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Arab Pastor Seeks to Overcome Racial Tensions with Cross-Cultural Outreach

Based on past conflicts, many feared that with the Hamas atrocities of October 7, and then Israel’s strikes on Gaza, racial tensions between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens would follow.

Yet so far, those attacks haven’t happened. One reason is due to people like Saleem Shalash, the Arab pastor of Home of Jesus the King Church in Nazareth, who focuses on being a peacemaker.

“We are trying all the time to build bridges between Arabs and Jews. And especially during these times that hatred is spreading all over, we try to be light in darkness…by taking action and showing the love of Jesus,” Shalash told CBN Israel.

Unfortunately, when Arab Christians help Israeli Jews, they are often viewed with suspicion on all sides. Despite being a minority of minorities in Israel, Shalash has always geared his humanitarian aid distribution to anyone in need—including Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

So, when Israelis fleeing war zones began arriving in nearby Nof Hagalil, the mayor turned to Shalash to help equip the nearly 1,000 evacuees being housed in the city’s hotels. Many arrived with little during the hot weather. Now, with the cold winter temperatures, they need warmer clothing. And they have no income—their jobs are back home. Where could they turn?

Thankfully, friends like you were there. Through CBN Israel, donors partnered with Shalash to buy them new coats, boots, and other items. Even more moving to victims like Yehonatan is that an Arab ministry, joined with Christians, helped them. He shares, “It has touched our hearts at this difficult time, despite the terrible horrors… There is also a good side, and it is amazing.”

Your gifts to CBN Israel can offer hot meals, housing, and crucial aid to more war victims—plus give ongoing relief to seniors and families in desperate need.

Please join us in reaching out to those who have been devastated by the war!

GIVE TODAY

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Biblical Israel: Qumran

By Marc Turnage

Located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about seven miles south of Jericho and twenty miles north of Ein Gedi, sits the ruins of Qumran. Eleven caves around Qumran yielded, arguably, the most important archaeological discovery of the twentieth century: the Dead Sea Scrolls. The current name, Qumran, comes from the Arabic word qamar (“moon”), so it was not its ancient name, which remains unknown. Some have suggested that it may be Secacah (Joshua 15:61-62). 

In 1947, in a cave just north of the ruins of Qumran, Bedouin shepherds discovered seven leather scrolls hidden inside. This set off the frantic search by scholars and Bedouin alike to discover more caves and scrolls. Around Qumran, eleven caves were discovered between 1952-1956 that contained scrolls. The discovery of scrolls in the caves around Qumran led archaeologists to excavate the ruins of Qumran in 1951 and from 1953-1956. 

The library of scrolls discovered in the eleven caves yielded approximately 30,000 fragments of scrolls, comprising about 1,000 manuscripts written on leather, papyrus, and one on copper, in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The library proves incredibly important for our understanding of the text of the Old Testament, as well as ancient Judaism, the Judaism of the first century. 

Every book of the Old Testament, except for Esther, was discovered among the Qumran library. The most copied books were Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah, which are also the three Old Testament books most frequently quoted in the New Testament. The library also contained non-biblical works written by Jews from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D., with a unique collection of writings belonging to the Jewish sect that lived at Qumran, a group most scholars identify as the Essenes, which are mentioned by several ancient writers. 

Most scholars identify the ruins of Qumran as belonging to a group of Essenes. The site consists of rooms, which have been identified as a scriptorium, where the community members copied the scrolls, a dining room, which is the longest room at the site and had a pantry filled with bowls, plates, and cups. The site also contains pottery kilns, water reservoirs, as well as several large communal Jewish ritual immersion baths. 

The site, which sits in a dry, desert climate, used a series of dams and water channels to bring water from the nearby wadi, which flooded during the winter rains. The dams and channels ensured that water flowed into the settlement and filled the water installations. 

The discovery of the scrolls significantly advanced our understanding of the text of the Old Testament, as well as the world of ancient Judaism, which is the world of 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

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Weekly Devotional: What Are You Saying?

“The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom; his tongue speaks what is just. The instruction of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter” (Psalm 37:30-31 HCSB).

Our modern world has provided each of us with a variety of platforms to communicate and let ourselves be heard. Our age of social media offers an opportunity for us to comment, share, and express our opinions, thoughts, and feelings. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

Our ease of communication, having a platform to share our thoughts, has not typically made us better communicators. It certainly hasn’t made us better listeners. Rather, our words can often deepen divides between us; they do not always display wisdom or justice.

The psalmist identified a righteous person based upon what comes out of their mouth: wisdom and justice. You can tell a lot about a person by what they say.

The psalmist continues that the righteous have God’s law in their hearts. Our words give evidence to what is in our hearts. If God’s law resides in us, then our words will reflect wisdom and justice. If they do not, then people can rightly question what lies in our hearts.

If, however, we hold the law of God in our hearts, we can have the confidence that our steps will not falter. How do we place God’s law in our hearts? By studying it. Thinking about it. Implementing what we have learned. Controlling our words and behaviors.

It doesn’t just happen. It requires reliance upon the Holy Spirit along with conscious effort and discipline.

Spiritual growth, like growth in any area of our lives, requires discipline, effort, and choices to obey and follow through, even when we don’t feel like it. 

The Bible connects our relationship with God to our behaviors and our words. They testify to what’s in our hearts; they exhibit whether or not we have internalized His law in our hearts.

Living for God means that we choose to bring every thought, feeling, word, and action under His rule to reflect wisdom and justice.

PRAYER

Father, keep our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking guile, and let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight. Amen.

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International Holocaust Remembrance Day and October 7

By Julie Stahl

Today, January 27, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year, that day marks the 78th anniversary of the 1945 Liberation of Auschwitz. But on October 7, 2023—what many are calling the deadliest day since the Holocaust—Israel experienced the unthinkable.

Thousands of Hamas terrorists broke through Israel’s defenses by air, land, and sea in multiple locations along its southern border with Gaza. In several communities the killing and devastation were so complete, Israeli archaeologists were called in to employ equipment and techniques—methods normally used for antiquities—to sift through the ashes to find human remains.

The hatred motivating all this was clear. Senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad claimed that his organization’s actions were totally justified. 

“We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Muslim and Islamic nation and must be finished,” said Hamad in an interview. He asserted that they would replicate the attack again and again until Israel was wiped out. 

About three weeks after the October 7 attacks, Palestinian activist and terror supporter Ahed Tamimi called for the murder of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. 

“We are waiting for you in all the West Bank cities from Hebron to Jenin—we will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke,” she threatened in an Instagram post. “We will drink your blood and eat your skull.” 

The massive, multi-pronged attack sent Israel reeling and plunged the Jewish state into a war against the Iranian proxy in Gaza. Another Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, joined almost immediately—launching rockets at northern Israel and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis from the north. 

At first the world was shocked by the Hamas massacre, but shortly thereafter a wave of pro-Hamas sentiments and anti-Semitism swept the world. 

However, in the midst of all the horrors, Israelis rose up immediately to fight Hamas and provide for the tens of thousands made homeless due to the war. 

There were many heroic stories from that day, like that of Yedidia Harush, who was part of the 11- man security team from the community of Shlomit, less than five miles from Gaza. The neighboring community of Pri Gan called for their help when Hamas attacked. 

“We got a phone call for our security team from a family from Pri Gan … and he said that outside his house, there were 12 terrorists,” Harush told CBN News. 

“Immediately, the security team got into the cars and drove to Pri Gan,” he said. 

“For two hours, there was a heroic battle of the first-response team with the 12 terrorists. They had special tool kits to open bomb shelters. They wanted to open the shelters and basically massacre the entire community, and then go to the next community and the next community,” Harush explained. 

As the Israeli security team got the upper hand, the terrorists ran away. Sadly, while Pri Gan suffered no losses and the surrounding communities were saved, four of their rescuers were killed in the fight. 

Many others also banded together immediately to help. Restaurant owners prepared thousands of hot meals at their own expense and sent them to reservists as they were called up to go into Gaza. 

Jewish and Christian groups—including CBN Israel—joined together to provide food, water, shelter, trauma counseling, and other essentials for terror victims and war zone evacuees. 

And of course, millions and millions of Christians around the world prayed and gave generously. 

Police commander Roy Valdman, who oversees 850 officers in an area that was attacked by Hamas, believes that despite the shock of October 7, Israel will overcome. 

“Israel is strong—the army, the police—we’re strong, we’ll prevail, we will win. … We can defend our people because there’s nowhere to go,” Valdman said. 

He warned the West that the battle against Hamas is the battle against terrorism—that fighting ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Hezbollah isn’t just Israel’s problem. 

“No one wants to live next to an enemy like that. It’s a terror organization—it can hurt you in a heartbeat, and not just hurt you; it wants to butcher you and kill you,” Valdman said. 

Nevertheless, he is convinced that Israel will rise up as it did after the Holocaust. 

“For us, no other time since the Holocaust, after 6 million of our Jewish family were murdered, did we say never again. So, for us, it’s never again.”

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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CBN Israel Partners with Center that Creates a Sense of Family and Changes Lives for Elderly Israelis

By Nicole Jansezian

With his family in South Africa and a minimal grasp of Hebrew, Gershon Brodovcky spent 18 years living in Nof Hagalil feeling isolated until a social worker encouraged him to check out the Alma Center.

“It changed my life,” Gershon, 73, told CBN Israel. “I can’t put it to words.”

Now Gershon is thriving. He found a place where he can build relationships and practice cultivating bonsai plants—an expertise of his that he had to give up when he moved to his small apartment.

Alma, an organization which CBN Israel supports on a monthly basis, serves dozens of elderly Israelis—including Holocaust survivors—in the city of Nof Hagalil in the Galilee region.

“It helps so much to give this type of support. Many organizations donate twice a year or just at the holidays,” said Dmitry Schneidmann, who oversees CBN Israel’s programs for Holocaust survivors and the elderly. “I believe it is important to be a monthly partner, especially in peripheral areas such as this.”

Each month, CBN Israel covers the costs of hot meals for participants and delivery to others who are homebound and cannot make it to the center. CBN Israel has also donated one-time gifts for kitchen renovations and for new equipment whether ovens or refrigerators in the homes of some of the beneficiaries.

Throughout the week, 150 elderly people come to Alma. A bus picks them up in the morning. They arrive to a full breakfast followed by all sorts of activities from art to lectures, music, gardening, and more. The participants learn how to use computers and apps on smartphones. Of course, they also have a chance to socialize and eat a hot meal before they go home.

But most importantly, Alma has cultivated a sense of family, said Miri Koren Yavich, director of the center. 

“This is a natural medicine,” Miri told CBN Israel. “Here they have family, activities, and friends. It’s their home. I know them well and can tell if they’re having a good day or a bad day just by their face, their smile.”

The alternative, Miri explained, is sitting at home alone in front of a TV. 

“They can’t cook, they can’t do their own shopping so at least after a day at Alma, all they have to do is go home and enjoy their evening,” Miri said. 

During the war, the center had to close for the first few weeks. After they got permission to reopen, Miri feared many would be too scared to leave their homes. 

It was the opposite. 

“They didn’t just come back, they ran back,” Miri said.

Many of the participants are Holocaust survivors. There is also a large population of new immigrants making for a variety of languages peppering the center including Russian, Spanish, Romanian, and English. They recently established a club for new immigrants from the tribe of Menashe—Jews from India.

Alma welcomes all citizens of Israel—Jews, Muslims, and Christians—without regard to nationality or religion. At the center, they celebrate the different cultures through events and festivals focusing on the food and traditions of the various groups represented. 

Dmitry said Alma acts as a natural absorption center for these immigrants who get a chance to deepen their understanding of Jewish traditions and integrate into Israeli society better than if they were stuck at home.

“As an immigrant myself, I understand the importance of this,” he said. 

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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Fighting Against Information Warfare On Behalf of Israel

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Anti-Israel individuals and institutions continue to widely disseminate false information as fact. AI’s timely use is escalating propaganda by turning words into weapons that act like a dangerous mind-altering drug—one that is already manipulating millions of minds globally. 

Israel is not only fighting for its existence on land, sea, and air. It is also fighting the information warfare of lies—a formidable barrage that is poisoning opinions on a global scale. As we approach International Holocaust Remembrance Day—January 27—the Iran-backed October 7 massacre is now seared into Jewish minds and hearts. The World War II Holocaust and the genocidal purposes of Hamas were inseparably iron-clad on October 7, 2023.

Incredibly, suggestions of a two-state solution—whether voiced by the United States, Europe, or Arab countries—are emerging. Everyone must realize that Israel has no peace partner with Hamas nor with the Palestinian Authority. As Khaled Mashal, a senior Hamas official, bluntly exclaimed on January 20, “We are not interested in a two-state solution… there should be only one state, a Palestinian state, from the river to the sea, and from the north of Israel to its south.” 

The Hamas founding charter has not changed: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them.” And as former Prime Minister Golda Meir so eloquently stated: “You cannot negotiate peace with someone who has come to kill you.”

During the Nazis’ genocidal Holocaust (Shoah), the regime murdered 6 million Jews—long before AI existed. It only required Hitler’s satanic mind, occupied with evil, to hypnotize Germans through media run by his Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels was skillfully mentored by Hitler, who observed: “Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.” 

In fact, much of the world did not know the extent of evil until General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered photographic evidence of the concentration camps and survivors when liberated in 1945. Eisenhower explained, “The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. … I made the visit deliberately to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’” 

After Eisenhower and the Allies encountered tens of thousands of Jewish prisoners who survived, the forward-thinking general directed General George C. Marshall to bring members of the U.S. Congress and media to see for themselves. They came, they wrote, and they published the photos. Almost 80 years later, despite the evidence, Holocaust denial and/or its twisted versions grew acceptable over time. 

Lamentably, the same phenomenon is happening with Israel today. Hundreds of media giants, international leaders, and members of the U.S. Congress—too many are believing the outrageous lie that Hamas did not invade Israel on October 7, 2023. Despite massive amounts of evidence from Hamas itself, the unthinkable reverse is true: Israel is actually being blamed for instigating the attacks.

As a past example, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, completed his dissertation in 1982 in the former Soviet Union. He titled his doctoral thesis “The relationship between Zionists and Nazis, 1933-1945.” This piece of fiction alleged that Nazis and Zionists shared a close connection about racial superiority: Aryan for the Nazis, Jewish for the Zionist. Abbas accused Jews in pre-state Israel of collaborating with Nazis in the Holocaust. Today, warped narratives like these motivate minds filled with the mind-altering drug of hatred. 

Propaganda proliferates from governments, saboteurs, mainstream media, the United Nations, and demonstrators busy writing another sinister chapter of Jew hatred that resurfaced just a few days after October 7, 2023. One of the most shocking and offensive lies is that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Unlike General Eisenhower’s order for photographs after the fact of the Holocaust, Nazi-like Hamas triumphantly took photos of its brutality in real time on October 7 with their body cams and the mobile phones stolen from Jewish victims. They have provided the world with tangible proof as to who the aggressors were.

It is my prayer that as you read the next story you will use it as a reality check to determine just who is genocidal. Pass it on to uninformed family, friends, and churches: 

Last week mainstream media outlet CNN reported the confession of a Hamas terrorist who tried to sell the head of a decapitated IDF soldier for $10,000. Yes—from the terrorist who cut off Cpl. Adir Tahar’s head, stuffed it in his backpack, and returned to Gaza planning to make money. 

That CNN itself reported this atrocity should grab the attention of Jew haters as a fact about the depths of evil manifesting in Hamas’s minds. CNN had also aired October 7 footage taken by the terrorists as they sawed the necks of dead Israelis.

Adir Tahar’s family story unfolded with David Tahar, father of the 19-year-old soldier who was murdered on October 7 when he faced the Hamas terrorists. He said that Adir’s body was confirmed by DNA tests and his identity tags. At Adir’s burial on Israel’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, David insisted on seeing his son in the coffin

The bereaved dad then experienced what he called “a miracle” after spending two months watching endless hours of Hamas’s massacre videos, which saboteurs proudly posted on social media. David had identified his son’s body, and when captured later, the vicious terrorist gave the location of an ice cream store where he had put Adir’s head in a bag inside a freezer. 

An elite IDF unit, backed up by tanks, entered central Gaza and retrieved Adir’s head, which was also abused. DNA and dental records verified Adir’s identity. It is unimaginable what the IDF unit experienced themselves and even more profoundly Adir’s father as he suffered through a second burial. To think that Israeli Defense Forces, the most humane army in the world, is conducting genocide against Gazans or anyone is 100 percent irrational.

If history is an accurate indicator, the genocide label and other lies against Israel will continue. Nevertheless, amid the current information warfare it remains essential that we in the evangelical community do our part to pass on facts. Truth-telling, part of our own spiritual DNA, is birthed in Old and New Testaments and passed on to us through the Jews under God’s inspiration. 

If you wish to take part in a volunteer action, the Arolsen Archives invites you to volunteer for #everynamecounts to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 now or in the future. Click here to choose which topic you wish to digitize. It takes only five minutes to complete one document. 

May we be motivated like never before to fight against information warfare on behalf of Israel and her people. Our CBN Israel team welcomes you to join us in prayer this week meditating on Proverbs 12:22, “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in people who are trustworthy.” 

Prayer Points

  • Pray that Christians will be motivated to share facts about Israel frequently.
  • Pray that the IDF will finally discover the remaining hostages’ whereabouts.
  • Pray that families know that IDF is doing everything possible to locate their family members.  
  • Pray that Israeli Jews and Jews worldwide receive blessings from our genuine prayers and assistance.

Arlene Bridges Samuels pioneered Christian outreach for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). After she served nine years on AIPAC’s staff, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as Outreach Director part-time for their project, American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel and has traveled to Israel since 1990. She co-edited The Auschwitz Album Revisited and is on the board of Violins of Hope South Carolina. By invitation, Arlene attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits. She also hosts her devotionals, The Eclectic Evangelical, on her website at ArleneBridgesSamuels.com.

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Easing Loneliness for Holocaust Survivors

They escaped a world that was hunting them down. Since the Second World War, Israel has been a haven for multitudes of Jewish people who survived the Holocaust. But those who managed to live through that huge battle are now facing new challenges as they continue to grow older. 

As of last year, there are approximately 147,000 Holocaust survivors residing in Israel. Many of these vulnerable seniors are living at or below the poverty line—and struggle to keep up with ever-rising costs for medications, groceries, and rent. Some grapple to understand Hebrew, making it hard to connect with others, get necessities, and navigate a complex bureaucracy.

And 40 percent of survivors deal with crushing loneliness. They have lost many friends and loved ones who have passed, and struggle to cope with the isolation that affects both their physical and mental health. 

But friends like you are there for these precious seniors. Donors enable CBN Israel to partner with the Jewish Agency to offer a vital program that matches Holocaust survivors with caring young adults. They provide training and college scholarships for their volunteer commitment. 

And they offer these elderly survivors vital companionship, while helping them with errands, chores, and accessing benefits, services, and community activities that enrich their quality of life. 

For example, Anna, an active 91-year-old Holocaust survivor whose entire family was murdered, was teamed in a special friendship with Leah, a graduate student. Anna says, “We talk about all the issues of the world… I can always rely on Leah.” She adds, “When Leah comes to visit me, the room is filled with so much light!” 

Leah concurs, “I always say, Anna has become like family to me. I feel so privileged to know her and to be there for her when she needs me. Plus, I have learned so much from Anna’s wealth of wisdom and life experience.” Leah plans to stay in touch with Anna after she completes her master’s degree. 

This is just one of the many ways you can bless Holocaust survivors through CBN Israel. And as the war with Hamas continues, you can also reach out to others in dire need—including terror victims and displaced families—with food, clothing, and shelter, and letting them know they are not alone.

Please join us in offering tangible help and hope during this dark hour for Israel.

GIVE TODAY

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Biblical Israel: Chorazin

By Marc Turnage

Located two and a half miles north of Capernaum, Chorazin sits in the hills overlooking the lake of Galilee at 45-46 meters above sea level and 267-273 meters above the lake. Although only mentioned once in the Gospels (Matthew 11:21-24; Luke 10:13-16), Jesus cursed the village for not repenting when seeing the miracles he worked in its midst. He cursed Chorazin, along with Capernaum and Bethsaida. Incidentally, the land between these three villages, on the north shore of the lake of Galilee, covers much of the territory of Jesus’ ministry recorded in the Gospels. 

The distance of Chorazin from the lake meant that it did not participate directly in the fishing industry on the lake. We learn from rabbinic literature that Chorazin produced exceptional wheat. Excavations of the site reveal that the village, which began in the first century A.D., was a Jewish village.

The majority of the ruins one sees when visiting Chorazin today date from after the first century, but they reflect Jewish village life in the Galilee. The central structure from the later village is the synagogue. Built perhaps as early as the third century A.D., the basalt structure resembles the Galilean style synagogues excavated at places like Capernaum, Bar’am, Meiron, and Arbel. 

The synagogue sits in the center of the village. Worshippers entered the hall through three entrances from a large staircase on the south, which faces towards Jerusalem. Two tiers of benches line the two long aisles and the short wall opposite the entrance in a “U” shape. Inside the synagogue, the basalt stone, which is hard to fashion, bears carvings and decorations. 

Excavators uncovered pieces of what appears to be a Torah Ark, where biblical scrolls read in the synagogue were kept. They also discovered a basalt stone seat, which was known as the Seat of Moses (see Matthew 23:1-2; Luke 4:20). The chair bears a dedicatory inscription in Aramaic, which reads, “Remember for good Yudan son of Ishmael, who made (or donated) this stoa, and its steps from his property. May he have a portion with the righteous.” Recent excavations in the floor of this synagogue indicate that it may stand on an earlier public building, perhaps the first century synagogue. 

Although the ruins of Chorazin that one sees today date to after the first century, the site contains a number of features in the homes, installations, like a covered Jewish ritual immersion bath, and details within the synagogue that help to illustrate stories from the Gospels and the life and ministry of 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: The Quantity of Forgiveness

“Then Peter came up and said to Him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:21-22 RSV).

Peter came to Jesus asking how often he should forgive his brother, offering up to seven times. Jesus responded by multiplying Peter’s seven seventy-fold. Not once. Not twice. But seventy times seven. 

Forgiveness is hard. It’s not easy. 

To underscore his message to Peter, Jesus told a parable in which a servant owed a king an impossible debt, which, when the servant besought him for mercy, the king forgave.

Yet, after being forgiven such an incredible debt, the servant found a fellow servant who owed him a rather small debt. Instead of responding mercifully to his fellow servant’s pleas for mercy, the first servant had him thrown into prison. 

The king, when he became aware of the first servant’s actions, had him thrown in prison for not being merciful to his fellow servant. He had not shown mercy toward one like himself. In fact, the king (God) judged him because of his failure to show mercy. 

We like God forgiving us. Yet, according to Jesus, if our forgiveness from God does not lead us to forgive others, then we stand to face God’s unmerciful justice. 

Elsewhere Jesus said, “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:2 NIV). If we judge without mercy, we will be judged without mercy.

If we show no mercy, we will receive no mercy: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7 NKJV).

If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV).

We cannot seek pardon from the Lord for ourselves and not be willing to extend it to others, including our enemies. That’s hard.

But think of the statement that it makes in our world. When we forgive others, we actually unleash God’s power in the world. We partner with God in bringing His redemption into people’s lives when we forgive them, even forgiving them seventy times seven. 

PRAYER

Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors. Amen.

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CBN Israel Helps Provide Wartime Support for Evacuees Who Have Children with Disabilities

By Nicole Jansezian

Shalva—the national center for people with disabilities in Jerusalem—was already bursting at the seams, but after the October 7 massacre, the organization established a national crisis center and opened its doors to evacuees from around Israel. 

“We always think we’re at capacity and then new programs come along and, somehow, we always find a way to make it work,” Director of Development Gaby Hirsch told CBN Israel.

Long before the war, CBN Israel supported Shalva, which receives 1,000 children with disabilities on a daily basis for a variety programs from birth through young adulthood. But when Shalva welcomed hundreds more after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, CBN Israel also expanded its support to Shalva in order to aid the wartime effort.

“CBN has become significant partners in Shalva and now, in time of war, they’ve upped the ante and continued to help us in the most meaningful and significant ways,” said Kalman Samuels, Shalva’s president and founder.

Among its many wartime initiatives, Shalva provided housing to an entire boarding school of at-risk teenage girls and the staff after their kibbutz—which overlooks the Gaza Strip—became a military zone. 

Then, Shalva created an essential daily program for evacuees who have children with special needs. Placed temporarily in Jerusalem hotels—and without therapies and their normal routine—the children were climbing the walls at these hotels. Being able to come to Shalva for therapies and organized activities was a godsend for these parents. 

“Shalva’s role has been a game changer for these families,” said Nicky Cregor, a Jerusalem Municipality social worker responsible for assimilating evacuated children with special needs into local frameworks. “A whole network was set up with over a hundred children who are coming to Shalva, enjoying the amazing resources here.”

In addition, Shalva allowed the residents of Naveh—an entire community evacuated from near the Gaza border to a Jerusalem hotel—to use their meeting facilities as classrooms so that Naveh’s elementary school girls could continue their education uninterrupted. 

“Fortunately enough, we had Shalva right next door open their doors, open their hearts, and let us in,” Zion Leshem, a Naveh resident, told CBN Israel. “Whatever we need, they are here for us as a community that’s been displaced and evacuated and we know that our basic needs are met.” 

Gaby said that Shalva stands ready to take in more people if need be. 

“We already have hundreds of people who are staying here and that we are servicing—some are sleeping here and some are using the facilities—but this is all here ready in case we have to bring up thousands more evacuees,” Hirsch said pointing to mattresses and other equipment stored in the warehouse.

Kalman said it is amazing to see how traumatized people have “come to life” after a few weeks of receiving the care and a warm welcome that Shalva provided. 

“For donors of CBN, I can only say that for every dollar you want to put toward a humanitarian cause that is not just touching lives, but is impacting and changing lives, this is one of those places.”  

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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