We decided to follow the sign, but somehow or other we missed the lookout. We came upon a beautiful scenic area and got out the car to enjoy the view. Suddenly we heard the voice of an elderly man calling out to us, asking if we were lost and in need of directions. We told him that we had been searching for the beautiful panoramic lookout point. “Come”, he said, “from my house you will have a beautiful view”. We looked at each other and decided to follow the man. Then he asked us the usual sort of questions: “Who are you and where do you come from? What you are doing here in the Land, and what did you do when you lived in Holland?”

The famous Exodus ship - 1947

We discovered that he had visited Holland among many other countries when working as been to several of the same places during his time in the Dutch merchant navy. So the two deep in conversation.

The man excused himself for a moment, and came back with a photograph album. He paged showed us pictures of the port of Rotterdam. He continued paging through the album and picture, this time of a ship with many people crowded on board deck, some of whom were railing. “This is the Exodus, the ship that carried many Jews back to Israel. Are you familiar Yes, of course we were! We had read the unforgettable book of the same name, with all its “Well,” he said, “I was the captain of the Exodus ship!” We were speechless! Because we had were now standing face-to-face with the captain of the Exodus! What an encounter! We shared it was also our goal to help the Jewish people in their return to the land of Israel. This unexpected with the captain of the Exodus became a powerful impetus to us in realizing our vision.

He will gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child, together; a great throng shall return there. Jeremiah 31:8

To where will God bring them? Here, to Israel!

We established a foundation in Israel and also more recently in Holland to help us in achieving our goal of helping these homecoming Jews. God’s people have often had to leave all their worldly possessions behind in their old countries, and need our help in starting life afresh here in Israel. We channel donations on a case-by-case basis to needy immigrants, basicly on the recommendation of Israeli social workers employed by governmentrun agencies.