It was an hour before sundown when Passover would begin this year.  I still needed a few items for our Seder.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with a Seder, “seder” is Hebrew for “order”.  Passover has been observed continuously by the Jewish people throughout the world for approximately the past 3500 years.  The modern seder involves the recounting of the Exodus story, including the essential elements of bitter herbs representing the bitterness of slavery, unleavened bread (matzah), (the bread was unable to rise because the Israelites had to leave Egypt in haste), and the shank bone of the lamb, symbolizing the slain Passover lamb, described below.

The Feast of Passover is an eight day long feast that the Jewish people were commanded to observe throughout their generations (Exodus 12:7).  We learn of the history of the Israelites’ enslavement, leading up to their deliverance,  in Exodus chapters 1-11.  Please note that the command to observe this as a perpetual statute was given before the giving of the Law (also known as “The Torah” or “instruction”) found in Exodus chapters 19 and 20, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Back to my true story.

I went to the dairy aisle to get cheese, as I thought I could make “Matzah pizza” (only unleavened bread is to be eaten during the eight days of Passover).  There was a woman pushing a cart loaded to the brim with frozen pizzas.  I thought, “Well, I know she’s not Jewish and certainly not observing Passover.”

Then I heard her literally crying to someone on her cellphone.  “This is the first time in all my years that I haven’t had a Seder.”  The woman was about seventy years old.

I waited until she completed her call and said, “I’m sorry, but I overheard what you said about not having a Seder.”

She explained that she was visiting from another country.  She had just had the flu.  Her husband, a Holocaust survivor, was a doctor who was back home with his medical practice.  There was really no one to join her here.

We started to chat.  I empathized with her plight of loneliness, particularly during a significant holy day.  I thought about having her to my home, but she was still a bit sick, and I was a bit hesitant to expose my husband and me to her illness.

“You know, I have been in the same situation, Sylvia.”

I tried to comfort her that the same One who delivered our people from bondage is near to her broken heart. (Psalm 34:18)  She continued weeping and wiping her tears.

I then began to talk to her about the primary significance of Passover.

“You know, Sylvia, it’s not just about the Seder.  It’s about the fact that the deliverance of our people was real. Consider what the God of Israel required for such deliverance and for the sparing of the firstborn son of each family…blood upon the door!  He said, “‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments–I am the LORD.  ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Ex. 12:12-13)

We decided to exchange phone numbers.  I happened to have some literature in my purse entitled, “How would you recognize the Messiah?”  The graphics on it showed a large fingerprint, for indeed there are many clues in the Hebrew Scriptures describing the Messiah’s birth, life, purpose, death, burial, resurrection.

Sylvia then said two things that startled me.  She asked, “Have you ever read the Zion Chronicles?”

I replied, “Oh, the historical novel series by Bodie Thoene?  No, but I bought one of those books as a gift for someone.  I know they cover the period from WWII to the establishment of the modern State of Israel.”

Sylvia, amazed that I had heard of the series, said these words:  “Well, I read all of them.  Afterward, I was thinking of converting.”  Those were her words!  Implied in the word “converting” was her impression that she had to leave her Jewish heritage and adopt a new one.  The Biblical usage of the term, “to convert” really means “repent” ( “t’shuvah (Biblical Hebrew–’to literally turn around’).  It applies to both Jewish people and Gentiles, for all people need to have a change of heart with respect to who the Messiah is;  and how they can become rightly related to a Holy God.  As God Himself has said through the Prophet Isaiah:

“Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

So, though Sylvia obviously thought she would have to switch “religions”, actually she needed to discover that the “converting” she considered is actually the universal need for rebellious mankind to “turn” from their wicked, sinful ways, and “return” to a Holy, sinless God, and receive salvation through the precious, sacrificial blood of the pure and spotless Lamb of God — the Messiah of both Israel and the whole world.

To my surprise, she then added, “And who is this pastor…?”  She couldn’t remember his name.
I suggested she might be speaking of the very pro-Israel Pastor John Hagee.

“Yes, that’s him!”, she exclaimed.  “My husband and I watch him every week!”

Well, the ground of her heart was prepared.  I told her, “You weren’t able to have a seder tonight, but God sent a Jewish believer in Messiah to tell you about The Passover Lamb.  Do you know that Yeshua of Nazareth was called the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and The Passover Lamb in the New Testament ( 1 Corinthians 5: 7)?

She did not.  I explained the prophetic significance, how the blood on the door of the Israelites’ homes protecting their firstborn sons relates prophetically to the blood of Messiah protecting us from the consequence of our sin — eternal separation from the Holy One of Israel.

She understood.  She was smiling.

She remarked, “This is amazing.  I was crying before, but now I am not sad anymore.  Thank you.”

I told her, “Don’t thank me, thank the One who arranged this meeting, knowing your loneliness, sadness and frustration…He’s the same one that planned the deliverance of the Israelites, and whose eye has been upon you, and who has sought to comfort and encourage you with His personal love.”

We planned to get together before she returned to her country.  I thought I would simply give her some of my Prophetic Prints and that we would chat for ten minutes.

We met the next weekend.  I brought an Isaiah chapter 53 print, matted in her favorite color – blue, and these other prints:  “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit.“  (Psalm 34:18), “A Father of the fatherless is God in His holy habitation.” (Psalm 68:5).  The latter print was particularly appropriate for her husband, about whom she had previously spoken.

“My husband lost his dad during the Holocaust.  His father was killed by the Nazis.  When my husband was thirteen, he was forced to board a cattle car to Auschwicz.  Someone told him and his family to move to the last car.  When the train pulled out, the last car remained; someone had detached it from the rest of the train!!

Then Sylvia continued, “I was three when my father died.  My mom was left to raise many children alone.”

So the print was obviously appropriate.

The ten minute conversation turned into two and a half hours, as we sat on the bench outside the grocery store where we had originally met.  She shared her amazing history.  She grew up in a place where I did not even think any Jewish people lived.  Her family was part of a small, thriving Jewish community there.  I also learned that her mother and my grandmother were from the same city in Eastern Europe.  Her history was richly woven, with much pain and much blessing.  There was interaction between her family and the non-Jewish neighbors.  After her mother had been orphaned, a little non-Jewish girl had compassion on her; upon seeing her difficult situation, she loaned Sylvia’s mom her school books overnight.  The two remained friends into their eighties.  The woman’s son later became famous in that country.

I also learned that Sylvia had been a scientist. A searching one at that!

Finally, she wanted to know how I prayed.  I found this interesting.

“Do you just pray the Shema?”  (“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” – Deut. 6:4), she inquired.

I explained the life of prayer. I don’t pray rote prayers.  I talk with Abba, the Heavenly Father.  I pour out my heart to Him about everything and anything…at any time, in any place!

Then we got back to the Passover.

“Sylvia, remember we spoke about the Passover lamb’s blood protecting the Israelite firstborn son?  Eternal life depends on believing what THE Passover Lamb did for you two thousand years ago on the tree (1 Peter 1:17-20; 2:24).  Even as it says in Exodus 13:8, “You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt‘.”

“Would you like to receive Him now?”

“I’m not ready.”

“I respect that.”

It turns out she just thought of sin as the biggies:  Murder, adultery, theft–which she had not committed.  She did not understand that we are accountable for sins of the spirit:  Hatred, coveting, bitterness, etc.  If we don’t see that we have the sickness of sin, we certainly won’t seek to have the Great Physician’s remedy for this sickness.  In other words, why seek a savior if we don’t think we need to be delivered from anything?

Once that was explained, it seemed like a light went on.

Sylvia, our hearts lie open before Him to whom we will have to give an account (Acts 17:30-31).

“Ooooh, now I understand.”

But she was not yet ready to pray.  That’s OK, because no one can make this life changing decision for another.  We must individually understand, and be convicted of the awfulness of sin, and the awfulness of eternal separation from a Holy God.  A parent can’t do this transaction for a child, a husband can’t do this for a wife, and a friend can’t do this for a friend.

That is uniquely the role of the Ruach HaKodesh (The Holy Spirit) — to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”  (John 16:8)

She still wanted to ponder the truths I had shared.  She mentioned her interest in the Book of Revelation, which addresses events in the last days.  I ”just so happened” to have a copy of the Book of Revelation on CD in my purse and gave it to her.  She was amazed!

We parted as friends.  Sylvia will be back here in a few months.  She volunteered her home address and phone number, and asked that we keep in touch.

I just love watching the LORD at work, drawing people to Himself…designing appointments that are so personal to the one is ordained to hear the Good News.  That’s the business He’s in!  And, the Messiah told us to pray and ask that more laborers be sent into fields (of people) to gather in the harvest.  The hour is very late.

*Image courtesy of datafox from Wikipedia Commons. Image was resized to 250×300 pixels.

The answer is “jugo de manzana”, literally translating to: “Juice from (or of) apple.”

For a great story, please read on…

Several years ago, exhausted and slouched in a chair, I tried my best to be responsive to a family member.  He had just returned from school.  How was school today?  What did you learn in Spanish class?  He said, “We are working on how to say different foods in Spanish.”  I said, “Oh, like jugo de naranja, for orange juice.”  I had remembered a little from several years of high school Spanish.

My mind wandered.  I thought, “How do you say apple juice in Spanish?”  Has that ever happened to you…you know something; it just doesn’t come into your mind?  Thank you middle age!

Well, I decided to take a walk to check the mail.  Our mail was delivered to a central location about three quarters of a mile from the house.  As it was late fall, it was beginning to get dark.  I thought to myself, “You don’t start walking by yourself in the dark.”  I reasoned that I really needed to check the mail and get some exercise.  So I went.

For the first half mile not a soul was around.  I was picking up speed as the sun had set.  Finally I saw a woman walking slowly.  I said a quick hello as I rushed by.  Then in my heart I heard, “Go back and speak with her.”  I turned around and introduced myself.  She was an older woman with a Spanish accent.  She was from Puerto Rico.  She introduced herself and then she told me her last name.  It was German.  I asked her if her husband was also from Puerto Rico.  “No, he is from Germany.”  I made a quick assessment (wrong) that he could be one of those anti-Semites that went to Latin America and other Spanish speaking countries after World War II.

She interrupted my thoughts, “He is a Holocaust survivor.  He was six years old when his mother was sent to Auschwitz.  When she got out five years later and went to retrieve him at the orphanage, he did not recognize her.”

My throat tightened as I tried my best to hold back sobs.  Can you imagine being a mother and not have your child recognize you, particularly after years of devastation, deprivation, and degradation?

We changed topics and began to speak about politics.  I decided not to check the mail.  She said, “Would you like to meet my husband?”  I said, “Sure” and we headed back to her home, which was in the same direction as mine.

When her husband, George, opened the door, I saw a six foot man about seventy years old.  I burst into tears.  I did not see a seventy year old, but a six year old who had been devastated by the Holocaust.

The couple tried to comfort me.  I told them I did not need to be comforted.  I was sharing in the grief, the generational grief that my people have gone through.  I explained in English and Spanish that my tears were because of his pain, which I felt.

Maria then asked if I wanted something to drink.  She asked, “Would you like some apple juice?”  “Apple juice!  By the way, how do you say that in Spanish?”

“Jugo de manzana.”

Then I told them that an hour and a half before I sat tired in a chair thinking about how to say that.  They were amazed.  So was I.

Sometimes we think we are alone in our thoughts.  The Living God knows our thoughts…and showed me He “hears” me…whether I speak, cry, or think!

Three weeks later I came back to their house with the Prophetic Prints.  I gave them their choice.  “Choose as many as you would like.”  George selected “A Father to the Fatherless is God in His Holy Habitation.” (Psalm 68:5)  I insisted that he choose more than a 5 x 7″ print.  He then selected the lithograph, “The Prophetic Regathering of Israel.”

We chatted a little and I began to leave.  Maria walked me to the car.  I knew George was to have another print.  I felt I could not leave the driveway until he was given the framed “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18)  that I had brought.

“Maria, the LORD wants George to have this.”  Maria happily took the framed print, confirming that she knew he was to have it.

I have since bumped into George on several occasions – in the grocery store, on a sidewalk… and at another amazing time which will be in an upcoming post involving another Holocaust survivor!

Please pray for this couple–for the love of God, the healing power of the Word and the Good News of salvation to enter their hearts and lives.  Surely, the LORD sets up these divine appointments with the purpose of showing His tender love and grace, wanting to fulfill what is written in Jeremiah 31:2-3:  “Thus says Yahveh, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness–Israel, when it went to find its rest.”  The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”