Operation ExodusA ministry of Ebenezer Emergency Fund International

Summer 09

A Christian ministry helping the Jewish people return to Israel

‘IwillputMySpiritinyou,andyoushalllive,andIwillplaceyouinyourownland.’Ezekiel37:14

Isaiah 43:5-6 (NIV)

IN THIS ISSUE:

Celebrating a year in the Land

‘South, do not hold them back’ ’

Georgia Jews safely home

Uzbekistan family reunited in Israel

South African aliyah continues

Aid for Holocaust survivors

ON THEIR WAY HOME TO ISRAEL

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As Paul unfolds the mystery of Israel in Romans chapter 11, he makes an essential point (verse 15): ‘For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?’

The vision in Ezekiel chapter 37 helps us to better understand Paul’s point. In the spirit the prophet sees a valley full of bones. The Lord asks him (verse 3), ‘Sonofman,cantheseboneslive?’ Ezekiel wisely answers, ‘OLordGOD,Youknow.’ Then the Lord gives him a task: to prophesy. He commands him (verses 4 and 9), ‘Prophesytothesebones’ and ‘Prophesytothebreath.’ After his obedience (verses 7 and 10), the miracle occurs (verse 10): ‘they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army’.

The Lord explains to Ezekiel (verse 11): ‘these bones are the whole house of Israel’. Today we are witnesses of the Jewish cry in the same verse, ‘ourhopeislost,andweourselvesarecutoff!’ But again the Lord provides a solution (verses 12–14): ‘OMypeople, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD … I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.’ Are we unaware that these are exactly the miraculous days we are living in? We are seeing the Jewish people ‘coming up from their graves’ and we are helping in their amazing worldwide return to their homeland, Israel, and to their Lord.

God needs the Church – the body of Messiah – to pray, prophesy and proclaim. The goal is the fulfilment of Ezekiel 37:21-22: ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations … and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land.’ They shall know the Lord and be the promised blessing (Genesis 12:3). This will be as powerful as life from the dead.

In John chapter 11 we find an individual example of this miracle: the resurrection of Lazarus. His situation is seemingly hopeless, but the Lord says (verse 4): ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ This wondrous account serves as a parable of Israel’s restoration and resurrection for God’s glory and as a mighty sign to all nations.

Since the Lord loved Lazarus and his grieving sisters, Martha and Mary, it probably was difficult for Him to wait two days before He went to them. Yet Yeshua declares (verses 14 and 15), ‘Lazarusisdead.AndIamgladforyoursakesIwasnotthere...’ For nearly 2,000 years Israel, too, has been asleep, seemingly abandoned. But this was for the Gentiles’ salvation. When Yeshua finally arrives, Martha says (verses 21 and 22): ‘Lord,ifYouhadbeenhere,mybrotherwouldnothavedied. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.’

When Yeshua explains that her brother will rise again, she answers (verse 24): ‘Iknow…intheresurrectionatthelastday.’ Similarly, many Christians believe Israel will come to life at the last day. But Yeshua makes it clear (verse 25): ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ He weeps, comes to the tomb, and commands: ‘Takeawaythestone.’ The big ‘stone’ for Israel was removed in 1948. But there are others. Now is the time, as Isaiah 62:10 says, to ‘preparethewayforthepeople…Takeoutthestones’. This means removing obstacles to aliyah, as the Jewish return to Israel is called.

Of course, when finally the Lord says (verse 43), ‘Lazarus,comeforth!’ the miracle happens! The dead man comes out, but he is still bound with grave-clothes, his face wrapped with a cloth. Yeshua says (verse 44), ‘Loosehim,andlethimgo.’ Likewise, there is still a veil over the Jewish people. We are called to help unwrap their faces, loose them and let them go! Let us rejoice because the fulfilment is near: life from the dead. God will be glorified!

Markus J. Ernst ChairmanEbenezerEmergencyFundInternational

LIFE FROM THE DEAD!

‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations … and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land.’

ScripturesfromtheNKJV

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During the Ebenezer Moldova weekly prayer meeting at the office in Chisinau, Valentina, one

of the intercessors, remembered that relatives of her late Jewish husband lived in his native village only 20 miles away. She suggested to Pavel, base leader, that they should go and look for them. So one day she and Pavel and his wife, Lina, set off with food parcels to find these potential repatriates.

It was the first time Valentina had been on a ‘fishing’ trip, although she always tells Jewish people she

meets of God’s call for His people to ‘return’ to Israel. Arriving in the village, they discovered several members of the family, all of whom were eligible for making aliyah.

Hesed, the Jewish aid organisation, and the Jewish Agency had not heard of the family and were delighted about Ebenezer’s discovery, as they could help them in various ways. ‘We believe the Lord is doing His work in their hearts, stirring them to return to the land of their forefathers!’ said Pavel.

‘Let’s look for my Jewish relatives’

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Four years ago our team in Pyatigorsk, southern Russia, helped a mother and four of her

children to move to Israel. Two years later the team assisted the elder son and his family to make aliyah. His wife wrote to Ebenezer recently:

‘AyearhaspassedsincewemovedtoIsrael.Ayearissomuchandsolittle…Itisalotoftimebecauseyouhavetogetusedtoanewlanguage,anewcountry,newpeopleandadifferentmentality–atotallydifferentworld!

‘IshallneverforgetmyfirstsightofTelAvivfromtheplane–itwasalllights!Itwas3a.m.andeverythinginthecitywasilluminated,includingthepathsintheparks…ItwasasifsomebodyhadforgottentotakeawaytheNewYeardecorations…

‘Someverypoliteandconsideratepeople,theJewishAgencyrepresentatives,wereatthehugemodernairterminaltomeetus.Theyhelpeduswithourluggage,todothepaperwork,gaveusourfirstallowanceandhiredataxiforus.ThecheerfuldrivertookustoBe’erSheva.

‘Motherwaswaitingforus.OurfamilywasreunitedinthePromisedLand!Wewerefullofjoy,butwhatIfeltfirstofallwasrelief:IwasHOME.

‘ThanksonceagaintoallEbenezerworkerswhohelpedus,especiallyEduard.Butforhiseffortsandperseveranceitwouldhavetakenusmuchlongertoreunite!’

Svetlana

Celebrating a year in the Land

ValentinawithLinaandPavel,ourbaseleaders.

SvetlanaandhersonwithsomefriendsinIsrael.

Operation Exodus Operation Exodus

Twelve of us from Switzerland took a special journey through Argentina between February 23 and March 15 – to pray for the return of Jewish people to Israel from Latin America.

Representing three Christian organisations, we all had the same compassionate concern: to prepare the way now for God’s chosen ones to go home! The God of Israel who said to the north, ‘Give them up!’ also declares that He will release His people from ‘the south’ (Isaiah 43:6).

Before we travelled to Argentina we studied the history of wrongdoing to the Jewish people by our forefathers, which brought hidden things to light. With other intercessors we confessed these things and asked the Lord for forgiveness. We discovered that the Swiss Red Cross had helped many Nazis to flee to South America, especially Argentina, where the largest numbers of Jewish immigrants in the region live. Today many Holocaust

survivors, and their descendants, live side by side with their former persecutors and the spirit of anti-Semitism is felt throughout the land.

Thanks to prayer support around the world, we were able to achieve all that we had the vision to do during our three-week intercessory journey. Several times we sensed through confession, reconciliation and unity a release in the spiritual realm. That was the key for our praying at the various places, in visits to churches and contact with Jewish people. We felt that the ministry of Operation Exodus is moving into a new dimension in Latin America.

We spent our first week in the Cordoba region. We stayed at a prayer house in La Falda, which was like an oasis for us in a densely populated area where many Nazis have been hiding. Prayer with much praise, worship and prophetic proclamation linked with daily services in larger churches were our main activities.

In Buenos Aires, the capital, we stayed at a Bible school. Some of the buildings were used by the Nazis 60 years ago as an espionage centre, so again we saw how the God of Israel can turn a curse into blessing. In the school we found much potential for helping to fulfil the Lord’s purposes for Israel: 400 students preparing for ministry in the Spanish-speaking world. During our week in Buenos Aires God led us through important prayer times at various sites, as well as precious encounters with Jewish

people and organisations.

The final part of our tour took place in Iguaçu, the spectacular waterfalls area in the north of Argentina bordering Paraguay and Brazil. There we met up with Roger Wolcott, Chairman of the EEF Latin American Board. Only God was able to do what happened there! Pastors and Christian leaders from the three countries met spontaneously for a day of reconciliation in which the Lord opened their eyes to His purposes for the Jewish people. Together we all proclaimed God’s Word and His plans were prophetically uttered in that strategic place. We are convinced that this event will have a blessed and far-reaching consequence for aliyah and the Church in Argentina and all of Latin America.

We returned home from our prayer journey abundantly blessed and amazed at what God had done, but also fully aware that the task has only just begun!

Hanna Ernst

Hanna,thewifeofourChairman,Markus,isEEFSwitzerlandPrayerCo-ordinator

‘South, do not hold them back!’A prayer journey for the Jewish return from Latin America

‘Pass through … the gates! Prepare the way for the people.’

Isaiah 62:10

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Stirrings in the West

God has promised that He will bring His people, Israel, home from the ends of the earth. This includes gathering them ‘from the west’ (Isaiah 43:5).

I am very excited about what the Lord is doing now in the Western hemisphere and especially in relationship to Latin America. All the way from Mexico in North America to Argentina and the southern tip of South America very interesting things are developing. The Lord is beginning to awaken the churches to Israel and God’s eternal purposes for His people in this day and time. Today we are seeing more and more stirrings in the West. The Lord is watching over His word to fulfil it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

In October 2007, when I was in Bournemouth for a meeting with the Ebenezer Development team and the International Board, I found myself restless. Not knowing why, I went to prayer: ‘What are you saying, Lord?’ He answered so clearly and precisely that

I quickly grabbed a pen and paper to write down the prophetic words:

1. ‘I am saying that the time is short – shorter than most people imagine.

2. ‘I am saying that the conflict is great. There is coming a tremendous shaking of all things, in all nations. My people, the Church, must be aware, must awaken and must be prepared.

3. ‘I am saying that the harvest is great. The multitude of my chosen people is greater than what has been imagined by the world, the Church, the Jewish Agency and by the present Israeli population. There is a vast army. I will raise them up to the surprise of all.’

Surprised and shaken by these words, I brought them to the International Board so that they could judge the prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21). They all sensed it was from the Lord.

None of us knew then, of course, of the worldwide economic shaking that began in 2008. This seems to be just a small demonstration of what is to come.

The question of the multitudes of His people was, and is still not, totally clear, but since last year we have been getting outside confirmation which indicates that there are a very large number of descendants of Sephardic Jews in Spain, Portugal and throughout all of Latin America, many of whom are unaware of their ancestry. One of the sources came through articles by Jewish writers declaring that there are vast numbers of people having Sephardic Jewish ancestry.

In Scripture, Obadiah prophesies (verse 20): ‘the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev’. Sepharad in Hebrew means ‘far away place’. It was almost always applied to the Jews of Iberia (Spain and Portugal). Their descendants are known as the Sephardic Jews or Sephardim. The Negev is mostly desert and 55 per cent of the present territory of Israel. Isaiah prophesied that the

desert would bloom and even become like the Garden of Eden (see Isaiah 41:18-20; 44:3-5; 49:8-12; 51:3). Could these passages literally come true in the Negev? And will

the ‘vast army’, referred to in Ezekiel 37:10-14, be composed of a very large group of Sephardic Jews from Iberia and Latin America who are a part of the restoration of the dry bones of the ‘whole house of Israel’?

We are getting invitations to share in churches and groups concerning what God is doing in our day through Israel. On the other hand, we are also beginning to see an increase in anti-Semitism and the beginning of an awakening for aliyah in the Jewish populations in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world.

We must hear the call of the Lord for intensive prayer and for prayer journeys throughout Latin America and Iberia, and for the release of the Jews in the fulfilment of the Lord’s word for Sepharad.

Roger Wolcott

EEFIBoardmember&ChairmanofEEFLatinAmericanBoard

All the way from Mexico in North America to Argentina and the southern tip of South America very interesting things are developing. The Lord is beginning to awaken the churches to Israel and God’s eternal purposes for His people in this day and time.

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Keren Hayesod, a Jewish Agency partner organisation, had appealed to us to help these people – some of whom had lost everything in the conflict in Georgia – to make aliyah.

Our help included transporting the olim from their homes in Georgia to Tbilisi airport, where our team held a farewell meeting to bless them on their way to new life in Israel. One family was especially thankful to be there. The previous day they had narrowly escaped death from carbon monoxide poisoning as they were packing in their flat. One of them was in a closed room when he suddenly collapsed because of the fumes, which quickly started to overcome the rest of the family. But one of these five had the presence of mind to open all the windows and phone for an ambulance. They spent the night in hospital but were discharged early the following morning and were able to join the flight.

‘ConsideringthisincidentandthemiracleGoddidforthisfamily,wesee

Satan’sresistancetotheexodusoftheJewishpeopleand,atthesametime,God’sstrongdesiretobringHispeoplebacktothePromisedLand,’ said Slava, our leader in Georgia.

Shirley Lawrenson, EEF Olim Liaison, Jerusalem, was among those who met the 28 on arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv. She reports:

‘IthinkoneofthemostrewardingaspectsoftheworkofaliyahismeetingthosetakingtheirfirststepsintoIsrael.Everygroupofolimarrivingbackleavessomethingwithyouthatyouwillrememberfortherestofyourlife.WhatanawesomeprivilegeitistoseeGod’speoplecominghomefromthenations!

AlthoughitwasonlyafairlysmallgroupitencouragedmetoseethesmilingfaceswhenTheoandElsandI,alongwithagroupfromCVI,metthemsoonafterlanding.ItwasablessingespeciallytoseetheyoungpeoplecomingandknowingthattheywillbepartofIsrael’sfuture.Talkingtosome

ofthemandhearingthattheywerehappytofinallybeinIsraelwasabigencouragement.OneladytoldmeshehadasisterwhohadbeenlivinginIsraelfor12yearsandnowtheyweretobereunitedthere.

‘WewereabletoblessthemwithwelcominggiftsforthecomingPesach(Passover)feast.ItwasexcitingthatthisgrouphadarrivedjustintimetocelebrateitherewiththerestofIsraelUsuallyJewishpeoplewillconcludetheSedermealswiththedeclaration,“NextyearinJerusalem!”Butthisgroupwassafelyhomeforit!ItwasencouragingtotalktoafatherandlistentohishopesforhisfamilytohaveabetterfutureinIsrael.PraisetheLordforthesafearrivalofallofthem!’

Keren Hayesod marked this wonderful occasion by presenting Ebenezer – Operation Exodus with a Certificate of Excellence for our longstanding dedication, commitment and contribution to the State of Israel.

Georgia Jews safely home

God is truly continuing to fulfil His promises to bring the Jewish people home to Israel. On 29 March a flight from Tbilisi brought 28 olim (new Jewish immigrants) from Georgia to Tel Aviv. The arrival of these 13 families from a country that had been a war zone a few months previously was made possible by co-operation between Ebenezer – Operation Exodus, our Dutch partners Christians for Israel (CVI) and Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal (UIA).

We would like to thank you, our supporters and prayer partners, for it is through your generous support and prayers, that we were able to provide so much help and comfort to so many precious Jewish people.

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Beslan, September 2004. The seizing of a school and

the taking of over 1,000 children, teachers and parents hostage, followed by a three-day siege in which more than 320 people – many of them children – were killed and hundreds wounded, shocked the world. After the atrocity Ebenezer workers sought to find and help Jewish people caught up in the tragedy. That was when they found Nelly and her two children.

Nelly told the team how, on that fatal day, 1 September, she was taking Zaur, her younger son, to the kindergarten, in the same street where the ill-fated school was. Zaur was attracted by music and a crowd of well-dressed children, but she hurried him on— until they saw armed men. Even then Nelly thought it was some kind of street performance, but when a shot

rang out and she saw a man fall to the ground she grabbed her son and ran away. They managed to hide behind the nearest building. It was a miraculous escape.

Ebenezer cared for the family over the next two years. Nelly’s husband had walked out on her in the 1990s and she later lost her home. She

despaired of life, but hope rose when she heard she could move to Israel. That hope began to disappear when the Israeli consul turned down several applications for a visa because she did not have all the necessary documents. But God helped by using one of our representatives to find all the papers she needed. Then came the wonderful day in February 2008 when the family left Russia.

The family is now well settled in Israel. To her great joy, Nelly was reunited

with her mother, who had been living in Israel for 15 years. Her mother invited her and her children to live with her. It was the end of Nelly’s despair and an example of God’s faithfulness to His people.

Ending Nelly’s despair

Uzbekistan family reunited in Israel

Our team bade a fond farewell to Vera when she departed for Israel. It was the happy ending to a story that began in 2005 when our team discovered a Jewish

family of refugees from Uzbekistan living in the Volgograd region of Russia. Vera had three children. One of them, eldest daughter Natasha, was married with three youngsters of her own, living in terrible conditions in what looked more like a garage than a house.

They desperately needed help with documents to apply for official registration and gain Russian citizenship to be able to start the process of making aliyah. Our team helped them overcome these obstacles to bring about a happy outcome. We covered all their expenses, including the citizenship applications, passports and travelling expenses to and from the Israeli consulate in Moscow. Before 2005 was out Natasha and her family were in Israel.

One of Natasha’s brothers, Pavel, followed her in 2007 and her second brother, Eduard, in the spring of 2008. Finally, in the last hours of 2008, Vera left too, to unite the whole family in the Promised Land!

We help many families like this to be reunited in Israel. Please remember that we need your ongoing support to help them.

“ForIknowtheplansIhaveforyou,”declarestheLORD,“planstoprosperyouandnottoharmyou,planstogiveyouhopeandafuture.” Jeremiah 29:11

2004Bulletincover

VeraattheairportwithVolodya,ourbaseleader.

Nellywithherchildren.

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Ebenezer – Operation Exodus sponsors summer and winter camps in the former Soviet Union for Jewish young people and also sponsors Jewish Agency youth study programmes in Israel.

The camps in the fSU help young people develop a sense of their Jewish identity and cause them to think about going to Israel – through joining study programmes. In supporting these camps, our Pyatigorsk team has, from time to time, provided the funds to enable young teachers to come over from Israel to talk to the campers.

Our sponsorship of the Jewish Agency-run Naale and Sela study programmes is proving to be an important part of helping the younger generation make aliyah. Almost all the young people who go to Israel on the programmes decide to stay there – and often their parents subsequently decide to join them in the Land.

Support for these programmes has come over a number of years through our Pyatigorsk and Yekaterinburg offices. It includes paying for travel and accommodation for applicant interviews and for research in tracing the necessary documents proving Jewish roots, which often takes a lot of time and money.

When students return to the

fSU on holiday each year they invariably can’t stop talking excitedly to their families and friends about their new life. It is their happiness that helps relatives and friends to send their children to Israel, too. Eight years ago a family in Cherkessk sent their eldest daughter to Israel. She, like many other young people, became a permanent resident. Her younger sister made aliyah last year, soon followed by her parents, bringing the whole family together in the Promised Land.

‘Naale student is one of the categories of olim that prove to be most successful in settling down in Israel,’ says Anatoly, Yekaterinburg base leader. ‘We consider it very important to continue to support young people going to Israel on this programme.’

Anatoly reckons that about 50 per cent of the parents who send their children on the Naale and Sela programmes follow them to Israel. ‘We often hear from the people whose children we helped five, six, eight years ago. The parents not only fly to Israel to join their children, but also their grandchildren born in the land!’

Sponsoring Jewish youth programmes is just a small part of our work helping Jewish people go home to the Promised Land. We continually need funding for all this work. Will you help finance a young person?

1. LIFE FROM THE DEAD! Ezekiel 37:9-14 Romans 11:15

Thanksgiving for Church leaders who teach the full counsel of God and stand fast on truths concerning the coming Kingdom and the King.

Please pray for:

The Church to be awakened to receive the • revelation of God’s heart for the ingathering of Israel in these end times.

Believers to have discernment and prophetic • insight and be actively obedient to God’s call to help His Jewish people go home.

Fresh gifts of faith within the Church to receive • and proclaim God’s Word for the spiritual and literal highways to be opened for the aliyah of His people back to their land.

2. STIRRINGS IN THE WEST

Isaiah 43:5-6

Thanksgiving for the stirrings among hidden communities of Jewish people to choose to return to Israel.

Please pray for:

Trusting partnerships between Ebenezer • Operation Exodus, the Jewish Agency and Jewish organisations to grow in strength and cooperation to aid aliyah in these urgent days.

Preparation of the Negev for the return of the • Sephardim.

The Lord’s provision of finance and manpower • to be available to facilitate every need to prepare the way and assist the exodus of His people as they return home.

3. ALL TOGETHER IN THE PROMISED LAND

Jeremiah 31:10

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s help for believers and olim to overcome disappointments and difficulties and to press through with resolve and perseverance for His word to be fulfilled.

Please pray for:

The olim who make aliyah having suffered • trauma — as in Georgia and Beslan – to find peace, stability and a sense of being home in Israel.

The Jewish youth programmes in Israel to impact • families – for young people to attend — and for parents to be inspired by the enthusiasm of their children and choose to make aliyah.

For believers who work in the ministry to have • great courage and hold fast to God’s Word that He will never leave them nor forsake them. Deuteronomy 31:6

EVERYTHING by Prayer

Helping youth programmes makes big impact

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South African aliyah continues

Being on this flight was a wonderful privilege. It was exciting to see so many young people going to Israel. Among them was Thorne, 19, the only one in his family to make aliyah. First he would join the army and after that study. Rael was in a similar position, but hopeful that other members would follow.

Gavin had been sent to Israel by his employer for three months. He soon realised that he had come ‘home’ so he went back to South Africa to arrange a permanent move to Israel.

Amiel, 25, already speaks Hebrew fluently. He was just seven when he asked his parents when they would be making aliyah. They said, ‘In two years’ time.’ Two years later he asked again – and got the same answer. He kept on asking the question. He made several visits to Israel and each time returned to South Africa more convinced than before. The last time he announced: ‘Next time I am making aliyah.’

Joy and excitement was written all over his face. His parents are still in South Africa.

Among the older ones on this flight were Philip and Hannah, excited about joining their doctor son and his family in Israel at last.

Greeting the new immigrants on arrival at Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv were flag-waving youngsters with welcoming messages who danced and sang in Hebrew, ‘The sons have returned home.’

The new arrivals were given the ‘red carpet aliyah procedure’. The brainchild of Ofer Dahan of the Jewish Agency in South Africa, it involved visiting the post office, bank, telephone companies, health security department, Ministry of Absorption and many more important stalls all in a hall at the hotel. Then the group was taken to the Kotel (Western Wall) for an official welcome ceremony before being presented with their Israeli ID cards

at this historical place. So less than 24 hours after arriving in Israel they became citizens of the Promised Land!

At the final ceremony that evening, Ebenezer was given special thanks for financially supporting the party’s stay in the hotel. Many thanked us personally and Ofer Dahan said, ‘We could never do this without our Ebenezer partners.’ I pointed them to Isaiah 49:22, which mentions that the Gentiles will carry the Jewish sons and daughters on their shoulders back to the Land, and also to Isaiah 43:6, where God commands the south not to hold back. Being a representative of the south, I not only didn’t want to hold them back, but help them back to the Promised Land.

The next morning each new immigrant was taken by taxi or other vehicles to their new homes. Local families would help them during the first few weeks of their new life. As someone mentioned at one of the welcoming ceremonies, though Israel is known as the land of milk and honey, many find during their first months after making aliyah that there are all kinds of spices mixed in as well! These olim need our prayers.

Operation Exodus

A third flight bringing Jewish people from South Africa to Israel took place in April. Accompanying these 75 new immigrants on the nine-hour journey was Ebenezer’s South Africa National Co-ordinator, Alida Schoultz. She writes:

OferwithnewolimatthearrivalceremonyinJerusalem.

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Operation Exodus

“I will… gather you from the West.” Isaiah 43:5

Interest in making aliyah from the USA has risen 100 per cent. God is bringing His people home according to His Word. Many times this means leaving parents, family and friends to be the first to go to Israel. It is a step of faith, as Abraham set out in faith and obedience to God’s call.

Ebenezer USA has the privilege of serving God in helping Jewish people return to Israel from America. Some hear about us by word of mouth; some find us on the internet. Most are recommended to us by Jewish Agency representatives as those who need just a little more help to make aliyah and be successful in the Land.

Three olim helped by Ebenezer this year tell their stories:

Beata:‘In 1989 my family was among the hundreds of thousands of Soviet refugees absorbed by Jewish communities worldwide. My parents and I settled in San Francisco and were reconnected

to our Jewish heritage. Israel soon became central to my identity as a Jew. My Bat Mitzvah trip launched a life-long desire to be “closer” to the Jewish State. The only way to fulfil this yearning would be to ultimately live in Israel. At

last I decided Israel is where I belong. I am making aliyah to be reunited with my homeland. Thank you for fulfilling Ebenezer’s remarkable mission. Thank you for all your work in making my dream a reality.’

Libbie:‘I grew up in a suburb of Boston, in a conservative/traditional home and attended Hebrew school. My mother is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors and most members of her side of the family perished. My parents had dreams of

making aliyah. Every year they sent my siblings and me to a Zionist summer camp. During a six-week trip when I was 17, I began to truly fall in love with Israel. In the past few years I have felt a deep, constant longing to live there. Thank you so much for the support. I am very grateful for the help to set up my new life in Israel.’

Garth:‘I was going to move to Israel several years ago, but my beloved father became ill and passed away. I had to step in and help my Mom in the family jewellery business. Because I’m the oldest and the only son, my late father left me with specific instructions to make sure that all my sisters marry Jewish men and that my mother remarries. Now that my sisters are married and my mother has remarried, the time is right for me to make my move to Israel. I am the “pioneer” and want all of my family to come to Israel. Thank you so, so very much for all your time and effort you put forth on my behalf!’

Operation Exodus

Ebenezer Emergency Fund International Ebenezer House, 5a Poole Road Bournemouth BH2 5QJ. UK

Telephone: +44 (0) 1202 294455 Fax: +44 (0) 1202 295550

Email: enquiries@ebenezer-ef.org Website: www.operation-exodus.org

Ebenezer Emergency Fund USA PO Box 568 Lancaster, NY 14086

Phone: 716 681 6300 Fax: 716 681 6304

Email: info@ebenezerusa.org Website: www.ebenezerusa.org

Operation Exodus SE Asia Oceania Level 2, 39 Leighton Place Hornsby NSW 2077 Australia

Phone + 61 2 9482 4692

Email: seao@ebenezer-ef.org Website: www.operation-exodus-seao.org

Operation Exodus is an instrument of the Lord to encourage and help the Jewish people to return to the Land of Israel from the land of the north and al l the nations and to proclaim God’s Kingdom purposes for their return.

All articles in this publication Copyright © Ebenezer Emergency Fund International May 2009. Operation Exodus is the operational part of Ebenezer Emergency Fund International. Started in 1991 with just three people, it now has workers and bases throughout the former Soviet Union. The head office is in the UK and there are National Co-ordinators in over 20 countries worldwide.

LAST CALL ... LAST CALL … LAST CALL …

www.theisrael-project.orgJuly 16th – 30th 2009

The Israel Project

Aid for Holocaust survivors

Many Holocaust survivors still live in the Moscow region. Together with your support, our team continues to help these very elderly Jewish people by providing much-needed medicines. Significantly, the funding for this work has

come from our supporters in Germany – an act of Christian love and repentance for the atrocities carried out by their forefathers during the 1939-45 War.

Helping in the latest phase of the project, which took place in February and March, was a German volunteer, Lutz. To bless people who survived the horrors of the ghettoes and concentration camps, we invited 216 of them to our Moscow office to receive the medicines they wanted. Others too ill and feeble to travel received what they wanted from our team visiting them in their homes.

The participation of Western volunteers in this distribution was very important, as they were an encouragement to survivors opening up their hearts. It is unlikely that some will ever see the Promised Land, but Ebenezer had opportunities to share about the work of aliyah with their children and grandchildren, letting them know the help they can receive if they decide to go ‘home’ to Israel. Two grandchildren of Holocaust survivors visited Israel on a Jewish youth programme as a result of last year’s distribution.

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The Israel Project is fast approaching. It will be a fun, action-packed young adults’ trip to the Holy Land — but it is much more than that. It will be a journey of discovery of what God has to say about how His Word will impact Israel, the Church and the nations in the years to come.

Come and get in touch with His heart for the Land and His people.

The trip will be physically, spiritually and emotionally charged so get ready!

See the website below for itinerary, tour price and booking form or contact Andy Ernst: andy@theisrael-project.org for further information.

Places are still available if you’re quick!

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