FATHER OF THE MODERN HEBREW LANGUAGEPart 3: THE WORLD’S VERY FIRST “HEBREW CHILD”
In the early 1880’s, the first of the first pioneers to the Holy Land were leaders of BILU. Left: Yaacov Shertock, whose son Moshe Sharett (who took a Hebrew last name) became second president of Israel; Right: Zeev Vladimir Dubnov. Center: Eliezer Ben Yehuda.
Eliezer Ben Yehuda was one of the most unusual human beings the Jewish people have ever birthed. He was a radical visionary, a dreamer of the nonexistent, a self-made genius lexicographer (compiler of a dictionary), plus an extraordinary organizer and influencer of people to attempt the impossible. All of this describes a very sick man who worked 19 hours a day for some 40 years. It was this man whom the God of Israel singularly used to resurrect a dead language and play a critical part in gathering the dry bones of a people scattered across the world.
Given some six months to live with tuberculosis, he and Devora, his bride-to-be, left Europe for the Holy Land in 1881. Jerusalem was his destination where he planned to fulfill his mission as long as he had breath. With the vision of a prophet, he understood that Hebrew would never become a national language unless there was a Jewish nation. But he equally understood that the Jewish people would never become a nation without a national language.
An equally amazing person was Devora, who gave her life to fulfill her husband’s vision. She arrived in her new country with a few Hebrew words she had learned on their voyage to the land of Israel. The great mission she accepted and partnered with her husband was to create the first Hebrew-speaking family in the world.
Eliezer dreamed of a family—his family—having many children, all speaking Hebrew from birth. And so Devora became pregnant only a few months after their arrival in Jerusalem. Her first task was to learn Hebrew herself, as she had covenanted with Eliezer that she would from then on speak only Hebrew with him, her friends and their children yet to be born. Not a single word of any other language was to be permitted.
STUDYING HEBREW WITHOUT BOOKS
Now came reality. Devora studied many hours a day learning Hebrew—by herself. With no textbooks. With no other friends with whom to speak Hebrew. Not even a husband to teach her the language, except at night when he came home exhausted from his work as substitute editor of Mr. Dov Frumkin’s little newspaper, The Lily.
The greatest challenge of all was their abject poverty. Often they struggled to buy enough flour to bake a loaf of bread—many times this was their entire meal.
About three months after their arrival, a visitor knocked at their door. His name was Nissim Bekhar. He was principal of a boys’ French school run by the Alliance Israelite Universal, through the generosity of the wealthy Baron Edmond Rothschild. In complete contradiction to Rothschild’s orders that his schools in the Holy Land not teach Hebrew, Nissim asked Eliezer to teach Hebrew in his school! He explained he was in agreement with Eliezer’s vision of a national revival, and understood the relationship between the people, the land and the language.
Bekhar told Eliezer he had been given no budget for such a position, but he was ready to take a bit off the salaries of two teachers of religion, and give them to Eliezer. Again, the visionary was working for a pittance, but his intense passion to teach young students “Hebrew in Hebrew” far outweighed his desire for money. “Hebrew in Hebrew” was Eliezer’s unique way of teaching. From the first day of each new Hebrew class, he would speak only Hebrew to his students. His classes were extremely successful and some of his very first students became leaders in the formation of the future new nation.
ULTRA ORTHODOX JEWS PRONOUNCE BAN
But Eliezer had more immediate challenges. His Orthodox neighbors’ hatred for this “heretic” continued to intensify. They regarded Eliezer’s drive to popularize Hebrew and even teach children to speak Hebrew as an attack on the Jewish religion, their way of life. When he attended synagogue, no one came near him. In their minds, these Ashkenazi Jews linked nationhood with the coming of the Messiah. They declared a religious ban on the Alliance school, and on anyone who would dare enter its doors.
Meanwhile, Devora continued her daily struggle to learn Hebrew for her soon-to-be-born baby. Her loneliness was constant. A few women would have liked to befriend her but they didn’t speak Hebrew. Eliezer was adamant that she would speak no other language. She struggled on. Perhaps the most difficult part was that the man she so deeply loved was so despised by the citizens of Jerusalem.
THE VERY FIRST PIONEER GROUP
Nevertheless, as persecution of Jews in Russia intensified, Eliezer’s articles written in the little Hebrew newspaper caught fire. Word spread, and on the eve of Passover 1882, some 15 strapping young pioneers— including one girl—had just arrived amid horrific persecution from Russia and surrounding countries. Walking down the street they were shouting Ben Yehuda’s name as they searched for his house.
They had read Eliezer’s articles in “the newspaper from Jerusalem” asking them to return to their fatherland, and so they came! They called themselves BILU—the acrostics for “The House of Jacob; Go and we will follow!” Well-educated college kids, they decided to follow the vision. They pleaded, “Eliezer, we are willing to do anything and everything— please lead us, please tell us what to do!” Several of these young people were already speaking some Hebrew learned in Russia.
Although Eliezer had only moved to Jerusalem a year earlier, he helped them get settled in different areas of the country and sent some to study farming at an agriculture school. They were really the first of the first, and they gave great comfort and excitement to Ben Yehuda. Today, every Israeli school child knows about BILU.
TURKS BLOCK FURTHER JEWISH IMMIGRATION
Immediately, more and more young Jews began to land in the port city of Jaffa. As Eliezer had foreseen, the Arabs began to complain. Within weeks, the Turks made a decree that no Jews would be allowed to immigrate to Palestine. In fact, they declared it on the ninth day of Av, the same fateful historical day both Jewish Temples were destroyed by Israel’s enemies.
The Jewish majority in the Holy Land began to decrease as Arabs from the surrounding areas freely swarmed into the land to find work wherever the Jewish immigrants were settling and building infrastructure.
Still, Jews were being smuggled into the Holy Land—mainly with bribes. A Jewish entrepreneur, David Zalman Levontin, actually succeeded in buying 835 acres of land 10 miles from Jaffa. His group invited the BILU young people to join them. Together they established the very first settlement in the land of Israel. They set up tents and called it Rishon Le’Zion—“The First to Zion.”
The group then rushed up to Jerusalem by horseback to announce the great news to Eliezer Ben Yehuda—to celebrate this great event. On that very night, another “first” became reality. Devora gave birth to the “first Hebrew child” in 1900 years, and they called him Ben Zion, “son of Zion.” To Eliezer—the visionary—he saw these two events as enormous signs that God’s favor was upon the land.
WAITING FOR BEN ZION TO SPEAK HEBREW
Time went on, and the “first Hebrew child” grew into a fine, healthy little boy. He was carefully guarded so he would never hear one single word in any other language but Hebrew—mostly from his mother and father. He was alert and vivacious, a gregarious three-year-old, happy to see and be handled by his parents’ many close friends who had accepted the edict of speaking only Hebrew words to him.
There was only one small cloud over this little boy. He was three years old and he had not yet uttered a single word. Devora knew on her side of the family, all the children had begun to speak before they reached their first birthday.
She wondered if Eliezer was a late talker. Or if there had been a mute in his family. She was concerned because their friends began blaming her and Eliezer for his lack of speech. They reminded Eliezer that Hebrew was a dead language. One of his closest friends, Michael Pines, pleaded with Eliezer to teach Ben Zion a living language like Russian. Then, Pines said, he could always learn Hebrew as he grew older. Pines explained to Eliezer that learning Hebrew was good for adults, and even school children—“as you have shown in your classes at Alliance. But not for babies!”
FRIENDS FEAR FOR CHILD’S MENTAL CAPACITY
Pines agreed that Ben Yehuda’s vision of a Hebrew-speaking nation was good. And he told how he and more and more Jews in the Holy Land were actually learning to speak Hebrew. But somehow, the citizens of Jerusalem had concluded that the little boy needed a chance to learn a known language, or he might end up an idiot!
In fact, the boy was almost four—and completely mute. But Eliezer shouted to his friend, “Then let him be an idiot!” Later he spoke to Devora, “Don’t you see? It is a great and noble experiment that we are undertaking with our child. I firmly believe that we shall succeed.
“But if I do not, I promise you that I shall not be ashamed to declare my failure in public—to announce that Hebrew is a dead tongue, unfit for children to be weaned on.
“However, I am still quite convinced that our child will be no less capable of speech and reason, no less smart than all other children born in Jerusalem or Moscow, for that matter. Soon, very soon, he will begin to speak, and his words will be a balm for us—like the words of the prophets of old!
“And you, Devora, will be the heroine, the first Hebrew mother since the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Titus!”
ELIEZER CATCHES WIFE SINGING RUSSIAN
Not long after, he was returning from a trip to Rishon Le’Zion, to meet with some of his followers and sell a few more subscriptions to his newspaper. Mrs. Pines had just visited Devora and made the remark about, “children who are made a sacrifice for the sins of their parents.” Pierced through her soul, she held her child crying. She thought back to her own childhood in Russia, and without thinking, began singing a lullaby to her child in Russian, tears running down her face.
As fate would have it, just at that moment, Eliezer entered the house and found his wife singing this Russian song to Ben Zion. Furious, he began shouting at her. Devora, confused and not able to answer, had not really been aware she was singing in Russian. She cried in silence, and Ben Zion, wanting to come to his mother’s help, shouted, “Abba, Abba, lo!” (Father, father, no!)
Both parents were stunned—and then broke out in shouts of joy! Their son was speaking! And his first words were in Hebrew! Despite the rabbinical ban on speaking to the family, crowds of people from all over Jerusalem came to see the “miracle child”—the first child in the entire world to speak Hebrew as his only language!
SOME HEBREW WORDS CREATED BY BEN ZION
From that time on, he wouldn’t keep quiet. Full of questions, he would ask, “What is this? What is that?” Eliezer was pushed to come up with new words that did not yet exist in Hebrew. Ben Zion, instinctively understanding the language’s logic, soon began making up his own words. In fact, as soon as his brother and three sisters were born, one after another, Ben Zion became their teacher, often coining words that his father was more than happy to add to his list of new words that were published in his weekly newspaper columns.
The children’s successes were great examples to the pioneers of the new settlements who were teaching their own children Hebrew with many challenges, because they lacked so many practical words.
FIRST HEBREW DOG BECOMES MARTYR
One day Ben Zion found a stray dog, and told his father that it was a “Hebrew dog.” He pled with his father that he really needed this dog because then he would have someone besides his mother and father to talk to. One day the five-year-old and his dog were sent to the post office to mail a letter.
He lost his way and ran into a group of ultra-Orthodox kids. He started to run and yelled for his dog saying, “Mahir! Bo!” (Quick! Come!) The religious kids thought he was calling his dog “Meir,” the name of their Rabbi. They killed the dog and beat Ben Zion unconscious. The first Hebrew dog became a martyr of Israel’s rebirth.
Now, the second boy was born to the household. Eliezer had to borrow the money for the circumcision. Eliezer was finally satisfied that Hebrew would always be Ben Zion’s mother tongue, so he allowed him to attend Rothschild’s school with other kids, learning also French and Turkish. That is, until he heard his son singing patriotic songs in French! Ben Yehuda switched to home schooling on the spot.
JUMPING THROUGH THE TURKISH HOOPS
Even though Eliezer had been associate editor of the small news bulletin The Lily for his first year, he longed to be editor of a daily paper of his own, “as attractive in appearance as LeFigaro, the Paris Daily!” Obviously, that would take some time. But he was raring to go!
His first obstacle was the Turks with their stodgy bureaucracy. Under no circumstances would they grant Ben Yehuda a license to start his own Hebrew-language newspaper. Then through good fortune, Eliezer met a Sephardic Rabbi who happened to have applied for a license some time before, but was not using it.
This Rabbi was happy to rent it to Eliezer for the equivalent of $2.50—and the journalistic entrepreneur found another friend who would loan him that sum! It was Eliezer’s door to starting a real newspaper in Jerusalem. Over the years, it became the most important tool of communication for the new settlers of Israel—and it was all in Hebrew.
But with Ben Yehuda as the sole owner and editor of his paper, he became poorer than ever. Dirt poor. Even though he had a growing family, his newspaper was always fed first. He just didn’t have enough subscriptions to make any profit. But the paper was part of his dream to bring Hebrew back to life among the Jewish people. Furthermore, it generated interest among persecuted Jews—especially in Russia—to immigrate to the Land of their Forefathers.
MUST FIND A SOLUTION
But without enough proper nourishment, Devora became weak and ill. She often found herself coughing and running a fever. In their sixth year, Devora began coughing up blood. She had contracted her husband’s tuberculosis. The doctors suggested she spend some time in the warmer climate of Rishon Le’Zion, which she did for three months. She improved, but then Eliezer, too, began to cough blood. In order to survive, Devora suggested that Ben Yehuda take a trip to Russia, to meet with those interested in immigrating to Israel, and to sell more subscriptions to his newspaper. Fortunately, his (still) good friend, Mr. Pines, took on the job of editing the newspaper while Ben Yehuda traveled. But before he left, Eliezer said, “Devora, you must promise me by all that is holy you will continue with my ban on the children hearing anything but Hebrew while I am gone.” Devora promised.
To be continued in the January, 2019 Maoz Israel Report.
Sources: Fulfillment of Prophecy, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, by Eliezer Ben Yehuda (grandson) 2008; Tongue of the Prophets, The Life Story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda by Robert St. John 1952; https://goo.gl/ MVmMUK; https://goo.gl/8r29uN
Other articles in the Ben Yehuda series:
Part 1: Father of the Modern Hebrew Language
Part 2: Eliezer Ben Yehuda: The Visionary
Part 4: Jerusalem’s Orthodox Jews vs. Eliezer Ben Yehuda
Part 5: Ben Yehuda’s New Virtuous Wife / Eliezer Ben Yehuda Meets Theodore Herzl
Part 6: Eliezer Ben Yehuda’s Destiny: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Part 7: The Secret to His Success
BRINGING HOPE TO THE ARAB PEOPLE
Fatima (right) and her mentor
This story illustrates the great challenges of sharing the Gospel in places where Islam dominates. Preaching and sharing the Gospel to Palestinians is always at the risk of one’s life. For that reason, we at Maoz say little about what God is doing in the West Bank and Gaza. But your prayers for this abused people will bring results! God answers our prayers! So when you pray for Israel, do remember to pray for the lost sheep of our Arab neighbors. The story below is written by one of our co-laborers.
Fatima is a 21-year-old student who lives in one of the West Bank villages. When she was 16 years old her family forced her to marry an older man. She gave birth to a baby boy after a year. As is common in Islamic families, she lived with her husband in his parents’ house. Her husband abused her badly, and she often ran home to her own parents. But her father would always send her back to her husband.
At one point, her husband beat her so badly she suffered considerable injuries. She vowed she would never again go back to her husband. A year and a half after her marriage, the Palestinian courts granted her a divorce and custody of her child.
She decided to return to high school and graduated. She then began studies in a local college in the West Bank.
It happened that relatives came to visit her and her family. When they met Fatima, they took a fancy to her and suggested that she should consider marrying their son Ali who was, at that moment, studying at a university in Germany.
On a semester break, Ali came home to the West Bank and met Fatima. They began to get acquainted, and became officially engaged according to Muslim law. When he returned to continue his studies in Germany, he was in constant contact with her.
Then, her fiancé began to share with her about his new-found faith in Jesus the Messiah. As he explained how he had met the Messiah, he encouraged her to start seeking the truth for herself. She began searching the Internet and saw how Islam is not only a false religion, but its laws also abuse and persecute women.
From her own experience, she knew what she was learning was true, and she began to seriously seek Christ for herself. She began sharing with her younger sister and also with her best friend what she was discovering about the life of Jesus and the Christian faith.
Fatima’s best friend started searching the Internet for herself about the truth of Jesus, the Son of God. But her sister, to whom she had witnessed, told her family. When her father found out, he beat Fatima and demanded to know who was talking to her about Jesus. At this moment he is exploring ways to make problems for Ali who is still abroad studying.
My wife contacted Fatima and started praying with her that God would protect her and her fiancé from her father. She accepted Christ in her heart and now says, “I will never leave Him; Christ is my only hope in this life.”
My wife is discipling Fatima and her best friend every night. She shares with them a verse from the Bible and they pray together. Please pray for Fatima and her baby, that God will keep them safe, and especially that her former husband will not take the baby from her.
Fatima wants badly to be baptized in water. We are waiting for the right time.
Note: Not their actual names.
Last summer we held two summer camps in two different villages. Choosing a camp site can be a daunting task, especially when looking for one that not only offers fun and adventure, but also allows us to share foundations of the Christian faith.
Our main purpose is to equip a new generation to praise and love the One True God. We offered daily faith-based activities, such as Bible stories, and taught Christian songs while combining that with a variety of unique activities to reach as many participants as possible. With over 35 activities offered at each camp, kids found something they enjoyed throughout the one-week experience.
A total of 270 kids between the ages of 6 and 10 participated. Most of them are from Muslim families and some of the kids have special needs. The Christian songs we taught them were very important to the kids. And every day we made the Bible stories real and alive for the children. In one camp we were able to give the campers a Bible storybook about creation to take home with them. The camps open doors for us to visit the families at homes and build good relationships with the family.
VISITING CANADA’S LOVERS OF ISRAEL!
From Left: Helio and Ari with pastors David and Arlene Kinzel of LWCC, Edmonton, Alberta.
He’s in his 90’s and one of our longtime beloved partners who loves and supports Israel. He received us with tears in his eyes and a warm welcome in the cold prairies of Alberta. And in gatherings filled with believers in east and west Canada, we couldn’t have asked for more!
Travelling through Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, and Kingston, we were so glad to see so many standing with Israel, standing in prayer and through joyful giving—believers who decided to join with what the Lord is doing in the Land of Israel and make an impact upon the hearts of the Jewish people.
Ari, a true father who carries the Father’s heart, and I had the privilege of serving the body of Messiah everywhere we went during his visit throughout Canada. Meeting after meeting, people told us how they were now able to better comprehend the purposes of God for Israel and for Canada.
In one of those meetings, we were seated around the table with Chinese believers in Vancouver, and for four hours, Ari and I answered their questions, shared testimonies, and encouraged them to love the Lord and bless the Jewish people, by provoking them to jealousy and leading them to Yeshua. What a precious moment!
When we biblically stand with Israel, our eyes are opened to see what God is doing in the nations and, more specifically, in our own, which from North to South, from East to West, is full of beauty and diversity, and a picture of God’s goodness.
The Dominion of Canada, our country’s formal name, was founded to be a nation under God’s dominion after Psalm 72:8—“May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth,” a nation that will follow Him.
During the days travelling with Ari, I carried in my heart what our former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said addressing the Knesset in January 2014—“…through fire and water, Canada will stand with you.” Much more than eloquent rhetoric, his words represented a covenant between a leader who understood God’s heart for a nation chosen by God to bless the nations.
Our heart’s desire and commitment, as Maoz Israel, is to see believers throughout Canada standing with Israel and purposefully investing in the proclamation of the Gospel in Israel, because that’s what we stand for. There’s no greater gift than bringing the Good News to those who first brought it to us and to the nations, “The Jewish People.”
So, we urge you, let us lay hold of the promises of God, and “through fire and water” stand with Israel.
MAOZ' PARTNERS BLESS AN EXTRAORDINARY MUSICAL FAMILY
Shalom to all the Friends of Maoz Israel,
We, as a family, give you our heartfelt thanks for your support towards our children’s musical education.
This enables our children to study with the best music teachers, and we see how their musical talents develop from day to day.
This also enables Elichen (14-year-old daughter), and Yair (10-year-old son) to participate in worship, and other musical projects.
We are proud that Elichen, together with a small Israeli group, will represent Israel in the city of Verona, Italy, at an international music competition. All of this is possible only because of the support given by you.
We pray that the God of Israel will bless the partners of Maoz in all areas of their lives.
Many thanks and blessings,
Leon and Nina Mazin
Pastors in Haifa
PUBLISHING A BIBLE SO THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK CAN UNDERSTAND THE BOOK
The importance of the Jewish people retaining the original text of the Hebrew Bible as God gave it to Moses and the prophets cannot be overestimated.
Not only has it been the foundation that has held together the identity of the Jewish people for 3,500 years, it has assured all of God’s people through the ages that they have the original words as God dictated to holy men “who were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
In light of the fact that the original Hebrew is still intact, Yeshua’s proclamation of the Word of God is stunning:
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Nevertheless, because of the dispersion of the Jewish people who did not use Hebrew for 1900 years, now there is a problem for today’s modern Israelis: they do not understand the ancient Hebrew.
And here’s another fact. The Hebrew Bible text has a total of 8,000 words. Modern Hebrew has some 120,000 words.
Clearly, ancient and modern Hebrew are not always on the same page. Yet, because the heritage of the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament is so deeply rooted in the Jewish nation’s identity, no one even considers translating the Hebrew Bible into modern Hebrew.*
In Bible days, even 8,000 words were not enough to express all the thoughts and actions of the children of Israel living then. So each word often has multiple meanings, according to the culture of the day. What was understood in Biblical society several millennia ago, has been lost through the dispersion of the Jewish people who no longer spoke Hebrew until just over a hundred years ago.
Ironically, the richness and beauty of the language is found in the hidden multiple meanings in many Biblical words. In other words, often there are several meanings, all pertaining to the purpose of a word in the Bible.
Nevertheless, understanding the Word of God is a matter of life and death. There is absolutely no doubt that God wants His chosen people to understand His Word.
Moreover, today there is a new third and fourth generation of Hebrew-speaking Messianic Jews in the land. There are wonderfully dedicated young people—committed to boldly spreading the message of Messiah—whether in ministry, in music or in the market place. They want to understand and absorb the Word of God.
But for these believers to read the Bible is a definite challenge. In many ways, the commitment to really understand the Word of God takes Biblical scholarship that the average Israeli doesn’t have. So for secular, or even traditional Jews, to understand the Bible presents an almost insurmountable mountain.
But God regards the lack of understanding of the Word of God as disastrous.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
Hosea 4:6
Clearly, God wants His people to read and understand the Bible.
We believe we have found an incredible way to introduce the Bible to multitudes of Israelis interested in understanding the Word of God.
We have embarked on a three-year program to translate the Narrated Bible in Chronological Order for the Israeli people. The Hebrew text of the Old Testament will remain the original text. But the tools that the Narrated Bible offers, throws incredible light to the meaning of the difficult texts:
At the beginning of each section is a beautifully written introduction to each event or concept so that one already has an idea of what he or she is about to read.
Secondly, each paragraph or passage is labeled, like ANGEL REBUKES BALAAM, BALAAM PERMITTED TO GO, BALAAM MEETS BALAK, etc.
Our translated Hebrew Bible will have footnotes explaining every word that is not understood by a typical Israeli adult, at the bottom of each page.
To top off bringing clarity to the Word of God, this version puts the entire Bible in chronological order (according to the best scholarship). The reader will know which prophet was warning or encouraging the people of Israel or Judah—what condition the nation was in at the time, and whether the children of Israel were serving God or rebelling against Him.
The narration continues seamlessly through the New Testament. The Four Gospels are harmonized together, and the books that Paul wrote are harmonized with his travels.
This Bible with these tools will help to give a prophetic timeline to events which took place in Israel long ago, and will give insight to events taking place today! This Bible will help equip a generation of young Israelis that see their mission to be a light to the nations. Already God is raising up gifted Israeli preachers and teachers who are communicating the Gospel with the depth and richness it deserves!
This Bible will have approximately 2000 pages. For every gift of $250 (£195, €210, CAD$315), you will be producing one page of the Narrated Chronological Bible in Hebrew!
The Hebrew version of The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order is a joint project with the Israel Bible Society headed up by General Director Victor Kalisher. Our team consists of Dr. Ray Pritz, top Bible scholar and expert in Biblical Jewish history; Yair L. Frank, expert in History of Israel, together with a technical staff who are expert in sources and commentaries. Orna Greenman is one of Israel’s finest translation experts who is giving oversight to the project.
*(There is a fine illustrated children’s Bible in modern Hebrew published by the Messianic Company HaGefen Publishing)
November 2018
Dear Maoz Partner,
One of the greatest joys of our lives is to be working on the production of a Hebrew version of The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order.
This Bible will be a major breakthrough for the Israeli people who wish they could understand the ancient Hebrew language of the Bible, but can’t.
Because the meaning of many Biblical words has been lost through the ages, the average Israeli cannot understand much of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Only for just over 100 years have the Jewish people again been speaking Hebrew, as you can see from our story about the “first Hebrew child.”
Now there is a tremendous need for Israelis to begin to read and understand the Scriptures for themselves.
The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order of some 2,000 pages is going to fill this great need by allowing the average Israeli to clearly understand both the Old and New Testaments.
Even though there is a modern Hebrew version of the New Testament which was originally written in Greek, The Narrated Bible will add a tremendous amount of richness and understanding by synchronizing the four Gospels and inserting the different books of the New Testament in chronological order with the narration explaining their background.
In our last production team meeting, we could feel the excitement of those working on this Bible! Clearly, it is going to open a gateway for Israelis to see the Messianic Scriptures all through the Bible, to understand why God allowed the dispersion of the Jewish people, to understand the cost of sin, and then to understand the awesome promises of God to redeem Israel and bring the Good News to all the world.
At this moment, we have exactly 432 pages left of $250 each to reach our budget. We invite you to be a sponsor of one or more pages, so that as long as this world continues, your page or pages will bring everlasting light to His Chosen People.
For the salvation of Israel,
Ari & Shira Sorko-Ram
P.S. We can’t think of a more lasting investment you could make than providing a page of Scripture to the Jewish people—a page they will understand! A page that could change them for eternity! And you can do that today with your gift of $250 (£195, €210, CAN$315)! Thank you!