Blog

By Nicole Jansezian

It has been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and while that war still rages, refugees and immigrants attempting to rebuild their lives in Israel are facing several battlefronts here. 

Natalia Esther, who was living in Mariupol when the Russians attacked, is now reliving war with her son serving in the Israeli military.

“My son started the army right before the war and is stationed in the south” close to the Gaza border, she said. “It is very difficult for me.”

But Natalia said she feels safer in Israel where at least there are bomb shelters.

“Back in Mariupol we had to hide in a well, which is not much of a shelter. We felt like no one cared,” she said. “Everyone had to fend for themselves.”

Another war isn’t the only challenge these new immigrants are facing. Finding work, assimilating into a Middle Eastern culture, and leaving loved ones behind, Ukrainians who made their way to Israel are still struggling on many levels. 

Julia Morskoy had to start her life over from scratch. She fled the bombings in Ukraine with two kids, a few suitcases and a cat. Her husband, however, had to stay due to Ukraine’s emergency laws preventing military age men from leaving the country. 

“It was scary in the beginning. I did not know the language and had no idea what to do next,” Julia said. “Money was a problem, and things were tight. The kids always needed something, and they faced difficult challenges at school. There were all kinds of adaptation problems.” 

“It’s hard for me to find work because my Hebrew isn’t good,” she said. “It’ll take some time to learn, and you need Hebrew to get a good job.”

Some of the refugees faced another problem: They already had Israeli citizenship and were not eligible for the benefits that come with immigration. 

“Their economic situation became much, much worse,” said Dmitry Schneidmann, Project Manager at CBN Israel. “With no income and no government support because they are already (former) immigrants, many of them, in their current situation, are even worse off.”

The war began on February 24, 2022 sparking massive emigration from both Ukraine and Russia. Many of these refugees sought shelter in Israel. More than 43,000 Russians and 15,000 Ukrainians made Aliyah in 2022 accounting for almost 80% of Israel’s total immigration that year. In fact, emigration from Russia is trending so high that half of the Jewish population of Russia will be gone in seven years, according to a report released this week by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

For Natalia, the war started back in 2014 traumatizing her daughter and causing a cascade of health issues. Natalia and her children came to Israel, but her mother didn’t make it out of Mariupol when this recent war brought out. 

Julia is praying that her husband will be released and able to join the family soon, but in the meantime, her children are adjusting and support from compassionate friends like you through CBN Israel is helping her make ends meet. 

“When someone helps you it’s a great feeling. Your help was a great support,” she said. “You gave us a refrigerator, you gave us a washing machine, and you brought us food. It would have been hard without this help. The support is moral as much as financial. You’re not alone, you feel there’s someone there for you.”

“Everything will be fine, it will get better,” she said. “My kids are with me, we are safe.”

Natalia was so encouraged by the support she received, she wanted to help others herself. 

“When I received your help, I started telling others,” she said. “I would see people in need, and I would tell them they can get help.”

CBN Israel supports new immigrants and refugees through a number of different programs in Israel both financially and in promoting absorption efforts. 

“Our support is very important, critically important,” said Schneidmann. “It is also encouragement.”

Nicole Jansezian is the media coordinator for CBN Israel. A long-time journalist, Nicole was previously the news editor of All Israel News and All Arab News and a journalist at The Associated Press. On her YouTube channel, Nicole gives a platform to the minority communities in Jerusalem and highlights stories of fascinating people in this intense city. Born and raised in Queens, N.Y., she lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Tony, and their three children.

On October 7, 27-year-old Oshri woke up early in Sderot to go fishing with his father, Eliyahu. But his dad was too tired, so he went to Zikim Beach alone. As he arrived, suddenly sirens blared, rockets flew overhead, and Hamas terrorists in boats were firing machine guns.

Panicked, Oshri and others fled to a bomb shelter. Terrorists lobbed grenades inside and gunned down everyone. A bullet went through Oshri’s arm, eye socket, esophagus, and stomach. Miraculously, he survived, but barely. Buried under dead bodies, he cried for help. No one came.

So, he forced himself to stand, and somehow began the long drive to a medical center in Ashkelon. When the police stopped him, they saw his condition, and sped him to the hospital.

Meanwhile, his family hadn’t heard from him, and feared the worst. Dodging gunfire, Eliyahu was thrilled to find his son alive at the hospital, though gravely wounded. To the staff’s amazement, Oshri quickly recovered from multiple surgeries. Yet he still has a long road ahead.

But friends like you were there for Oshri. Thanks to caring donors, CBN Israel partnered with the Jewish Agency after October 7 in a special outreach, to assist terror victims and families of hostages. They supplied financial aid for Oshri and his family, along with trauma counseling.

Your gifts to CBN Israel can evacuate war victims, and give them safe lodging, meals, trauma therapy, and more—while delivering food and essentials to those still in harm’s way.

Plus, you can provide assistance across the Holy Land to single moms, Holocaust survivors, and refugees who need our help.

You can make a difference in Israel—please join with us today!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

Mount Carmel is a limestone ridge that bisects the coastal plain of the land of Israel branching off from the mountains of Samaria west towards the Mediterranean coast. It is most famous as the location for the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al (1 Kings 18:19).

Today, the Carmelite monastery of Mukhraka (Arabic meaning “burned place”) remembers that event. The mountain’s geographic location along the Mediterranean coast makes it fertile for agriculture (600mm average rainfall a year), which also led biblical writers and prophets to herald Carmel as a place of agricultural abundance (Song of Solomon 7:6; Isaiah 33:9; 35:2; Amos 1:2). Its fertility, rainfall, and proximity to the Phoenician coast, just to its north, made Carmel an appropriate location for the worship of Ba’al, the Phoenician god of storms and fertility. Even after Elijah, people continued to worship Ba’al of Carmel. 

The fertility, precipitation, and location of Mount Carmel play a key role in the story of Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al. Agriculture in the land of Israel proved difficult in the ancient world. The people depended solely upon God for rain to water their fields and crops due to the topography of the land (see Deuteronomy 8; 11:10-20). 

For this reason, God promised that as long as Israel obeyed Him and His commandments, He would send rain in its season; if Israel disobeyed, He would shut the heavens, so it wouldn’t rain. The concern for rain in its season (at the appropriate time) lead the Israelites to often look also to other local deities, like Ba’al, to provide rain, just in case.

The people had turned from God by worshipping Ba’al during the reign of King Ahab, and therefore, God sent drought on the land. Elijah called the children of Israel, together with the prophets of Ba’al, to gather on Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel receives some form of precipitation 250 days a year; it sits on the southern edge of Phoenicia where Ba’al worship originated. It also provided a high place. 

Ba’al is often depicted walking on the mountains, a god of high places. The drought that God sent offered a direct challenge to the god of rain. Elijah’s challenge, the god who answered with fire was God; Ba’al’s symbol was a lightening bolt. The heart of the story lies within the geographic setting of Mount Carmel. 

Of course, after God sends the fire upon Elijah’s sacrifice, and the people turn to the Lord as God, then He sends the rain. The setting and background of this story underline the challenges of daily life faced by the ancient Israelites; these challenges that raised the fundamental question that Elijah posed to the people, “If the Lord is God, then serve Him.”

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

“I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions” (Genesis 26:4-5 HCSB).

Abraham never saw the fulfillment of God’s promises to his offspring. Yet, because he listened to God’s voice and kept His commandments, God extended the covenant with Isaac and his descendants.

We tend to think about our spiritual lives through the lens of ourselves, through the finiteness of our lives. God needs to bless me. He needs to fulfill His promises to me. If Abraham had had our shortsightedness or self-focus, God could not have used him or his offspring.

Abraham, however, understood legacy. He had a role to play in God’s plan, but when his time was up, he understood that by playing his part, listening and keeping God’s commands, God would continue to bring about His plan, which would bring blessing to all humanity.

Abraham allowed God to give him a big vision of what He wanted to do through him and his offspring. And Abraham trusted God. Isaac, too, did not see the promise fulfilled, but he likewise was faithful to the vision and the promise.

In our individualistic Western society, our vision often begins and ends with ourselves, even our vision of God. Such smallness does not allow God to achieve what He desires through us. He wants us to understand the power of legacy that will benefit future generations because of our faithfulness, because we listened and kept His commandments.

What legacy are you leaving to future generations? Will God be able to renew His promises and say about you, “he or she listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions”?

Think of the impact of Abraham’s faithfulness: the children of Israel, Moses, David, the prophets, Jesus, Peter, and Paul.

We are still able to participate in the blessing of God’s promises to Abraham. Why? Because Abraham listened to God and kept His word. God still wants to show Himself to our world and future generations.

What legacy will we leave that will enable Him to do so?

PRAYER

Father, may we daily listen to Your voice and obey Your commandments, so that You can bless the world through our obedience for generations to come. Amen.

By Nicole Jansezian

Perhaps one of the most marginalized groups in Israel is the Domari, an ethnic minority living in the Jerusalem area for approximately eight centuries.

Considered neither Israeli nor Palestinian, the members of this gypsy group are at the bottom of the socio-economic scale and are discriminated against even though they speak Arabic and live among the Arabs in East Jerusalem.

This generations-long prejudice has contributed to a drop-out rate from school of 40 percent and an illiteracy rate among the Dom women of 80 percent. That usually leads to low-paying jobs or, worse, unemployment.

Amoun Sleem knows this from personal experience. A Dom herself, Amoun was raised in poverty and dropped out of school after being severely discriminated against by one of her teachers. After pulling herself back up, returning to school, attaining higher education degrees and even becoming the first Jerusalem Dom to travel by plane, Amoun dedicated her life to improving the lot of other Jerusalem gypsies.

She founded the Domari Society for Gypsies in Jerusalem which offers all sorts of programs to help other Dom people succeed in today’s society.

One such program is a series of courses on cosmetics and hair that is intended to propel young people into a career that will help them support themselves and their families. CBN Israel has partnered with the Domari Society to fund several of these courses including the barber program, nails and eyebrow and eyelash design for women.

The women in the program will get their own kit that allows them to start working right away.

The knowledge and skillset are meant to equip these young people with the tools that will help them find work and maybe even open their own businesses in a trending market overcoming the obstacle of a low literacy level.

“Most of the women don’t read or write so we find something to fit the situation, what the market is looking for,” Amoun said.

The course results in practical knowledge, but Amoun said the ones for women are also focused on empowerment since women hold an inferior status in the Domari community.

“Not only will they do this job with respect, but they will build self-esteem, build confidence and at the same time, it’s a career they have,” Amoun said. “It’s something they can continue to work with afterwards and, if they love  it, that’s very important.”

Because most of the older generation is illiterate, the Domari center also offers tutoring to young gypsies who choose to stay in school.

“God gave me this work for a reason,” Amoun said. “Life is difficult as a gypsy.”

Nicole Jansezian is the media coordinator for CBN Israel. A long-time journalist, Nicole was previously the news editor of All Israel News and All Arab News and a journalist at The Associated Press. On her YouTube channel, Nicole gives a platform to the minority communities in Jerusalem and highlights stories of fascinating people in this intense city. Born and raised in Queens, N.Y., she lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Tony, and their three children.

Imagine living through the invasion of your neighborhood by terrorists—and then worrying about having enough to eat for weeks and months afterwards.

The war in Israel has been devastating for thousands of people across the nation. Some who survived the attacks by Hamas were evacuated away from the line of fire. But others who chose to stay (or couldn’t leave) have struggled ever since to get basic necessities.

As a result of the fighting, supply chains and routes were disrupted, threatening the local inventory of groceries in many communities. With Israel’s stores understocked, and supplies running out, hunger was a very real threat. And in areas targeted by rocket fire, many elderly and others were afraid to even venture out to shop. Where could these people turn for help?

Thankfully, friends like you were there for them. Through CBN Israel, donors were delivering nutritious food to families and seniors in need. They have made door-to-door deliveries and held distributions at multiple locations—both on the streets and inside apartment buildings.

At one location, people patiently waited well into the night for our truck to arrive. When it did, everyone pitched in to help unload and get this desperately needed food distributed to everyone.

Your gift to CBN Israel can be a crucial way to let these hurting people know they are not alone. You can provide meals, temporary shelter, trauma counseling, and more to those who were evacuated. And you can bring food, water, clothing, and other essentials for those in harm’s way.

Your support is so important—please join us in making a difference today!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

Bible readers find the issue of Jewish burial customs and tombs interesting due to the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. While the Gospels do not provide an exact location for the tomb of Jesus, although tradition and archaeology does support the traditional location of the Holy Sepulchre, they do offer several interesting details about Jewish burial practices and the style of tombs used in the first century. And, since Jesus was placed in a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid (Luke 23:53), the style of His tomb must have been one of two known from the first century.

Jewish tombs in the first century consisted of two types: kokhim and arcosolia. The most common being the kokhim. A kokh (singular) was a long, narrow recess cut into a rock tomb in which a body, coffin, or ossuary (bone box) could be laid. The typical kokhim tomb was hewn into the hillside and consisted of a square chamber. The entrance to an ordinary kokhim tomb was a small square opening that required a person entering to stoop. The height of the chamber was usually less than that of a person, so they often cut a square pit into the floor of the chamber. This pit created a bench on three sides of the chamber where the bodies of the deceased could be prepared. 

After the chamber and the pit were cut, the kokhim were cut level with the top of the benches and perpendicular to the wall of the tomb in a counter clockwise direction, from right to left, in every wall except the entrance wall. One to three kokhim were usually cut per wall. The kokh had roughly vaulted ceilings and were the length of the deceased or a coffin. After the deceased was placed into the kokh, a blocking stone sealed the square entrance of the tomb. Small stones and plaster helped to further seal the blocking stone. The tomb was sealed in a manner that it blended into the surrounding hillside. 

After a year, when the flesh had decayed, the bones were collected and buried into the ossuary. Once the bones were placed into the ossuary, the ossuary could be placed in a loculus (kokh) within the tomb or upon the bench or floor of the main tomb chamber. Ossuaries were made of the soft, chalky limestone (a few ossuaries were made out of clay or wood) and consisted of a box where the bones were placed and a lid. The limestone was placed into water to soften the stone, which allowed the stone to be easily carved into the ossuary. 

Originally ossuaries served one individual, so the dimensions of the ossuary were the length of the femur and the width and height of the pelvis and skull. Many ossuaries, however, contain the bones of more than one person (and not complete persons at that). Most of the ossuaries discovered bear decorations, although they can be plain. Professional craftsmen decorated the ossuaries using a compass, ruler, straightedge, carving knife, gouge, mallet, and chisel. 

Many ossuaries bear inscriptions in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. These inscriptions were not done by professional scribes, but in the semi-dark of the cave by family members, to identify the deceased. Archaeologists excavating south of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1990 discovered an ornately decorated ossuary bearing the inscription “Joseph, son of Caiaphas,” the high priest who turned Jesus over to Pilate. It held the bones of a sixty-year-old male, and in the eye sockets of the skull were two coins. The practice of secondary burial in ossuaries date from the period of the first century B.C. to the first century A.D. Jews could also bury in coffins during this period as well. 

In addition to the kokhim tomb, arcosolia tombs began to appear sporadically during the first century. The arcosolia is a bench-like aperture with an arched ceiling hewn into the length of the wall. This style of burial was more expensive since only three burial places existed within a tomb chamber instead of six or nine, as typically found within kokhim tombs. Approximately 130 arcosolia tombs have been discovered in Jerusalem and over half of them also contain kokhim. Ossuaries (bone boxes) could be placed on the arcosolia benches.

The tomb identified within the Holy Sepulchre as the tomb of Jesus was originally an arcosolium (singular) with an antechamber; however, the centuries of pilgrims and the various destructions of the church have deformed and obliterated the tomb. What visitors see today is a later structure; nevertheless, the tomb originally contained a first century arcosolium tomb. 

Burial practices reflect the values, philosophy, and religion of people. The style of tombs used by Jews in the first century differ significantly from those used in the period of the Old Testament, which reflects the development of views of death and the afterlife from the period of the Old Testament to the New Testament.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the people who were on the face of the earth” (Number 12:3 ESV).

Our modern culture, even our Christian culture, celebrates strong, bold, and yes, even arrogant, leaders. Moses wouldn’t have fit. Yet God selected Moses as the vehicle of His redemption of the children of Israel—as their leader to the land He promised them.

The Hebrew word translated as “meek” also means “humble.” Meekness is not weakness; it’s humility. What made Moses so humble? He learned how to lead by being a shepherd.

We do not connect shepherding with leadership in our modern culture, but the ancient world saw shepherds as an ideal model for leaders. Gods and kings were often described as shepherds, and many leaders, like Moses and David, came from shepherding. How did being a shepherd make one a meek and humble leader?

Shepherds followed a nomadic lifestyle. They pastured their flocks wherever they could find land that provided grass and scrub. They lived on the periphery of agricultural society, as farmers did not want sheep and goats crossing through their cultivated fields. Thus, the wilderness became the home of shepherds, alone among the flocks. The wilderness areas of the Middle East, which can include deserts, pose innate dangers to a shepherd.

First, they have to deal with harsh climates that can produce scorching heat in the day and cold at night. The harsh terrain poses another set of problems, as the shepherd must navigate his or her flocks to safe places of pasture. Third, predators—both animal and human—reside in the wilderness, and it falls to the shepherd to defend the flock. Such an environment develops a number of leadership qualities.

You can almost imagine how a person surviving in such conditions could develop a self-image as a self-made individual. But the opposite is actually the case. Why? Because there are no self-made individuals in the wilderness.

The conditions prove so formidable that without the help of God and others, one cannot survive. So, how did Moses learn true humility? Through his experiences as a shepherd.

Our world does not value genuine meekness and humility, but God does. The psalmist promises that “The meek shall inherit the land” (37:11 ASV), a sentiment echoed by Jesus in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:5). Paul identified meekness as a Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Do we learn humility through our life circumstances? We should.

Following God often requires us to value things not valued by our culture, to cultivate behaviors counter to the world in which we live. Moses learned lessons by shepherding flocks, a very common practice in the ancient world.

We need to allow our common, everyday circumstances to help us develop godly behaviors and attitudes in our own lives.

PRAYER

Father, may we grow in genuine meekness and humility before You and others today. Amen.