Category: Blog

After the High Holidays, I started weekly “Going Deeper” meetings at Tiferet Yeshua where we could go deeper into the Word of God together. God has been blessing our meetings greatly and bringing together a wonderful group of Israeli believers who are hungry to seek more of Him in His Word. At the end of 2021, God put it on my heart to do something special and a little bit different at our weekly “Going Deeper” meeting: I wanted to somehow combine worship with our Bible reading for that week. I had in mind a couple worship leaders who agreed to come and lead worship at the meeting, but a couple days before the meeting they let us know that they could not make it.

A day before the meeting, a couple of young women from Tiferet Yeshua’s worship team happily agreed to come lead worship for our meeting. At that point, I still did not have a clear idea how I was going to combine the Bible study with the worship.  The day of our meeting was especially busy: we started early in the morning with preparing the congregation to host a group of holocaust survivors for a special holiday meal, and we were busy serving and then cleaning up until late in the afternoon. Our event with the holocaust survivors was very meaningful and blessed, and we were all touched by what God had done. But little did we know that God was not finished: we still had our special “Going Deeper” meeting just a couple hours away.

That evening, we arranged our chairs in a circle and had the keyboard and our worshippers as a part of the circle. We started by reading through our passage that week and sharing what the Lord put on our hearts about what we read. Then we just started to worship together. At one point, one of our worshippers began singing in the Spirit, and there was suddenly a heavy anointing of God’s presence in the room. I felt let to read Isaiah 61:1-3

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

At that moment the Spirit fell in a surprisingly powerful way: one young man shared a vision he saw of the fire of the Lord burning up unclean spirits. A moment later he was unable to stand and sank to his knees, overcome with waves of joy. At the same time, another man suddenly started going through a dramatic deliverance from spiritual oppression. I am so thankful that Debbi from our leadership team was there with me so that we could each minister to those who were being touched by the Holy Spirit!

We could see that God was touching another man, and Debbi and I started to pray for him: he shared afterward that God showed him several areas of wrong spiritual ideas he had (in his younger years he was heavily involved in a cult led by a powerful guru) and that God then gave Him three powerful words for his life and his family. Flori, a new believer who prayed to receive the Lord a couple months ago during one of our meetings, said she felt that the Lord Yeshua Himself had laid His hands on her head while she was praying and worshipping. Her husband Hilik was also touched in a powerful way. Everyone who was there received some special touched from the Holy Spirit.

I had no idea that this is what God had planned for us! I just wanted to do a worship evening with the Word, but He started moving because our hearts were open and worshipping Him. All of us were astounded at the end of the meeting, and none of us wanted to leave – so strong was the presence of the Spirit! I also feel that somehow our meeting was even more blessed because we had spent the morning serving and blessing holocaust survivors. Even as I write this, I am astounded by God’s goodness to us and how He surprised us with such a beautiful outpouring of His Spirit, and how faithful He is to set captives free. We are hungry for more, and are excited for what else He has in store for us!

The Valley of the Shadow of Death

After a month-long battle with covid on February 26^th of last year, my husband Aurel went home to be with the Lord. When Aurel was in the hospital fighting for his life, I did the only thing I knew how: fight for him in prayer. I asked friends and family here in Israel and all over the world to pray. We had zoom prayer meetings at our congregation devoted to interceding for him. When the Lord finally took him home, surprisingly I did not feel angry at God or confused. Instead, God gave me a supernatural peace that we had done all we could to petition heaven for Aurel’s life and that, even though we may not understand it, this was God’s perfect will. Despite the shock and incredible loss, God gave me strength and grace to worship Him and even to encourage everyone there at my husband’s graveside after my sons and the men present had filled the grave. You see, in Israel it is the Jewish custom that the family and close friends lower the casket into the earth and then fill the grave with dirt. Burying your loved one yourself is an important Jewish tradition.

The Battle

However, that was just the beginning. After we buried Aurel, I went home a widow with nine children. My youngest son was just four. While I was never so thankful I had so many children—we were an amazing support for each other in the first difficult months—I also felt the crushing weight of the grief of losing the love of my life and life-partner, the man who had led me to the Lord, and of the huge responsibility for my children’s physical and spiritual wellbeing now resting solely on me. Before Aurel passed away, I fought for his life in prayer. And now, I knew I had another battle on my hands: to overcome the all-consuming grief to be able to lead my family forward.

The Weapons of our Warfare

In the first months after Aurel died, I felt like I had to fight not to fall into a pit of grief that would consume me. Again, the only thing I knew how to do is pray—but I was so broken and disoriented by grief and the shock of losing Aurel that I did not know what to pray. So I prayed in the Spirit. Constantly!  The Apostle Paul says, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.” (I Cor. 14:18) During that time, I prayed in the Spirit, sometimes for hours, perhaps just as much as Paul did, if not more. The Word says that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses and expresses the inexpressible groanings of our spirits (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit was expressing my inexpressible grief and my deep cry for help to the Father.

As time passed, I felt like I had peace in the middle of a storm. God was strengthening me and His clarity guided me more and more. Prayer became the one thing I could “do” that consistently filled me and strengthened me – I was putting to the test all the spiritual truths I have learned from a life of walking with the Lord and reading His Word: He is a faithful rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He comforts the brokenhearted. He gives us beauty for ashes, a garment of praise for a heavy spirit. He hears our prayers and answers. I know because I am the widow who came before her God and Judge again and again, and He has never once disappointed me. He gives me strength and wisdom to intercede for each of my children, to speak into their lives and to raise them in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. God is also speaking to me: He told me not to look back, not to cling to the past, like what He said to Lot’s wife: there was no longer a strong, supportive pillar for me in the past. Now it was just me and God in the present.

Another thing has happened in this process: my spiritual hunger for God keeps increasing. I sought Him constantly in the beginning to save me from falling into consuming grief. Now I am seeking not just because I cannot survive without Him but because I love His presence, I love His Word and I earnestly desire the spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 14). He is my exceedingly great reward!

A Revelation of Prayer

One day while washing dishes, I was pondering a passage I had been reading in 2 Kings that describes how Yoram King of Israel and Jehoshaphat King of Judah had gone out to fight the king of Moab: they got into trouble along the way when they could not find water for their troops and livestock. So, they sought out the prophet Elisha who told them:

…the LORD says, ‘Make this valley full of ditches. For the LORD says, ‘You will not see wind or rain, but the valley will be filled with water, and you will drink—you and your cattle and your animals. (2 Kings 3:16-17 Berean Study Bible)

I imagined those parched troops digging ditches in the hot Middle Eastern sun in a dry valley, how it must have seemed like pointless drudgery when they were already dying of thirst. But they still did their part. And then God did His miraculous part: He filled those ditches with water, providing for their immediate physical needs and then using those shimmering pools of water to throw the Moabites into confusion and give Israel the victory. God showed me that prayer is just like that: we are digging ditches in the dry ground when we pray. I see places of “dry ground” around me, but I do not let the dry ground determine the reality. I stand on God’s Word and promises in prayer, digging ditches in that dry ground, and then He will fill them with His miraculous water!

I AM THANKFUL

A year after losing my husband, I can say I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness and goodness to me and my family. I am also thankful for my brothers and sisters in faith: from the beginning of Aurel’s hospitalization and throughout this first year after his death, my home congregation, Tiferet Yeshua, believers from all over the body of Messiah in Israel, and even Christian friends in the nations, have surrounded me and my family with love and support in so many ways. My family and I could not stand without my brothers and sisters supporting me and my family.

Growing up in Israel in the seventies and eighties, Christmas was a far-off Christian holiday that I had no idea about other than the images of the beautiful lights, Christmas trees and decorations we saw in pictures and movies from America and Europe. Today, many Israelis visit Arab Christian villages and neighborhoods during the Christmas season to enjoy the lights and the Christmas cheer. But, for the most part, no one would know it is Christmas in Israel on December 25^th—it’s just like any other day.

Experiencing Christmas for the First Time

In my early twenties, after I came to faith in Yeshua, my wife and I moved to the United States. It was then that I had my first taste of this Christmas holiday that I as a Jew had never personally seen or celebrated. I have to say that the beautiful lights and decorations, the holiday parties and get-togethers made that dark and cold time of the year truly joyful and beautiful —which is saying a lot for me as an Israeli who loves sunshine and has a hard time with the cold. It was special being together with fellow believers during Christmas church services worshiping the “King of Israel”, and the words of many Christmas songs celebrating the birth of the Jewish Messiah in my homeland, Israel, touched me deeply.

Little Baby Jesus

Of course, beyond the secular consumerism and materialism that infiltrates much of the Christmas season in the US—there was one thing about the holiday that felt a little strange to me: the widespread Christmas focus on Yeshua as a baby. I was already a believer, but I had not spent time thinking of Him as a baby. Other than His birth, the New Testament offers no information about Yeshua’s infancy or childhood before his 12^th year. However, as I thought more about this “baby Jesus” focus during Christmas, I realized that Isaiah the prophet spoke of the child Messiah and described Him in terms that we rarely, if at all, hear during Christmas. The terms Isaiah uses to describe this special Child are a majestic description of His mighty and awesome character and calling.

What Child is This?

Isaiah 9:6 describes the Child who will carry the government on His shoulders: God’s juxtaposing the smallness and weakness of a human child with the weight of this mighty calling on His shoulders highlights the incomprehensible plan of salvation in such an astounding way.

Next come the heavy titles this Child carries: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God , Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  If we focus on each title, it reveals who Yeshua is, His calling and identity. Usually knowledge of Hebrew does not give any “hands up” in understanding the Bible—the Spirit of God ensured that there are accurate and true translations in every language. There are times, however, where nuances in the Hebrew open up different levels of meaning and connections which are otherwise lost in translation.

Pele Yoetz (Wonderful Counselor) – if we allow Yeshua to be our personal counselor, He will do wonders in our lives! “Pele” is the Hebrew word for “wonder”, and Messiah’s name as “Wonderful” recalls a scene in the Torah where the “Man God” in the form of the Angel of YHVH describes Himself to the father of Samson in Judges 13:18, saying: “My name is wonderful (pelee)”.

El Geebor (Mighty God) – this title makes absolutely clear that the Messiah who is born a human child is the Mighty God himself!

Avi Ad (Everlasting Father, or…?) – this title can be a little confusing because Yeshua is God the Son, but He is not God the Father. So, what does this mean? Here, understanding the Hebrew can be helpful; looking at the Hebrew grammar, “Avi Ad’ can just as easily be translated as “Father of Eternity” which makes much more sense: it is only through Yeshua that we have eternal life. He is the Father of our eternal life.

Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace) – this Child is the bringer of peace: first in our hearts in this age, and, in the Messianic age, He will be the one who brings global peace—a great task indeed!

To all of those who are celebrating the birth of our Messiah this Christmas season, I pray that the deep and awesome revelation of the Child who is Mighty God fills yours hearts with wonder and light!

A young man asks: “If Yeshua really is the Messiah, then what should I do?”

Recently a young man reached out to us through our Hebrew website and asked if we could get in touch with him.  After several phone conversations, we understood that he had been reading the New Testament and was interested in studying with someone to learn more. Kosta, who devotes his time to outreach and discipling new believers, scheduled a meeting with him to start studying the foundations of the faith. During their meetings, Kosta felt the need to focus on the love of God and how it is that the Messiah could atone for sins. This young man was open, eager and, after studying together with Kosta, he said it was clear that Yeshua is the Messiah promised Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures. “What should I do then?” he asked.

As Jews, our spiritual reference is orthodox Judaism, and the idea of becoming more “religious” or seeking God means doing certain things like keeping the Sabbath, wearing a kippa, and praying certain prayers and blessings every day.

When he asked, “What am I required to do?” Kosta told him that the first action he needed to take was in his heart: “Receive Yeshua into your heart as Lord and Savior and ask Him to be Lord over your life.” On that same day, he prayed to receive Yeshua as His Lord and Savior.

Wanting to be Immersed

Kosta stays in touch with this young man on a regular basis: due to his work schedule, it is hard for him to make it to our Friday services, so he watches the livestream of our service. Something special about this young man is his love of spending time reading and searching the Scripture. While reading the New Testament, he came across passages describing the need to immerse in water in the name of the Father, the Son. During discipleship at Tiferet Yeshua, we do not rush to water immersion: we want to make sure people understand the foundations of their faith and know what it means to surrender their lives to the Lord. However, this young man was so anxious to follow through with the requirements of his faith that he decided to immerse himself in a spring of water while on a tour visiting springs of the Jordan River in the north of Israel!

It is amazing to see how he truly loves Yeshua and is growing in his faith through God’s wonderful grace on him.

Falling in love with a believer, then falling in love with her Savior

This is a love story in every way. D. grew up friends with a family of believers from Tiferet Yeshua. Since a young age, he knew about his friends’ faith and that they attended a Messianic congregation every week. For him, their faith was something that didn’t bother him, but it didn’t interest him either. While D. was best friends with the son, and he enjoyed spending time with their family, he eventually fell in love with his friend’s sister, a strong believer. After his army service, he mustered the courage to tell her. She and her family made clear that if he was serious about his feelings for her, he would have to be open to seriously learning about her faith.

Because he wanted to show the love of his life that he was serious, he began attending services with her and her family at Tiferet Yeshua—as far as he was concerned, he was there for her, the girl he loves and wants to marry. However, it was clear that D. was not terribly interested in or connecting with what was happening around him in the congregation—during worship he would be in the fellowship hall, and during the message he would be distracted on his phone. Kosta reached out to him to schedule a meeting with him, thinking maybe time one-on-one would be the best way to connect with him. During the meeting, Kosta went through the main Messianic prophesies in the Hebrew Scriptures with D., particularly Isaiah 53. Overall, their time together was positive and eye-opening for him, but it was clear that D. was still not interested in making any serious spiritual commitments. He comes from a religious family where “religious requirements” were forced on him.

But for the love of his life, D. continued coming to services at Tiferet Yeshua. Then something happened: during one service, he decided to put his phone down and listen to the message. On that day, our friend Yuval Yanai gave a powerful message, and God used it to unlock this young man’s heart. It touched him in such a powerful and special way, we could see just by looking at him that something was happening. A week later, someone shared a word of knowledge during the service that someone suffering pain in their shoulder should come forward for healing. The word was for D.: he came forward and was healed on the spot.

The following week, D. was back in the service. This time, he participated in the worship, clearly experiencing the Lord, and he listened intently to the message. After the service, Gil prayed with him to receive Yeshua as his Lord and Savior. Some of us who didn’t know that he had just prayed to receive the Lord saw him later that evening, and told him, “Your face is shining!” Since then, the change in this young man is visible, and he is on fire for the Lord. He is studying with Kosta, reading the Bible daily on his own and already wants to commit his life publicly through water immersion.    

The only way to grow in our faith is to get to know God, and the best way to do that is by spending time getting to know Him in His Word. This last year, God put it on my heart to start a weekly group that would facilitate studying the Word together and encourage a lifestyle of reading the Bible. After the High holy days, I started weekly “P’nima” meetings at Tiferet Yeshua: in Hebrew p’nima means to go inside or enter deeply into something. My vision and prayer for these “Going Deeper” meetings was that God would draw all of us deeper into His Word, closer to His heart, and knit us closer to one another.

As each week has passed, more people began showing up to our meetings: new believers, mature believers and seekers too. God is bringing people to our meetings who are serious about drawing nearer to Him through His Word and discovering more of the depths of His love for us. Each week I am touched and amazed by the spiritual hunger and sincerity that people bring with them and how beautifully God is revealing Himself to us through our studying and meditating on His Word together and praying for one another. All of us are also greatly blessed by the insights and revelations of God’s Word different people are sharing. Our meetings are lively, interesting, and new people are showing up every week!

Over the past couple of years, Israeli believers have been reaching out to us for discipleship; they may have come to faith years ago, but they never connected with other believers, whether it be in congregations or home groups. In their isolation, their faith did not mature, and they ended up going back to living in the ways of the world. Here in Israel, there are many challenges and hurdles people face in coming to faith in Yeshua as the Messiah. Once they do, believers endure an immense amount of spiritual pressure aimed at keeping them weak, isolated and not living in surrender to God.

Hearing the gospel and accepting that Yeshua is the Messiah is incredibly important first step in our journey of faith. However, it is critical that it doesn’t stop there. Providing a place where Hebrew-speaking Israelis can gather together, study the Word of God, and be strengthened and encouraged in their faith is critical for the growth and health of the Body of Messiah in Israel.

We are excited and expectantly praying about the things God will continue doing in our “Going Deeper” meetings! Please keep these meetings in your prayers, that He would use them to draw all of us deeper into His Word, closer to His heart, and knit us closer together to one another. 

While our focus during Hanukkah is on the miraculous Maccabee victory over the greatest army in the world at that time and on the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jersualem, this holiday offers us some imporant insights if we ask the right questions. A good question to ask might be, “What led up to the Greek attack and takeover of the Temple in Jerusalem?   

Hanukkah in a Nutshell

For those who are not familiar with the Hanukkah story, it commemorates the victory of the Maccabees, a band of devout Jews, over the Greek armies led by Antiochus IV, Greek King of the Seleucid empire, in 168 BC. Antiochus had outlawed Jewish worship and defiled the Holy Temple with idol worship (pigs were sacrificed on the altars and a statue of Zeus was placed in the Temple).

What Led to the Greek Invasion?

In getting to our original question – “What led up to tyhe Greek attack and takeover of the Temple in Jerusalem?” – we need only to look at the generation preceding Antiochus IV which set the stage for him to do his dirty deeds in Jerusalem. The conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC had spread Greek culture all throughout the ancient Middle East, and many Jews living in Judea began adopting the ways of the pervasive Greek culture. At that time, man was the measure of all things in Greek culture, and individual intellect, physical strength and beauty were its ideals. It goes without saying that these Greek ideals are diametrically opposed to biblical ones.

The Greek culture infiltrates the priesthood

To the Jews living in Jerusalem\Judea during the 2^nd century BC, the world culture was Greek. To adopt Greek culture was to gain access and influence in the Greek world system. It affected the way people dressed, spoke, the way they did business and government. Jerusalem actually prospered under Antiochus the III, and Greek influence had even reached members of the priesthood who had adopted Greek culture alongside their service of God in the Temple.

By the time Antiochus IV showed up, he was able to leverage control over the office of the High Priest, insuring they would be friendly and open to Greek culture. With help from the High Priest, Antiochus built a Greek gymnasium, a place where men practiced nude sports, just a stones throw from the Temple. For all the observant Jews, a line had been crossed, and they threw out the Hellenized High Priest. That is when Antiochus IV got heavy-handed and decided to teach the Jews a lesson for messing with his setup. The mask came off and his real agenda became clear: total takeover.

Hanukkah Lessons

Antiochus did not come out of nowhere. He came after the Jews in Judea went through a process of adopting the mindset and worldview of the Greeks. Today, we each are the temples of God, and we live in a world culture that is still very much Greek: self-centered, intellectual, and obsessed with physical beauty. We all struggle with renewing our minds with the Word of God and putting on the Mind of Messiah in the face of the culture that surrounds us. The Hanukkah story shows us that adopting the ways and mindset of the world can lead us to a point of erecting idols in our hearts, making us weak and vulnerable to succumbing to the enemy.

A sad note on the amazing Maccabee victory is that within a generation the Maccabees had themselves become power-hungry and adopted Greek culture alongside their Temple worship. It is not surprising that less than a hundred years later, the Messiah would be born who is the only answer for our constant struggle with the outside world: being born again within so we can shine His light without.

May we all know Yeshua’s grace and blessings to be able to shine His light this holiday season!

by Gil Afriat

This is a story about Menny, a very special person who joined Tiferet Yeshua. Recently after one of our services, Menny walked up to Debby, Tiferet Yeshua secretary, and asked her, “Debby, how do you know Yeshua is alive? I know He is alive because He raised me from the dead. But how do you know He’s alive?”

Over the summer we shared the amazing story of how Menny first reached out to us. He was looking for a cerain English-speaking church in the area, but somehow God led him to us, a Hebrew-speaking congregation of Jewish believers instead. When Menny first showed up at Tiferet Yeshua, he told Kosta in Hebrew, “I am a Christian now because I believe in Yeshu the Christian”. The name “Yeshu” in Hebrew is a derogatory term given Him by the rabbis. Menny had never heard His real Hebrew name. He also did not know that there were other Jewish followers of Yeshua. Since he first reached out to us, we have had the privilege of getting to know Menny and to hear his amazing testimony. Menny often says, “What happened to me is not normal.” We agree, but we serve an amazing God who sometimes uses extraordinary circumstances and experiences to reveal Himself to us, like he did with Menny.

The day Menny died:
After his military service in the IDF, Menny took a trip to the US and ended up staying for good. In November 2014, Menny was a married father of five children, working in real estate and construction when he started renovations on an old Victorian building he had bought. The building had been damaged in a fire, but inspections had found the building structurally sound for renovation. While Menny was working over a high gable on the second floor, that section of the building collapsed, and Menny plummeted 30 feet and was then buried under the building debris. After being airlifted to a nearby hospital, his medical records show that he had no signs of life upon arrival. After they succeeded to resuscitate him, they began the fight for his life.

For over a year Menny was in a coma. The way Menny describes it: “My head was smashed apart. My whole right side is filled with titanium becuase my bones shattered from the fall.” Menny woke up from the coma after a year and a half and had to begin intensive physiotherapy to relearn how to do everything. At least, that is what they told him, because he barely remembers those first couple years after he woke up from the coma. During that time, Menny could not speak. He was relearning how to swallow, feed himself, to walk. Eventually, the doctors determined that Menny had significant brain damage and sent him to a nursing home. Somewhere along the line Menny started speaking again. It was then he started to share his experience, where he had gone and the person he had met—the reason why he was still alive.

“Your name is not in this book”
When Menny tells his story, he starts with a caveat: “Listen, I know I have problems.” What he means is that it not as easy for him to speak as it used to be, and sometimes he can’t find the right word. But one thing is for sure: his memory is crystal clear. We found  local newspaper accounts of the building collapse which mention Menny by name and his injury, and all the details he remembers are exact. While Menny was in the nursing home, a woman minister from a local church who volunteered there started taking walks with Menny as part of his physical therapy routine. She told him it was a miracle that he was still alive. He then told her the real story of his miracle:

“When I died, I went up into the universe, into the next world. It wasn’t a dream. I came to a man who had an open book on a stand in front of him. I approached him and told him, ‘My name is Menny Mor. Where do I go?’ The man just looked at me. I knew he was the one who was supposed to tell me where to go. So, I ask him again, ‘Where do I go? To the left or to the right?’ Then he said to me, ‘You are not written in this book. I am sending you back to where you came from.’”

Menny thought that the man he saw could not be God because no one can see God and live. But he also knew that the man he interacted with had authority and that he saved Menny’s earthly life by sending him back again. The minister who accompanied Menny on these walks told him the identity of the man he had met: Jesus, the Son of God. The Messiah. The way, the truth and the life. To Menny it made perfect sense: if anyone wants to go the Father, they must go through this man, Jesus, to whom was given all authority. As the minister continued to share about this Jesus with Menny, that He was a personal friend and savior, Menny gave his heart to Him and discovered that His presence was with him all the time.

A Miraculous Recovery and Call back to Israel
Despite the doctor’s assessment that Menny had serious brain damage, he kept improving and he was able to speak again. Before long, Menny’s son who had come to visit him said, “Abba, we have to get you out of here! You don’t belong here.” Menny left the nursing home and continued improving. He started driving again after passing a three-hour test of his mental fitness. His faith in the Jesus who had saved him continued strong too, and he told his family all about it. Needless to say, they told him to stop talking nonsense. They told him, “That’s your brain damage talking!” Menny stayed in touch with the Christian minister who volunteered at the nursing home, and she encouraged Menny to go back to Israel: “God gave the Land to your people. That is where you belong.” So, after forty years in America, Menny returned to Israel a very different man.

Learning the Hebrew Name of His Savior
After Menny returned to Israel, his minister friend continued to stay in touch and disciple him. After the covid restrictions in Israel were eased, she encouraged him to get connected with a local church. She sent him the name of an English-speaking Lutheran church in the area, but the number she sent him was our number instead. It seems that God wanted Menny to get to know the Jewish identity of His Savior and to learn His Hebrew name, Yeshua.

I talk to Yeshua all the time
For someone who has gone through so much suffering, you would never know from Menny’s attitude. He is happy, has a great sense of humor, is outgoing and is full of life. He also shines the light of Yeshua. “I talk to Yeshua all the time,” he says, “When I’m walking, at night when I can’t sleep. I talk to Him and ask Him to help me.” It is clear that Menny has a very special and deep connection with the Lord Yeshua through his experience after the accident, but Menny is also growing in the depth and understanding of His faith, getting to know the Jewish side of His Savior by reading the New Testament. Last week Menny decided that he wanted to make a declaration of his faith in water immersion, accompanied by pastors from Tiferet Yeshua leadership team and other friends. A week later, we asked him how he feels: “I feel new, like if I think about the future there is nothing that upsets me. Just peace.”

by Tamar Afriat

Last month, we had the opportunity to celebrate and honor Tiferet Yeshua’s founders, Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram, for the occasion of Ari’s 80th birthday. Ari and Shira founded Tiferet Yeshua congregation twenty-five years ago in their basement in Ramat HaSharon. Under their leadership, Tiferet Yeshua became what it is today: a thriving, Hebrew-speaking congregation in the heart of Tel Aviv, committed to discipleship and evangelism and a light to our city. Several of us gave tributes to Ari and Shira during the celebration, and we wanted to share them with you. It turned out that we all focused of the same special things about Ari and Shira: their priceless investment into who we are today as a congregation.

Roots that go deep – by Moti Cohen

I would like to share a little bit about the beginning of Tiferet Yeshua congregation which started out in Ari and Shira’s house. That simply means that Ari and Shira opened their house in order to build the congregation, which says a lot: today when I host people at my house, be it ten, twenty people, I know how much work goes into preparing and then cleaning up afterwards. Back then in the beginning days of Tiferet Yeshua, week after week, Ari and Shira hosted the whole congregation at their house. And from that place of opening their home to everyone, just like Abraham our father opened up his tent, the gift of warmth and hospitality has become an important part of our congregation. Today at Tiferet Yeshua, when our Friday meeting ends, it does not actually end because people stay on for much longer to talk, eat, and spend time together, just like family. These are the roots that Ari and Shira put down for the congregation back in those days when they hosted the congregation at their home.

Tireless Workers

What was the congregation like back then in the Sorko-Ram’s basement in Ramat HaSharon? Who was on the worship team? Ari and Shira. Who would pick up and drop people off at their homes late in the evening after gatherings? Ari and Shira. Who would preach and teach? Ari, Shira, and later on, Asher. Today Asher is a regular teacher here at Tiferet Yeshua. Back in the beginning days of Tiferet Yeshua, right after Asher arrived to Israel as a new immigrant with broken Hebrew, Ari recognized that he had a teaching gift and would encourage Asher to give messages in the congregation. With his typical family warmth and acceptance, Ari gave Asher a place to teach in this congregation of native Israelis, even with his beginner’s Hebrew.

Visionaries

Ari and Shira had a vision that Tiferet Yeshua congregation would be Hebrew-speaking only – no translation to other languages. The worship, preaching and fellowship would all be in Hebrew. We see the fruit of that today in that our congregation is still one of few congregations in Israel that is Hebrew only and does not have translation into other languages. Ari and Shira also made Tiferet Yeshua a place where teachers, evangelists and leaders have a place to grow and mature. Tiferet Yeshua has produced much fruit, and not just here in our midst. When I have the opportunity to visit other congregations throughout the Land, I see people there in leadership positions, people who are an integral part of their congregations, who started out here in Tiferet Yeshua.

An orphan who became a father-figure to many

On the occasion of Ari’s 80^th birthday celebration, we want to thank both Ari and Shira for their loving and generous hearts. Ari and Shira are a spiritual father and mother for me. And I am not the only one. For many people, Ari is a father figure, and many have been welcomed into his and Shira’s spiritual family. That is especially amazing considering the fact that Ari grew up as an orphan, without a father and mother. Despite that, God has made him into a loving father figure to so many people. We are so grateful for Ari’s life and that he continues to be a father and grandfather here at Tiferet Yeshua.

The warm family home that became a congregation – by Shosh Navon, beloved grandmother of Tiferet Yeshua

First of all, as Ari’s “older sister”, I can say from the grand heights of my 89 years, that fountains of youth still flow in you Ari at your young age of 80!

Dear, beloved Ari, at your arrival of this age of honor, you are not just a hero, you are the crown of this congregation, and Shira is the diamond in it. I remember those days of meeting in the “cave” in Ramat HaSharon, your warm and pleasant home that you opened for a gathering of believers. I say “cave” because when I came for the first time, I naively thought, “This must be the cave of the Rashbi!” I searched the for the ‘carob tree’, but I did not find it. Instead, I found the cave of Yeshua and His abundant love that has accompanied me to this day.

Since then, as they say, ‘much water has flowed’ in the Yarkon River, and, after several incarnations, congregation Tiferet Yeshua arrived at this our permanent address here in Tel Aviv, thanks to Ari’s initiative. Today we are so proud of you, Ari and Shira, and of this our “palace of prayer”, where Yeshua, Beloved of our hearts, shines forth from every corner. We wish you and us many more years of love and togetherness as the Tiferet Yeshua family.

Healing from the heart of a true spiritual father – by Tamar Afriat, worship pastor  

When I first arrived at Tiferet Yeshua congregation over fifteen years ago, I came as a sheep wounded by a pastor from another congregation. Back then, I had made the cynical decision not to trust a spiritual leader again. I had been so hurt and disappointed by my former pastor that I mistakenly thought that expecting the worst was the way to manage any future hurt. However, God had so much grace on me, despite my immature decision, and within a matter of years, I realized that I was healed from that “pastor” wound and from my own rash vow. The means that God had used to heal me were none other than Ari himself.

With Ari as my pastor, I got to know a man who was open, honest, and loving. And I could see that he was doing his absolute best to serve God and pastor His flock. Paul told the Corinthians that they did not have many spiritual fathers, and I know well that true spiritual fathers are rare. God has given Ari the special gift of being a spiritual father, and there are quite a few of us here at Tiferet Yeshua for whom Ari is a real spiritual father. With Ari as my pastor, I felt seen, appreciated, encouraged, supported and safe. Today I know how rare and special it is to have someone like that in your life.

When Gil and I stepped into the pastoral role here at Tiferet Yeshua six years ago, we knew that we were stepping up to serve a congregation with a deep and enduring spiritual heritage: first and foremost, Yeshua as the center, anointed teaching and worship, evangelism, and a sincere family openness and warmth. These are the foundations established by Ari and Shira. Even though I am in the pastoral role today, I still feel the support and encouragement from my pastor, Ari, and I continue to be inspired by Shira, by her work ethic, her positive outlook and vision, and by her enduring passion for God and advancing His kingdom here in Israel. What a wonderful heritage we have received from them!

“…He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.”

~Matthew 10:1

At congregation Tiferet Yeshua, Friday is our busiest day: our services begin at four in the afternoon and fellowship after the main service goes until after eight in the evening. On Fridays, I arrive at the congregation in the morning to make sure things are ready for the service. On the afternoon of Friday September the 10^th, just two hours before our service starts, our office phone rang – something that doesn’t happen very often, especially Fridays. On the line was a young man who said he had already called and sent messages to two other congregations that day and that no one was available. I wasn’t surprised: here in Israel, Fridays are when families and businesses are busy getting ready for the Sabbath and many congregations are preparing for their services. On Fridays in particular, I am usually not in the office right next to the phone. It was God’s perfect timing that I was there to answer his call!

Deliverance or a Psychiatrist

The man on the line with me told me that he was in a crisis and needed deliverance from demonic oppression ASAP. He wanted to come that day to our services so he could be delivered. While I was thinking to myself, “Ok, deliverance in our main service with all the people here…that could be messy,” I told him, “Of course we can minister to you, and we will be happy to do it after the service if you can make it here today.” He proceeded to tell me that his mother and older brother who are believers led him to the Lord several months before. Since then, he had been trying to grow in his faith but was unable to get free from addictive behaviors. The more he tried, the more he felt oppressed by darkness and confusion. The small fellowship they were a part of in their town was supporting him in prayer but were unequipped to delve into the spiritual side of the issues he was facing. Finally, his brother told him, “You either need to find a pastor who can deliver you or go to a psychiatrist!”

Desperate for Help

When I understood that he lived in a town in the south of Israel, a two-hour drive away, I asked him if he had a way to make it all the way to Tel Aviv. “I work until four in the afternoon, and I don’t know if I can get access to a car from a friend or family member to drive,” he told me. He would not be able to take public transportation because all public transportation in Israel stops in the early afternoon on Fridays for the Sabbath. I immediately shared with the leadership team about him and asked them to be praying for this young man who was desperate for help and needed to find a way to get to us from the South. After the service that evening, at six thirty, the young man from the South showed up: he had paid a taxi 1,000 shekels to drive him all the way to Tel Aviv after he got off work!

A Powerful Anointing for Deliverance

It was close to seven when I sat down with him in our sanctuary together with Kosta from our ministry team. Many people were heading home, and those that remained were in our fellowship area on the other side of the building. The young man shared with us more of his story, and we began praying for him. As we were praying for him, it was clear that he needed deliverance: he felt sick and was having a hard time breathing. As Kosta continued to pray for him, I went to find Pastor Gil who was taking with someone in the fellowship area. Gil joined us, and for the next several hours this young man experienced a powerful and dramatic deliverance. By God’s grace, very few people were left in the building, and those who were, it was God’s perfect plan that they were there: at one point, someone thought they smelled sulphur coming from the sanctuary and came to investigate. When they came in, they began experiencing spiritual deliverance themselves as well! Praise God that we were there as a team so that we could minister to those dear souls as the power of the Lord’s Spirit and love were touching them to set them free!

A Sign of Blessing

Late that evening, the Lord put it on my heart to drive this young man back home: he had just been through a dramatic and exhausting deliverance and had made such an effort to come. On the way to bring him home, the very first rain of the season began to fall: we both took it as a beautiful sign of blessing for him. In Israel, it does not rain from June until September or October, and when the rains finally come after the long hot summer, it is a great blessing indeed!

Light in his Face

The young man stayed in touch with us the following week, and Kosta and I met with him again to strengthen and encourage him. The following Friday he returned with his mother and brother. All of us were shocked: he looked like a completely different person and his face was filled with light! Even though he lives two hours away, he is committed to coming to Tiferet Yeshua and is looking into getting a car so that he can manage the commute. I am so honored that God allowed us to be a part of this wonderful young man’s journey to freedom in Yeshua, and I am so excited how the Lord is moving in our midst and working through us together as one on our ministry team for His kingdom!

“Thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.” ~Corinthians 15:57

***A Word on demonic oppression in the lives of  believers*** When we are born again, our spirits are born again, the Holy Spirit indwells our spirits, and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. However, in our souls (thoughts and emotions) and in our flesh, we continue our struggle with sin with increasing victory through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. In those areas we still struggle (the soul and flesh), we can indeed experience demonic oppression.

If you are unsure whether or not you believe that the born-again believer can experience demonic oppression, if you are struggling with fear, anxiety, depression, or persistent sinful behaviors you cannot seem to get free from, we highly suggest this this powerful teaching by Derek Prince on deliverance from demonic oppression. We also highly recommend this excellent book on the subject: Deliver Us from Evil by Don Basham

 (This story was originally published in 2021, and three years later this young man continues to be living testimony to God’s love and faithfulness to those who call on Him)

The Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is unique among the biblical holidays in that God commands us three times to be joyful before Him during this holiday.

Two times in Deuteronomy 16:13-15:

 “You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days… And you shall rejoice in your feast…Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

And also in Leviticus 23:33-40:

…and you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

The Feast of Tabernacles is unique in its insistence that we be joyful during this holiday. We are commanded once to be joyful during the Festival of Weeks (Pentecost). What about the other biblical holidays?

Passover, the Day of Atonement and the Day of Trumpeting: Serious and Solemn

Passover and the Day of Trumpeting speak about suffering and trials, albeit suffering and tribulation through which come salvation and redemption. It is difficult to be joyful through suffering and trials, like a woman in labor; no woman is joyful when experiencing painful contractions. But when the baby is born, there is then great joy! In the same way, Passover points to the sacrifice of the Messiah, the terrible suffering of God on our behalf, to redeem us and bring us from death to life. The Day of Trumpeting (Yom Tru’ah) points to the days of tribulation in the end times before the Lord returns, to God’s judgements during that time and to Jacob’s trouble during that time from which he will be saved.

The Day of Atonement is a solemn day of “afflicting our souls” and repentance. Prophetically, it points to the period during the great tribulation called Jacob’s Trouble when the people of Israel will cry out to God for mercy in repentance and mourning and will receive a collective revelation of Yeshua the Messiah, “the One they have pierced”. (Zechariah 12:10)

The Festival of Weeks\ First Fruits (Shavuot\Bikkurim) – Joy!

The Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) commands us to be joyful on the biblical festival of Weeks\First Fruits which is firstly an agricultural holiday: on this holiday the first fruits of the early harvest were brought into the Holy Temple. It was on this holiday in the New Testament when the first Jewish believers were gathered in Jerusalem that the Holy Spirit fell on them, revealing to us this holiday’s prophetic meaning. So the Festival of Weeks is a joyful agricultural celebration, a celebration of the joy of the Holy Spirit and the First Fruits of the gospel which went forth unto the nations after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Tabernacles\Ingathering (Sukkot\Aseef) – A Much Greater Joy!

Three times the Torah commands us to be joyful before the Lord on this festival. Like the Festival of Weeks, Tabernacles is an agricultural holiday called Ingathering:

“Celebrate the Festival of Harvest (Weeks) with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering (Sukkot) at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.” ~Exodus 23:16

If the Festival of Weeks prophetically pointed to the firstfruits of the gospel, then the Festival of Tabernacles points to the final harvest when God the Father says to the angels in heaven, “Gather the wheat into my barns!” However, this holiday is not only pointing to the great and final harvest. Tabernacles points to the greatest joy imaginable in this creation: the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom here on earth, the redemption of all creation and a return of all things to their proper place under the rule of Yeshua the Messiah here on earth.

The Thousand-Year Messianic Kingdom

Revelation 20:1-6, Isaiah 11:1-10

When Yeshua returns at the end of the great tribulation and destroys the Antichrist and all his armies, He will then rule and reign here on earth for a thousand years, together with resurrected believers who “shall be priests of God and of the Messiah, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6) What will this kingdom be like? The prophet Isaiah gives us a detailed picture in chapter 11 which shows the King Messiah ruling the nations in justice, wisdom and the knowledge of God. It is interesting to note how the prophet Isaiah describes the King Messiah as the “Root of Jesse”, that is, the source of the Davidic lineage as God His creator, and as “a branch…from the stump of Jesse”, that is Yeshua as a man directly descended from the Davidic lineage.

Tabernacles – The Greatest Joy Imaginable

The greatest joy that we can know is Yeshua reigning and ruling over the earth in justice, truth and love, filling the earth with peace and the knowledge of the LORD. During this thousand-year Messianic kingdom, the prophet Isaiah describes creation being restored to its proper order, in Edenic peace and innocence, with all people living how God intended: under the kingship of His Son, in justice, peace, and the knowledge of God.

This is such a great and profound joy, all nations will continue to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in the Messiah’s kingdom:

“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.” ~Zechariah 14:16

But God is inviting us to participate in that joy now, ahead of time, during the Feast of Tabernacles, to look ahead with joy and anticipation to that amazing time when the Tabernacle of God will be with us here on earth. This is the greatest joy conceivable to us in this world – Yeshua the Messiah, here on earth, ruling and reigning with His cherished Bride, the redeemed believers, and seeing the earth and all its peoples filled with the knowledge of the Lord: this joy is every heart’s deep desire to return to the beauty and innocence of the Garden of Eden and man and woman’s intimate communion with God.