Unrelenting Pressure, Unfailing Grace

Tiferet Yeshua Congregation

Tel Aviv

My most recent reserve duty was the most difficult ever because I was serving on the frontlines of a war which was almost on my doorstep.

The Human Toll

During the 12 days of the war with Iran, it was God’s grace and protection that so few people were killed, despite the enormous scale of the devastation. For those of us working as rescuers, one of the most difficult things to see was not the rubble everywhere but the human toll. Many people who ran into their bomb shelters emerged to face apartments whose belongings, pictures, and family mementos…were turned to dust. Each day we interacted with desperate and exhausted people who were alive, but had lost everything.

A Heartbreaking Task

After the initial days of impact, we were no longer searching for survivors but retrieving human remains. This is something my reserve unit has never done before, and we were unprepared for the emotional impact it would have on us. The team I worked with retrieved the remains of multiple victims. We knew where to look because of the smell of the decomposing flesh.

I had a strange realization: this stench was something that I am very familiar with from the outreach we do with the homeless drug addicts in south Tel Aviv. They often have terrible necrosis in their feet and legs due to their drug addiction and living in unsanitary conditions. With horror I realized the people we serve are living in a partial state of death and decomposition!

The image that wouldn’t let me go…

Surprisingly, one of the most difficult sights for me while serving was the countless wrecked and ruined children’s bikes everywhere. I am a father of six young children, and outside our apartment door there are multiple bikes parked. Each time I saw those bikes in the ruins, it made me feel like I was excavating the ruins of my own home where my children live and play – indeed, I was often working in neighborhoods just blocks away.

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

Just as suddenly as the war began, so came the announcement of the cessation of hostilities and the return to “business as usual.” The first thing this meant for us was that we could finally hold a service in our congregation. What we experienced here in the greater Tel Aviv area was traumatic. Many were dealing with anxiety, sleeplessness and depression; and it was important that the elders and deacons lay hands on each and every person to pray for peace and healing, and to break the spirit of fear and anxiety that we felt over our city.

The Overflow – Salvations!

The presence and guidance of the Lord has been so abundant and overflowing, and at the end of our most recent service, three Israelis came forward to surrender their lives to Yeshua.

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

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