Gil Pentzak and Ruth Fazal planned another exceptional day for us. They invited a very famous man to come and speak with us – just 30 of us. His name is Rabbi Yehuda Glick, and his first statement to us was: “You need to have a lot of faith to be an atheist today.” He is famous here in Jerusalem but, in spite of what happened to him, he is on a mission to represent Judaism as a loving and peace-seeking religion.
Up until 2005 Glick was a civil servant working for the Israeli government, assisting Jews from around the world to “make aliya” (meaning emigrating from countries around the world to come "home" to Israel). A man of great passion and conviction, he could no longer agree with decisions being made by the government, and so he resigned and served as the Director of the Temple Institute in The Old City until 2009. But he had a desire to touch his People. In 2010, he became a registered tour guide and was challenging the position of radical Muslims who had taken over the grounds that the Dome of the Rock – the third most holy temple for Muslims – stood on. To the Jews, this site is the most important place of earth – the place where their Second Temple stood until it was destroyed by the Romans in approximately 60 A.D. The Jews believe that this very site is where the Third Temple will be built. They desire, more than most people can comprehend, to go there to pray. Yehuda Glick devoted his career to going to The Temple Mount (where the Dome now stands) every day, although Jews are not allowed to do so. As a tour guide, he would take others to join him. On October 29, 2014 – just over a year ago – Rabbi Yehuda, along with an aide, was leaving the Old City after dark. His beautiful wife Yaffil was waiting the car for him as he put some things into the trunk. A man on a motorcycle drove right in front of Yehuda, apologized then shot him four times at point blank range in his body’s core. Yaffil, although she did not turn around, quickly tucked herself into the floor of the front seat of the car. Yehuda’s aid immediately ripped off his friend’s shirt to try to discern the damage. From the floor of the front seat of the car, Yaffil called a friend and said that her husband had been shot, where they were and to please help. The ambulance arrived in 13 minutes and the police located, then shot dead, the paid assassin. The damage was massive but, miraculously, Yehuda Glick recovered and came to speak to us today! He arrived, took off his bullet proof jacket, and there he was: packing a pistol, and full of the zeal of a crazed evangelist! He is known to be honest and frank. He has wild red hair, which makes him easily recognizable. He is scared to go back to the Temple Mount. But due to this act of brutality, there has been a great awakening among the Jewish people. What Yehuda started as a commitment to go into the grounds of the Dome of the Rock has become a movement of Jews – of all ages and streams of Judaism – banding together to go to the Temple Mount. They are also finding out that many Christians love them and are praying for them, and come to Jerusalem to encourage and comfort them. Yehuda Glick stated emphatically today that he believes that this holiest of places, the Third Temple that they are preparing to build, is for all people to come and pray together. In the afternoon, as a group we visited the Temple Institute, where they are hard at work preparing all the elements that will be placed into the Third Temple. Our hearts were broken tonight when we had to say goodbye to Gil, since he is going back to work tomorrow. He tried to express how overwhelmed he is with the love he feels from us. He doesn’t quite understand yet, but knows the feeling is right. We understand. God’s love is indeed overwhelming. Tomorrow, off to the Dead Sea! - Michelle
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMichelle Sim - licensed Christian minister, speaker, author, founder of Northern Praise Ministries Inc., and supporter and connector of creative people. Archives
June 2016
Categories |