(Note: Our guest contributing author, Baruch Korman, is the founder of LoveIsrael, an international Bible teaching ministry.)
Calling to Israel
Having been born and raised in the United States for thirty-seven years as a Jewish American, I never gave much thought to leaving this country to begin a new life in Israel. Coming to faith while in college, I learned the necessity of basing one’s decisions not on human intellect, but upon the Word of G-d. When reading in the Biblical Prophets that as the world approaches the End Times G-d would return the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, it started me thinking. Should I be part of what G-d is doing?
Although I was born sixteen years after the establishment of the modern State of Israel, I began to desire to live there. It was hard to understand why I was considering moving to Israel, other than it was the L-rd Himself Who had placed it in my heart. In discussing this decision with my wife, it was agreed that we needed to get our finances in order before we could begin to seriously consider such a large transition. We estimated around $60,000 would be necessary to pay off our debts and to be able to cover the moving costs and have one year of living expenses.
We never imagined that in just a few days, I would make the largest sale in my life and have in excess of this staggering amount of money. With no other explanation possible, we had to conclude that this was G-d removing all the obstacles for us to make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel.
Living in Israel
It is hard to believe that we have lived in Israel for nearly twenty five years. Our first home in Israel was in the Northern Galilee, in a small city of 25,000 residents, called Tzfat. This is one of the most significant places in Israel from the perspective of Judaism. In the sixteenth century, there were more Jewish people living in Tzfat than in Jerusalem. Some of the greatest and most influential rabbis resided in Tzfat. It was there that rabbinical ordination was reinstituted and one of the most famous works on Jewish Law was written. Actually, though, none of those things influenced our decision to live in Tzfat; rather it was simply because it was one of the most affordable places to live in Israel. We were there when the Second Lebanese War broke out and we saw ninety percent of the residents choose to evacuate. We remained in Tzfat during the 34-day war.
For unrelated reasons, we decided to move to the Coastal Plain (the Shephelah) area just North of Gaza. Within a few months, the rockets which we experienced in the North were now being shot at our new city from Gaza. We currently live along the Mediterranean Coast and we truly feel at home there despite the occasional “presents” from the terrorists in Gaza. Our city is modern and very diverse, as there are many Russian, Ethiopian and French Jews having made this community their home. It is also one of the largest Haredi communities (Ultra-Orthodox) in Israel. Despite the differences, there is a great unity and mutual respect for all the various groups.
When visiting our city, people are impressed with the numerous high rise residential buildings, the beautiful marina, and the cultural arts center and theater for our local philharmonic orchestra. Synagogues can be found in every neighborhood as well as numerous small restaurants offering hummus and falafel. Although it is the fifth largest city in Israel it has no church building, but there are a few Messianic congregations. Only one congregation owns its own building. We are very thankful that our organization also owns two offices in a high rise office complex which houses our Bible Institute. There we offer courses and seminars from a New Testament perspective. We use the Biblical Festivals and current events to invite Israelis to hear Biblical truth in the Hebrew language where the focus is on the Gospel.
Anticipating the Messiah
Hundreds of years before Yeshua arrived, G-d brought the Jewish people back to the Promised Land after the Babylonian Captivity so that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. In the same way that, so too in our days, G-d is at work! Just as He did once before, the L-rd is keeping His prophetic promise to draw the Jewish people back to the Promised Land in order that our L-rd and Savior, Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), will return!
We know that the Messiah will come first for the Church at the Rapture and then, at the end of Daniel’s Seventieth week, for the Second Coming. It will be at the Second Coming that Yeshua will accomplish three primary objectives:
- Destroy the enemies of Israel.
- Save the Remnant of Israel (one third of the Jewish people who were alive at the beginning of the period known as Jacob’s Trouble, see Jeremiah 30:7).
- Establish the Millennial Kingdom.
Israel is a wonderful place to live, and still important to G-d and to His Only Begotten Son, Yeshua. G-d will use both the Land of Israel and the Jewish people to demonstrate His absolute faithfulness to His Word.