Unrelenting Pressure, Unfailing Grace

My most recent reserve duty was the  most difficult ever because I was serving on the frontlines of a war which was literally on the doorstep of my home, and I found myself working at sites of massive devastation in my home city. It was also probably one of the most difficult things I have ever been through emotionally and psychologically.

The Human Toll

During the 12 days of the war with Iran, it was God’s grace and protection that so few people were killed, despite the enormous scale of the devastation. For those of us working as rescuers, one of the most difficult things to see was not the rubble everywhere but the human toll. Many people who ran into their bomb shelters at a minute’s notice came out alive, praise God, but what met them upon emerging from the bomb shelter was the fact that their homes were completely destroyed. When I say “destroyed”, I mean that all their property, pictures, and family mementos…everything…was turned to dust, and absolutely nothing remained.

While we were working to remove the rubble, people would come to us distraught and crying, begging us to please help them find precious articles from their homes. These were sites of unbelievable destruction, and we were instructed to immediately remove anyone from the area because it was so unstable and dangerous. The people who came up to us weren’t concerned about the loss of their home or money but rather the loss of family heirlooms and mementoes, some of which had been kept for generations. Daily we had interactions with desperate and exhausted people who emerged from their bomb shelters only to discover everything was gone.

A Heartbreaking Task

After the initial days of impact, we were no longer searching for survivors but retrieving remains. This is something my reserve unit has never done before, and we were unprepared for the emotional toll it would have on us. The team I worked with retrieved the remains of multiple victims. We knew where to look because of the smell of the decomposition, and pulling out people’s remains from the rubble in that state is a very difficult thing to do.

Through this challenging task, I had a strange realization: I was surprised to discover that the smell of decomposition was something that I am very familiar with from the outreach we do with the homeless in south Tel Aviv. The homeless drug addicts we serve in the alleyways of the city who are unable to make it to the outreach center often have terrible necrosis in their feet and legs due to their drug addiction and living in unsanitary conditions. It was somehow a very hard realization to make that the people we serve who are living in the street are living in a partial state of death and decomposition.

The Psychological Toll of First Responders and Rescuers

After completing our difficult reserve duty, each of us in our unit was required to meet with an army psychologist before processing back to civilian life. In that meeting, we were told that we would most likely experience a period of post-traumatic stress which could include insomnia, anxiety attacks, depression and irritability. Indeed, in the first days after I returned to my civilian life, I experienced most of those things. I am still having difficulty sleeping, and I wake up with the images of complete destruction from our city. But, praise God, each day these symptoms are lessening and disappearing. Thankfully, I have not experienced any anxiety or depression, something which many have after their time of difficult army service.

The image that wouldn’t let go…

Surprisingly, one of the most difficult sights for me while I was serving in areas of unbelievable destruction was the sight of countless wrecked and ruined children’s bikes everywhere. I am a father of six young children, and outside our apartment door and those of neighbors who have children there are multiple bikes parked. Each time I saw those wrecked, twisted children’s bikes in the ruins, it made me feel like I was excavating the ruins of my own home where my children live and play – indeed, I was often working in neighborhoods just blocks away from my own home. Somehow, the ubiquitous image of wrecked children’s bicycles became the symbol for all the destruction I saw.

A Sudden end to the war, but a slow return to normal

Just as suddenly as the war began, so came the announcement of the cessation of hostilities and the return to “business as usual”. The first thing this meant for us was that we could finally hold a service in our congregation. After two weeks of such intense bombardment, fear and stress, we felt the need to devote the entire service to worship and prayer for everyone in the congregation.

At the end of the service, our team, the elders and deacons individually prayed for everyone who was present. What we experienced here in the greater Tel Aviv area was traumatic and many were dealing with anxiety, sleeplessness and depression. I felt it was important that we lay hands on each and every person to pray for their peace and healing and to break the spirit of fear and anxiety that we felt over our city.

Worship and Prayer – the breakthrough

We are so thankful for our worship team, for their sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit, because each service we experienced healing and refreshing through worship in moments of joy and of deep comforting from the Lord. Since the end of the war, we have continued to have prayer teams available for people who still need healing and comfort.

The Overflow: salvations!

The presence and guidance of the Lord has been so abundant and overflowing each service, and at the end of our most recent service, Ari Sorko Ram, my spiritual faither and founder of Tiferet Yeshua, called people who had not yet given their lives to Yeshua to come forward at the end of his message. In response, three Israelis came forward to surrender their lives to Yeshua. Hallelujah! Right after this, we had communion together – what an amazing thing for new believers who have just surrendered their lives to Yeshua to take communion right afterward.

When we finally finished the service, over 20 people came forward to receive personal prayer. What a privilege it is to be able to minister to our brothers and sisters in need in an atmosphere of God’s love, grace, mercy and mutual support. Before our eyes, we are seeing the Lord saving people, setting others free, healing them and causing all of us to grow in a deeper faith and devotion through all these trials and tribulations!