Couple that with this story.
At Independence Hall, where the declaration of Israel becoming a country was held, we were shown the document that was signed by Ben Gurion et al. One of the debates was do they put God in the document. The result was a compromise. The religious Jews wanted God, the secular Jews said no. So, they compromised to put in a Hebrew word meaning flint stone (Tzur Yisrael - or Israel's Rock)
For the religious it was a term of God, for the secular, it referred to their own strength.
So what do these two things have to do with each other?
For me it struck my heart on the need of the Jewish people to recognize their God who has shown these people how much He loves them and how involved He is in their lives.
It has been a call of prayer for me for the Jewish people of Israel.
Hello,
I am going to start today (this is Anna-Lee)!! I am sorry that we did not blog yesterday, we where staying in the Holiday Inn and it was quite difficult to get WiFi there. I am going to talk about yesterday right now though.
First we went to the Independence Hall it was quite amazing to see where Israel became a country, we actually saw where all the people there sat. We learned that the room it was held is actually bomb proof. It is below street level and it has very thick walls. I thought that was pretty interesting!
Then we went to a congregation almost like Bethesda is in Ottawa. There we learned lots of history of Israel, and a bonus is that our guide was an architect!! He was originally from Brazil and now he lives in Israel. Oh!! Alan said that one of our speakers for the evening is an architect as well.
Next we went to an old Philistine village for a short time. There we had our devotional and we learned a little about the Philistines! It was quite interesting how we could actually see the city would have been huge as we walked through their gate and it was amazing!
Then we went to a national park and looked at some plants that naturally grow in Israel!
We then retired in Ashkalon at the Holiday Inn!!
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| Tel Aviv at the beginning of rush hour. |
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| Granny and Anna-Lee on a lookout point, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and Tel Aviv. |
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| Our guide at the Independence Hall, she is holding the document that they all signed. |
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| The meetings and Declaration to make Israel a new country were chosen to be done an old Art Gallery due to it's secure location below street level (i.e. bomb shelter). All the paintings hung are done by Jewish artists - the most famous is this one by Marc Chagall. |
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| Anna-Lee at the end of the Philistine gate. |
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| Our guide again, this more shows the room. |
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| Anna-Lee on the balcony of our hotel. |
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| At sunset, over the Mediterranean!! |
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| The native fox that we saw when we where on a walk. |
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| Anna-Lee on the lookout over the Mediterranean Sea and Tel Aviv. |
The tour has a broader tone than I had expected, for example one day we went to Ceaserea which is the archaeology of the harbor of a Roman city, we also visited Independence Hall which is in an art gallery and tonight we are in a very sophisticated 12 story hotel!! That said I think the part I will remember the most is the CMJ, Christian mission to the Jews. This mission was started about 160 years ago, it has a different name but is the same organization. This year they had 4,000 visitors to their open house weekend. In a country that has a high density of secular Jews this is very encouraging. The people are very joyful!
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| This is Anna-Lee in the courtyard of the CMJ, this is the church across the street where they worship. |
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