Day 28 — Israel in Crisis
It’s not Shabbat without CHALLAH!
On Thursday morning, in prayer, an idea came to me. I was meditating on Romans 11:16.
"If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches."
Paul is speaking about the power of a remnant. It goes all the way back to the days of Abraham when God was willing to spare Sodom if there were just 10 righteous people. God will honor the righteousness of a remnant in order to cover an entire nation. Right now we have about 1000 messianic soldiers in the IDF. They are a righteous remnant.
Paul is using the example of bread. And tonight begins Shabbat. This is a time when soldiers would be with their families. They would say the blessing over the bread and the wine. They would enjoy a family meal together. Instead, many of them are on a battlefield fighting an existential threat against the nation of Israel—Hamas.
So, as I was thinking about the remnant of the dough, I thought, why not bring challah loaves to the soldiers on the border of Gaza? In the US and most other countries, you can't visit a soldier during a war because he or she is in Iraq or some other far-off place. But like David, who brought food to his brothers (1 Sam 17), we only must drive 20 miles.
We were in Jerusalem, so Elana went to a well-known bakery, and they were able to give us 50 challah on the spot. They even wrote notes to the soldiers on the box! When they saw the name on the box, they realized that we brought it all the way from Jerusalem. Apparently, it's a famous bakery. Who knew?
Soldiers: Our part to wish you Shabbat Shalom (heart sign)
Today, I picked up my new friend, Shlomi, who reached out to me after hearing about the work we were doing. Together, we went to where his son is stationed. His son is a medic, and they go out in shifts. They stay on the border and wait until they are called in to take out the wounded. But as they went out today, each one of them had an entire loaf of Challah.
It meant so much to them that someone remembered it was Shabbat and remembered them. Hopefully, we can do this next week and bless even more soldiers!
As soon as we gave them the challah, they headed out to take over for another group that had been there all night.
We managed to get a few bulletproof vests for us to use. They're not IDF regulation. But when Shlomi realized that his son was going in without a bulletproof vest, he asked me if he could give his son the one that I was letting him use. Of course, I said yes!
Friends, you are having an amazing impact on the battlefield. Your gifts and your prayers are saving lives. Our 24-hour fast ends in about one hour. I believe the Lord has heard our cry. Let's expect miracles. Let's continue to trust God for the hostages to be freed!
God bless you and Shabbat Shalom!
