Greetings to our Jewish friends from Bridges for Peace Canada!

As you may know, we are “Christians supporting Israel and building relationships between Christians and Jews, in Israel and around the world.” And thankfully, we have not been de-railed, in Israel or in Canada.  So for you, our Jewish friends in Manitoba, here are some glimpses of our current operations.

In Israel, where unemployment is above 20%, we are increasing our assistance to needy Israelis.  As of last week, we had had a million dollars of special requests come to us, in addition to the millions we already are spending to support 22,000 people each month - with food support, transportation, home repair, medical and dental needs and so on. 

Some of these requests are from individuals, many of whom were previously on our Adoption program and know that we are a caring source of help.  Some requests have been from organizations and communities that we partner with in Israel.  One partner group came to us with a request to help 40 women in the Orthodox community whose husbands refuse to give them a divorce.  They have no recourse to child support because of this.  Municipalities have requested help.  Shavei Israel, our frequent partner in Aliyah operations, has asked us to help the B’nei Menashe, recent immigrants from India, who have been hit hard by unemployment.  Truckloads of food were delivered to them by Bridges for Peace.

In normal times, we provide hot lunches for 400 school children.  With schools closed, these families have been provided with gift cards to purchase extra food.  And we continue to provide food in bulk to 59 agencies and 19 municipalities.  Some of our staff are still going out to deliver parcels to individual homes, including many Holocaust survivors.  They have received official permits from the Jerusalem and Karmiel civic authorities.  When they are stopped by police, they report receiving blessings and thanks from those in uniform.

Here in Canada, Zoom has become our new best-friend and we are connecting and reaching out on-line.  In fact, the crisis is probably benefiting us by forcing us to have a greater on-line presence.  National Director, Peter Fast, has launched a weekly broadcast called Ignite Wednesdays, Teachings from the Yellow Chair.  The twin bright yellow wingbacks in his office are a sight to see!  He has dragged one home to present weekly teachings and updates to a Canada-wide audience.  Bridges has sponsored prayer for Israel for years, including in home groups.  Just this week, we launched several new prayer groups across Canada, on-line of course.  We expect that some of these will continue after the crisis is over.

As Christians supporting Israel and the Jewish people, we are in it for the long haul.  We look forward to seeing what G-d will do in Israel.  We have been very encouraged by the break in the electoral log-jam and hope for the formation of a new national government in Israel.  We see this as an answer to the prayers of millions of Jews – and Christians!  We also marvel that Israel has had the lowest death-rate from the corona-virus pandemic of any nation.  And who knows?  We won’t be surprised to see medical breakthroughs coming out of Israel to alleviate the world’s present suffering.

It is our privilege and our joy to stand with you, at this time and always. May G-d bless Israel and may G-d bless the Jewish people. 

Sincerely,

Donald James (Rev.)

National Development Director

Bridges for Peace Canada