A year ago a lieutenant colonel in the IDF was praised in the media, after he and his men in the Jordan Valley brigade helped a Palestinian mother give birth, resuscitated the baby boy, and then evacuated both mother and child by helicopter to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. It was a beautiful demonstration of the universal value of a human life.

She woke from a dream:

“Go to St. Stephen’s church.” She had little connection to the site, and did not understand the dream. But she went. When she arrived the doors were closed. It was the saint day for Stephen. Her curiosity was deepened to know the church and the dream. This was the recent experience of a member of our Jerusalem community.

Several years ago the Muslim Scholars Association in Iraq learned that children from their country were coming to Israel for life-saving heart surgeries. 

Outraged, the religious leaders went to the Iraqi parliament and demanded an end to this travesty. In the following flurry of publicity, some of our partners were indeed frightened away from helping children. The implicit lesson was that it is better for their children to die than to receive medical care from Jews.

I still remember one Iraqi television reporter who ended his report by saying:

The use of battlefield weapons against a trapped civilian population.

It's a revelation for every poor, marginalized, outcast or forgotten family that crosses the borders of Israel with us seeking heart surgery for their child.  "They treated our child just like an Israeli child--no difference!" These families have never before been valued simply for being human, made in the image of God. It's always been about money, power and connections.

The most popular page on the orthodox Jewish aish.com website today is a video of the "Son of Hamas" speaking in Germany, followed closely by an article titled "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus."

We’ve had a good week of discussion at Prophets Street, both online and on site, about Israel’s continuing relationship with their God. Melissa in our online community framed the issue well at the outset:

Are the Jews still God's chosen people?...Is there an historic homeland?...Is it right that there should be an Israel? If so, most other things become evident.

Last week at Prophets Street we considered the speech given at the UN by the prime minister of Israel, and in subsequent comments Ryan from our community in Jerusalem suggested giving equal consideration to the speech of the leader of the PLO/Palestinian Authority.

Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. (Psalm 85:10)

Friends, if you’ve followed the Shevet Achim community for long you know that we major on mercy and on peace. The love we’ve received so freely from our Father we want to share with everyone around us—even those we might consider our enemies.

But as the psalmist so poignantly teaches us, mercy must stand together with truth. Peace and righteousness must kiss.

This month it’s becoming clear that a long-suffering people in the Middle East are finally coming closer to getting a state of their own.

As we mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, let’s give attention to one of the least reported and most significant results of the ensuing American response: the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which led directly to autonomy for a portion of the Kurdish people on their own land.