Israel trip Kluge and construction project Soup kitchen Matthias Krones

Review

This year, too, we decided to travel to Israel again, despite the tense situation. Our small group consisted of four women and two men. Our first stop was the House of Prayer in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. The couple in charge, Andreas and Adelheid Bauer from Berlin, were already waiting for us. Together with them, we had intense times of prayer every morning and evening, where we prayed for Israel and its people (as it says in Isaiah 62:6) like ‘watchmen on the wall’. Between the prayer sessions, we visited our friend and Holocaust survivor Josef Aaron twice, met with the Messianic Jewess Nancy, visited the underground excavations of the ancient temple complex, the highly recommended ‘Friends of Zion’ museum, and simply ‘breathed in’ the dense atmosphere of the Old City. After this week, three women from our group had to return to Germany.

For Torsten, our friend Christoph and me, the second stage of our journey now began. First we drove to Latrun. There is a small branch of the “Jesus Brotherhood” there. Brother Siegfried was already waiting for us and showed us the beautiful ancient rooms, which have been integrated into the restored parts of an old Crusader castle. A special place!!! We collected the toolbox belonging to Matthias, a member of our association, and drove on to Sderot. There we met him and his group of craftsmen the next day at the soup kitchen. We, as the “Gate to Zion” association, have been supporting them for almost three years now. The men had their hands full with building work, and I helped out in the kitchen, which is firmly in Russian-speaking hands. As my Russian has unfortunately faded over the years, we had to communicate with our hands and feet and with our hearts. It worked!!! It was once again a wonderful experience to work alongside the Jewish women. Once again, I marvelled at the wonderful dishes they conjured up. At lunchtime, poor and needy people came for lunch and to take food away.

After four days, we said our goodbyes and drove on to Sde Boker, a town in the Negev Desert. Our long-standing friends Kelly and Yaron, Baruch and Jeanie live there with their families. We celebrated Shabbat together, attended the small congregation’s service, went on two fantastic desert hikes, helped with the gardening, and Torsten spent a day tiling their new food truck together with Yaron. Then we took our friend Christoph to the airport and set off as a pair on our third leg of the journey.

We headed north to the Sea of Galilee. Everything was in bloom and lush with greenery. Simply beautiful!!! We visited the Winkler family, a German couple who have lived in Israel for many years and lead a prayer ministry. We then went on to the Ben Nesher family, Swiss Jews who came to Israel many years ago. From them we learnt of the difficult situation Messianic Jews face in simply coming together and living in fellowship. A real cause for prayer!!!

Between visits, we walked a stretch of the Golan Trail with views over the lake and the surrounding mountains. Once again, I was overcome by the longing to one day hike the ‘Shvil’, the Israel Trail.

Then we carried on to Haifa to see our dear friends Avishay and Chava. As always, they gave us an extremely warm welcome. In the evening, we were all invited to our friend Ileni’s house.

She had been cooking all day and was very excited that we were coming. Avishay’s son Omer was there too, and we had deep conversations with him about the Bible and faith.

After breakfast, we set off straight away for Netanya. The Mund family have recently moved there. They went to Israel last September to help with work for Holocaust survivors and Jewish new immigrants. We were able to help them organise an afternoon gathering and arrange the musical programme. An impressive endeavour under the most basic conditions.

The next morning we travelled on to Herzliya. A Jewish woman lives there whom we met last year in a mountain hut in the High Tatras and who warmly invited us into her beautiful home. We celebrated Shabbat together with her, her husband Moshe and their adult children. The next morning, just as Torsten was in the shower, the first alarm went off on our mobile phones. Torsten and I were completely bewildered and didn’t know at first what was going on. Our hosts reassured us and said it was ‘just’ a sort of early warning. It meant: Be ready. The war has begun!

The very next moment, our long-time friend Shira from Tel Aviv rang and said we had to come to her place as quickly as possible because the Iranians’ first attack was about to begin. As we’d been planning to visit her anyway, we packed our bags in a flash and drove to Tel Aviv. No sooner had we arrived than it started. First the mobile phones went off, and a few minutes later the sirens began. We rushed to the shelter, which fortunately is in our friends’ flat. Many people in Israel have to use public shelters. There we sat with our friend’s family and her four dogs. A very unusual week began. Our flight the next day was, of course, cancelled, and no one could say when we would be able to return home. So we simply stayed in Tel Aviv. Our friends looked after us wonderfully. The alarm went off time and again, and we sat in the shelter. In the distance, and sometimes very close by, we heard the sounds of explosions. Every evening we sat together with our friends and sang Hebrew worship songs. It was so special because our friends aren’t believers. Once, whilst we were in the shelter, our friend hummed a tune from one of the songs. Then we all began to sing the lyrics, which translate as: ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, the living God.’ Truly a divine moment!!! At the end of the week, the opportunity arose for us to take the bus to Sharm el Sheikh and fly from there via Istanbul to Berlin. We decided to embark on this adventurous journey. Saying goodbye was not easy for us. We were able to return to the safety of Germany, whilst our friends had to remain in this dangerous situation. Looking back, we are glad we had this experience. Having witnessed the pressure and distress helps us to pray wholeheartedly for His people. We are deeply grateful for this journey, every encounter, every conversation and, of course, all the protection we experienced. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Kerstin Kluge

On February 15, 2026, we (Carolin and Hartmuth, Rüdiger, and I) arrived in Tel Aviv on time on a flight from Prague.

Our first destination was Sderot, where we were once again able to stay with our long-time, hospitable “host parents,” Chawa and David.

After we had settled in, we made our way to the soup kitchen. We had already visited the soup kitchen last year, together with the director, Avichai Amusi, to inspect and discuss the upcoming work. We received a warm welcome and reviewed the tasks, particularly with regard to organizing the materials. We were assisted by Shimon Frowein, also a longtime friend from the nearby kibbutz Bror Chail.

So on Monday morning, February 16, we were ready to start work. Shortly thereafter, our small team was joined by Kerstin, Torsten, and Christoph. Over the following days, we were able to complete most of the planned work by Wednesday. The eaves of the old building, which had been in disrepair for years, were renovated. To do this, the old boards had to be removed. Various sheet metal repairs were carried out, and new boards were painted and mounted onto a previously erected substructure.

Furthermore, the two restrooms were renovated by removing loose wall sections, re-plastering them, and then painting them. The large crack in the ceiling of the new dining and gathering room was also repaired.

On the roof, we installed the air conditioning units that were already set up there and connected the main switch for them.

There was also some electrical work to be done—for example, the two power outlets near the counter were reattached. A faulty motion detector inside was replaced. We laid and covered the existing cable for the air conditioning units outside in a visually appealing way.

Meanwhile, the women worked diligently in the kitchen and carried out various cleaning tasks.

We are pleased not only that we were able to complete a large part of the planned work—we are especially delighted by the good connections, the friendly conversations, and the mutual appreciation between us and the soup kitchen staff, as well as the people in need whom we met.

The brief time we were able to spend with Avichai was also very heartwarming. During our stay in Sderot, he was running a camp with “Zaka,” the organization that cares for victims of war and terrorism.

There is still work to be done at the soup kitchen, both in preparing and distributing meals, as well as in terms of maintenance. For instance, there is damage to the exterior plaster of both the old and new buildings. So far, only cladding for the building’s base has been planned. In addition, there are countless smaller repair tasks inside and outside.

After saying goodbye in Sderot, our journey took us past the memorial for the victims of the Nova Festival and through Tel Sheva near Be’er Sheva to Arad to visit Rick and Dafna.

We spent a total of nearly six days in Arad. Our main task was to replace key sections of the electrical wiring in the workshop spaces. To do this, we first had to run a new main power line from the house’s main distribution panel to the workshop spaces. We also installed a new sub-distribution panel and mounted various outlets to ensure a reliable power supply. We were able to upgrade the main lighting in the workshop as well as the power supply for the exhibition.

While we men tackled the hands-on tasks, Dafna and Carolin took care of various jobs in the garden and outdoor areas.

Together with Rick and Dafna, we had a wonderful, blessed time, filled with joy and fun both during and outside of work.

It was particularly memorable to view the artwork “Fountain of Tears” together with Rick and Dafna and to discuss it.

On Shabbat, we visited Tel Arad and the Dead Sea, and on another day, we also visited the Masada fortress.

After these beautiful and fulfilling days in Arad, we drove through the Jordan Valley to Tiberias, where we stayed in a lovely vacation apartment in an apartment building on the outskirts of the city.

The next day, we met in Porija with the Ackermann family, who have been caring for Holocaust survivors—especially in Hadera—for more than ten years. So, together with Henoch, we drove to Hadera to serve the elderly there with practical help. That day, we repaired window shutters. But in addition to the work, we also struck up conversations with the people, who enjoyed talking with us. We sensed that it was a welcome change for them.

We are also very grateful that we had the opportunity to meet Ruth Zimmermann, a Holocaust survivor originally from Sondershausen. We have now shared a friendship with her for several years, and it is always a special joy to see her and talk with her. She always emphatically stresses that the events of the Shoah must never be repeated!!!

We are equally grateful that we were also able to visit Shlomo Bobbe, a Holocaust survivor from Eindhoven. We have known him for several years as well. We are now in the process of publishing his book, which tells his moving life story, in German, here in Germany.

With many beautiful and touching impressions, we returned to our lodgings in Tiberias that evening. The following day, we had the opportunity to help out the Ackermann family in and around their beautiful home.

Now the two weeks we had planned in the Holy Land were almost over. It was Saturday morning—after breakfast, we wanted to set out and spend one more day in Jerusalem before catching our flight back to Prague early Sunday morning. Breakfast was over, the suitcases were packed—then the sirens sounded, and we went down to the bunker together with the other residents……and suddenly it was war—and suddenly everything was different!

That’s how quickly plans can change……….and yet we were grateful that we hadn’t left yet and were still able to use the vacation rental. The rocket attacks, initially from Iran and later also from Lebanon, intensified—so we found ourselves in the bunker with the other residents several times. During the day and also at night. After about two days, the attacks subsided. We went shopping, stopped at a café, or went for a walk. Even while out and about, the alarm sounded twice, and so we found ourselves in the bunker again with Israelis. The population reacted calmly and level-headed; Orthodox Jews read/prayed psalms in hushed tones! Most shops were open, cars were driving, though somewhat fewer. Everyone was striving to live as normally as possible and to remain composed. This was also evident in the fact that children and adults could be seen wearing various costumes as usual during the Purim festival that had just taken place.

We had already registered with the Foreign Office on the first day of the war and consequently received relevant information, which was essentially of an informational nature. There was no real assistance with organized options for leaving the country. We set about exploring alternative ways to leave, but did not want to rush into anything and wanted to weigh our options carefully.

We are also grateful that, despite the terrible events, we still had some very beautiful experiences and encounters. For instance, we had the opportunity to visit Renate Kaufmann, a Holocaust survivor originally from Cologne, at the retirement home in Migdal—twice, in fact. She was particularly delighted that we took her on an outing to Tiberias and Mount Arbel. What a stroke of luck that Renate happened to be in Migdal at the time, as she normally lives in Haifa but was temporarily staying in Migdal—just a few minutes’ drive from Tiberias—due to renovations.

We also had another lovely day together with the Ackermann family in Porija, where we were able to help out with some handyman work.

Through a contact of Henoch Ackermann, we learned of a possibility to leave the country via Egypt. We decided to go for it at the last minute.

So on Friday, March 6, we drove from Tiberias to Jerusalem to return the rental car. We were able to spend another very nice day in Jerusalem and were invited to a friend’s home for the start of Shabbat that evening.

On Saturday morning, the return journey began, first by a 19-passenger bus from Jerusalem to Eilat. From there, we crossed the border into Egypt on foot, where staff from the German Embassy in Cairo met us. This was helpful, as we had to get our passports stamped and also fill out a form. From the border crossing, we traveled about three hours by two minibuses to Sharm El Sheikh, where we finally spent the night before flying to Istanbul in the early morning hours. After a layover of about four hours in Istanbul, our flight continued to Prague. There, everything went very smoothly, and we were able to continue our journey home by car.

Now we look back with gratitude on a very intense, blessed, and protected journey filled with many wonderful encounters and powerful, exciting experiences.

Praise and thanks be to God—Baruch Hashem!

In prayer, we are and remain connected to God’s people!

Matthias Krones