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Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement

Posted on October 11, 2024

By Julie Stahl

“Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month—nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:27 NLT). 

Yom Kippur is the Holiest Day in the Jewish year, the “Day of Atonement.” 

The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the “Ten Days of Awe.” This is your chance, so to speak, to get your heart and relationships right before Yom Kippur. According to Jewish tradition, this is the time that one’s name is either inscribed or not in the Book of Life for another year. 

“These are heavy, heavy days of repentance, reflection, and seeking God’s face as we prepare to go stand before Him in a state of fasting, a state of humility on the day of Yom Kippur,” says Boaz Michael, founder of First Fruits of Zion. 

In some traditions, worshippers pray Selichot or slichot prayers (“forgiveness”) as much as a month before Rosh Hashanah to make sure they are prepared for that day. 

“The Bible speaks about Yom Kippur in terms of being a great day of judgment, of us standing before God. It’s traditionally, according to a Jewish perspective, a time in which we will literally be standing before the Father on that Day of Judgment,” says Michael.

It’s customary to wear white on this day. In some traditions, men wear a white robe or, in Yiddish, kittel. That tradition comes from Isaiah 1:18 (NLT), where God says, “Come now, let’s settle this. … Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” 

Yom Kippur has five prayer services throughout the day, which is more than any other Jewish holiday. 

“The Viddui is the central prayer of confession and forgiveness of the Jewish people on Yom Kippur. And it’s a prayer that they pray not only on behalf of themselves but on behalf of all the Jewish people around the world,” says Reverend David Pileggi of Christ Church in Jerusalem’s Old City. 

He says that the Viddui prayer recognizes the words of Jeremiah: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
(Jeremiah 17:9 NLT). 

“One thing we learn from the Jewish people about Yom Kippur is that it’s not enough to say you’re sorry. You have to confess, say you’re sorry, and then at the same time take practical steps to change your behavior,” says Pileggi. 

He says there’s a parallel between Yom Kippur and the teachings of Jesus. 

“We have a saying of Jesus, don’t we? It says, if you bring your gift to the altar and your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go and be reconciled with your brother. Jewish tradition says, to go get your relationship right with your neighbor, with your brother, with your family member, forgive and be reconciled and then on the Day of Atonement, when you begin to fast and pray and to confess, God will hear your prayer and forgive you as you have forgiven others,” says Pileggi. 

“It’s the teaching of Jesus and it’s also something that’s part and parcel of Jewish tradition and here the two line up very nicely,” Pileggi adds. 

In the synagogue, the Book of Jonah is read. 

“Jonah is a symbol of repentance. He’s commanded by God to call the people of Nineveh to repent, but he himself was struggling through his own reflections about who receives God’s judgment and who receives God’s mercy,” says Michael. 

“So, Jonah can so often symbolize our own actions—doubting God, disobeying God, and determining who’s worthy of His redemption. But, like Jonah, we’re invited to repent of our disobedience and prejudices so that we can rejoin God in building His kingdom,” Michael adds. 

He affirms that Yom Kippur holds a deep meaning even for those who believe in Jesus. 

“It’s through the work of Messiah that our sins are taken away. He is our great atonement. I think this is a beautiful biblical understanding for us to affirm and hold onto in the context of our daily lives, but at the same time, we also need to be reminded to live a life of repentance,” Michael concludes. 

Holiday Greeting: G’mar Chatimah Tovah (“May you be sealed for good in the Book of Life”) and Tzom Kal (used to wish others an “easy fast”). 

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN—first as a graduate student in Journalism at Regent University; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. She is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning show, Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly news program providing a biblical and prophetic perspective to what is happening in Israel and the Middle East. 

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Miracles and Mourning: Agreeing with Golda

Posted on October 10, 2024

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir summed up Israel’s determined posture that applies perfectly in the Jewish new year 5785. Her words still ring true today. “If we have to choose between being dead and pitied and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”  

I wholeheartedly agree with Golda! 

Millions of Christians embrace Israel as our spiritual homeland. We are grateful that Israel is fighting evil on the front lines of freedom—not only for their small, singular Jewish state but for all freedom-loving people.

Three days ago, on Monday October 7 at exactly 6:29 a.m. Israel time, officials lowered Israel’s beautiful royal blue and white national flags to half-mast in front of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Their flag, fashioned after a Jewish prayer shawl, is more than an emblem. This year, Jews—and Christians—have filled the Western Wall Plaza in historically extraordinary numbers, I daresay millions, since the Plaza can accommodate up to 400,000 people in a day. With countless prayers, singing Tikvah (“The Hope”), commissioning IDF soldiers, and dancing with joy, yes joy, the ancient Kotel is still standing!  

Since that moment of horrific surprise at 6:29 a.m. on October 7, 2023, every Israeli Jew—Arab Israelis, Bedouins, and Druze too—have been in deep grief. A proxy of the Islamic Regime ruthlessly carried out the worst evil since the Holocaust. Psalm 10:7 could have been describing Hamas on October 7 and is fitting for mainstream media: “His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.” At this writing, the war has been going on for 368 days. Join me in agreeing with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s observation on Monday’s commemoration day: “It was the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, but unlike the Holocaust, we fight back.”

Amir Tsarfati, Israeli Jewish believer and President of Behold Israel, provides facts and biblical reminders from his popular Telegram channel. As you read these numbers, let’s pause to understand why Israel is determined to fight evil—instead of creating an acceptable image for a world almost totally aligned against it. In hate and propaganda, these misguided multitudes ignore the heartbreaking facts: Since October 7 of last year, 878 civilians were murdered in Israel, among them 53 children. More than 70,000 were hurt by terror attacks, 921 children have become orphans, and 119 bereaved parents have been left without any children.

Keep this fact in mind: It is Israel’s military policy to send texts and emails, make calls, and drop leaflets warning civilians to move to safe zones that the IDF itself creates in Gaza and now in Lebanon. No other army in the world enacts these efforts, which also mean greater risk for the IDF and increases loss of life for its members. The Islamic Regime and its surrogates like Hamas? Cowards and motivated by evil, they use human beings as shields, no matter what age, and take advantage of the humane Israeli policy of warning civilian populations.

Of course, the casualties aren’t all one-sided. Here is the IDF data from Amir Tsarfati’s Telegram at the one-year anniversary of the war: 17,000 terrorists eliminated in Gaza. Eight hundred terrorists eliminated in Lebanon (as of September 25), which included all of Hezbollah’s top leaders, and over 690 terrorists who live in Palestinian-run cities in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s biblical heartland.

Israel’s response to the outrage also includes Israeli Air Force strikes into Gaza (40,300), with another 4,900 airstrikes unleashed in the Lebanese arena. The number of rockets and missiles launched toward Israel are: 13,200 from Gaza, 12,400 from Lebanon, 60 from Iraq/Syria, 180 from Yemen 180, and 400 from Iran.
 
With IDF soldiers on the ground in both Gaza and Lebanon, that means more wounded, more loss of life: 726 casualties, with 346 since the beginning of the ground maneuver in Gaza. IDF soldiers injured: 4,576—696 of them seriously. Out of the total 2,299 were wounded since the beginning of ground operations in Gaza. The widespread trauma includes estimates that more than 100,000 Israelis have been refugees in their own country for a year.  

I invite you to click this link where you may read the names of 101 hostages that Hamas refuses to release. Some hostages are dead in the tunnels, yet Hamas will not release their bodies! This is the Hamas that hateful people glorify. Their ages range from little Kfir Bibas, kidnapped at 9 months, up to 86-year-old Shlomo Mansour.

What if they were your baby and your grandparent? Read and pray for them, their families and their friends awaiting the possible terrible knock on their door. #WeRememberOctober7

Agreeing with Golda is the right decision: that Israel will refrain from trying to please the world and instead defend its land from those who want to murder them!

Israel’s national companion in sorrow is miracles. An Israeli I now follow on X is Hillel Fuld, who describes himself as “a proud Zionist, a Jew, and global speaker.” Read and rejoice in a few of the miracles he highlights.

Israel has three layers of air defense systems, each a technological wonder, with special layers of deterrence that go higher and higher: the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Arrow system (which detonates missiles that can fly outside of Earth’s atmosphere!). Hillel Fuld reports that on October 1, when the Islamic Regime barraged Israel with some 180 ballistic missiles, all three of these complex systems operated perfectly—and together! Bear in mind, the chances for perfection are next to “nonexistent.” If one ballistic missile hit an apartment building, shopping center, or Army base, Fuld said they “would now be burying hundreds of Israelis.” 

A WhatsApp message came in that night from one of Hillel Fuld’s good friends, a senior executive at Microsoft and “not a God-fearing Jew. Until yesterday.” His friend explained, “If you’re looking for miracles, last night, I started believing. Missiles hit all around me, but none of them hit my house, or any house for that matter.” Having practically no casualties is miraculous, but the rockets and missiles that weren’t intercepted landed in sand, water, and empty spaces. Hillel exclaims, “Have you been to Israel? It’s a microscopic country. What empty spaces? Where are these empty spaces?”

Hillel now calls it “the equivalent of God splitting the Red Sea right before our eyes.” And he added, “Along with Israel’s history-making accomplishments, beepers, and the unprecedented low ratio between combatants and civilians as a military operation the likes of which the world has never seen, ever.”

Here is my favorite comment from his description: “It was an incredible display between the two powers that protect the Jewish people, Hashim (God) and IDF.”

Join our CBN Israel team this week like King David praising God from 1 Chronicles 29:11-12. “Yours, LORD is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; You are exalted as Head overall. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.” 

Prayer Points: 

  • Pray for God’s mercy and protection for the IDF and Israeli civilians.
  • Pray for IDF leaders, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and soldiers in all branches. 
  • Pray for Christians to simply re-post facts via social media. CBNIsrael.com and CBNNews.com are great sources! 
  • Pray for the IDF to find terrorist Yahya Sinwar. If alive, he has surrounded himself with captive hostages.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide.  In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.

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On October 7, CBN Israel Immediately Pivoted to War and Terror Relief Mode

Posted on October 9, 2024

By Nicole Jansezian

Israelis marked one year since the unprecedented attacks and atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 which altered the landscape of Israel perhaps permanently.

With 1,200 people killed, 251 kidnapped—101 of whom are still being held in Gaza—and a continuing war on seven different fronts, Israelis are still living the nightmare.

The scope of the tragedy took weeks to unfold. But at the very beginning CBN Israel switched gears from its regular humanitarian assistance and broadened its support to meet the new and immediate needs of the victims.

While the entire county was still under attack, a team from CBN Israel was in Eilat on October 11 helping evacuate residents of kibbutzim and cities in the south that had come under direct attack and were still experiencing non-stop rocket fire.

In many cases, this was the first opportunity many of the residents had to share their “October 7 story” while still shaking from fear and anxiety.

CBN Israel rescued nearly 3,000 people from the frontlines, subsidizing hotels in safe cities while the country regrouped and got back on its feet.

Before long, the need for immediate trauma intervention became apparent. CBN Israel hosted several workshops to teach field workers how to initiate the Immediate Stabilization Protocol, a method effectively being used in Ukraine in a program sponsored by Regent University.

In addition to ISP classes, CBN Israel partnered with the Israel Trauma Coalition to extend its reach. CBN Israel sponsored a mobile therapy unit that would reach evacuees at their hotels.

In November, CBN Israel joined with the beleaguered residents of Kibbutz Be’eri—evacuated to the Dead Sea—to march for the hostages. The kibbutz had 30 of its 1,100 residents abducted to Gaza on October 7 and more than 100 killed.

CBN Israel also recognized the spike in need for food, including hot meals, preparing and distributing 236,190 and delivering 43,000 food packages to the needy across the country. The organization also distributed thousands of lunches and water through a food truck that visited the displaced communities—some daily for months.

Talya Baruchi, a resident of the evacuated Maagalim, said this became a comfort to her during a period of uncertainty.

“We can see their logo everywhere around the hotel,” she said. “It warms my heart that there are people who think of us, that we can be better off in this strange situation, in this dark situation, who want the best for us.”

CBN Israel also worked with an events company to hold 30 events featuring the Superbook movie, in Hebrew, along with bouncy castles and carnival for the displaced children giving them a few moments to disconnect from the war.

As the war impacted the north as well, CBN Israel sponsored 14 new bomb shelters and renovated 48.

“This really, really saves lives. The work you are doing here is not peripheral, it’s not a luxury item, it’s not something extra,” Hatzor Haglilit Mayor Michael Kebasa said. “It’s lifesaving.”

Amid these new emergencies brought on by the war, CBN Israel also focused on individual assistance helping those who were impacted directly by war whether through medical emergencies, clothing, and even back-to-school supplies nearly a year after the war started.

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.

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Biblical Israel: Gamla

Posted on October 8, 2024

By Marc Turnage

The ancient site Gamla sits in the central Golan Heights about six miles east of the northern end of the Sea of Galilee and the Bethsaida Valley. The ancient village sat on the spur of a hill created by two streams, Nahal Gamla and Nahal Daliyyot. The spur that the village of Gamla sat on can be seen easily from Bethsaida and the Bethsaida Valley; thus, while we never find mention of Jesus in Gamla, he would have known the site. The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, describes the village and the battle that took place there during the First Jewish Revolt (A.D. 66-73). 

Gamla offers an important window into Jewish village life in the Galilee and Golan during the first century. Once the Roman army of Vespasian destroyed the site (A.D. 67), it was never reinhabited, and therefore, functions as a time capsule into a first century Jewish village. The primary settlement of the site began in the Hellenistic period. It started as a Seleucid fort. The fort eventually became a village inhabited by Jews in the first centuries B.C. and A.D. 

Excavations at Gamla uncovered only a small percentage of the village, but they provide significant information about the Jewish life in the village. Towards the upper part of the hill, excavations uncovered a large olive oil press with a Jewish ritual immersion bath (mikveh) attached to it. This indicates that the inhabitants sought to prepare olive oil with concern for ritual purity. Excavators also uncovered a second large, industrial olive oil press indicating that Gamla served as a center for olive oil production exporting it to other Jewish communities. The community also seems to have grown grain and even practiced viticulture. 

Excavators uncovered the largest known urban synagogue discovered in Israel from the Roman period. At the entrance of the building, they found a ritual immersion pool. The synagogue itself consists of the main hall, with benches around the walls of the hall. The focal point being the center of the hall where the reading of the Scriptures and explication would have occurred. To the right of then entrance, in the north wall, was an inset into the wall, which most likely housed a cabinet where scrolls were kept. A small study room is also next to the main hall. 

Excavations also yielded evidence of an affluent class within the village. Painted fragments of plaster indicate the presence of wealthy homes. Finger rings and earrings, as well as gemstones and other jewelry attest to an affluence among some of the citizens. The presence of Jewish ritual immersion pools, as well as stone vessels indicate that the population of the village adhered to Jewish ritual purity. 

Excavations also attest to Josephus’ story of the fall of Gamla. Evidence of battle, destruction (including the breach in the city’s defensive wall), arrow heads and ballista balls were discovered throughout the excavations. Its destruction preserved this first century Jewish village, which offers one of the best examples of the villages known to Jesus.

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

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Weekly Devotional: Cries from the Depths

Posted on October 7, 2024

Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! (Psalm 130:1-2 NKJV)

Have you ever found yourself in the depths of despair—where everything around you seems to be crashing down? Real despair, where the situation seems hopeless?

In those moments, our despair, circumstances, and pains seem draining, and crying out to God feels hopeless, exhausting, and worthless.

The psalmist was there: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!” Being in the depths overwhelms us—our energy, our senses, our stability. And in those moments, finding the trust to cry out to God becomes our greatest act of faith. The cry from the depths to God assumes He is there to answer and will answer.

The question comes to us in a myriad of different ways, “Has God really said?” “Is He really there?” The depths of our despair amplify such questions. Yet will we trust God and cry out to Him in our moments of pain and struggle?

Job did not receive the answer to the question he asked of God. But God answered Job. That is what matters: that God answers our cries. The causes of our despair—the “whys” and the “how comes” of our despair—are rarely answered. But God answers. His ears are attentive to our cries.

Faith means trust. The author of Hebrews claimed that without trust we cannot please God. These difficult and agonizing moments in our lives give us the unique opportunity to trust that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

When we find ourselves in the depths of despair, trusting God seems impossible. Our circumstances may even challenge our trust in His existence.

Trusting God does not mean “we fake it until we make it” or put on our “happy, faith face.”

Trusting God is crying out to Him from the depths, pleading for His attention. These cries trust that there is One who listens and answers.

Circumstances may not immediately change. Yet, we trust a God who hears our cries and will not leave us in the depths forever. And we can never forget: He not only hears us in our depths, He hears the cries of others in their depths, too.

PRAYER

Father, we trust You to answer and hear our cries. Do not be deaf to our voice but hear us from the depths and answer. Amen.

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Despite Near-Daily Bombings, Northern Israelis Hope to Return Home

Posted on October 3, 2024

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

On the eve of October 7—the most traumatic, consequential chapter for Jews since the Holocaust—you may be surprised to learn that Israel ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world. Ranked this year at number five, it may be hard to believe. Side note: the 2024 World Happiness Report showed that for the first time in 12 years, the U.S. is not on the top 20 list and now ranks at No. 23, compared to No. 15 last year.

Yet, at a home gathering last week in Atlanta, I met two dynamic Israeli women from Kibbitz Sde Nehemia in northern Israel. They made the 2024 World Happiness Report come alive. Sponsored by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which has reached out tremendously with help, Efrat Eldan Schechter and Eti Madar Itzhak were brought here to talk about their lives as refugees in their ancestral homeland. They interwove their stories with a determination amid disaster that captivated and inspired me and 30 others, both Jews and Christians.   

When Efrat described her pre-October 7 life in Kibbutz Sde Nehemia as “perfect,” I was surprised. After all, the world’s most powerfully armed terrorist organization, Hezbollah, has occupied Lebanon for more than 30 years. Yet despite intermittent rocket fire and two Lebanon wars, kibbutz families built a wonderful life. That is until October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began launching drones and firing rockets every day into northern Israel. Destroyed homes and buildings now shroud once-thriving crops, trees, and flowers, with more than 30,000 acres of land burned.

Efrat described her community as a beautiful place with wonderful people. Located in the upper Galilee, Kibbutz Sde Nehemia was established in 1940 before Israel became a modern state in 1948. It is situated between the Golan Heights and is about 3.5 miles from Lebanon.

Some 1,288 Israelis called Sde Nehemia home. There, community celebrations, festivals, schooling, work, and walks created a big family of relatives and best friends. Efrat saw her mother every day, and her three children played and attended school with their friends. Despite Lebanon being just three miles away, the community’s resilience kept them moving forward—resolute on living, enjoying, and contributing to the world’s only Jewish homeland.

However, a dramatic, heart-wrenching change began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets daily into northern Israel. Try to imagine rockets from a neighborhood near you; every day for no reason other than pure hatred and terror. Some residents began evacuating on their own. Then the Israeli government forced 60,000 northern Israelis to evacuate their homes and communities—setting the stage for disarming terrorist Hezbollah to create a safe zone so their citizens can return.

Efrat and Eti went on to describe their uprooted lifestyle, formerly a beautiful kibbutz with strong, lifelong community relationships. One of the saddest realities is that extended families are often separated, moving around from place to place and not always being in the same locations. Efrat related that her mother is living in a hotel room, unable to cook and care for her family or see her grandchildren, now three hours away from Efrat. Israelis are reaching out to each other continually to offer any extra rooms, but hotels can be the only option for those forced to leave home.

Efrat and Eti’s lives are representative of over 100,000 Israelis internally displaced. They are refugees in their own land, from both the south (next to Hamas-occupied Gaza) and the north (next to Hezbollah-occupied Lebanon). While Israel has miraculously conducted and is currently engaged in successful defenses against Hamas and Hezbollah, there’s a long way to go.

Nevertheless, stated Prime Minister Netanyahu in his speech at the United Nations on September 27, “We face savage enemies who seek our annihilation, and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers, [who] seek not only to destroy us but also destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror.” The Israeli Air Force proved his statements true, that “There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach and that is true of the entire Middle East.” As he spoke, Israeli jets were in the air to make sure Hassan Nasrallah and other terror group leaders met their justifiable deaths. Now, Houthi targets in Yemen have experienced Israel’s long arm of justice.

Within Sde Nehemia, each day before their evacuation Efrat was faced with a decision: Should I send my children to school or keep them home? Which is safer today? Her three children, ages 12, 15, and 18, are long gone from their kibbutz, as are their evacuated teachers. Efrat’s 18-year-old is a senior in high school, her classmates are scattered all over Israel, and their education is disrupted.

Eti’s children are much younger, and their safety is also uppermost. Her worries increased when her husband served with the IDF in Gaza for six months. He is back home now, yet the IDF’s deployment of reserves and current soldiers remains a harsh reality for many women who are not only mothers, but wives of husbands deployed. Some figures estimate that since October 7, some 300,000 to 400,000 soldiers are in and out of the fighting.

Efrat and Eti spoke eloquently about their commitments to return to their kibbutz, emphasizing that with their special connection they will not walk away and start over in another place. They could, but they won’t. Efrat and Eti, both professional women and mothers, are not sitting still while they wait. They are expressing their advocacy though a new organization, Lobby 1701, which represents 60,000 residents evacuated from northern Israel.

This civilian group based its name on the 2006 UN Resolution 1701 to end the Second Lebanon War—a sound, diplomatic resolution. However, the UN and the Lebanese government did not implement the UN Security Council agreement on Resolution 1701. Simply put: Hezbollah was to disarm. But they refused such a demand—and thus made southern Lebanon a stronghold for terrorists. Lobby 1701 works to prevent a repeat of the October 7 massacre. Understand: Diplomacy does not work with terrorists. Learn more about it here.

One action Lobby 1701 implemented was a letter last December to President Biden and the United States National Security Council. While Biden and other world leaders have been calling for a ceasefire, Lobby 1701 demands that Israel can ensure the return of displaced residents to their homes, either through diplomatic means or via a military operation to remove threats.

Rosh Hashanah, Israel’s new year (5785) commenced yesterday, October 2. In the Torah, another year began by sounding the shofar, Yom Hateruah, to proclaim God as King of the Universe.

So why is Israel number 5 on The World Happiness Report? Jews live in their ancient land, their ancestral homeland! Although wars and terror against Israel have filled the last decades, the Jews’ sense of belonging in the land God deeded to them thousands of years ago is ever present. It is the perfect match!

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has kept His promises and returned Jews to their native homeland! Israel is the only Jewish nation in a world made up of 192 other countries. In Jeremiah 29:14 we read, “I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”

Home is to be a place of refuge, comfort, and memories. That is what Efrat, Eti, and all Jewish Israelis long for. May it be so.

We invite you to join our CBN Israel team to pray with thanks for God’s sovereignty for us and for His chosen people.

Prayer Points

  • Pray for comfort for families living apart due to danger from terror attacks.
  • Pray for children who have lost a year of schooling.
  • Pray for parents, deployed and at home, due to terrorists still aimed at destroying them.
  • Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet for safety and strength.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide.  In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.

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Rosh Hashanah: Feast of Trumpets

Posted on October 2, 2024

By Julie Stahl

“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. On the first day of the appointed month in early autumn, you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for holy assembly, a day commemorated with loud blasts of a trumpet. You must do no ordinary work on that day. Instead, you are to present special gifts to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:23-25 NLT).

Rosh Hashanah literally means the “head of the year.” But biblically it is much more than that. In the book of Leviticus in Hebrew it is actually referred to as Yom Hateruah—the day of the blowing of trumpets or ram’s horn (shofar).

The piercing blast of the shofar is meant to remind the hearer to repent for his sins and make things right with his brothers and sisters. The rabbis say that reconciliation between God and man will confound the enemy.

“It’s something that people connect to their soul to hear the sound of the shofar,” says Eli Ribak, third-generation shofar maker.

The ram’s horn is used as the traditional shofar because when Abraham showed his willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, God provided a ram in the thicket to be used in his place.

The only animal horn that is forbidden to use as a shofar is the cow’s horn. That’s because the Jewish people don’t want to remind God of the time Israel worshipped the golden calf in the wilderness.

In some traditions, the shofar is blown in synagogues and at the Western Wall each morning for a month before the holiday to give plenty of time for repentance.

Traditionally, Rosh Hashanah is a celebration of creation, specifically the day God created Adam and Eve. As such, God the Creator is hailed and crowned as “our King” on that day.

Christians often blow the shofar throughout the year, but in Judaism it’s only blown during the month of Elul, prior to Rosh Hashanah and at the holiday. It was also blown at the coronation of the kings of Israel, to announce the new king or the coming of the king.

Boaz Michael, founder of First Fruits of Zion, says that’s a foreshadowing for those who believe in Jesus.

“And they tell us something, they’re speaking to us, they’re reminding us of something, and one of the things they’re reminding us of is the creation of the world, the coming of the king, King Messiah one day at this time, the coronation of his Kingdom here on earth,” says Michael. “This is what the shofar is to remind us of, and it speaks to us every day when we hear that sound.”

For Christians, there are a number of references in the New Testament referring to the sounding of trumpets.

“And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31 NKJV).

Paul writes, “It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed” (1 Corinthians 15:52 NLT).

The seven trumpets in Revelation also make clear they play a part in the end time calling.

Rosh Hashanah is the first of the autumn Jewish feasts and begins the “Ten Days of Awe” that lead up to Yom Kippur (“Day of Atonement”). 

A festive meal at the start of the holiday includes eating apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year; dates, that our enemies would be consumed; pomegranate seeds, that we would bear much fruit; eating round hallah, symbolizing the circle of life and the crown of God’s Kingship; and eating a fish or ram’s head, symbolic of being the head and not the tail in the year to come.

Another custom is called Tashlich, which literally means “to cast away” or “to throw away.” This concept comes from Micah 7:19 (NKJV): “He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

This is a time of reflection to think about and repent for sins of the previous year and to determine how one could do better in the coming year. During this ceremony, Jewish people stand by a body of water and symbolically cast their sins into the water.

Holiday Greeting: L’Shanah Tovah U’metuka (“May you have a good and sweet new year!”) and Chag Sameach (“Happy holiday!”).

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN—first as a graduate student in Journalism at Regent University; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. She is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning show, Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly news program providing a biblical and prophetic perspective to what is happening in Israel and the Middle East.

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Biblical Israel: Wilderness of Zin

Posted on October 1, 2024

By Marc Turnage

Many travelers to Israel make the mistaken assumption that the boundaries of the modern State of Israel overlap biblical Israel. Apart from the fact that even within the Bible what constitutes the boundaries of Israel shifts from period to period, the modern State of Israel does not share the same footprint as biblical Israel. 

Biblical Israel extended east of the Jordan River into the area of Gilead. The southern part of modern Israel south of the Beersheva basin, towards the Gulf of Elat, lay outside of biblical Israel; in fact, this area comprised the Wilderness of Zin and Paran. Thus, one can tour the Wilderness of Zin in modern Israel and discuss how Moses sent spies from here into the promised land (Numbers 13:21). 

So, Moses made it into the modern State of Israel, but not inside the boundaries of biblical Israel. What further compounds this confusion is the use of biblical place names within modern Israel that do not refer to the same geographic areas, for example, the Negev. Today, the Negev refers to the land south of the Hebron Hills down to Elat. In the Bible, the Negev refers to the Beersheva basin, which cuts east-west across the central hill country that continues to the south. This can be confusing to the modern traveler to Israel. 

The largest river west of the Jordan River is the Zin River, which extends from the hills south of the Beersheva basin east towards the Jordan Valley. This river does not always run with water, but around Avdat (a Nabatean trading center) springs flow into the Zin year-round. It is fitting that in this area Moses sought water for the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness (Numbers 20). It was here that Moses in his frustration with the people struck the rock to bring water from it rather than speaking to it as God had commanded. 

Because of his disobedience, God did not permit Moses to enter the promised land; he could only look into it from Mount Nebo (Deuteronomy 34). Water was essential in the dry wilderness, yet shepherds, like Moses, often herded their flocks in such inhospitable terrain. The sheep depended upon the shepherd to provide water for them; thus, shepherds became adept at finding water in seemingly waterless wastes. 

The Nabateans, a desert people, who lived in the region in the first century, whose capital was the rose red city of Petra, learned to navigate the desert by sophisticated water collection. Their water reservoirs were known only to them, which enabled them to traverse the harsh dry land and capitalize on the trade routes between Petra and the port-city of Gaza. Avdat, which sits above the Zin Valley, served as one of their stations along these desert trade routes.

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

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Weekly Devotional: Clothe Yourself

Posted on September 30, 2024

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also. In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Colossians 3:12-14 NASB).

Paul outlined for the Colossians what it meant to be a follower of the Lord. What do you notice about his list? Everything pertains to how we treat one another: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. For Paul, the evidence of our relationship with God depends upon how we treat others. 

Paul recognized that the believing community lived in front of a watching world. How could they call their polytheistic family members and neighbors to reject their upbringing, turn to the one true God, and follow Him if their own lifestyles and patterns of behavior did not differ from the world around them? 

The practice of prayer, devotion, worship, singing, Bible study has little value if we do not live with a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love in front of a watching world. 

It’s not about looking different with a list of “do-nots,” but rather—in a world fractured, unkind, arrogant, and unloving—to demonstrate the opposite. A person walking out their life with love and compassion is a faith that cannot be ignored nor denied. We often underestimate the importance our actions play in communicating our faith in God. 

Think for a moment. How would these behaviors that Paul outlined to the Colossians look in our fractured world today? Our world talks about justice and love, yet you cannot have justice without mercy, nor can you have love without forgiveness. Clothe yourselves with love. 

In these verses, Paul used action verbs to describe the expected behaviors of the Colossians. Twice he says, “clothe yourself.” He tells them to “bear with one another” and “forgive.” He expected them to act in this manner. When you get dressed in the morning, you naturally select your clothes and put them on. 

So, too, Paul expected the Colossians to choose these essential behaviors, including love. He did not tell them to pray until they were empowered to do so. Rather, do it. Choose to do it. Love. Be kind and compassionate. Be humble and gentle. Forgive as we have been forgiven.

How differently would our lives look if, every morning, we chose to exhibit the behaviors Paul outlined for the Colossians? How would that impact those around us? We too live in front of a watching world. How will we choose to live? 

PRAYER

Father, may our actions toward others today demonstrate our faith and love in You. May our lives testify to Your truth. Amen.

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The Light Holding Back the Darkness

Posted on September 26, 2024

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Two key facts of past and contemporary history connecting U.S. military personnel and the Israel Defense Forces are well worth mentioning. Israel’s stunning operation in Lebanon between September 17–20 was so brilliant, and frankly unbelievable, that it matched or exceeded 007’s film exploits.

The IDF’s strategy was to weaponize “old school” electronic pagers and walkie-talkies (used only by terrorists) by activating them against leading Hezbollah fanatics and the fighters who used them. The numbers of killed and wounded terrorists are still rising, with speculations and reports blowing up in the media. Realizing that Hezbollah was set to ramp up its hate and terrorist activities against the Jewish nation, Israel’s military intelligence launched a wide scale bombardment of rocket and missile launchers that is now well underway.

Isaac Herzog, president of Israel, revealed that “senior commanders of the Radwan force were in the middle of planning an invasion into northern Galilee.” Radwan is the elite Hezbollah force founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the early 1980s. At the time of last week’s detonation, its 16 Hezbollah leaders were meeting in the same underground room in Beirut. 

One extraordinary fact has materialized: Israel has eliminated terrorist Ibrahim Aqil, one of Hezbollah’s highest-ranking members. In 1983, Aqil helped engineer the U.S. Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 United States military personnel: 220 Marines, eighteen sailors, and three soldiers. Also in 1983, Aqil/Hezbollah bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 17 Americans. In the 41 years that Aqil has been on the run, the United States had a $7 million bounty for information about him.

The Israel Defense Forces have enacted justice for their nation, families, friends, and allies. 

The IDF is one of the bright lights shining amid the darkness of evil hanging over Israel and our world, while the Islamic Regime is fixated on rebuilding a dictatorial global caliphate.

Hezbollah said the so-called pager attack was “a massacre of pagers and radios.” It was not a massacre. It was a defensive act to defeat one of the vilest proxies backed by the Islamic Regime. It is called rightfulness—justice not only for the Americans murdered in 1983, but for the Hamas invasion, kidnappings, and hostage imprisonments (including Americans) in dark, putrid tunnels since October 7, 2023.

Most of the world has lost their bearings when it comes to recognizing the colossal difference between good and evil. The Islamic Regime and its surrogates are medieval in nature, with their beastly character and savage cruelty to victims—both within their own population and against Israel and others. While Iran accuses the IDF of violating international laws of war, the IDF—and the U.S. military—are the most humane fighting forces in the world.

The International Legal Forum (ILF) is composed of 4,000 lawyers in 40 countries who have advocated for Israel in legal battles since the October 7 Hamas massacre. These defenders of Israel combat terror and anti-Semitism in the international legal arena. ILF conducted an analysis about the pager attack. For context, it emphasizes the Hezbollah/Hamas connection as Iranian proxies to destroy Israel: 43 Jews and 12 Druze children in Majdal Shams murdered, and upwards of 100,000 Israelis displaced from the north. The report references United Nations Article 51, and Article 52 of the Geneva Convention agreeing that Israelis have the right to defend their country. Recall that Israel did not begin this war.

Because the electronic equipment was used by Hezbollah for military violations of international law, the IDF operation was targeting only Hezbollah, not civilians. ILF described it as “an extraordinary feat in modern warfare and textbook definition of a precision attack.” Israel used “principles of proportionality and distinction,” which Hamas and Hezbollah violate every time they attack civilians (including Arabs and Palestinians.) Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah had fired more than 8,000 rockets and missiles into Israel, a number that is now dramatically increasing.

Globally, there are so many anti-Israel, anti-Jewish demonstrators at universities, on city streets, and in assemblies to deface buildings and statues of historic value, they attack Jews and glorify terrorists, hatred, and violence. Obviously with no interest in matters of international law, they accept satan’s language of lies rather than God’s language of truths. 

While writing this week’s column, I remembered an exquisite poem written by Hannah Szenes (Senesh), a Hungarian Jewish poetess and playwright. Her contrast between darkness and light inspired me.

“There are stars whose radiance is visible on earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world even though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind.”

I wonder if the poetess was thinking of Genesis 15:5-6, where God promises Abram that His descendants “will be more numerous than the stars in the sky.” And why am I highlighting Hannah, who made Aliyah to Israel in 1939? She became a Zionist in Hungary, then moved to her ancestral homeland. The modern state had not come into being yet. The British—who ruled the country under the British Mandate after World War I through May 14, 1948—called it Palestine. On that day, the biblically correct name Israel replaced Palestine and declared its modern reestablishment.   

The British recruited 32 Jewish volunteers who lived in “Palestine.” Hannah became a Special Operations Executive paratrooper for England during World War II. In a dangerous, clandestine operation, the British army sent these elite paratroopers behind German lines to rescue Hungarian Jews before they could be deported to Auschwitz in 1944. In one of Hannah’s missions, Nazis arrested her at the Hungarian border and discovered the British military transmitter she used to send radio messages via wireless. Imprisoned in Nazi-occupied Hungary, she was tortured for months to reveal the codes used in her transmitter so they could trap the other parachutists. Hannah gave only her name, unwilling to betray her colleagues. Convicted of treason, she was executed by firing squad on November 7, 1944, at the age of 23.

I highlight Hannah because she remains a national treasured Israeli heroine. The songs and poems she wrote, her diary, and her legendary life of self-sacrifice are still remembered. Her remains are buried in the Parachutists section of Israel’s military cemetery on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem. Her tombstone rests in Sdot Yam, the kibbutz where she first lived. Sdot Yam, beautifully situated on the Mediterranean near Haifa, is under threat today.

Hannah is one of the heroic Jewish stars described in her poem. I daresay, the IDF is lighting the way for the free world against the Islamic Regime that wants to steal our freedoms and impose their twisted way of life. Hannah’s “brilliance continues to light the world even though she is no longer among the living.” For the IDF—who now bravely sacrifice their lives—“they light the way for humankind.”

Like Hannah who used her British transmitter to communicate with her team to rescue the Hungarian Jews, the IDF does the same today. They brilliantly used pagers and walkie-talkies to eliminate the evildoers who want to kill them and destroy the world’s only Jewish homeland. Long Live Israel, Am Israel Chai, to Hannah and the modern IDF!

Join our CBN Israel team to pray for Israel during this world-changing war, remembering Psalm 147:4: “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.”

Prayer Points

  • Pray for the IDF as they advance toward Lebanon to enact justice.
  • Pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his security cabinet.
  • Pray for Lebanese Christians living under Hezbollah’s violence.
  • Pray for Israel’s citizens who are now refugees, displaced from their homes.
  • Pray for 500,000 Israelis forced to duck in and out of bomb shelters.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide.  In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.

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