The First Thing Israel Ever Did…

If you were to poll Christians and Messianic Jews around the world asking their opinion on the most important “duty” as a believer, you’d likely get a variety of answers. Between helping the needy, sharing the Good News with others, having godly character and praying, I don’t think any one of these could be counted as “incorrect.”  They are all important. But if we understand ourselves to be eternal beings, there is one act we as believers will perform both now and in the next life.  That act is worship.

In a way, you could say we spend our lives practicing for the moment we will come face to face with the One who is the essence of all that is good and true. The Bible says we will spend forever worshipping Him, and I suspect it will simply be because it will take an eternity to get over that first moment we encounter Him.

For all the bad commentary the Children of Israel deservedly receive for their behavior in the desert—they don’t get enough credit for the first thing they did upon being delivered from the Egyptians. After watching their God crush the gods of those who had been their masters for 400 years, the children of Israel stopped on the shore, wrote a song, pulled their instruments out, then danced and sang before God in worship. When you move aside all the noise, at their core, the Jewish people are a people of worship.

For hundreds of years, worship songs to the one true God were written exclusively by Jews in Hebrew. As the Jews were scattered to the four winds and access to the God of Israel was offered to the nations, worship in Hebrew—the language of the “filthy Jews who rejected God”—became an abomination. This terrible stain on Church history must be redeemed in our day.

Virtually everything you know about worshiping God, you learned from Jews who lived thousands of years ago—before musical notation and before most of today’s instruments were even invented. If the mere echoes of ancient Israel’s worship have brought the world so much light, think how much more can be received when Israel’s modern-day Psalmists are reinstated to their posts as singers, songwriters, composers and musicians.

We believe in the restoration of the calling of the Levites whose lives were dedicated to maintaining an atmosphere of worship in Israel. However, as definitive tribe distinctions are all but lost to us today, we embrace King David as our source of inspiration. He was a Psalmist of the tribe of Judah, and because of His passion for worship and love for God, had more influence on the world of worship than anyone who has ever lived. Based in his beloved city of Jerusalem–the City of Worship–we’ve dedicated our lives to see this atmosphere of worship restored to the land.

This vision is at the heart of the Fellowship of Artists, which is the artistic branch of Maoz. It includes our Music Making for Kids program which assures that dedicated believing kids have access to the best musical training available in Israel. We have our own record label and offer over 3000 sq. ft. of professional studio space with an in-house team of technicians and musicians to serve artists from the beginning to the end of the creative process.

Our modern-day Psalmists are tireless. Even the quarantine didn’t slow them down! The young musicians stuck at home remained determined to reach a place of excellence in their craft—so while other kids were watching Netflix our musicians continued their lessons online. The composers and musicians have kept on writing, and recordings in the studio never stopped.  We are building an army of worshippers and the sky isn’t our limit–it’s our destination.

Shalom from Jerusalem!

For the past four decades, you–our Maoz partners–have joined with us to push through obstacle after obstacle that stood in the way of the Kingdom of God advancing in Israel. You helped Tiferet Yeshua grow from a basement congregation to the thriving body it is today.

You removed the barrier between Israelis and discipleship material by supporting the translation of books and devotional Bibles into Hebrew.

Now, let us prepare the way for Israel to once again become a land full of worship. Let us make a way together for Israelis to dedicate their lives to restoring worship to its rightful place among our people. Your support allows us to continue and help established artists like David and Lisa Loden as well as young but talented musicians who are just getting their feet wet.

You can sponsor a Psalmist or help provide the instruments they need for their work.

However you choose to participate, you can be assured that the sounds of worship will resound from the City of the Great King! And YOU will have had a part in ushering in those magnificent sounds—the songs, the voices, the instruments, the dancing, and the worship emanating from the heart of Israel—Jerusalem.

Your Fellow Servants in the Kingdom,

Ari and Shira Sorko-Ram,
Kobi and Shani Ferguson