Yom Ha-Sho'ah

Today (Monday) is Yom haSho'ah-Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel. Ceremonies began yesterday evening, and at 10:00 this morning a siren wailed for two minutes throughout Israel. Traffic came to a halt; in city streets and out on the highways Jews emerged from their cars to stand silently. It lasts for two minutes, calling to remembrance the horror which some 75 years ago arose, seeking the extermination of the Jewish race. The Hebrew word for "Holocaust" is 'Sho'ah' (Capitalized, when transliterated). It means catastrophe, calamity, devastation, ruin, desolation. The word appears several times in the Scriptures; in Ps 35:8 and 63:10 it is the destruction which the Psalmist's enemies wish to bring upon his soul, but into which, he trusts in the LORD, they themselves will fall; in Isaiah 47:11 it is "desolation which shall come upon suddenly" upon the "virgin daughter of Babylon" who has trusted in her wickedness, whose wisdom and knowledge have warped her (vs. 47:10).

The birth of Israel as a "Jewish State" provided a haven for the survivors of the "Sho'ah", a home and bastion for their descendants, hopefully against such an evil ever rising again. Indeed, the slogan "Never again!" has been passed from generation to generation since then. Much has been done with the establishment of museums and many books and programs in the belief that "education" and 'being informed" is the best defense against something like it ever recurring. Yet, we feel compelled to mention that those nations most at the heart of the ideology which spawned the Holocaust in the 1930's had been considered for over 400 years the center of Western civilized education and culture. One thing we should have learned through it all is that Education alone will never of itself stem a rising tide of evil.

Might there be another Sho'ah? Certainly the evil one would like for there to be. He realizes, with the establishment and growth of this nation (perhaps now especially with the awakening of a Messianic remnant in the Land), that God's holy latter-day purposes for His ancient people are not yet fulfilled-that they are, in fact, on course. And so we see again a rising anti-Semitism-although it now, under the moniker "anti-Zionism", finds its focus more on the nation itself. It is sobering that this same word "sho'ah" is used in Ezekiel 38:9 (here translated 'storm'), "You will ascend (an alliance led by Gog, the Prince of Rosh), coming like a storm, covering the land (of Israel) like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you." In that ultimate battle, the LORD will intervene in wrath against the aggressors. But there may be other assaults against Jacob's physical race, both outside of and against Israel before that one finally takes place.

This week, as Israel pauses to ponder a great darkness which singled out her most recent ancestors for destruction-while at the same time casting an uneasy eye towards a quickly clouding future-

PLEASE PRAY:

*For revelation that the Word of the LORD in Jeremiah 29:11 is still alive and ringing, specifically and first of all for His people Israel- "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

*For a massive awakening of desire in Israel to put her trust in the LORD rather than in her leaders and military strength (Psalm 118:8-9; 33:16-17).

*For the estimated 208,000 elderly Holocaust survivors living in Israel today. These have often, because of what they have experienced and seen, been bound by the accuser into a hardened darkness, Pray that the true Light which pierces the deepest darkness (John 1:5,9) will shine into their hearts-drawing them in Love to a life in which they have long since ceased to believe.

*For a breaking in Israel of any 'identity' related to the extent of our persecution in the past. Pray that while learning what we can from the past, we will begin to focus more on the future-and what God's Word tells us about it.

*Psalm 25:22: "Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles."