Have you ever been in a rocket attack in Israel? I have! It is a day I will never forget for the rest of my life. The following is an entry from my journal of the trip Sandi, my wife, and I made to Israel in the spring of 2008. On this day I was only about a mile from the Gaza Strip when suddenly the sirens went off I found myself fleeing for a bomb shelter as the rockets were flying overhead from the Philistines in Gaza.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Yesterday the search team looked for aviv barley in the area west of the Gaza Strip. We checked numerous fields and found no barley any closer than a month or six weeks to aviv. Much of it hadn’t even headed yet, while that which was the most mature was only in the flowering stage with the kernel itself in the “cotton” stage and not even to the “worm” stage. So after searching the majority of the land of Israel and not having found a single stock of truly aviv barley, it can be safely declared that the barley will not be aviv and that we will declare an Adar Bet month.
The region we searched in and around Ofain, Sderot, and Asheklon is basically quite flat with a few rolling hills. It is used totally for agriculture with fields of grain, fruits, and vegetables as far as the eye can see. Small farming communities are sprinkled throughout with hub towns here and there. The area is reminiscent of Illinois. The largest tree fruit crop is citrus. It is clear, in light of the countless orange (and lemon and grapefruit) groves I have seen throughout Israel why this nation is number one exporter of oranges to Europe.
As we were passing by Sderot in search of barley, the braver (or more foolhardy—depending on your perspective) part of our group as led by Nehemia, decided to go into Sderot to get a feel for what the Israelis in that town are experiencing from the daily barrage of rockets raining down on them from the Gazan Palestinian terrorists on the other side of a fence only a mile away.
Before entering this red flag warning area, Nehemia warned us that if we should just happen to hear the sirens go off warning of an approaching rocket attack, or we should see people suddenly running for cover, that we would have 15 seconds to get out of our cars and flee for cover. All we were hoping to see was a bomb shelter.
We entered Sderot and turned into a very modern looking college campus called Sapir College. It looked like one of our American community colleges. We went through a checkpoint and entered the campus in our cars. We drove in a ways and came to a parking lot area near a complex of building when suddenly we saw students running quickly toward the buildings. My first impression was that they were all late to class and that the tardy bell had gone off. It had slipped my mind that this was a college and not a grade school. Suddenly, Nehemia stopped his car, jumped out yelling to those of us in the other two cars that this was a real rocket attack and to head for a nearby concrete bomb shelter pill box looking affair approximately 10 foot square in size. I quickly stopped the car, everyone got out, and in my haste I forgot to set the car in park and it started coasting. I got back in, changed the gear and grabbed my movie camera. I was the last one into the bomb shelter, which was about 75-100 feet away. There were about 15-20 of us (members of our search team and students) standing shoulder to shoulder (like being in a crowded elevator) in there. A couple of minutes passed, the scare was over, everyone got out, and quickly the cell phones came out and people were making phone calls—I suppose to let friends and loved ones know that they were safe. After that, everyone went on his way, business as usual.
I witnessed first-hand the panic of people fleeing for their lives to the safety of the bomb shelter. I personally experienced the feelings of fear of knowing that a rocket was coming from somewhere that could land anywhere. Chances were that it wouldn’t land near me, much less on me. BUT WHO KNOWS?! And it is that “who knows” part that is really scary! I face fear for my life on a regular basis as a professional tree climber and arborist. But this fear was different. This is a war zone. In our searching for aviv barley in this area, we saw 15 or more lowboy semi-trucks going by carrying huge battle tanks. We saw even more armored troop carriers on lowboys. Soldiers are everywhere—many carrying automatic weapons. THIS WAS/IS A WAR ZONE! We were in the middle of it. It was life and death and there was an enemy over there who wanted to kill me—not with words—but literally. That was a totally new experience for me. I now have a small taste of what the Israelis at Sderot are going through every day.
We later heard on the news that two Qasam rockets from the wicked demons in Gaza landed in Sderot yesterday.
When we left the bomb shelter, we all walked about 200 feet to the sidewalk in front of the school buildings. There we saw a memorial and wreath with photos of an Israeli father of four who had been killed by a rocket the past week at that exact spot! I filmed the small nearby crater in the sidewalk made by the rocket that killed the man. The bloody paramedic glove was still in the 12” deep by 18” wide crater. That spot was 150 feet or so from the bomb shelter in which I took refuge and was only 75-100 feet from where I parked my car! Richard Bay from Vancouver, WA was in my car and saw it all.
We left Sderot and the college and met up with the rest of our team at a small eatery where many Israelis gather to enjoy food at an outdoor café. Some in our group got beers (it was about 85 degrees outside), others got a coke and I got ice cream. The whole thing was too surreal for me. One minute I’m fleeing for my life, the next I’m feeding my face relaxing in an outdoor café. But this is how our brothers and sisters in Israel live their lives. Though they never know when a bomb might go off, a rocket might hit or whatever, life goes on.
Several days ago, a rocket landed in a neighborhood of southern Jerusalem fired from the West Bank. In Tiberias where we just were, some Arabs were demonstrating. Yesterday in an Arab section in Jerusalem some angry Arabs tried to kill a couple of garbage workers. Last night Arabs broke into a Yeshiva and shot and killed four Jews. Secretary Rice is in Jerusalem right now trying to help find a solution to this mess by talking, talking and more talking with the parties involved. What utter foolishness and nonsense! These leaders are so deluded by their own self importance that they are blinded to the fact that nothing they can do will change the hatred Edom has for Israel. That will not change until Edom is destroyed prior to and at Yeshua’s second coming as prophesied in the Bible.
While in the area of Sderot, we also saw the once used border crossing checkpoint into Gaza near Gush Katif and the adjacent internment camp for those terrorist captured at that once active border crossing. The Doberman dogs still roam freely within its barbed wire metal walls.
After that, we left the area and headed back to Jerusalem. In the outskirts of the city we stopped at a kosher McDonalds. I haven’t eaten at a McDonalds in 15 years but, I got a hamburger just for the fun of it. No cheese on the burger because of the rabbinical koshur rules that forbid the mixing of dairy and meat! It just wasn’t the same without the cheese. At the counter there is a wall that divides the meat products from the dairy ones. Those silly rabbis!! They take themselves and the unbiblical traditions so seriously.
I spent a summer in Israel in 1985. One time, we had to get off the bus because some “dafuk,” (idiot) had forgotten his lunch. As we waited for the next bus and the bomb squad showed up to detonate junior’s leftover peanut butter sandwich, the mood was not one of anxiety or fear. It was more a matter or irritation at an inconvenience that people learn to live with, as if you lived in Los Angeles and had to fight traffic daily.
Can you try to not bash rabbinics, and rabbis, who survived with our history and wisdom through 2,000 of persecution and slaughter from Christians and Muslims? Could an alternative be to engage in a discussion with teachers about what you don’t understand? Yeshua followed the rabbinic teaching and oral law of his day, except to criticize wrong heart attitudes and misuse of torah for selfish purposes. I’ve had a couple experiences with HR teachers who take themselves and their interpretations of torah and unbiblical traditions so seriously, and they don’t even know Hebrew or anything about Jewish history. You start with mocking and despising a people’s traditions, and next you hate and despise the people. I have seen that too, covertly and overtly.
Perhaps this, “anti-rabbi,” attitude stems from NG? You might want to ask him about what the Karaites would say about having a girlfriend or a fiancee when one is still married?
BTW, you can get kosher cheeseburgers made with soy cheese:)
Wow! I am most likely that HR teacher with which you are taking exception, since I’m the founder and gate keeper of this ministry.
I’m not anti-rabbinic, and I don’t appreciate the characterization. I happen to value the biblical truth over the doctrines and teachings of men (both Christian and rabbinic), which make of non-effect the clear word of Elohim. I recall that Yeshua had similar issues with the religious Jews of his day.
In respect, let me correct you. Yeshua was not rabbinic. He was not part of any religious sect. He was way above all that spiritually. Furthermore, he never carte blanche accepted the “traditions of the elders.” The Gospel account is clear: He accepted only those traditions that in no way violated the letter or the spirit of the Torah. If a Jewish tradition violated the Torah, he blasted the Jewish leaders and their tradition. This is the clear biblical record. If not, then why did they try to kill him so many times?
And yes, I have the utmost respect for the Jewish sages. I have studied their commentaries and writings many of which sit on my book shelves and from which I have quoted extensively in my many writings. However, I beg to differ with you. Some of their traditions are silly! Like selling your chametz to a goy and buying it back again after Pesach. Or selling your restaurant to a goy on Friday so it can stay open on Shabbat and you can make money and then buying it back again on Saturday night. Or raising pigs in Israel and keeping them on wooden platforms so as not to defile the land of Israel with unkosher animals. Or covering your grapes on a shemitah year with a tarp so Elohim won’t see them. Or observing Yom Teruah (which they erroneously call Rosh Hashanah) on another day besides the rosh chodesh of the seventh month. Or naming one of their months (Tamuz) after a pagan Babylonian sex deity. Or picking up the ineffable name doctrine from pagan Babylonians. Or, yes, refusing to mix cheese and meat, even though the Torah is clear that Abraham fed the messenger of YHVH and his companions meat and cheese back to back, and no rabbinical commentary I have ever read can adequately explain this. Or not accepting the biblical Yeshua (not the Christian Jesus) as the Torah-obedient Messiah that he was. I could go on.
Let’s learn to eat the fish and spit out the bones. I bless the Jewish sages for all the good they have done as I do the Christian leaders. But I also will take them to task when they’re contrary to the Scriptures. Perhaps this is not your commission, but YHVH has commissioned me (and others) to be voices crying in the wilderness to help prepare the way of Yeshua the Messiah. This sometimes means calling a spade and spade.
Thank you for your comments and for
giving me an opportunity to set the record straight.
Blessings and Shabbat shalom.
Natan, I am not speaking about you, except in this instance. I have had experience where I challenged a couple of persons who consider themselves teachers. What I received was invective, including the idea that it was a, “spirit of superiority,” to think that knowing the Hebrew language and the history of my people meant something in relation to a person who knew nothing except they have been reading their torah in English for a year and now were authorities to teach everyone. Another person had a convoluted teaching that sounded like Neil Anderson with a kippah. When I challenged him on the Hebrew and his circular thinking, he sent me a pm and called me, “filthy, unclean,” and said I had a spirit of contention. I was planning to ask how with his great wisdom, power and discernment, he was not able to cast out that spirit of contention, and discern that unclean and filthy spirit prior to continuing to argue with me on his page. Once he saw he had no refutation, he began with the ad hominem attacks, as the first person did, who claimed one should keep shmitah year in the diaspora.
If I have a theory, it is important to test it. The conclusion is, “rebuke a fool and he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will be wiser still.”
Yeshua was involved in a common Jewish first century practice of inter-family arguments, and he wasn’t the only one who did so. The way this works is you have to be a member of the family to criticize the family. I can criticize my kids, but no one else better try.
The teachings in your circle of the world are also the teachings of men; some are sincere, some are hirelings. Yeshua was steeped in the teachings of the sages, not that he agreed with them 100%, not that I agree with them 100% either. Most of what Yeshua spoke against was an ungodly heart attitude in the exercise of torah. Many find it quite heady to see themselves as both superior to the church they came from and the Jews they seek to appropriate from without providing due gratitude and credit. If I am writing an article, even if I do not quote an individual’s exact words, I will give them credit if they were a source of an idea or direction provided.
What I see, which you likely don’t want to see, and you can block me too, is that most of HR (I am not saying all) has an undercurrent of covert antisemitism rooted in jealousy, as all antisemitism is rooted in. This explains why people I know who have questions of halacha, look to learn from this or that teacher that offers no background/history and has no source of belonging anywhere they can receive feedback who made it up out of his head or gleaned a bit from learned persons without giving them credit, rather than look to admittedly imperfect Jewish sources who have been studying and doing this for 2,000 years.
Things you perceive as silly from your point of view may not be so silly if you ask and investigate first.
I wonder if you came out of WCG, are your info seems to indicate some form of British-Israelitism, as you claim America will join with Israel to fight Muslims. Actually, scripture is very clear that all the nations will come against Jerusalem and be destroyed. That is already occurring in the US now, as politics, media and academia unite together against Israel. You can test what I am saying as in the coming months we will see judgment, measure for measure meted out against those who seek to harm Israel. And ten men from every language and nation (including Arabs and Muslims) will take hold of the tzitzit of one Jew, and say, “We will go with you because we know God is with you.”
Some among you (I am not saying all) will be like the Subbotnks, who when confronted by Nazis with going to the camps with the Jews whose practices they emulated, chose to return to a church and joined the Nazis in burning the synagogues to prove their loyalty.
I misunderstood you. When you said HR, I thought you meant Hoshana Rabbah, which is the short name for the Bible teaching ministry that sponsors this blog our Bible. I now understand that HR to you stands for Hebrew Roots. That wasn’t clear from your initial post. It would have been better had you said “Hebrew Roots Movement.”
Chayah, I’m not going to ban anyone from posting on my blog as long as they follow the blog rules and are courteous and polite, which you have been. I agree with some things you have said, and disagree with other things, but you have demonstrated civility, and we can still be friends.
This blog is primarily a Bible study blog. Opinions about biblical subjects are welcome, but in the mind of this author, they carry much more weight and credibility when backed up by Scripture. The tossing out of labels such as HR, WCG, British Israelism, etc. and then attaching them to people doesn’t serve to further the cause of truth. How about dealing with the issues from a biblical perspective? What does the Bible have to say about a given subject —— and then let’s have a discussion on that. That is the purpose of this blog.
Blessings.
wow not sure how I would of handled it, I know just looking at the news and seeing the war go on and just think it can happen here in a second people here in america think were safe but no one country is. it never bothered me before but seeing all the suffering going on in the world and looking at all these people on you tube doing hauls of clothes and make up and stuff they don’t need but buy anyways it just annoys me it didn’t before but all I can think of is all the people even the babies that are being killed and these people buy junk they don’t need, I sometimes wonder if they feel sad and pray for them as I. and they do say they believe in God and Jesus I just wonder if it saddens them to? I just hope Jesus comes fast I rather be with him then in this world of ugliness. Glad you all came back safe in that past year… I pray that God blesses us all even the bad ones they need it.. have a good week