Dear and blessed friends,
Happy Chanukah! Sunday was a most unusual day for us. At first, it seemed like any other day; we got up, had breakfast, showered, and then got ready to leave for a special Chanukah Service at our house of worship. It was overcast, rainy, and cold, and we drove onto Route 4 to go to Route 17 South, and then take the exit to Route 80 West to Wayne, where Beth Israel; our home away from home is located. When we got onto Route 80, nothing seemed different at first, but just as we were about to accelerate to move with the traffic, we notice the road had become slippery from under us, so we slowed down.
We continued on 80 Westbound, but as we traveled, we noticed there were accidents all around us, with cars, vans, Jeeps, 4x4s, all over the sides of the road, and in some cases, right on the main lanes. Some were smashed, some were flattened, some had the windows blown right out, people were standing and waving. We continued to travel slowly, cautiously. I began to think of the others ahead of us who were also traveling to the Chanukah Service, and about their safety, and I said a short prayer for their safety. Vivian was praying as we continued.
When we got passed the Midland Avenue Exit, I was considering taking it, because the road had become increasingly treacherous, but I continued. The exit seemed an eternity to our right, and there were all sorts of vehicles passing us on our right and left. We were on the right hand lane, as I was planning to get out at the next exit. But, we didn't make it. As we entered an overpass, the Jeep veered treacherously to the right, and though we were traveling at 25 mph, even at this speed, it felt too fast to stop. I couldn't get the Jeep to stop, and no matter how I pumped the breaks and moved the steering wheel, the Jeep kept moving dangerously towards the rear of a 4X4 to our right and in front of us.
As we slid towards the 4X4 in front of us towards our right, we kept calling on G-d's protection over us and over every one stranded, waiting for help. We stopped just a few feet behind the 4X4. I tried to move, but even without accelerating, the Jeep was sliding on its own, so we had to stay put, and call for help. We ended up dead center on the right hand shoulder of an overpass on marker 619 high over some railroad tracks and highways below us; next to a huge sign advertising Berkeley College, just before one gets to Patterson. Vivian kept calling 911 as I called Allstate Motor Club for towing, since we were stranded. As we did this, more and more people were zooming past us, with those who were on the right hand lane sliding to the right. One car slid to our right in front of us, and slammed into two cars that were stranded some hundred feet in front of us.
As we sat there and waited for help to come, we were aware the danger that we were in, because we could not move, and the cars that were headed westbound were sliding all over the place, and some into each other in front of us. Some would slow down and side passed us, but dangerously close to our left. To our right was the barrier and beyond that about fifty feet below us was another highway, not sure, but I think it was Route 46.
We called some friends and I called my mother to ask her and them to pray for our protection as we waited for help to arrive. We were there an hour when a fast moving Chevy came up from behind us, and I was looking at him on my rear view mirror, as he approached. He tried to slow down, but couldn't. And he tried to keep from hitting us, but as he got closer and closer, I knew he was going to hit. I closed my eyes and prayed Lord protect us now. He came up from behind us, hit our left rear, and seemed like he hit our side, and slid a couple of feet in front of us, and there he stayed, because he knew that he, like us, was stranded. But, praise G-d, nothing happened to him, and nothing happened to us. From our Jeep I could see that his right hand mirror had hit ours, and his mirror was hanging to the side; ours incredibly was intact, but nothing happened to either him or us.
But we were not out of danger. We were still stranded there and people were unknowingly zooming past us at incredible speed. Tractor Trailers were traveling at treacherous speeds, its drivers not knowing the danger they were in. As we sat there, a car slid past us at incredible speed and impacted two stranded vehicles some hundred so or so feet from us. It was terrifying, but we kept praying and people were praying for us. All I knew at the time was that we had to get out of there as quickly as possible, because we and everyone stranded there were in mortal danger of being hit.
Behind us, a couple of miles down, there were flattened cars, SUVs that were demolished, and accidents all over the highway on the east bound lanes and on our side - the westbound lanes. I called 911, and reported where we were; marker 619 on Route 80 West stranded on the shoulder dead center of an overpass high over a highway and a railroad below us; with one vehicle that had hit us a few feet in front of us, and some four stranded vehicles a couple of hundred feet further up.
Tow trucks kept coming and passing. One or two of them stopped where the vehicles were up front, and gave them assistance in getting out. We waited. Finally someone came from our motor club. The towing company name - ABBA - and I noticed that the driver was speaking in a foreign language, but I could not quite make it out, though it sounded familiar to me. So I asked him what language it was and he said, Hebrew. I said, "Wow!" I explained that the Hebrew I usually heard, and in a very, very limited way often prayed myself when reciting the blessings, was very slow and more than likely mispronounced. I had never heard Hebrew spoken as fast as this.
The driver was an Israeli named Ephraim. I told him we were Mishrachim, means Messianic believers in Yeshua the Messiah. He towed us home, and on the way, we shared with him a good many things, realizing that it was not by chance that we had come to this encounter. I sensed that he knew it too. I shared with Ephraim that the key to Messiah's coming is when Israel in Jerusalem welcomes Yeshua/Jesus back as the Messiah, because Yeshua prophesied of it. It is in the New Testament, where He declared to the city, "Your house is left to you desolate, meaning that the Presence of G-d would leave His House - the Temple - and, "You will not see Me here again, until you have learned to say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'"
Here Yeshua made two startling prophecies; the Light of Ha Shem's Presence would leave His House - the Holy Temple, and Jerusalem would not see the Messiah again, until it would "learn" to say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" That the key to Messiah's coming was for Israel to LEARN TO SAY its blessing of welcome to Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah. I explained to Ephraim that for two thousand years it was impossible for this prophecy to come to pass, because until the founding of the modern State of Israel, the Jewish people were exiled from the land, and there was no place for them to dwell. What's more, for years even after there was a State of Israel, Jerusalem was not controlled by the Israelis, but by Jordan.
It was not until June 7th, 1967 that the prophecy's fulfillment was made possible. On that fateful date, IDF forces entered and captured Jerusalem. For the first time since Tisha B'Av in the year 70 of our Common Era, Israel again controlled Jerusalem. Only from that day forward, could Yeshua's prophecy come to pass, because Israel was now in control of Jerusalem for the first time in 2000 years! I explained this to Ephraim, and he told me that recently he had lost two sisters, and at their burial (Jews bury their dead right away because it is believed that the spirit leaves the body and is ushered into G-d's Presence), therefore the body must be given a proper burial as soon as possible. Well, at their respective burials, his mother recited, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." This now appeared to have taken on a whole new meaning for him.
As he dropped us off, we prayed to Ha Shem to thank Him for His protection over us, and prayed for Ephraim's protection as he was going out there again to help stranded motorists. We thanked the Lord for having delivered us, answering the prayers of many, and allowing us to share with Ephraim in a very real way just how close the Lord G-d is, and about Yeshua/Jesus. I also shared with him what I have been writing to each and everybody on this list; For centuries, Judaism has taught that when the Messiah would come, the nations would be brought to the G-d of Israel through Him. He would bring the nations to the worship of G-d and they would go to Jerusalem and worship with His people Israel.
Ephraim listened intently as I explained to him that since the coming of Yeshua/Jesus, the Goyim/nations - non-Jews have been worshipping the G-d of Israel, reading the Hebrew Scriptures, and have put their faith in Him through this Notzrim, Yeshua, who had brought to them the Light of Revelation of the truth that there is but One G-d and He is the G-d of Israel; there is no other. I shared with Ephraim that nothing like this had ever been seen in all Israel before, and only after Yeshua/Jesus and only through Him have I seen Jews and Palestinians worship together the Lord G-d of Israel (not Allah of the Muslims). We told Ephraim that at Beth Israel's Jerusalem Center (11 Railroad Avenue, Wayne, New Jersey) can one see Jews, and people every country under heaven, including Palestinian Arabs, worshipping together, because they have all come together to the Lord G-d through His Messiah; Yeshua/Jesus.
There is no other way, and it is not seen anywhere else but where the name of Jesus the Messiah is invoked. Ephraim was surprised to hear of this - Jews and Palestinians, and non-Jews from all over the world worshipping in harmony the Lord G-d of Israel. In Israel's entire history, and the history of the human race, such a thing had never been seen before! Non-Jews calling upon the Lord G-d of Israel through the name of Yeshua/Jesus, and allying themselves to the nation and people of Israel. Ephraim said that this is true. He was astonished how many non-Jews who were Christians were allies and staunch supporters of Israel. He said it was true, and he was seeing this more and more. He also told us that he was seeing more and more Jews for Jesus. We told him that these were signs of Messiah's eminent return/coming. But, that Messiah would not return until Israel recognize who He is, repent, and receive Him into its capital. They would not see Him within its precincts until they've "learned" to say its blessings at His coming. So Messiah's coming is intrinsically connected to the Jewish people's acceptance of Jesus as Messiah. Messiah will not return until that hour, and it must be disclosed, because nothing is more important to the restoration of all creation until this event.
As we arrived, I thanked Ephraim and prayed a blessing for him for G-d's divine protection over his life, and prayed that Ha Shem would open the eyes of his understanding to see the Messiah, and that by seeing Him, would enter His rest by accepting Him into his heart and into His life personally. I felt awkward, because I usually like to tip the driver so that he can get himself a cup of coffee and some donuts, but I had not carried any money this morning. I told him this, and he told me I had given him something more valuable than money itself, Ha Shem's blessing.
I understand now why things turned out the way they did today, and though we (and perhaps a good many of those reading this) were not able to make it out to Chanukah Service this morning, nevertheless, the day was most definitely not wasted, and again in a very real way we were given the privilege an honor of being witnesses to G-d's deliverance for which we are so thankful. Again, we were touched by His love. All of this happened on the Eve of the third night of Chanukah. It was on the third day that Ha Shem resurrected the Messiah. The Hebrew day begins at sundown, not at midnight as some suppose. He delivered us and a good many more from certain death on the icy highways of our journey, to give us new life once again on the Eve of the third night of Chanukah, which came that evening.
Chanukah is the only Jewish Holy Day that is not in the Hebrew Bible. Ironically, yet by divine design, the only place it is mentioned is in the 10th chapter and 22nd verse of John's Gospel in the New Testament, where it says:
It was winter, and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem. Jesus was walking in Solomon's Portico in the Temple, when the people gathered around Him and asked, "How long will You keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth; are You the Messiah?"
Jesus answered, "I have already told you, but you would not believe Me. The deeds I do by My Father's authority speak on My behalf; but you will not believe.."
These statements correspond to what Isaiah the prophet prophesied about the signs which the Jewish people should look for when the Messiah was to appear, which Jesus reads at the synagogue of His home town of Nazareth (Luke 4:18-19):
'"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has chosen Me to bring good news (Gr. Evangelion/Gospel) to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save His people."'
In His statement, Jesus was telling his audience in the Temple during Chanukah, when pressed to reveal His identity, that if they were having trouble accepting His identity, they were at least to look at His works as evidence of His calling and station, because they were aware (during the 2nd Temple Era) of Isaiah's standard to look for as evidence of Messiah's coming. In this prophecy, which had not come to pass since Jesus or after, the metric is exact, and there is no margin for error. Jesus was clear. He told them that if they had trouble believing Him, they should look to His works as evidence of His being the Messiah. This was a direct answer to their inquiry and to any inquiry about Him made today. Jesus met Isaiah standard to the letter, and those lived in His day saw it. This is why He told them to look at what He was doing among them as the evidence. Some did, and they became His first followers. The corrupt priesthood led by the House of Annas and Caiaphas, did not, and thus, they set the course of Judaism for the next two thousand years until this very day.
Chanukah is a festival of lights, it is a time for both joy and for US to rededicate ourselves to G-d. It is only through this rededication through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah that we can stand as a truly free people, individually and nationally, to be a nation and people of G-d's calling and purpose. Thank you all for your prayers, and again, Happy Chanukah. Am Israel Chai!
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