During my first six months in Israel I lived in a house on the Mount of Olives owned by our family friend, the Keeper of the Garden Tomb. Sadly he had been killed in the Six Day War, fought just four months before I arrived in Jerusalem.
When Eliezer Ben Yehuda decided to leave Europe for Jerusalem in 1881, there was not a single person in the Holy Land, or any place else in the world, who spoke Hebrew as their mother tongue. There was no such thing as everyday, spoken Hebrew—only words to be read from the Bible and rabbinical passages.
As I came out of the arrivals door of the Sao Paulo, Brazil International Airport, I was greeted by our faithful and longtime friend Luis who has been with Maoz for many years. Even though he is the director of a school and has many other responsibilities, he gives freely of his time to bless Israel through Maoz Israel Ministries.
God has given amazing musical gifts and fortitude to the children of the Messianic Jewish community in Israel. When we began the Music Making for Kids program, we never dreamed we would see the talent and skills of our children that are now literally bursting in our congregations across the nation.