The joy in Him is our strength!
The wedding ring had been bought, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, planned to travel to Jerusalem on Monday, May 26, to get engaged. The couple was passionate about creating peace in the Middle East among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. On May 22, days before their planned arrival in Israel, we received the sad news that they had been murdered in front of the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. They had been murdered because they were Jewish by ‘a brutal terrorist’ who had shouted “Free Palestine!”
On Sunday evening, May 25, we went to Yaron’s funeral. I know the family well from the Messianic congregation in Jerusalem, and I had seen Yaron grow up there into a wonderful person. A great sadness!
According to the Times of Israel, antisemitism has increased worldwide in recent years by 340 percent: a further call for the Jewish people to come home!
Like every Israeli, we are tired from the war of October 7, from the explosion of antisemitism all over the world, and from the violence that never seems to end. We are exhausted because we have to remain alert 24 hours a day due to the rocket attacks from the Houthis. You can be in the shower or go to bed with the thoughts: “Maybe soon, I will need to get up again. Is the path free of objects if I need to run downstairs at night to get the cat, who is scared, and then run back up to the shelter?” It is a tactic used by the enemy to try to break us: millions of people who need to wake up their children in order to run to the shelter every time. However, when I sent this photo to friends last week they responded by asking: “Who is firing the missiles at Israel?” When Israel is attacked on 7 fronts, that is not interesting news and isn’t reported in the newspapers, but when Israel responds by defending itself, it becomes world news. But what a wonder it is that, despite more than 43 ballistic missiles having been fired from Yemen since March, no one has been killed! They have almost always been destroyed in the air by the army although the fragments that fall are very large. Since they are generally fired in the direction of the airport, the pieces usually fall in our area, the mountains of Judea.
To be honest, I am most exhausted by the lies of the media; that’s why I haven’t written for a while. (Thank you to those who asked if I was okay, because they hadn’t heard any news from me for a while!) It’s a full-time job to refute all the fake news. For a short time, I thought: “Maybe figure it out for yourself; if you want, you can find enough honest news.” Hamas just speaks lies and everything is accepted uncritically: again today, 26 died during food distribution. This ‘news’ spreads all over the world again and people believe that evil has been perpetrated. Who will read later that this was a false report? There is a lack of knowledge, both of history and of the prophetic Word of God, and therefore people no longer investigate. Many no longer know what they should believe and are being misled. The news has become propaganda rather than journalism. One reacts based purely on emotions and images shown and heard on the media.
The only hope for the future
Governments fall, leaders disappear, and new leaders emerge. Politics is very interesting, but everything passes and perishes, only the Word of God remains and joy in Him is our strength in these dark days!
Changes
That does not mean that we are tired of serving God and His people. On the contrary! We are engaged in more activities than ever before. Tourists are not coming, but rather volunteers who help to build Israel, renovate houses, and create gardens or just clean houses and tell Israelis that they are not alone. My lectures in the Netherlands have now changed and instead of just providing information, I am now bringing people to Israel. Here, they learn from experience and their lives are changed. God is bringing the right people at the right time; it’s amazing. I visited 2 volunteers who were hard at work renovating a house and remarked: “That’s hard work, guys, and not a vacation.” One of them said: “Yes, we are working hard, but this is a spiritual vacation. We can be ourselves here and say openly that we stand with Israel and are here for them, as in the Netherlands speaking out is getting harder and harder.” What a striking comment!
Another time I took a group of 8 young people from the Netherlands down South to meet the locals and hear their stories. This group also helped for a day cleaning houses and gardens in Sufa. In the end, 18 of us participated, 11 brave people from the Netherlands and the rest were friends from our town. The reality of what happened leaves an unforgettable impression on visitors. Just think about it, having to evacuate one’s home in a hurry and merely closing the door behind you! Everything you own is left open and exposed. What a privilege it is that we are allowed into their homes and lives. In one of the houses that we cleaned in Sufa, we heard that on October 7 a large firefight had broken out around it with a lot of gunfire. You can still see the bullet holes in two windows and another one is completely shattered by gunfire. The resident of this house had hidden in her bomb shelter for 40 hours before she was rescued.
We cleaned another small house; the young man who lived there had fled abroad after October 7, because he could no longer cope with the trauma. His father was the first to be murdered in the kibbutz. Now he has plans to come back home. With this knowledge, four of us got to work and scrubbed the house from top to bottom until it sparkled. Where death once reigned, we may bring life again and pray that the peace of God will fill this small house.
Every person and every house in all the kibbutzim and communities on the border has a story and experienced the most terrible things on October 7, something we cannot comprehend. We can only fully understand this when we are there and see it ourselves and hear all the stories from the people who live there.
So grateful! (We received a Thank You letter from Kibbutz Sufa, read the whole letter here)
You show us in practical ways that there is someone to trust. That there is something good and that there is a future. Thank you for not giving up.
Thank you for continuing to come.
Thank you for giving us a glimpse of certainty in a sea of uncertainty.
We embrace you back with deep appreciation and a heart full of gratitude.
With love and appreciation, Members of Kibbutz Sufa
Other projects
Our music room for all the traumatized people throughout the Gaza border area is located at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. What a beautiful project that brings deep healing! Currently, there are 125 students from 7 different communities near the Gaza border. The youngest student is 4 and the oldest is 91 years old. Everyone contributes a small amount to pay for the lessons and Yad L’Ami further contributes to the expenses. Due to the growth of the project, more adjustments need to be made, which we are happy to help with.
Another project in the same kibbutz is about to start, a center for creativity therapy that includes a Lego corner and the making of ceramics. We will write more about that later.
Dog, horse, and music therapy groups are currently in full swing. Groups of children are receiving help on your behalf.
I will now give Avi, the dog therapist, a brief opportunity to speak; if you are interested in how dog therapy works, please read the entire article here:
The emotional therapy program at the Da’at School in Sa’ad is part of our collaboration with the organization Yad L’Ami and is aimed at providing therapeutic support to children with the help of specially trained dogs.
The program consists of a series of structured sessions. Each session is designed to ensure that children will have positive experiences and impactful moments during their interactions with the dogs. Through these interactions, the children develop self-confidence, practice mindfulness, and improve their emotional well-being. Thanks to the ongoing collaboration with Yad L’ Ami, who has entrusted us with facilitating this unique form of emotional and psychological support for children in need.
Another effective therapy
An opportunity to just relax and have fun for a few hours each week. There are 2 groups of 20 children who receive surfing lessons. This is not just for fun; therapeutic conversations take place before and after surfing. Conversations alone usually aren’t very effective; action and physical effort are part of the therapy. Each therapy has its unique aspects, and we decide which therapy best suits each child. We visit all the groups in order to know how they are progressing and are personally involved. Furthermore, we stay in touch with the children’s caretakers or teachers and pray and hope that the therapies make a difference and that they receive healing. Take a look for yourself.
The elderly who receive assistance
Two months ago, we celebrated Passover. All of our Holocaust survivors received their contribution from you. Most of them are over 85 or 90 years of age and we see clearly their declining health. In the past six months, three people from the group have passed away. Each month, 19 other seniors living below the poverty line receive food vouchers, which make a significant difference in their lives. Everything has become so incredibly expensive, and the 300 NIS makes all the difference.
Israel has been at war for over 18 months – since October 7, 2023. But, in reality, it has been much longer. The war with Hamas began in 2006 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. Since then, Hamas has been waging war to annihilate Israel. All these children who receive help from us have lived their entire lives under the threat of rocket attacks and terror! Maybe I should reiterate this in bold: For more than twenty years, Israel has been defending itself from rocket attacks and infiltrations, and the residents on the border with Gaza have had to pack their bags regularly and be evacuated with their children to other locations. Last week someone said to me: “I don’t understand why I put up with this for so long, more than 20 years, but I can’t go back home as long as the hostages are not back and as long as Hamas promises that there will be another October 7th.”
Testimonies of hostages
Leah Yanai, who was abducted from the Nova dance party, shared after she was released from Gaza:
“On October 7, our lives were truly expanded. We saw unprecedented darkness, and on the other side, unprecedented light,” Leah began. “I have written down four insights for myself,” she said, reading from her mobile phone:
“First of all, faith. Prayer is rewarded. Understanding that we do not understand and that life is much more than the physical, than what we see.
Second, gratitude: Thank you for this experience. Thank you for the fact that it ended this way. It was a sobering experience, an awakening,
and this leads to the third point: mission. When someone is going through a trial, they should not return to their old comfort zone. They have received a mission. When you experience this mission, it also fills the soul and restores it.
And fourthly, of course, unity. During this whole crazy journey, I discovered that the people of Israel are unbreakable. They are a sanctified people.”
Survivor of captivity Eli Cohen said: “I felt every prayer that people prayed for me. Every mitzvah they performed gave me strength. I felt it physically.”
Ohad Ben Ami, who returned from captivity, recently told the father of the hostage Yosef Ohana: “I am a kibbutznik and I tell you: keep praying, we felt the prayers in captivity.”
Omer Shem Tov amazed the Jewish world with his story about the connection with God. His mother said that Haredi schools abroad had broadcast this part from the television program, in which Omer talks about how he asked the Creator how He was doing. He meant that he was really interested in the “sorrow of the Shechinah – the presence of God.” Afterwards, he thanked God and only at the end did he pray for his own needs.
Israel is strong and unbreakable, thanks to their God.
Israel is not just a country for business but a covenant land, given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants, forever! “The LORD is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one. Save then Your people Israel that belongs to You, bless it, Your inheritance.” From Psalm 28:8, 9.
I conclude with these words from Psalm 119: “Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path” (in this dark time). Verse 103 states: “How sweet are Your Words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.”
On behalf of Israel, the Yad L’Ami Foundation, and myself, I can say: “We are very grateful for your prayers and support.”
God’s blessing from Zion, a country at war.
Ria Doekes