The rains have come and at least in the beginning, everyone is very happy! The refreshing cool in the air is welcome and people enjoy putting on coats and sweaters after a long hot and dry summer. The holiday season is over and life moves forward in its daily routine until Chanukah which is just about a week before Christmas this year.

Along with the rains, we have had elections and once again Benjamin Netanyahu will be Prime Minister upon completion of the coalition talks. The Likud party, of which he is the head, received the most votes but as usual not enough to form a government and so he has to put together a coalition of various parties who are willing to stand together in order to pass legislation. Netanyahu has always been aligned with the religious right in part but in this election, in addition to the usual parties, he has had to also join with a very extreme religious right-wing party, headed by Ben Gvir and Smotrich. This party has never been in government before and its radical policies on many issues have raised concern, not only in Israel but internationally and especially among our new Arab allies. Netanyahu’s coalition is now totally a ultra conservative religious right-wing block.

While the strength of the coalition may ensure a government that can stand longer than the ones before, the extreme religious outlook of the parties may cause changes in the way the country is run. Please pray for Netanyahu who is definitely more moderate than the rest of his coalition partners – that he will be able to stand strong and keep the country moving forward as it has been doing. There are many people who oppose him and he will face great challenges at every turn – conflicts from within and from without and he will need supernatural wisdom to transverse the turbulent waters.

Good news: Starting in beginning of December our congregation will once again be meeting every Shabbat. We are very excited about going back to our “normal” routine after an extensive Covid disruption. Since we returned to meeting together, we have only met twice a month with the whole congregation and once a month in smaller meetings. We will continue our smaller geographical meetings once a month and will have regular congregational meetings three times a month. We trust that this will be a good combination and while we will be strengthened as we meet together more often, we will have the option of a more intimate setting once a month in which we can deepen relationships with those in our local group.

Please pray for Ahavat Yeshua that as we establish this more regular meeting schedule, we will see increase. Our leadership is strong and united and we have a devoted pastoral staff. We have a good foundation and are ready for the harvest! We are seeing a greater openness in Israelis and many are reporting that they have been able to share the gospel in these days. I have been blessed to have been able to share Yeshua in several different situations that surprised me! God just opened the door!

My son, Evan is the manager of Shelanu.tv which broadcasts evangelistic content in Hebrew across the internet. He reports that there is a significant increase in those who are listening and responding and asking for New Testaments and personal visits and phone calls.

Let us pray that the floodgates be opened and every seed that is planted and those that have been lying dormant will come to life as they are watered by the rain of the Holy Spirit.

I am planning on hosting a small group of women who are widows in the beginning of December. Please pray that all will be encouraged and strengthened as we learn to adjust to this new reality in our lives.

I want to extend a blessed Thanksgiving holiday to all my dear American friends. Though the shakings continue throughout the world and we never seem to be able to recover from one event before there is another that takes our breath away, God’s peace is our refuge in the midst of the storm. And in this Thanksgiving season, I am so thankful that no matter what the circumstance, God is greater! His love for me is so beyond what I can even imagine and as the scripture says, we need “power” to even to begin to grasp the full measure of this incomparable love. He is our perfect Father and if He is for us… what can man do to us? Indeed, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:18; He will rescue us from every evil attack and bring us safely to His heavenly kingdom. Our future is assured!

I am also very thankful to be living in this special Land and all the more so as anti-Semitism is raising its ugly head throughout the world. I believe God is once again warning his people and I pray that our Jewish brothers and sisters would be sensitive to God’s leading. Please pray that the doors for Aliyah will stay wide open and all who want to live here will be able to do so. Pray that the Interior Ministry which is run by those who strongly oppose Messianic Jews becoming citizens will not be able to stop what God has ordained. Pray that the economy will continue to grow and develop and easily absorb those who want to come home to Israel.

And I am grateful for your prayers and support and I so appreciate your love for this country. May the name of Yeshua be lifted up and exalted, in our hearts, in our nation and throughout the world.

With love from Zion,