Comfort, comfort my people - with Mr and Mrs Kluge in Israel

Review

There we were again, after six months, at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. Our suitcases full of gifts and the words in our hearts: "Comfort, comfort my people! Speak kindly to Jerusalem." Isa. 40:1 This time there were not just two of us, but our good friends Heinrich and Christoph had joined us. On the plane we met two women who were heading for the same destination, namely the Father's house on the Mount of Olives. A house of prayer that had once been founded by the Sisters of Mary. We travelled to Jerusalem by train. There we were greeted by terrible weather, 6 degrees, wind and heavy rain. We had never experienced Israel like this before. There were 9 of us in the house of prayer with Christians from all parts of Germany. Every morning and every evening we had intensive times of worship and prayer. Of course, we also visited our long-time friend Yosef, a survivor of the Shoah, in his favourite restaurant Bezalel. He will be 90 years old in May!!! On Shabbat we went to Christ Church, which is run by the two elderly Berger brothers. There we were able to take part in an impressive Messianic service. Afterwards, we met up with Anna, a young woman from Leipzig who is currently doing a voluntary year in Israel. We ate falafel, strolled through the beautiful alleyways of the old town and prayed together in the Father's House. The second stage of our journey began the next day. We picked up our hire car and drove to Haifa. Dr Avishai Goltz and his wonderful wife Chava were already waiting for us there. As always, the table "bent" under the most delicious dishes and we were enveloped in warm and loving hospitality. After a few hours that flew by, we made our way to Ashkelon, where we moved into our holiday flat on the 18th floor in the dark. The next morning, we were amazed at the breathtaking view over the sea. But we didn't have much time to linger because we were called to work in the soup kitchen. We from the Gate to Zion organisation have been supporting this kitchen financially for almost two years now and I was very excited to see what awaited us in Sderot. When we arrived, we were greeted by wonderful smells, steam and loud music. Nobody in the kitchen really knew we were coming, even though we had registered. That didn't matter at all. The chef, a woman who cooks voluntarily once a week, showed us around and proudly showed us the dishes of the day. It was incredible what was prepared in this small kitchen. Every day 70 portions are cooked. It was bubbling, bubbling and steaming everywhere. We were needed to peel the potatoes. So we set to work and peeled mountains of potatoes. At lunchtime, the poorest of the poor arrived. A buffet was set up and the guests were allowed to take as much as they wanted. We learnt that for some it was their only meal and also their only social contact of the day. The leftovers from the buffet were filled into napkins and could be collected by needy families in the afternoon. For the next three days, we came into the kitchen every morning. We chopped, stirred, stamped, washed up and did all the work that had to be done. We mostly communicated with our hands and feet because hardly anyone spoke English. It was wonderful to be among the Jewish people. Rivka, an orthodox Jewish woman who is responsible for some social projects, invited us to her home to celebrate the festival of trees Tu biSchevat with her. A wonderful evening. One afternoon we had an appointment with Sharon, a woman from Kibbutz Magen. She was waiting for us and took us to a small hill, the only one in the area. From there we had a wide view over the land. Then she told us the story of 7 October. A guard was standing on the hill in the morning and suddenly saw motorbikes and lorries approaching the kibbutz. He immediately called the leader of the guard group, an old colonel with war experience. Even before the other members of the guard group had arrived on the scene, the old colonel drove towards the terrorists, who had blown a large hole in the fence. He opened fire and kept the attackers at bay until the guard group had taken up position. This surprise attack by the colonel saved the kibbutz from damage. However, he lost a leg in the process. He is now painstakingly learning to walk with a prosthesis. On another afternoon, we visited the site where the massacre of visitors to the Nova Festival was carried out on 7 October. Today it is a place of remembrance and pause for thought. We were amazed when we encountered hundreds of people. Mostly Jews from Israel. Fiery red anemones were blooming everywhere. What a sign from God that life goes on. On Israel Rai, Israel is alive!!! After 4 days we said goodbye to the wonderful people of the soup kitchen, who had grown close to our hearts during this time. I will never forget Elishamma, who was quick to use his kippah as a potholder. Now the third and final stage of our journey began. We travelled to Arad to visit Tanja, a Jewish woman who had immigrated from Ukraine 25 years ago. Of course we had borscht, and a big pot of it. Communication was difficult because Tanya only speaks Russian and Hebrew. Unfortunately, we only have rudiments of our school Russian left. So we communicated with our hearts. It worked. We then travelled on to Sde Boker, a village in the Negev desert. Some friends of ours who belong to a small Messianic community live there. We stayed in a wonderful holiday flat with Kelly and Yaron Glick. Highly recommended!!! In the morning we set off for the Ramon Crater, a breathtaking landscape in the middle of the desert. We hiked along the rim of the crater and enjoyed the fantastic view and the marvellous weather. In the evening, we were invited to a Shabbat dinner. We enjoyed the company of our friends from the desert and of course the wonderful food. The next morning there was a service in the small Messianic congregation. Students from all over the world and locals met for worship, preaching and prayer. It's always good to think outside the box. After the service, we set off on our next desert tour in glorious weather of around 20 degrees. We hiked through the Wadi Zin to the natural water basin in Ein Akev, where Christoph fearlessly jumped into the ice-cold water, much to the amazement of the Israeli hikers. The return journey took us across a plateau where we didn't meet a soul, past a neglected Bedouin village, back down into the wadi and back to Sde Boker. What a marvellous tour!!! In the evening we were invited to our friend Jeanie's house. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to tell her that there were 4 of us. No problem for her. A quick prayer to the Lord for an increase in dinner and we happily sat down around the table. Of course the food was enough!!! The next morning we packed our things and drove to Kelly and Yaron's food truck in the middle of the desert not far from road number 40. There we had a last delicious coffee and ate Kelly's homemade cookies. Now it was time to say goodbye, as our plane was leaving for home in the afternoon. A full and richly blessed journey came to an end. Thank you Lord for your grace!!! Kerstin Kluge