My Love for Israel by Bobbie Ann Cole

Celebrating 74 Years of Independence

Yom haAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day, begin tomorrow evening, 4^th May, marking 74 years since the formation of the State of Israel (and yes, that's me, celebrating above, a few years back). This brought to an end almost 2000 years of exile from the Jewish ancestral homeland.  

A Love for Israel

My Jewish background has instilled in me a great love for Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. This has blossomed all the more since I have been called to faith in Jesus—which happened to me in a Jerusalem church where I thought I wasn't supposed to be. 

My husband and I became olim, immigrants, in 2010. When we lived there, I found myself imagining Jesus in every landscape, coming towards me over every hill brow, standing by me at every stall in the souk…

The Jews were exiled from their Land in AD70 by the Romans, after the sack of Jerusalem and relocated as pocket populations to an assortment of countries around the Mediterranean.

The Romans were responding to unremitting Zionist rebellion. It was gory. The Historian Josephus tells how the streets ran with Jewish blood. The glorious Temple— Jesus’ ‘Father’s house’ (Lu 2:49)— was razed, just as Jesus foresaw it would be, (Mat 24:2/Mk 13:2). 

Genealogical Records

The genealogical records held there were lost, rendering it impossible for anyone since to substantiate a claim to be the Messiah, since no one could any longer establish bona fide credentials to being descendants of King David, from the line of Judah. Luke, however, had the opportunity to research those records before their destruction, (Acts 21-27). He establishes Jesus’ credentials in his genealogy in his gospel. 

The sacking and expulsion happened within barely a generation of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It would take almost two millennia of antisemitism, crusades, banishments, Inquisitions, pogroms and the like, before worldwide disgust at the carnage of the Nazi Holocaust would secure for the Jews the right of return to their Land.

British Mandate

Prior to the United Nations’ vote in favour of the creation of a Jewish State in Israel in 1947, the Jews had nowhere they could flee from persecution, no land they could call their own. The State of Israel was born the following year, 1948. Its haunting national anthem Ha Tikvah—‘The Hope’—expresses the Jewish hope of 2000 years, ‘to be a free people in our own land.’

Many people do not realise that the Israeli regime did not topple a Palestinian government as it 'waltzed' into the Land. The Israeli Government actually succeeded a British Mandate, in place since 1917, that took over from the Ottoman Empire under which Palestine had languished for 300 years. 

It invited Arabs to remain, although many chose to leave. 

Israel’s 2 million Arabs, roughly 21% of the present population, is a statistic that surprises some. Arabic is officially the country’s second language, after Hebrew. Arab Israelis have voting rights, Knesset representation, full access to education and excellent Israeli health care. 

Our neighbours were Christian Arabs when we lived in Haifa and our doctor was a lovely, young Arab woman.

Besotted?

Given that all my books are about Israel and partly or wholly set in Israel— including my latest work in progress, Messiah’s Mother, which takes place in the time of Jesus—and given that I am clearly besotted with the place, why am I not still living there?

The reason is that, calked over the wonderful, atmospheric, colourful land that evokes our Lord at every turn is the modern State, which faces many challenges. Some involve security, some are reputational, unfairly and sometimes fairly gained. The government can be hard-headed and, on occasion, draconian.

I have heard former President Netanyahu boast that Israel offers religious tolerance and freedom of faith for all. There is one exception, however, and it is Jews who, like me, are traitors; for Jews who become Christians are considered to have crossed an unacceptable line.

That was what led to my creeping around in Israel like a criminal. In spite of all the things I love there, this is why I left.

 

 

Bobbie Ann Cole is the author of two memoirs about Israel, both Amazon no.1 bestsellers. SheDoes Not Fear the Snow is her coming to faith story, echoing that of biblical Ruth. It was short-listed for the 2012 Munce Prize.

Love Triangles, Discovering Jesus the Jew in Today’s Israel, charts the joys and challenges of living in Israel as a Jewish believer.

Her novel BeingLena Levi, set in 1950, mainly on a kibbutz in newly formed Israel, follows a teen’s quest to find her identify after meeting an unsuspected Holocaust survivor mother. It was shortlisted for the 2019 Eyelands Book Award.

Bobbie is currently writing Messiah’s Mother, charting Mary’s biblical journey to become a disciple.