During the week covered by this review, we received 6 articles on the following subjects:
Christian Organizations
Christian Sites/Book Review
Christian Holidays (Epiphany)
Christian Zionism
Jewish-Christian Relations
Archeology
Christian Organizations
Hadashot Haifa veHazafon, January 16, 2013
The International Christian Embassy received high praise in this article, which detailed ICEJ’s work with Holocaust survivors in Haifa. The article describes how ICEJ collaborated with a local non-profit organization to set up housing for dozens of elderly survivors. The Embassy also helps “hundreds of Holocaust survivors and needy people in their own homes, through the provision of meals, or house maintenance, or in other ways.” The article names three of the Embassy’s staff: Executive Director Jurgen Buhler (“who speaks fluent Hebrew . . . and is a rare breed in his love for all people, just as they are”), together with Yehudit Shatz, and Nicole Yoder, who are both involved in ICEJ’s social/humanitarian relief work. These three “are angles in white. Apart from the donations, they come from Jerusalem to Haifa themselves in order to personally see to the Holocaust survivors. The help that they give knows no bounds and is very widespread.” The article emphasizes that ICEJ’s relief work is not limited to Holocaust survivors “but is offered to all who are needy . . . all over the country.” It ends with a personal message to Buhler, Shatz, and Yoder: “We have been blessed by all of your kindness and your good works.”
Christian Sites/Book Review
LaIsha, January 21, 2013
The publication of David Rapp’s most recent book, Israel’s Beautiful Churches, is the inspiration behind this three-page article that gives a brief synopsis of a number of churches worth visiting in Israel. Dafna Levi explains that “there are hundreds of opportunities” in Israel to experience “that foreign otherworldliness,” “but most of us pass them by without seeing them.” Journalist David Rapp provides Israelis with a roadmap to help guide them to these places in his latest book, which tells the story of more than fifty churches and monasteries across the land. Most of these churches, writes Levi, are built in places the Christian tradition associates with important events in the life of Jesus [“Yeshua”], “like Nazareth, where Mary was told she would give birth to Jesus, Bethlehem, where he was born, the Galilee, where he lived and worked, and Jerusalem, where the Last Supper took place and where Jesus was crucified.”
When Levi asks Rapp if these churches will open their doors to just anyone, he says: “I was pleasantly surprised by the amazing openness I discovered in all these places. It seems as though the Christians in this land are longing for a relationship with us, but it is we, the Jews, who are suspicious [of them].”
Christian Holidays (Epiphany)
Haaretz, January 20, 2013
Haaretz featured a photograph of Greek Patriarch Metropolitan Theophilos releasing a dove on the banks of the Jordan River in celebration of the feast of the Epiphany.
Christian Zionism
Iton Savyon, January 21, 2012
This article reported on the group of Israel-loving Christians from Holland who visited Savyon in an effort to show their solidarity and support (see fifth Media Review for November).
Jewish-Christian Relations
Globes, January 24, 2013
This article reported on plans to build a four-storey hotel next door to Mary’s Well in the pastoral village of Ein Karem (see first Media Review for November).
Archeology
Shopping Mekomi, January 10, 2013
This article reported on the discovery of a ritual building (or a temple) at the archeological site of Tel Motza on the outskirts of Jerusalem (see fourth Media Review for December).