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…
As of the 8th of May, modern Israel is now 71 years old, a very young country by today’s standards. But the people of Israel and the land of Israel have been set apart by God for nearly four thousand years. One of the world’s oldest nations has one of the youngest countries. I think…
Archbishop Mar Samuel, head of the Syrian Orthodox Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem, was one of the first to purchase Dead Sea Scrolls off the black market. Unlike the other scroll dealers, Mar Samuel didn’t like dealing directly with Israelis. To him, all Jews were representatives of the enemy nation. Mar Samuel brought the…
At 34 years of age, the Martin Luther of 1517 was a little known Augustinian monk plagued by thoughts of his own sins and failings. Luther, in his own words, suffered from an “extremely disturbed conscience.” When his private meditations on the scriptures revealed to him that righteousness was a gift from God, born out…