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The beginnings of our ministry in Israel predates the establishment of the modern state in 1948. In the 1920s, we began publishing a joint Yiddish-English monthly newspaper entitled The Shepherd of Israel. At the time, we were known as the Williamsburg Mission to the Jews. In 1921, we started sending 200 copies a year of The Shepherd of Israel to Jerusalem, to a British missionary supported by our mission—Frank Boothby. Boothby operated a small storefront called “The Gospel Gate Room” which he kept stocked with Gospel tracts, Bibles, and our newspaper. Boothby reported that the Jewish people of Jerusalem loved the Yiddish periodical and would come by the building to pick up new editions. Boothby faithfully continued in this ministry until his death in 1940. He was our first missionary in the Holy Land. The final years of the British Mandate were tumultuous times for all in the Land. Boothby had written in 1938, “When it becomes known that Jews have turned toward Christ they are faced with bitter hatred and boycott from all Jewish sides, and the Missions have yet not found the means to sustain them or to provide jobs or work of a lasting kind.” After Boothby’s death, we appointed a Norwegian missionary, Sigourd Biorness, to continue the ministry at the Gospel Gate Room, and he often described the unique difficulties in the Land. Jewish refugees were pouring in from Europe, attempting to flee the Nazis, but there was a lack of food, employment, and shelter for the arrivals. Biorness was distraught by the needs of the refugees, as there was little his ministry could provide. Eventually the war closed most of the shipping lanes to the Land, so even Bibles were impossible to ship. After years of stagnation, Biorness resigned from the ministry in 1946, and the Gospel Gate Room went out of existence before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Yet, the Lord would soon give new life to the work of our Mission in Israel. In 1949, after the dust had settled from the War of Independence, our ministry, which was now known as the American Board of Missions to the Jews (ABMJ), called a new missionary to lead our work in Israel: Haim Haimoff. He began by serving 25 Jewish believing families in Jerusalem. Soon after, we called W. L. McClenahan to help Haimoff with the administrative side of the ministry. McClenahan was a Gentile believer who had lived in the land for 30 years, and it was his role to register our ministry as a foreign corporation. In 1951, the State of Israel issued the ministry a certification, stating, “The American Board of Missions to the Jews is now registered under the laws of the State of Israel—one of the first independent missionary societies in the world to enjoy that privilege.” This certification was a significant blessing, but like the new nation, our work was still on shaky ground. By 1953, Haimoff left the ministry and McClenahan passed away. We attempted to send short-term missionaries to Israel and keep our connections alive, but the Mission had no salaried missionaries in the Land for nearly a decade. It was complicated to send missionaries due to Israel’s immigration laws. In 1962, Chosen People Ministries called Peter Gutkind, a Jewish believer, to oversee our work. Gutkind served in Haifa and taught Bible classes, distributed care packages, and passed out Gospel literature. By 1965 he enjoyed a thriving ministry in which Israelis were receiving the Lord and getting baptized. However, as the word of his ministry got out, the ire of a violent group of Orthodox activists was aroused. In August 1965, over a hundred Yeshiva Youth attacked Gutkind’s home and destroyed the contents within. Our missionary was spared physical harm and fled, but he knew that the Israeli police had purposefully taken a slow response. Our work in Haifa, just begun, was now in grave danger. These difficulties challenged the Mission’s President, Daniel Fuchs, as he attempted to look for new ideas. In 1969, he entered into a joint agreement with the American Messianic Fellowship (now known as Life in Messiah) to do a joint broadcast of Gospel radio throughout Israel. The two ministries produced a 30-minute segment, seven days a week. The partnership continued through 1973, at which point our Mission took full responsibility for the broadcast. We also partnered with Victor Smadja, a Jewish believer who had established an Israeli publishing company, Ya’netz Press, and led a congregation in Jerusalem. Also in 1969, Jacob and Leah Goren, both Holocaust survivors, received God’s call to join the ABMJ and continue their ministry to Jewish children in need. Soon after, Joseph Alkahe, who had been serving as a pastor in Tel Aviv, joined the Mission as well. The ministry was delighted to finally have a thriving ministry in the Land with multiple missionaries in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, and a daily radio program. Gutkind retired in 1972, Jacob Goren passed away in 1981, and in that same year the ministry decided to cut ties with Alkahe for theological reasons. Leah Goren continued her ministry, but our work in Israel entered a dry season. One high point, however, was the creation of the “See Israel Through Jewish Eyes” program, which brought tour groups to Israel to experience the land and act as good-will ambassadors for the Gospel amongst the Israeli population. MAY 2017 | THE CHOSEN PEOPLE | 4


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