaught. Over the course of Billy Graham’s long life, he topped lists of admired men and became America’s most influential religious leader. Despite growing up in a deeply anti-Semitic environment, Graham used his tremendous influence as "pastor to presidents" and preacher to millions to assist Israel and the Jewish people and has been eulogized by Jewish leaders this past week.

More than half a century ago, as a friend and counselor to President Dwight Eisenhower, Billy Graham went on his first visit to Israel.

Graham’s description of his 1960 trip is significant, "When I first took a preaching tour of Israel, I stayed with Mrs. Golda Meir, who was then foreign secretary, and promised her that I was not there to proselytize. Rather, I was there to thank the Jewish people for proselytizing me." Graham was one of the first Christian leaders to publicly acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed toward Judaism and to move Evangelicals away from evangelizing Jews. Graham will be buried on Friday, on the same day Jerusalem celebrates the holiday of Purim, otherwise known as the Feast of Lots, when the Jewish people read the Scroll of Esther.

Esther tells the story of the Jews who were living in Persia in the 5th century BCE. Following the devastating destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem, the Jewish community once again found itself threatened with annihilation.

An anti-Semitic adviser to King Achashverosh concocted a plot to destroy the Jews, yet God subverted the evil plan. Achashverosh married a woman named Esther, who was secretly Jewish. The new queen managed to replace the evil adviser Haman with a righteous one, Mordechai, thus saving her people. The central lesson of the "Scroll of Esther" is that God orchestrates events behind the scenes — his name does not appear even once throughout Esther’s 10 chapters  — to deliver his people from danger to deliverance. Jews celebrate on Purim to this day by wearing costumes and drinking wine to acknowledge the topsy-turvy nature of our complex world.

Especially when it comes to politics and the fate of the Jewish people, current events often appear chaotic and frightening, yet God’s reassuring hand guides us through life’s ups and downs. There is a curious line toward the end of the Scroll of Esther. After the main narrative is over and the Jews are no longer in grave danger, it says, "And in every province and in every city, when the king’s command and decree arrived, there was gladness and joy among the Jews ("Yehudim"), a feast and a holiday. And many of the people of the land were “mityahadim” for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them." (Esther 8:17, "The Israel Bible") Bible commentators debate the meaning of “mityahadim,” which comes from the same Hebrew word “Yehudim,” referring to the Jews. Some explain that the local people developed fondness towards the Jews. The despised Jewish nation had earned the reverence of the people and the culture which had once been anti- Semitic had become friendly to the Jewish people by the end of the story.

The basis for the Hebrew word ‘mityahadim’ means to give thanks. The Jewish people must always show our thanksgiving for those who assist us. As such, the state of Israel and Jews in America must show appreciation for those who God sends to support Israel and assist the Jewish people, starting with Billy Graham.

“And the many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come, Let us go up to the Mount of Hashem, To the House of the God of Yaakov; That He may instruct us in His ways, And that we may walk in His paths.’” Isaiah 2:3 (The Israel Bible™)

A revolution of Torah study is something that was promised in the Bible a long time ago, said Rabbi Tuly Weisz, speaking at the first-ever Schindler Society Knesset Bible Study.

Nearly 200 Jews and Christians gathered at the Knesset on Tuesday which was co-sponsored by the Knesset Caucus for the Encouragement of Bible Study and Israel365. Knesset Members Yehudah Glick (Likud), Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Sharren Haskel (Likud) attended.

At the event, Weisz announced the upcoming publication of The Israel Bible hardcover edition, which will be published in honor of Israel Independence Day. The Israel Bible is the world’s first Tanakh, Hebrew Bible, to highlight the special relationship between the land and the people of Israel. Through traditional and contemporary Jewish sources, The Israel Bible seeks to present God’s eternal and unchanging love for the Promised Land and His Chosen People from biblical times until today.

Weisz taught Isaiah 2 from The Israel Bible, demonstrating that the Torah belongs to the Jewish people as well as the entire world. “The Torah will bring Jews and non-Jews together and become the source of unity for all people,” said Weisz.

Haskel noted that history repeats itself and “we see how the Bible has repeated itself time after time, including the revival of the Hebrew language.” She was awed at being able to sit in the modern Knesset as well as to study from the ancient Book and witness how every verse in the Bible can be seen live in the Land of Israel today.

“The fact that we have this amazing miracle in this country and to be able to sit in this modern Knesset and with representatives of the Jewish people and study together this ancient Book that every single verse you can learn about – current things are happening still today.” “We can see the Book turning into reality,” she said.

Ilatov said that what ties Jews and Christians together is the Bible because “the Bible is the foundation of our faith in one God.” Ilatov spoke in Hebrew, noting that “the Book you are reading today is written in Hebrew. One day, everyone will speak Hebrew.”

Jim Garlow and Rosemary Schindler, founders of the Schindler Society, were unable to attend the event at the very last minute. However, they shared a video about their decision to launch Bible study in the Knesset.

Details

Category: Schindler's Society

Published: 21 November 2017

Prior to moving to Israel, when I used to live in Ohio, my curious non-Jewish friends would ask me at this time of year whether I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, celebrate Thanksgiving?

The mere question reminds me that Jews and Christians still have much to learn about one another. The answer is so obvious once you understand what Thanksgiving is all about.

Every American Kindergartner knows the story of how the Pilgrims on the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, and how they gave thanks to God for their survival — and successes. What most people don’t know, however, was that the pilgrims looked deeply to the Bible for inspiration.

Unlike any other group before them, the Pilgrims were fleeing from religious oppression in Europe. They looked to the Bible for inspiration and guidance and even studied Biblical Hebrew in order to read the Bible in its original language.

The Pilgrims saw themselves as the "chosen people" fleeing from the "brutal king" James the First, whom they referred to as "Pharaoh," thereby casting off their "yoke of bondage" and oppression. They referred their Mayflower voyage as passing through the "Red Sea" into the wilderness. When they arrived in their "promised land," they offered thanksgiving prayers to God, like the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. The Bible, of course, is full of verses about thanksgiving which highlight the important theme of gratitude to God.

No other group in history had ever felt that they were reenacting and fulfilling the experience of the ancient Israelites as did America’s first settlers, who even thought that the Native Americans might be from the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. For centuries, European explorers had set sail for new lands without making reference to the Bible, seeing themselves as God’s chosen people, or searching for the promised land.

The Jewish people have always claimed to have a divine mission to promote the universal values of peace, freedom and hope, but unfortunately, for the last 2,000 years, no one was listening. From its inception, however, America was different. Despite pockets of anti-Semitism, there has always been a distinct appreciation for the Jewish people in the United States. The "American Dream" was built upon a Biblical foundation, and we refer regularly to America’s "Judeo-Christian values," which is one of the principle reasons for America’s strong support for the Jewish State.

Even now that my family lives in Israel, we celebrate Thanksgiving because it is the day that celebrates a proud fact, that the lessons from the Hebrew Bible have been ingrained into the American soul from its very inception.

As a Jew, I am thankful that when America was discovered, America discovered the Bible.

Rabbi Weisz is the director of Israel365, which connects 2 million people to Israel every month. He founded the I365 newsletter, is publisher of Breaking Israel News, and editor of The Israel Bible. He lives with his family in Ramat Beit Shemesh. To read more of his reports, Click Here Now.

Joseph Bau, Israel's graphic artist, foresaw the day when all nations will come up to Jerusalem! "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth" Psalm 50:2.

Over 60,000 people from more than 100 nations participated in the Jerusalem March during the Feast of Tabernacles, Succot, on October 10, 2017. A record number of Christians joined in solidarity with Israel, including 50 our Feast of Tabernacles 2017 Israel Tour Group as we commemorated Jerusalem’s Jubilee, 50 years since her reunification and double Jubilee, 100 years since Jerusalem was delivered of Ottoman Turkish rule.