In a memorable scene in Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, a group of Jewish men in the Polish suburb of Kraków-Płaszów huddle around an old oil barrel, warming their hands over burning scrap wood. One of them confidently proclaims, “There’s nowhere down from here. This is it! This is the bottom. The ghetto is liberty!” […]
There is a Yiddish story about a man who spent all his free time at the shtetl kretchmeh (in Yiddish, a tavern doubling as an inn; in Polish karczma or in Ukrainian корчма). His wife bitterly complained about his all too frequent absences, asking him what he does there anyway with all his spare time. […]
My Yiddish-speaking parents were communists. They believed that socialist revolution held the key to a better world, and they poured their lives out in support of what they called ‘the progressive movement.’ They loved music. My dad used to be a cantor in the U.S. Army and as a youngster he sang in Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt’s […]
The Maccabees were mightily used by the God of Israel to bring military deliverance to Jacob’s children. From weakness they were made strong, they became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight (Hebrews 11:34). Barely two centuries later Messiah Yeshua walked the thorn-covered trails of Galilee, bearing chain-breaking gifts of light, healing, deliverance […]
On March 15, 1917 the editorial board of the Communist Party newspaper Pravda welcomed a new member – Joseph Stalin. The name chosen for this flagship journal –‘Pravda’ – is the Russian word for ‘truth,’ though its original usage also referred to ‘justice.’ The first medieval law code of Kiev Rus (ancient Russia) was known […]
The world is going through intense birth pangs. We are also in the process of giving birth – to three new babies. I believe that these opportunities are worth sowing into. Here they are. Pray with us as to what God would have you do in terms of standing with us in bringing these babies […]