THE Best of The Messianic Times Messianic Times Serving the International Messianic Jewish Community TRILOGY Vol. 27 Number 5 September/October 2017—Elul 5777-Tishri/Cheshvan 5778 messianictimes.com Canada/US $5 volume 2 Perspective on the Past Offers Hope for the Future Perspective is something acquired over time. As believers we are constantly examining history, taking stock of current situations and prayerfully setting direction for the future. This is true for movements as well. These days there is much discussion concerning the future of Messianic Judaism and the possibility of how things will look in another 25 years. More and more there are congre- and witness what He is doing today, so gations and ministries celebrating the that we may direct our steps toward faithful contributions of leaders now the fulfillment of His future plan. retired or those who have gone on to Looking back, one cannot help be with the Lord. Successors to familiar but note the growth in the number faces are now blessed with the opportunity of Messianic congregations that are to hold the banner high as the lore and sprinkled not only across the United legend of the early days of the Messi- States, but throughout Israel, Europe, anic movement are passed on—l’dor South and Central America as well as vador—from generation to generation. the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. Shared remembrances shimmer as We are struck by the growing number they are retold with relish, like the of opportunities to pursue under-graduate, exodus of Passover or the challenges post-graduate and seminary programs faced by Yeshua’s disciples in the Book for Jewish and Gentle believers to acquire of Acts. Todays’ young believers learn the education essential to create worthy how the Lord worked in the lives of and informed leaders. many thousands of young Jews in the The ongoing explosion of anointed late ’60s and early ’70s; and how those Messianic music continues in each hippies and seekers went on to have ensuing generation—from the litur- families whose children have accepted gically attuned, to rock and hip-hop the baton and now lead congregations aficionados, to breakout artists whose of their own. global beats and instrumentation The Messianic Times is blessed to bear an unmistakable Middle Eastern have recorded so much of the history thumb print. Inspired by the words of of this miraculous movement. Looking the Scriptures, there continues to be back over the milestones of these past an ever-evolving musical component decades offers a unique perspective as we to this movement, a tradition that marvel at what God has set in motion Continued on page 3 PALM DESERT,CA PALM PERMIT #149 PERMIT PAID US POSTAGE US NON-PROFIT ORG. NON-PROFIT PromisedLand Tears as Russian Jews Leave for Israel by William Isaacovitch I will say to the north, “Give them up!” and to the south, “Do not hold them back. Bring your sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”—Isaiah 43:6 THE BLACK SEA. Passing into the Twenty-three exhausted volunteers darkness of the Black Sea, on a four day from Africa, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, voyage toward the Israeli port of Haifa, New Zealand, Singapore, Germany, the passengers knew they could never Belarus, the Ukraine and the U.S. put in forget Odessa. Odessa—the run-down weeks of hard labor because of their love Ukrainian city where 75 per cent of the for the Jewish people. population live below poverty level; While standing on the lower deck where the average monthly allowance for of the ship Katrin Breit, 19, a volunteer seniors is about $30 U.S. Odessa, where from East Germany says, “I always loved food is ever scarce and oppression ever the Jewish people because I knew they present; Odessa, where the air is filled were God's chosen people. But now I with the stench of latent communism. even have a greater love for them because Does communism still exist in Odessa? I am here with them, helping them and Some say it never really left. being a part of Bible prophecy fulfilled.” Children, parents, grandparents and The Jews who were immigrating to friends were weeping, some wailing, as Israel had made their way from all over they bade final farewells to relatives and the Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and Ar- friends as the ship pulled from the dock. menia by train and car, and then were The tearful exodus betrayed unspoken picked up by Ebenezer volunteers. fears: Would they see their loved ones Ebenezer (Hebrew for “stone of ever again? Would the ones left behind help”) was established by Swiss-born Caption: Holocaust survivor Vladimir and his wife Dora on the Ebenezer ship bound for Israel. leave “The Land of the North” and make businessman Gustav Scheller at the Vladimir displays his concentration camp identification number tattoo. it to the promised homeland? Would the height of the 1991 Gulf War. Scheller says iron curtain and doors of the former Soviet God spoke to him during an intercessory Union re-close, once again locking in Jews? prayer conference in Jerusalem with these It took an entire day to load the 366 words, “Now is the time to start helping passengers and their belongings aboard My people return from the Land of the the 25-year-old vessel. North.” Weeks before, Ebenezer volunteers Scheller sponsored three Jewish who give a minimum three month com- Agency air flights from Budapest, mitment, were a cheerful and willing Hungary and Warsaw, Poland, flying 720 bunch as they traipsed up and down Russian Jews to Tel Aviv, in the summer apartment building stairs moving fur- of 1991. niture and belongings for the Jewish Then God began speaking to Scheller people who would board the ship. They about using a ship to transport them and packed the immigrants’ belongings in December 1991 and early 1992, the into crates and transported them to the Greek vessel, Mediterranean Sky, made Odessa harbor. three voyages from Odessa to Haifa, car- Everything they owned—beds, tables, rying 1,400 olim (new immigrants). pianos, household belongings, were In 1993, a Ukrainian ship, the Dimi- stowed below the ship or lugged up the try Shostakovitch, was chartered and still gangplank by Christian volunteers and continues these “Aliyah” voyages. Now it then taken to individual cabins either up was making its 59th trip. Ebenezer sails or down two and three flights of stairs. twelve times per year beginning in March Faye Wicks, a staff member of The when the waters are easy to travel and Messianic Times, came to Odessa to wit- ending with the cold of December. ness this modem-day exodus. The “prophetic voyages” are expensive Two young men brought her from costing $500 to transport each person. the airport to the Ebenezer Emergency This covers everything from moving Fund base. their belongings, accommodations and “That was an experience,” says Wicks. travel expenses. “I wasn’t prepared for the culture shock. I While the voyages are taking place, felt like I was in a time warp-somewhere other Ebenezer volunteers are telling around the year 1920. The airport was Jewish people throughout the Ukraine deserted, the runways were unkempt, and parts of the former Soviet Union to full of holes and bumps, and it seemed flee to their homeland. as though everyone was from the KGB.” One volunteer was surprised that Through the efforts of Ebenezer, many Ukrainian Jews don't want to leave. Wicks witnessed prophecy fulfilled. “I “The morning we left the base in was moved as I stood and watched six Odessa, we drove through the city and Christian men carrying a stretcher up the passed an Orthodox synagogue. I saw the gangplank and into the ship," says Wicks. men wearing their kippas standing in the “On the stretcher lay an elderly Jewish parking lot talking, and I couldn't under- lady—80 years old—whose leg had been stand why they would want to stay when broken for some time and had not reset. all these non-religious Jews were so desperate “The Bible tells us that they (the Gen- to leave this poverty stricken place for tiles) will carry them on their shoulders their homeland, Israel." bringing them back into The Land,” Wicks Although in the Promised Land, continues. “The woman was in a lot of many Israelis are frustrated with immi- pain and was crying as they set the stretch- gration policies. "They have brought with er on the floor. Some of the volunteers them the Russian mafia and prostitution, went over to her and prayed for her. She and some areas where the Russians live reported the next morning that she’d slept have turned into ghetto-like slums,” explains very peacefully and with no pain.” Galit, a woman from Tel Aviv. Landing at the port of Haifa, immigrants walk down the gangplank onto Israeli soil. 2 The Messianic Times September/October 2017 PromisedLand Continued from previous page An elderly woman is carried in her wheelchair onto a ship heading to Israel. One Ukrainian Jew, Egor, who made aliyah, a year ago, returned to Odessa for his fiancé who was with him on Ebenezer's ship. He was upset that many of those on board in his estimation weren't really Jews. Of course the biggest question in Israel is “Who is a Jew?” Standing on the deck of the ship as it was passing Instanbul, Turkey, Egor said in broken English, "Probably one third are not really Jews. The Jewish Agency in the Ukraine is giving them visas if they have just one great grandpar- ent who was a Jew and that is illegal according to Israeli law.