Messianic Times News
The more things change…
After Israel’s most recent election, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—you may remember him—has ended Israel’s political deadlock in the opinion of Times of Israel blogger Sheldon Kirshner. Netanyahu and his coalition secured 64 of the Knesset’s 120...
Apples, awe, honey and the joy of the Lord
Shanah tovah! It’s time once again in Israel and the world to celebrate the birthday of the universe, the day that G-d created Adam and Eve and Rosh Hashanah, the “head” of the Jewish New Year. On the morning following sundown on the eve of Tishrei 1 (September...
Not quite back to normal
Marcia and I only recently began to reengage with ordinary life here in Israel, roughly two years after this country began its experiment with Covid-19, its new and highly-regarded therapies and its legion of mutated cousins, the bugs, you’ll remember, that...
Next year in Sharm el Sheikh
Tourism along the Sinai Peninsula’s Gulf of Aqaba coastline has staged a post-COVID revival of sorts thanks in large part to hordes of Israeli Jews headed in the (historically) wrong direction. This Passover, for example, roughly 3,500 years after leaving en masse,...
The geometric nature of Israeli traffic
Whoever oversees such things in our part of Jerusalem recently began demolition of two iconic traffic circles in our neighborhood. Iconic in the sense that nearly everyone who lives in the area has risked his or her life on them. The circles connect to each...
Was all this really necessary?
A good friend in the States recently reached out and asked me the seemingly innocent question, “What’s up in Israel?” But, in the age of Corona, any inquiry about events in the Land often leads to contention. Politics, religion, Corona. The primary source of...
The time of our joy
2020 may have been the first year since the advent of modern Israel, perhaps since the days of Nehemiah, that Israeli Jews were not allowed to celebrate Sukkot as their hearts desired. “We cannot all be under the sukkah together this year,” blogged The Times of...
The Jerusalem Fire of ’21
Early Sunday afternoon, the light streaming through the window beside my desk changed from a common, pale blue to an eerie golden glow. Coincidentally, or so I thought, my wife had received a snapshot on social media of a huge, stunning and oddly isolated cloud taken...
Ulpan and Tough Love
In Israel, it’s a good idea to get out of the house as least as often as we hold national elections. An opportunity to do so arose for my wife Marcia recently between outbreaks of COVID variants, and she went shopping with a friend. I won’t pretend to...
Above the Iron Dome
A friend, call him Reuben, rang us up from Ashdod a few days ago. Ordinarily, receiving a phone call from 30 miles away would seem unexceptional, but Ashdod was under attack at the time. Hundreds of Hamas missiles had fallen in and around his hometown when...
Sirens sound on Jerusalem Day, 2021
In the past, before and after missile attacks, Israeli civil defense sirens would first send out distinctive variable warning tones, meaning “take cover,” and follow them with a steady, single tone to indicate “all-clear.” But all-clear tones have not been used...
“I will whistle for them”
There is faith and there is unshakeable faith. Renowned Bible teacher Derek Prince once said of scripture, “Every word of it is true.” The creation story, the flood, the prophet Elijah’s ascension to heaven in a flaming chariot and Zechariah’s apocalyptic...