The story of the community

Tonight we were given the story in a nutshell. To the Father be the glory for the things which He has done! We began with a movie of Israel. Israel…where the earth and the sky meet. The Land of faith and history. The Land where the past and the present reveal themselves.
Our brother in the community spoke with joy about what the Father has accomplished here in the kibbutz. The community came about because of a young German nurse during WWII. As a child she saw the anti-Semitism in her own neighborhood. The sister comforted the Jews and told them it was a privilege to be Jewish. She planted love in their hearts.

The war began and she became a nurse. She was not protected from X-ray radiation and she was diagnosed with cancer. So severe that she was told to go home for she would only live a couple more months. She and two others knew in their hearts that if the Word is true, He could heal her. So they prayed and she vowed that if He would heal her, she would do whatever He asked. She stayed to serve. She was given a dream with a basket coming upon her filled with fruit. She recovered.

She went back home to share with her family. She left the state sponsored church in which religion was dictated and became a member of a small fellowship. The focus was on total dedication to the Father, and they saw many healing miracles. The congregation began to donate money to Youth Aliyah for Jewish kids to return to Israel after the war. In 1963 she received a prophetic vision to go to Israel. In the same year the Aliyah group invited them to come and visit the land.

They ended up in Zichron Ya’acov, a location where they were able to buy property. They bought House Zion and every occasion people came here to work on the house. They were zealous for their Jewish brothers and went to the local Synagogue on Shabbat to sing and blow shofars. They were not well received! The locals saw them as Germans (only 18 years after WWII) who they must fight against. They cut their irrigation pipes, set fires, and threw stones at them. It was a test for the Germans. They never pressed charges. Once some teens were caught, but the community asked for them to be released. Charges would have meant that they were not able to serve in the army or pursue education. Thirty years later one of these boys became a mayor in Samaria. Not many years ago he thanked the community and came to an understanding of their love.

Things have changed over the decades. It’s only been in the last decade or so that the Jews have begun to respond to the love of the community. It has truly been a selfless love. Today the Jews bring busloads of people to tour the factory. When this happens, the community pulls their young men off of their jobs to sing in a choir – Hebrew to their brother, Yehuda. Many times, they are reduced to tears. There is forgiveness after the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust. And their is a beautiful testimony of the love of Messiah Yeshua.