We sent in the volunteer applications on April 12th, and the following week Momo and I met with Jonathan in Israel, the founder ofShevet Achimover Zoom. By the end of April, we were notified that they would welcome us this summer.

Shevet Achim is Hebrew meaning something like dwelling together and came from Psalm 133.

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!　

(Psalm 133:1)

Shevet Achim helps Palestinian children who live in Gaza and has no hope to live without a heart surgery which is really hard to come by in Gaza. Shevet communicates with the governments, arranges the travel documents and help with the travel, so that they come to Israel and have appropriate medical treatment in the very advanced Israeli hospitals in Tel Aviv. Shevet has a home in Ashdod where those children and parents and volunteers live together where children recover until they are determined sound enough to go home. Momo and I will most probably help with cooking, cleaning and serving the family’s daily needs. We are not quite sure what we will do, but He does.

There might be many different racial and religious divisions and conflicts in the world, but in this case, it is the one between Arabs and Israel. Gaza is completely cut off from the world and its civilians are not allowed to cross the border, literally stuck in Gaza. If you drive 40 miles north, you will find the worldly renounced medical facilities in Tel Aviv, Israel, but it is extremely difficult for a Palestinian child to enter Israel, even more so to get a treatment in an Israeli hospital by Israeli doctors.(Watch Video; Born in Gaza)Arabs and Israel are brothers, as written in the Bible. Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, the first son of Abraham while Israel is the descendants of Isaac, the second son of Abraham (Genesis chapters 16-21).

In the word “brothers” what Shevet has in its heart might be Arabs and Israel, but it could also be another set of brothers, the Jews and Christian churches, I wonder. Jesus Christ was a Jew, so were 12 disciples. Jesus did not come to this world to start a new religion called Christianity. It all started as a sect of Judaism. Christian churches however have lost its Jewishness over the long period of time and persecuted the Jews. Martin Luther, who was a founder of our Protestant churches, has written a book titled “On the Jews and Their Lies” towards the end of his life and disrespected the Jews. There is a view that his writing was used to justify by Nazis what they did to the Jews. There is thus a deep chasm between the Jews and the churches also. At Sheet Achim, people who were made in God’s image gather and dwell together. My heart’s desire is to humbly be a living part of the body.