New Projects and Purim Celebrations!

Mishloach Manot

Jewish people around the world celebrated Purim, on Sunday February 24.  Purim is the Jewish holiday which commemorates the events found in the book of Esther.  It is tradition in Israel to dress-up in costumes and give gifts of candy or food and drinks called Mishloach Manot.  Along with our partners, Rivers of Living Waters, the Compassion Team of Jacob's Hope gave out 200 Mishloach Manot gifts to less fortunate children in the Northern Israeli cities of Karmiel, Hatzor HaGilit, Tzfat, Nazareth Elite and Akko. 

Hatzor HaGilit

While Judith and I were in Hatzor, we were able to see the small distribution center Rivers of Living Waters is currently running out of a small room in someone's apartment.  We got to hear about the needs in this city and the municipalities desire to bring our help to their town.  It is our desire to work with Rivers of Living Waters, and the municipality of Hatzor HaGalit, to find a larger location where we can make more items available and assist a greater number of people.  We were told that even those who live above the poverty line here, struggle to pay their bills and provide for their families.

Donated Building in Tzfat

We have just begun work in two other Northern cities, in partnership with Rivers of Living Waters.  In the town of Tzfat, the municipality has donated the use of a bomb shelter where we can distribute food and clothing.  Also in the town of Nazareth Elite, a building is being donated by a private citizen so that we can distribute food and clothing in that community.  We are currently working to renovate these buildings so be on the lookout for us to officially begin these new projects soon!

The Compassion Team is responsible for all of Jacob's Hope's projects in Israel, but they are funded independently of Jacob's Hope.  Without their guidance and hard work, many of the opportunities we have to work with local congregations and municipalities would not be available.  It is important to us to have their oversight on the ground.  They are currently raising support for a second term in Israel, but we can't afford to have the work we began together in Israel be interrupted in order for them to return to the States for an extended period of time (to raise the support they need to live there).  Please prayerfully consider supporting this family directly at https://giving.ag.org so they can continue with this important work we have started together.

Rivers of Living Water

This is an excerpt from a newsletter we received from our partners, Rivers of Living Waters.  We work with them in Ma'alot and Karimel:

Dear brothers and sisters in Messiah, shalom from "Rivers of Living Water, Israel"

You all probably know about the war that our nation went through. In all these events that have happened for the last month we can testify of the supernatural protection and faithfulness of our God. He is still the Mighty God of Israel! More than 1000 rockets were sent to the central and southern cities and settlements in Israel: especially to Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beer-Sheva and even Tel-Aviv area. All this time as a congregation we were standing in prayer, holding special prayer meetings, people were led by the Holy Spirit to come to the church every day and intercede before the Lord in such a critical time. Many miracles happened. God literally protected His people.

Passover Outreach in Karmiel

As the war situation came to the end we held a special outreach (food project) where about 200 unbelievers came. We ministered to these people through songs, poems, testimonies, prayed for them, comforted them, shared God's love, care and peace that only God can give even in the midst of the storm. Many were touched and drown closer to God; some opened their hearts to receive Yeshua as their Messiah. How good is our God! We thank all our friends and partners for supporting the work of the Lord, especially “Tikvat Yakov” [Jacob's Hope] Organization for donating funds for this project.

In this time we feel such an urgency to intensify prayer and intercession for the salvation of people in Israel for them to realize that the only hope in this life is the Lord, for the eyes to be opened and the veil to be removed from the hearts that they may see their Messiah Yeshua. For that purpose November, 30th we had a 12-hour prayer marathon. It was like a chain of believers (each one praying for an hour)....

New Opportunities in 2011

2011 is here, and with the New Year there are new opportunities to serve God in Israel. On December 25, 2010, Jacob's Hope held their monthly food distribution with Rivers of Living Water Congregation in Karmiel, Israel. This month we had 250 families sign up. Although, each month more and more families come for food, our funding for this project remains the same. Each bag we gave away this month (approximately $8 of food per bag) is only half the size of the bags we started giving away just over a year ago (approximately $15 per bag). Each bag comes with a card saying the food is being supplied by Christians in America who want to bless the people in Israel. Please consider donating to this project by designating your contribution to the Karmiel Food Project, so that we can truly bless these needy people.

In addition to each bag of food we gave away, Bibles and DVDs were made available for the taking. Approximately 40 of the 500 people who attended the optional service, stayed afterward to ask questions. A truly amazing work is being done in this city, despite the limited funds.

Another opportunity to give is in Ashdod, where we just moved our center to a larger, more prominent location in the country's fifth largest city. This new space will not only increase the traffic to our store, but will allow the space to have job training on computers, and language classes for new immigrants. But with this new larger space comes the need for more funds to make the necessary renovations. We need approximately $3,500 to fix the electricity and lighting, fix and paint the walls, clean up and fix the bathroom, move and install the shelves and heating/air conditioning unit from the old store. Additional funds are also need to repair the floor and purchase equipment for job training. Please consider donating to get this center up and running by designating your donation to the Ashdod Project.

Also, please don't forget to support our family in Israel, without whom none of these projects would be possible. This family moved to Israel with their own funds and is doing much of this work on a volunteer basis because we don't have the funds to pay them a full time salary. Please consider donating to keep our Israel compassion team, and therefore keep Jacob's Hope's operations in Israel.

The Work Continues

On Saturday, October 10, 2009, Tikvat Yacov, along with, and through the efforts of Rivers of Living Water in Karmiel, was able to distribute another 90 bags of food to families in need. It is truly amazing to see exactly how much food is required to produce these 90 bags. We had 5 shopping carts overloaded with cases of pasta, tomato sauce, corn, oil, tuna, sugar, soup, crackers and tea.

Although we have been purchasing this food, at a discount, from a local supermarket, Irene Friedman, from Rivers of Living Water, has secured the services of a food distributor so that we will be able to acquire even more food to distribute as we continue our efforts in Karmiel.

In addition to our work in Karmiel, we are in the process of securing a humanitarian aid center in Eliat, where there are a large number of single mothers and new immigrants, who have been attracted to the area by the low cost of living and employment opportunities in the Hotel industry.

There have also been a number of other opportunities for Tikvat Yacov to open additional centers in Ashdod, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but we have been limited by the amount of funding available. We have meetings scheduled in these three cities to determine how we can best provide in these areas with the limited resources we currently have available.