December 7, 2023.
By Joseph Shulam.
Day 62 since the war in Gaza started and it has spread to the North of Israel. Day 62 of horror and hate and cruelty and beastiality by humans that are acting like devils. Even Beasts don’t do what these people did to innocent young men and women. As disciples of the Messiah and students of the Word of God we have a different matrix for what is right and wrong. We have the words of Solomon in Proverbs and the words of Yeshua our Messiah. Solomon said in the book of Proverbs the following.
“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;”. Proverbs 25:21 NKJV
The New Testament repeats the words of King Solomon and adds a reason,
“Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”” Romans 12:20 NKJV
I would like to express a deep gratitude for all of you who have contributed and made it possible for Netivyah in Israel to be a part of the effort to bless the Israeli military with equipment and also with hot meals for the men and women in the front lines of battle. You can see in the many video messages that the soldiers have recorded to express their gratitude for what Netivyah is doing, all by the grace of God. It all started in the very first days of the war in Gaza when one of our elders in the congregation was in the USA and needed a quick but significant among of cash for the procurement of some important “stuff.” Netivyah under my direction immediately responded and made the payment by faith. Just 10 minutes after the payments were made in Jerusalem one dear brother who I asked for help immediately responded with most of the amount needed as matching funds. This act of faith from both Netivyah in Jerusalem, a by our dear office manager Daniel S. and by this brother from the USA – opened the gates of God’s storehouse and Netivyah has been able to provide everything from modern helmets that the men in the front lines needed to bullet proof vests with ceramic plates to protect our men in the front lines. Miracles dear brothers!! Miracles that Netivyah has received and spent nearly one million dollars to bless the Israeli soldiers in the very front lines. I personally appreciate your generosity and participation in the witness and blessing of Israel in the most needed and important moments of our now and modern history making war both in Gaza, in the south and in the Northern Galilee with the Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy.
Thank you all and God bless one and all of you. This is not the end of the needs, but we appreciate so much what God has done through you until now. There is one note to mention for those in the United States of America who are planning to contribute through Netivyah for the war effort and in the future. If you need IRS recognition of your contribution for IRS taxes you must contribute through the NetivyahUSA button or through the NetivyahUSA charity. Every dollar that you contribute will go for the purpose that you contribute it, as it has gone now for 50 years. You will receive your IRS form recognizing your contribution for tax credit. If you have contributed directly to Netivyah in Israel, via the Israel at War button on our website, NetivyahUSA can’t give you a tax receipt. I mention this because sadly this can cause difficulties for those who need the tax credit for their donations. There is no problem at all if you don’t need a US tax receipt at the end of the year just continue to contribute directly to Netivyah in Israel. Of course, the most important thing that you must do is pray for our soldiers who are fighting the front lines of battle.
Israel has tried these wise words of King Solomon for 75 years. As a child I remember the Arab villages around Jerusalem well, I remember that they didn’t have running water, and no electricity and no paved roads, and the Arabs didn’t have jobs if Israel and Israeli companies didn’t employ them. Their homes were dark and small and crowded, and the number of university graduates among the Arab population in the 1950’s and early 1960’s was very very limited. The villages in Judea and Samaria in 1967 were and well into 1969 were the same no running water and no electricity and no farm machinery. The donkey and the bull were their tractors and hand winnowing and hand sowing the seed. Israel practiced the words of King Solomon and the same words repeated by the Apostle Paul. Go now and see villages like Anathote, the village that was the home of Jeremiah the prophet, not of Salah El-Din or Yasser Arafat. Ancient Gibeon, the Arab village of El-Gib, the Arab people lived like in the days of the crusades like 1000 years ago, go visit there now, and see the palaces and luxury villas with the most luxurious cars and their children have PHD’s from the Hebrew University. Yes, dear brothers the Palestinian Arabs are the most educated and the most pampered Arabs because they live in the state of Israel and earn their bread in the state of Israel and send their children to university in the state of Israel and go to the hospitals in the state of Israel! Yes, my dear brothers and sisters around the world, Israel practices more of the principles of God’s word than most of the so-called Christian countries. The world is blind and unfair with very short memory of what Jews suffered in the so-called Christian countries. I am happy that Israel as a Jewish State has acted like it has and I would be happy if Israel would continue to bless our Arab neighbors and that we all would learn to live in peace and prosperity like a large number of our dear brothers who are Christian Arabs would want to live with us. The Christians in the Arab countries suffer and there is almost no voice to cry out their cry because if they do they will suffer even more. I will not mention the number of Christian martyrs that have given their lives for their faith in the Arab countries and in Iran in the last few years. I will not mention the Churches in some neighboring countries that have on Sunday morning locked the doors of churches from the outside and set the church on fire with over 200 Christians roasting on an open fire and they were not chestnuts for Christmas season.
Dear brothers and sisters, as a firsthand witness to some of these historical developments, I can say assuredly that Israel wants and seeks and works to live in peace with our Arab Palestinian neighbors. It is hard to do when your neighbor wants only one thing from you and that is to kill you and your children and rape your daughters and wives before your eyes. This by far is not the majority of the Palestinian Arabs, but the minority that sets the tone and the rules, a minority that leads by an iron fist and punishes anyone that says or looks to the other direction. History might not seem fair right now to anyone who is far from the middle of the frying pan! But history has a long memory and the final judgement and reckoning does come like a boomerang and the account is always balanced for everyone. Those who suffer and pay a high price for righteousness’ sake always receive their rewards. Those who act like animals and worse than animals always pay the price, their children and grandchildren pay it for them.
What happened on the 7th of October 2023, is impossible to express in word, and the pictures will leave most of you in trauma for days. There was beastiality that words could not express. I have seen the pictures the gang rape and of mutilation of young girls and the mass rape of both women and men, and mutilation in front of their wives and sons and husbands and then after the mutilation shot in the head and their family members taken hostage and still not released all for cruelty’s sake that even the biggest horror movies of Hollywood could not imagine.
The Torah and the word of God is described with words of light and a light that Israel is commanded to share with the nations of the world.
The reading for this next Shabbat, the Shabbat of Hanukkah the feast of dedication as it is mentioned in one of the early documents that mentions this feast is the New Testament in John: “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” (John 10:22 NKJV). The feast of Dedication is the feast of Hanukkah. This is what this Hebrew word means, Dedication! Here is the list of readings that every synagogue on this Sabbath will be reading, we have added as disciples of Yeshua the reading in the New Testament. I can’t express enough the importance of reading the Word of God publicly every day and especially on the Sabbath day. There is a principle that I learned in the early 1960s reading the books of Marshall McLuhan: “The product is much more important than the salesman!” Preachers and God’s servants are only the salesman. the product is from Genesis to Revelation. Nothing will replace your personal and consistent daily reading of God’s Word. Don’t blame the preacher or the elders of your church for your shortness in understanding and knowledge of God’s Word. “You got to walk this lonesome valley you have to walk it by yourself, not body else can walk it for you You got to walk it by yourself!”