An evening of Jewish dances

Review

Dance Evening in Glauchau

Last week was a first for me. My friend Elisabeth Stiehl, who leads a church congregation in Glauchau together with her husband Thomas, had invited me to a dance evening. It was a real treat for me!!! The poster listed dances from all over the world, but I had prepared myself for Israeli dances. That wasn’t entirely wrong, because the musical styles did indeed come from all over the world. I prayed beforehand that at least 10 to 15 people would come, because it’s no fun to dance circle dances in a tiny group. The Lord answered my prayer. So many people came that the circle of dancers barely fit in the large parish hall. Thank you, Lord Jesus!!!

I began with a presentation of our work at Gateway to Zion. Then I addressed the question: Is it appropriate to dance now, given the situation in Israel? I shared a story from one of our trips to Israel in June ’24. We had the privilege of visiting Kibbutz Be’eri. What we saw there deeply affected us. The devastation from the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, was visible everywhere. Deeply shaken, we drove home. The next morning, we wanted to help out at a soup kitchen. There we met 20 young female soldiers who were singing, dancing, helping out a bit, and were cheerful. When asked how they were doing in this situation of war with Gaza, they replied that they would carry on and keep living. Am Israel Chai—the people of Israel live!!! A motto that has carried Israel through all tribulations.

With that in mind, we got started. We started with the dances. Everyone was focused and joyful. After a break, during which we refueled at the buffet, we moved on to the second round. To the song Hodu la'donai kitov, which translates to Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, we danced a worship dance. I was deeply moved to see the large circle of dancers worshiping our God.

The evening was over far too quickly, and I was immediately invited back for next year. At the end, a woman came up to me and said, “That was the most beautiful way to end the day that she could imagine.” Deeply grateful for God’s grace, I drove home.

Kerstin Kluge