On Thursday night, February 27th, I drove three hours to Liberty University to attend the opening of an art exhibit that is very special to all of us here at Jerusalem Connection, especially Jim Hutchens. As many of you know, Jim’s wife, Pat Mercer Hutchens, went home to be with her Savior on March 31,…
I hesitate to talk about the status of Israel’s political situation because as I am recording this there is a good chance that the situation has changed entirely and my update will be irrelevant. But I also feel strange not talking about it because it is the hot issue in Israel right now and so…
If you have been trying to keep up with Israel’s election results for the last few days, you are probably wondering when in the world we will know for certain the identity of Israel’s next Prime Minister. Deadlocks are one thing but a complicated coalition-building system is another. Though the elections happened on the 17th,…
Last Wednesday, Israel held a day-long state ceremony at the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron. They gathered to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Hebron massacre—an early act of terrorism in 1929 that left sixty-nine Jews dead and dozens more seriously wounded. Hebron’s Jewish library, hospital, synagogue, and long-standing yeshiva were all…
Exodus is the most supernatural book in the Hebrew bible. But it is also the climax, the pinnacle of Israel’s story. All roads in the Torah either lead to the Exodus or link back to the Exodus. Before earth-shaking plagues and parting seas, however, the patriarchs learned of God’s covenant promises through quiet acts like…
Visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and you are bound to notice a short ladder resting on a second story window ledge. You can also see it in century old photographs and art in the exact same position it is today. On the surface the ladder bears testimony to the disunity of…
This past Sunday morning, 1,600 Jewish pilgrims gathered at the Mugrabi gate to enter the Temple Mount at 7:30am. Well into their fast, they stood waiting in the August heat. For hours, they were refused entrance. The official word from Israeli police was that there would be no Jewish entry to the Temple Mount for…
For the last five years, the Jerusalem Connection has been actively supporting the ministry of Larry and Dede Miller as they serve aging and impoverished Holocaust survivors in Hungary, Ukraine, and Slovakia. The Lev Project, named for the Hebrew “Lev” which means “heart,” is an association which has operated under Jerusalem Connection’s fiscal sponsorship. Jim…
On October 8, 2018, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem unveiled a 2,000-year-old limestone column drum bearing the inscription: “Hanania son of Dudolos from Jerusalem.” The reason why the column drum made international headlines was not because Hanania is known from history or because Second Temple period finds are unusual. The inscription is the earliest full…
This week I attended a screening of the soon to be released documentary, Emanuel. Emanuel is a documentary about the untold story of the victims and survivors of the Charleston Church shooting. The weight of the documentary comes from the intimate interviews with the survivors and the families of the victims. The documentary lets them…