Parasha Toldot

Shalom and blessings;

 Listen to "Elul a month to reflect"

Our return to Israel has been anything but quiet. Since we have been home there have been 2-3 violations of the cease fire agreement with the Islamic Jihad and last night (Nov. 26), at midnight, the sirens went off in our city sending us scurrying to our safe room. In the morning we found out that a rocket landed on a building under construction. Thank God, because of the late hour no one was at the site, the building however sustained damage. 

I started my series of follow-up cancer doctor visits. The first one was with the ENT doctor, followed by a visit to the oncologist, both gave me a clean bill of health; all glory belongs to God. In December I will be 2 ½ years cancer free; PRAISE THE LORD. My life has truly been a testimony to the faithfulness of God. I went from stage four malignant throat cancer, to being miraculously healed, to getting a second chance at ministering for the Lord in Kenya; what an awesome God we serve!

Moses from Liberia attended services on Shabbat at Melech Yisrael Nairobi with a friend as promised. We communicated over WhatsApp that evening and all indication is that they both enjoyed the services and will be returning. We look forward to hearing more from them. Our meeting Moses was definitely a divine appointment. Please pray for Moses and Joshua.

We have a number of things in the works for Kenya, first is the Passover Seder; it is proceeding nicely. Ellen and I are finalizing our travel dates for our return trip to Kenya and are busy looking for comfortable but inexpensive accommodations in Karatina and Nairobi. We are about to commission the building of a website for the Nairobi and Karatina congregations (one site for both). There are many congregations in Kenya that call themselves Messianic, but are not, which have websites. Now with the help of donations, we have the means to build our own site so that those who are looking for true Messianic Jewish congregations can find us. Please pray for God's wisdom in building the site. Next week, God willing, we will be sending the orphanage the funds necessary to buy school books for the upper 3 grades. The timing works out perfectly, schools are on summer break in Kenya and because of your generosity books will now be available for all grades when classes resume in January. 

At our own expense, Ellen and I will be travelling to the States to represent Kenya at the annual International Association of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues Rabbi's Conference in January. You will recall that Melech Yisrael applied and was accepted as members; a big step forward in our legitimacy and accountability. Of course we will also be taking the opportunity to stay and visit with family and friends. We will be sharing Yeshua with everyone who will listen as we travel so lease pray for a safe and successful journey.

I have attached additional links to audio copies of sermons shared while in Kenya; pass them on if you like them. Also check out our Blog and pass on the teachings.

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, our God, our soon coming King.

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

Read the Parasha

Listen to "Elul a month to reflect"

Listen to "Living Water"

 Listen to "Measuring your trust in God"

Parasha Chayei Sarah

Shalom and Blessings;

Ellen and I safely arrived back in Israel, praise the Lord! For the most part, I was told, that the Islamic Jihad group and Hamas have stopped firing their rockets at us. I did however; just hear a loud boom in the distance towards Gaza which definitely indicates that something is going on. Plus there is heated conflict in the north with Syria which has stirred up the anger of Russia. Only God knows where that will lead; hopefully to the return of Messiah Yeshua! 

Our final Shabbat in Nairobi was glorious. It started out a bit rocky, however. The management of the school where we hold our services scheduled a wedding on the grounds directly next to the tent we use, without giving us any prior notice. They even gave them the use of the tent! 

We start our services between 10:00-11:00 a.m. and the caterers wanted to set up in our space before 1:00 p.m. We probably could have shortened our service and made it in time, but we had already scheduled a special dedication to the Lord of 3 of our children. This was to be followed by a special oneg (refreshments). We were told to use the small classroom where we used to hold our services and which we have outgrown, so we were not too happy about that. Seeing however, we had already set up in the tent, we decided at Ellen's suggestion, to have a shortened service, followed by the dedication of the children and then move to the classroom, for my sermon and closing of the service. It was a beautiful day so we set up our tables outside the classroom for the oneg. Despite the challenge of having to split the service everything went brilliantly. However, the experience did drive home the necessity for us to look for a place of our own. We are counting on God, who owns all the gold and silver in the mountains, to supply the necessary finances for that and to find us the perfect space (please pray). I have attached a picture of the dedicated children. 

Do you remember a number of week's back, I told you about 3 Liberians we met on a walk to our area supermarket in Nairobi? Tuesday, on our final excursion out to the market, we were stopped by one of the 3 walking towards us. Ellen and I would have passed him right by, not recognizing him, but he recognized us. We were so happy to greet each other and blessed that the Lord arranged this meeting. We stopped and talked for a time, exchanged contact information and prayed together. He is a Christian and we invited him to attend Melech Yisrael. Our elder Akiva has already contacted him and will be picking him up for services. Please pray for Moses, Kevin and Rolland; they need a place to worship and fellowship, a place where the truth is taught, God willing they will appreciate Messianic worship and choose to settle in with us. 

We had an interesting encounter at the airport in Ethiopia. Ellen met a group of 60 Christians who were on our flight to Israel; they were coming to evangelize! Needless to say Ellen prayed for them and she gave a few our contact information. Hopefully we will hear from them before they leave. Please pray for the group from Iris Global, a missionary NGO. 

Checkout our Blog and pass on the teachings.

All our love,

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, Our God, our Lord, our soon coming King

Rabbi Jack & Ellen 

Read Parasha

Parasha Vayera

Shalom and blessings;

This is our final Shabbat in Kenya. We hit the ground in ministering and having Erev Shabbat with an Elder couple of the congregation in, Limuru a suburb of Nairobi. On Shabbat we ministered at the Nairobi congregation. That Sunday we drove seven hours to the orphanage over treacherous roads. There we blessed, prayed, ministered, taught, played with the children and inspected that the donations we gave them were used for the purposes intended. While there we had 4 confirmed new salvations and 30 rededications among the children. After our time in Migori we drove back another seven hours to Nairobi, where we presided over Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur services, as well as Shabbat services. Sukkot services were held In Karatina Town located two and a half hours north of Nairobi in the foot hills of Mt. Kenya. We had an amazing time there as people from the surrounding fellowships in Nyeri and Chaka joined with us for services and to shake our makeshift Lulov and Etrog (a large lemon). Back in Nairobi we started visiting congregation member’s homes praying over them, affixing mezuzahs, fellowshipping, eating and blessing the families. We took a segway one Sunday and visited a church in the suburb of Kayole. The congregation was such an encouragement and the praise and worship although loud was uplifting. I have attached a video clip so that you can experience it for yourself. The balance of our time in Nairobi has been taken up with Bible study, Shabbat services, more visitation and personal counseling. At one of the homes we visited both mother and son was celebrating their birthdays. We brought a cake and experienced a Kenyan tradition that was new for us; I’ve attached pictures.

I am writing this update after teaching our final Bible study, it is 10:45 pm here, Ellen is sleeping, and I’m lamenting having to leave these wonderful people. As I look back over the weeks, I’m amazed at what God has accomplished through us this trip. With His help we have been a spiritual blessing to many and with your help we have been a financial blessing to many – thank you. Please continue to pray for the Messianic Believers in Kenya, they need our help and support.

Passover plans have been finalized, we have prepared a flier which we will be sending to select churches and Christian friends of the congregation, inviting them to join us and experience a real traditional Passover; I’ve attached a copy of the flier. 

Ellen and I are anxious to get back home. During this scary and difficult time in Israel, with rockets being fired from Gaza by the hundreds, we have attempted to minister to our unsaved friends over WhatsApp. Nothing, however, is a substitute for us being there, hugging them comforting them and encouraging them in the Lord. Please continue to pray for Israel, her people and the Jewish people in general, without Yeshua in their lives, they have no hope.

God willing, next week’s D’var Torah will be sent from Israel. Remember to checkout our Blog and pass on the teachings.

All our love

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, our God, our soon coming King.

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

Read Parasha

Parasha Lech Lecha

Shalom and Blessings;

This week we had a blessed Shabbat; the weather has improved so the tent roof was not leaking. I am going through a sermon series on the life of Joseph and this Shabbat I will be teaching part 3 of 4. I will share the teaching with you at the end of the series.

Our Wednesday night Bible study is going very well. As I shared before, we are studying in the book of Ecclesiastes. Considering the distances people have to travel, and the difficulty in travelling within the city, especially during rush hours 4-8 pm, the study is well attended.

Sunday we visited a church in the Nairobi suburb of Kayole. We know the Pastor and his wife from our previous visit in February. The Kayole area is one little notch above a slum, so we made sure we were escorted by Dov, an elder at Kehilat Melech Yisrael, Nairobi. The church is small but they definitely have a heart for Israel and a desire to learn about their Messianic Jewish roots. I have attached a picture of the childrens' Sunday school.

We are moving ahead on our plans for Passover. We will be holding the Passover Seder and services in the rural city of Karatina, where Kehilat Melech Yisrael Karatina meets. It is a 2.5 hr. drive by bus from Nairobi, but a trip that everyone is used to making because the two congregations fellowship together often. The venue is a local hotel which has a large meeting room and offers catering services. The menu will be typically Kenyan: vegetarian soup, Samaki (a whole Tilapia fish, cooked Kenyan style), ugali (kind of like white corn polenta), fruit cup, milk tea, coffee and of course all the traditional Passover condiments, some of which we will bring from Israel. Many people will have to be subsidized in order to attend. Even though, according to western standards, the price of the meal is quite reasonable, to Kenyans, especially those with 4-5 children, the amount can be prohibitive; we are counting on your generosity so that no one will be left out.

Our time here is nearly over and everyone is sad that we soon have to leave. Please pray for the congregations and their leadership (Dov, Akiva, Hannah, Tovah and Amos), attendance tends to drop off when we are not here. Thank you for keeping me and Ellen in prayer, our leaving is as hard for us as it is for them. God willing we will be able to come back in March.

Checkout our Blog and pass on the teachings.

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, our God, our soon coming King.

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

Read Parasha

Sermons: "Carnal Believer", "Cold Heart" & "Sukkot Day 2019"

Shalom. Ellen and I send you our love and blessings;

I have attached links to 3 sermons I shared with our congregations in Kenya. Trust you will enjoy and grow from them.

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, our God, our soon coming King.

Rabbi Jack

Listen to "Carnal Believer"

Listen to "Cold Heart"

Listen to "Sukkot Day 2019"

Parasha Noach

Shalom and blessings;

Time seems to be flying by; we have only 19 days left in Kenya. Even though we have accomplished much, there is still much to do. We continue to have weekly Shabbat services and Bible studies with the Nairobi congregation. The Karatina congregation is participating by way of listening over WhatsApp, which is followed up by sending them the audio recordings. Right now we are organizing a Passover Seder by working on venues as well as finances for the event. This Sunday we were invited back to a small church in the working class suburb of Kayole. It is not a place where Ellen and I can go alone so we are bringing an Elder from Kehilah Melech Yisrael (KMY) with us. Please pay that we will be a blessing. Previously I sent a video of the congregation and its location from when we visited in February.

Last week Ellen’s cell phone malfunctioned and we had to bring it in for repair. Ellen and I prayed that the Lord would lead us to the perfect repair shop. We were directed by a friend to the Samsung store at a nearby mall, but they did not have a tech on staff and we were redirected to another store some distance away. Then we noticed a kiosk that advertised phone repair; the owner turned out to be an expat Israeli from Eilat; God is so good!

Now that the High Holy Days are over we have been doing home visitations for the purpose of praying with and for the members of KMY. We have been anointing homes and affixing mezuzahs on doorposts. It is customary in Kenya to feed your guests, and it is taken as an insult if you refuse their food. We try to visit multiple homes in one day so you can imagine that we are well fed by the end of the day. Travelling is also a challenge because of poor road conditions and is some cases no road at all, just a mud path. Plus we have to rely on Uber to get us around; security is also an issue and we always bring a local member of KMY with us.

The orphanage received their school books and was so blessed. Once we are able to supply them with books for their upper grades, we were told by the directors that they will apply for recognition from the local office of the Board of Education. Please pray for God to release the finances necessary for more books and that the school will find favor with the local authorities. I have attached pictures.

Michael, the elderly man who was attacked by thugs last week, lived up to his promise and attended services on Shabbat. It was a new experience for him because we were celebrating Efrat becoming Bat Mitzvah. Efrat did beautifully. She chanted the Haftarah blessings in Hebrew and then read her Haftarah portion in English. We were all so proud of her. Please pray that she will continue to grow in her faith and in her relationship with Yeshua; pictures attached.

We are so appreciative of your prayers and financial support. In our small way we are all making a BIG difference. May God bless you for it! If you know of anyone that may appreciate reading about what we are doing in Kenya and would like to receive my Torah commentaries, ask permission and send me their email address and we will add them to our e-contact list; TODA (Thank You).

Checkout our Blog and pass on the teachings: https://weeklyparasha02.blogspot.com/

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, our God, our soon coming King.

Read Parasha