lov'n Israel

Hey friends! I’m in Africa now but there are some things I wanted to share about Israel so lets go back in time a week or two. On our first day ruth and I went to the shouk and the benya huda. Both are basically the same in the fact that you can buy pretty much anything. I think this was my favorite thing to do, and not so much because I enjoyed purchasing new things but more for the endless entertainment. You see, the price is never fixed and, in fact, the price is guaranteed to be far above what they are willing to sell it for. So you barter. And boy did I love it! I would start 40% off and they would look at me as though I was out of my mind. Then they would offer 5%- 10% off. The more time I wasted, and the closer I got to walking out the door, the closer they got to my offering price. before you know it i got what i asked for even after they clamed they could not give it to me at the price five minutes ago. Their famous line was “special offer…..just for you”.
We also took a trip to the dead sea. The dead sea is so full of minerals that you float! You can’t really do much else but read a book; swimming is impossible due to the fact that you can’t keep your feet in the water. You can dig mud from the rock cave and have yourself a luxury spa experience for fee.
We went to other historic sites such as the old city, the wailing wall, the mount of olives, and Capharnaum, the town of Jesus.

I would like you to meet some friends of mine. Elton, Dave (not Don) and Gorge. Elton started Jaffa Gates Ministries to feed people living on the streets and in recovery housing, much like our Calgary Dream Center, though not nearly as nice. In fact the worst run down building in Calgary would seem like a five star hotel in comparison to most buildings in Jerusalem. These men visit a handful of kitchens, For Zion’s Sake being one of them, around Jerusalem who have offered to cook a hot meal. We are bagging crackers, pita bread, and cookie while Stuart is cooking rice and burgers. i will add their website to my favorite links so you should check it out!

Holocaust Memorial

on this day many in Israel, and undoubtedly those around the world who keep this memorial, stand to remember those who suffered in the Holocaust with one minute of silence.......

Seder

most of you have spent this Easter hiding chocolate eggs for children (or maybe yourself!) or you are taking this time to reflect on Jesus and having a sunday service with Communion and thanks giving. i'm sure you all know my easter was definitely touched with Christ and not a bunny but it was completely different than any easter i have celebrated. at the Schonegg we celebrated the Seder! the Antolovich family have been living in Jerusalem for the last 12 years. every year they have a seder, or passover celebration, which is a Jewish tradition that has been maintained since before Christ, to remember God bringing His people, the Jews, out of exile from Egypt. it was the most powerful celebration i have ever had the privilege to partake in. i invite you to follow along as i try to recapture the evenings events.

[FYI:this blog post is extremely late. we had the seder on the second of march, the Monday after arriving switzerland. that was umm...three weeks ago. one week before easter was celebrated at home.]

first, all seders begin with 7 days of cleaning the house (it's possible this is where spring cleaning originated) to get rid of any leaven that may be in the house. also for seven days you are not to eat leaven; leaven is a representation of sin. "purge out the old leaven that you might be a new lump- unleavened. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, not with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 cor 5:7-8)

most churches that practice communion will have one very small cup of grape juice. in a seder you take 4 cups and each represents something different. the first cup is the cup of sanctification. it is to unite with all Jews to celebrate the eternal story their people, the Exodus from Egypt. this night we thanked God for freedom.

after drinking the first cup we washed our hands in water. this was to remember what the priests would do a ceremonial cleansing called a mikva before sacrificing for the congregation. next we dipped parsley, which is new life, in salt water, which represents the tears shed in Egypt while they were still slaves. we eat the parsley......i wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.

next the host would bring out a Matza-tashe (Matza is the cracker that is broken up and taken during communion) which will have an unbroken matza in a linen covering with three compartments. it is said that the Jews believe they represent the temple priests, the singers of the temple, and the congregation of Israel; others say they represent Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Christians would suggest the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. the middle matza is broken, which would be the Son. as Christians we would understand it represents Christ's body which was broken for us. One of these pieces is wrapped in linen and hidden for the children to find later. it is unclear according to Jewish tradition why the middle matzah is broken and the others are not. They don't know why they keep this tradition for certain and as Christians we believe that it represents our Messiah who was sent to be the our sacrifice (Isaiah 48:16-18, John 3:16) broken on our behalf and wrapped in linen. when one of the children found the hidden piece, it is rejoined with the other piece and the child to find it is rewarded. The reuniting of the broken pieces represents Christ's resurrection.

next the second cup, the cup of affliction, is filled. at this time there are four questions asked by the children that will cause the guests to consider the affliction of the Jews while in slavery. the first question reflects on the reason for the matza. on the night God brought them out of Egypt they had no time to let the dough rise so the bread they made had to have no yeast, which is leaven. matza has no leaven in it (Exodus 12:39). second the bitter herbs was a reminder that the Egyptians "made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service and all of their service was terribly severe" (Exodus 1:14) third, we dip matza in mortar which is bitter and would bring tears to your eyes, if you took enough of it. i took enough of it! i'll let you guess if it was on purpose or not :). this would also be the tears of the slaves. then we would dip matza in a sweet mixture to remember that it was the service in Egypt that strengthened Israel for her journey out of Egypt. fourth they reclined at ease to remember that this night God set them free. by the sacrifice of Jesus, we have been set free from sin. the Jews of course do not believe Jesus is the Son of God so they would say they recline to remember that they are free from bondage.(are you still with me?) at this time we dip our finger in the cup seven times, each time allowing a drop of juice to land on our plate. each drop represents the seven plagues.(found in Exodus somewhere). now we drink the second cup.

lots of prayer are said and then we eat a meal together! after the meal the children are allowed to search for the matza wrapped in linen.

now the third cup, the cup of redemption, is filled. more prayers are recited and the host holds up the two matza pieces that were broken putting them together. he shares.."what is broken shall be made whole. what is shattered shall be restored..." and he continues to describe the Seder meal Jesus had with the disciples right before His crucifixion. on this night Jesus did not have the fourth cup and said to the disciples he would not drink again until His believers are with Him in heaven. At this time we drink the third cup.

the fourth cup is filled and we do communion just the same as you would do in the church.

this would be the end of the Seder. it was a long night but extremely fascinating. it was hard to digest all the symbolism but i quite enjoyed myself. i have left out a lot of details because there is so much to explain so if you are interested in the FULL version i would be happy to oblige. just be forewarned it may look more like a novel that an e-mail!

many of you know i began studying the bible in the last few years and recently i became very intrigued with the old testament. i'm so glad i felt pressed to study the first five books of the old testament because the Jews study these five books, which they call the Torah. i was able to understand many of these symbols because of the writings i have been studying.

ok, so if your wondering about the plate in the picture here is what each item represents. the red stuff is the bitter herb, that makes you cry. the green is the parsley. the brown is the sweet mixture. the egg reminds us of the morning and evening sacrifices each day (these have not been done since the destruction of the temple) and the bone reminds us of the Passover sacrifice. to Christians that would be Jesus.

well i hope you found that as interesting as i did. i am learning a lot in Israel; the culture is very different here and i can't wait to come home to share more.

simplicity

in the big cities of Switzerland, so i'm told, life is not much different than that of our cities in Canada (except all the vehicles look like life size toys), but when you enter into the country side you begin to experience the tranquility of living life more simply. the houses are large and have most likely not had any remodeling since it's foundation was first laid. this may sound diveish but the truth is the weathered look of these old houses is exactly the character that would deem them worthy to be called beautiful. these houses are dotted thought out the lush green hills positioned right between mountains that are much like our Rocky Mountains. in Canada, i would assume, this type of landscape would be inhabited with people who would have so many valuables that each room would have it's own security. o.k, i'm exaggerating, but the point is in Canada we, simply put, protect our stuff.

my first day at the Schonegg house, Lirit took me to the neighbours (about one block) to get milk. she showed me the cows and the donkey in the yard and then proceeded to get the milk from a shed like structure with a trough inside were the milk was being kept in cool water. she pulled out two containers of milk and we headed home. keep in mind we did not see the farmer. i'm not sure i would call him a farmer because it's not like how we farm. here, their houses are closer together than those of a traditional Canadian farmer and they only have a few animals. (goats are a big thing.) Lirit informed me that they pay him once a month depending on how much milk they take. honest. simple.