(Lekh Lekha) Genesis 12:1-3 states:

“The LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you And curse him that curses you; and all the families of the earth Shall bless themselves by you’.” (JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh)

From a very young age, I attended Sunday school at a Baptist Church. I remember the leader fondly. Her name was Mrs Littler. Not only did she teach us choruses (Bible verses set to music), but we also learned a Bible verse each week. Every Sunday, we were given a beautiful picture of a Bible scene to stick in our attendance book with the goal of collecting enough of these stickers to earn a prize at the end of the school year. I loved this.

Even as a young child, I can remember Mrs Littler saying what a blessing the Jewish people were, and that it was very important for us to understand that the Jews are G-d’s chosen people. Not just in Biblical times but in today’s world as well.

Later, as a young teenager attending Girl Covenanters in church, I continued to hear the very same message.

As time went on, my faith shaped my view of the Jewish people as a blessing and Israel’s special role in the world, just as described in Genesis 12:1–3.

Along life’s road, I discovered that some of my ancestors had been part of the Pogroms in my Eastern European roots. Although this is another story for another day, learning this in my adulthood helped answer many questions I had. It gave me a deeper sense of identity and purpose and helped me see life from wider perspectives.

After October 7, Christians around the world gathered on Zoom to pray.

Educating Christians in blessing and supporting Israel is especially vital today, as some modern theological trends like replacement theology and prosperity gospel can obscure or undermine that connection and often lead believers away from a genuine, biblical connection to Israel. Israel Bonds is a blessing. It demonstrates that faithful Christians love and support Jews and Israel in a conscientious manner.

I have been studying Advanced Biblical Hebrew with a group of like-minded, primarily Christian students through online Zoom classes affiliated with Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Of course, we all wish the world were free of antisemitism. However, from Pharoah to Haman, through Pogroms, the Shoah and now Hamas, G-d has and is preserving the Jewish people from total annihilation.

After October 7, Christians around the world gathered on Zoom to pray – hundreds of us on one Zoom call at a time, offering short prayers so that everyone could have a chance to pray for all aspects of the situation. This act moved me to join these worldwide prayers on Zoom “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14, Jewish Virtual Library). No wonder we are commanded in Psalm 122:6 to “Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem” (JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh).

As David Ben Gurion once said: “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.”