October 29, 1999
I ended last week's letter with a request to pray with me as I went to Elon Morah - Shechem to participate in a weekend of celebration. Every year for the past four years the settlement of Elon Moreh has hosted those who wanted to bring their families to read the parasha Lech-Lechah and remember Abraham our father's journey into the land of promise. From Friday afternoon to Saturday evening YHVH had some very interesting experiences for me, both from the personal point of view and from the two houses perspective. I will try and recount for you some of those highlights.
The first thing that happened was the amazing trip from our settlement into the heart of the valley of Shechem. Normally it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive. But for some reason it only took me 45 minutes, which gave me some time to see a friend on another Settlement in the area of Elon Moreh. While this friend took me around the area, to show me how much land there is available for settling and planting even vineyards. My heart was longing for the return of Ephraim to his own mountains to live and work the land and to begin to plant the vineyards. “Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall have the use thereof” (Jer. 31:5).
We went to the highest point from which, on a clear day, one can see the three bodies of water, the Meditrainian sea, the sea of Galilee and the Dead sea. I shared with him about the two houses and especially the return of the House of Joseph. This was not new to him as he responded very positively to the possibility of these Gentile (Ephraimites) returning to the land of their forefathers. But he said it with a big cautious exclamation mark.
I left there and drove to Elon Moreh, just in time to catch the bus to Joseph's Tomb. Because it was Friday the streets of Shechem where empty of people. The only ones that where seen were the Palestinian Soldiers with their Kolashnikov weapons. As the bus came into the area of the Tomb. Palestinian flags greeted us along with large cement blocks stacked up to form a formidable fortress around the Tomb area. Israeli soldiers drove up in a jeep and took position around the buses as the Palestinian soldiers looked on. The bus then drove up as close to the opening as possible and we all disembarked. The inside of the area was like a synagogue with a court area outside and piles of sandbags making little bunkers. We went into pray for about 15 minutes, I stayed a little after to look at pictures and to read about Joseph making his brothers swear to bring his bones back to the land. All of a sudden a settler came in with his two little boys, one about 5 and the other 3 years of age. He walked up to me gave me a pair of scissors and took his youngest son and asked me to cut off some of his long hair. They do not cut the hair of the boys until their third birthday. My interpretation in those moments while standing next to Joseph's tomb, was like little Menashe the 5 year old and Ephraim the three year old were returning to their father Joseph. The cutting of Ephraim's hair was like his first experience in knowing what it is like to have Hebraic roots. I saw this as picture of where Ephraim is today as a nation.
Arriving back to Elon-Moreh, I was surprised to find that instead of staying in a large room with 20 young people and eating peanut butter sandwiches, I was invited into the home of one of the settlers to spend that weekend with them. It was a great blessing to walk through the weekend with him and his six children. We had great fellowship together as YHVH knitted us together through the experiences of the weekend.
On Shabbat morning I went with him to one of the six meeting places on the settlement for the morning service. At the end of the Torah reading they invited me up to pick up the scroll and sit with it while they put back on its covering. As I sat in the chair holding this large parchment against my left shoulder my hands griping the two sticks that it was rolled up on. I could feel the weight of the Torah as it pressed against my heart, and was struck by the meaning of how it must felt for the Jewish nation to carry the scepter of Torah for all these generations. My compassion was stirred in love and appreciation that the house of Judah had to walk through years of persecution for the sake of Torah. Another thought came to me as my sweaty hands griped the two sticks that the Torah was wrapped in, could these two sticks be the sticks of the two houses rapped in Torah. For without those two stick working together in harmony with one another the word of Elohim written on the skin of a lamb or sheep, would be unusable.
As we walked back to the house I felt to begin to share with my host about how I saw the return of the ten lost tribes and who they might be. How it was at Shechem that the break took place between those two nations and if there was any spot in all Israel that the breach would be restored, it would have to be in Shechem the orginal spot that it was torn apart. As we entered into his house and just before we set down to eat he looked at me with tears in his eyes. And said: "Now you are beginning to understand why we are here." I could not say another word, as we set down at the table (altar) for the shabbat meal.
Later that afternoon the guests were divided into groups and we walked up to a high look out point on the settlement and the guides shared with us about the area and its history.
A couple points that were very interesting was that not only did Abraham first come into the promised land just below were we were standing, but also Jacob returning from Heran with his family came to Elon Moreh-Shechem. Joshua leading Israel out of the wilderness, came to this same place. Another observation from that point, as we looked at all the Mountains round about, is that never have vineyards been replanted on those hills after our forefathers were cast out in 722 BC. Not even Herod, nor any of the occupiers over the thousands of years planted those grapes vines, those bare hills still weep silently for their beloved redeamer watchmen to come and plant and call out “Let us go up to Zion to YHVH our Elohim”.
Ephraim
“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133).
I ended last week's letter with a request to pray with me as I went to Elon Morah - Shechem to participate in a weekend of celebration. Every year for the past four years the settlement of Elon Moreh has hosted those who wanted to bring their families to read the parasha Lech-Lechah and remember Abraham our father's journey into the land of promise. From Friday afternoon to Saturday evening YHVH had some very interesting experiences for me, both from the personal point of view and from the two houses perspective. I will try and recount for you some of those highlights.
The first thing that happened was the amazing trip from our settlement into the heart of the valley of Shechem. Normally it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive. But for some reason it only took me 45 minutes, which gave me some time to see a friend on another Settlement in the area of Elon Moreh. While this friend took me around the area, to show me how much land there is available for settling and planting even vineyards. My heart was longing for the return of Ephraim to his own mountains to live and work the land and to begin to plant the vineyards. “Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall have the use thereof” (Jer. 31:5).
We went to the highest point from which, on a clear day, one can see the three bodies of water, the Meditrainian sea, the sea of Galilee and the Dead sea. I shared with him about the two houses and especially the return of the House of Joseph. This was not new to him as he responded very positively to the possibility of these Gentile (Ephraimites) returning to the land of their forefathers. But he said it with a big cautious exclamation mark.
I left there and drove to Elon Moreh, just in time to catch the bus to Joseph's Tomb. Because it was Friday the streets of Shechem where empty of people. The only ones that where seen were the Palestinian Soldiers with their Kolashnikov weapons. As the bus came into the area of the Tomb. Palestinian flags greeted us along with large cement blocks stacked up to form a formidable fortress around the Tomb area. Israeli soldiers drove up in a jeep and took position around the buses as the Palestinian soldiers looked on. The bus then drove up as close to the opening as possible and we all disembarked. The inside of the area was like a synagogue with a court area outside and piles of sandbags making little bunkers. We went into pray for about 15 minutes, I stayed a little after to look at pictures and to read about Joseph making his brothers swear to bring his bones back to the land. All of a sudden a settler came in with his two little boys, one about 5 and the other 3 years of age. He walked up to me gave me a pair of scissors and took his youngest son and asked me to cut off some of his long hair. They do not cut the hair of the boys until their third birthday. My interpretation in those moments while standing next to Joseph's tomb, was like little Menashe the 5 year old and Ephraim the three year old were returning to their father Joseph. The cutting of Ephraim's hair was like his first experience in knowing what it is like to have Hebraic roots. I saw this as picture of where Ephraim is today as a nation.
Arriving back to Elon-Moreh, I was surprised to find that instead of staying in a large room with 20 young people and eating peanut butter sandwiches, I was invited into the home of one of the settlers to spend that weekend with them. It was a great blessing to walk through the weekend with him and his six children. We had great fellowship together as YHVH knitted us together through the experiences of the weekend.
On Shabbat morning I went with him to one of the six meeting places on the settlement for the morning service. At the end of the Torah reading they invited me up to pick up the scroll and sit with it while they put back on its covering. As I sat in the chair holding this large parchment against my left shoulder my hands griping the two sticks that it was rolled up on. I could feel the weight of the Torah as it pressed against my heart, and was struck by the meaning of how it must felt for the Jewish nation to carry the scepter of Torah for all these generations. My compassion was stirred in love and appreciation that the house of Judah had to walk through years of persecution for the sake of Torah. Another thought came to me as my sweaty hands griped the two sticks that the Torah was wrapped in, could these two sticks be the sticks of the two houses rapped in Torah. For without those two stick working together in harmony with one another the word of Elohim written on the skin of a lamb or sheep, would be unusable.
As we walked back to the house I felt to begin to share with my host about how I saw the return of the ten lost tribes and who they might be. How it was at Shechem that the break took place between those two nations and if there was any spot in all Israel that the breach would be restored, it would have to be in Shechem the orginal spot that it was torn apart. As we entered into his house and just before we set down to eat he looked at me with tears in his eyes. And said: "Now you are beginning to understand why we are here." I could not say another word, as we set down at the table (altar) for the shabbat meal.
Later that afternoon the guests were divided into groups and we walked up to a high look out point on the settlement and the guides shared with us about the area and its history.
A couple points that were very interesting was that not only did Abraham first come into the promised land just below were we were standing, but also Jacob returning from Heran with his family came to Elon Moreh-Shechem. Joshua leading Israel out of the wilderness, came to this same place. Another observation from that point, as we looked at all the Mountains round about, is that never have vineyards been replanted on those hills after our forefathers were cast out in 722 BC. Not even Herod, nor any of the occupiers over the thousands of years planted those grapes vines, those bare hills still weep silently for their beloved redeamer watchmen to come and plant and call out “Let us go up to Zion to YHVH our Elohim”.
Ephraim
“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133).
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