Forsake Them Not

Today was a very special day for me as I traveled to the small village of Mavki'im, near Gaza, with a CFI team to visit Holocaust survivors. I was so excited to be going and as with so many things in Israel, it is something I won't forget.

First let me tell you that Mavki'im was founded in 1949 as a kibbutz by former Israeli soldiers who had immigrated from Hungary. Five years later it changed to what is called a moshav which is a type of kibbutz but each individual owns property instead of communal ownership by the kibbutz. When Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, 25 Jewish families were re-settled in Mavki'im (with cash from the government.) I did not remember that so many settlers had been forcibly removed from Gaza but the account reads that 5,000 out of almost 10,000 were forced out by the Israeli Defense Forces. Apparently when the new families came, there was a lot of suspicion among the older people as to what would happen but over the past four years, the younger, wealthier newcomers have added greatly to the community and take a special interest in the older founders and their needs. One family who had owned a very successful business in Gaza before the disengagement gave money to build a synagogue. Whereas the older folks were non-religious Jews, the re-settlers were very religious and in spite of all the personal distress at leaving homes and businesses in Gaza, God used that situation to bring about a revival of the Jewish faith to the community. The original kibbutz homes are modest but very nice while the settlers homes are large and built along side Mavki'im proper.

A and R are from Romania and came to Mavki'im in 1949. As a teenager, A spent the war working at a teen camp making nails. He lost his parents and a brother but he survived because he was big and strong - he was actually 12 years but looked much older. Both speak some English and have a daughter and her family living in Myrtle Beach, SC. When I told her I had a son and his family living in South Carolina as well, she got very excited and wanted me to write down his name and where he lived. They have visited the US five times so she wanted to talk about those trips with me. Being younger than A, R spent years with her brother in a home for Jewish and Christian children. I was told when there was a possibility that the Jewish children could pass for being a non-Jew, parents would send them away in order to protect them and hopefully save their lives. The Nazis would come to the children's home, offer candy to only the young Jewish children who of course would be excited for the sweets and step out and identify themselves then be taken away never to be heard of again. When she returned to her home, R helped her mother by oil lamp at night to sew scarves for the gypsies. There are pieces of needlepoint that she has done all over their home. CFI provided a Tanak, the Hebrew Bible, as well as a monetary gift to this couple. D, Paula (staff member of CFI from Finland) and Carol

D is from Poland and a survivor of Auschwitz where she was sent at the age of 19. She explained that is was very hard for anyone to make friends with the other prisoners because it took too much effort when you had to be constantly thinking about your own survival. However, she met a woman her age who was nearly blind that asked for her help as she didn't want the guards to know she couldn't see. They agreed to help each other and could encourage each other to keep going. One day D left to get them food and when she returned, her friend was gone. She never knew what happened to her and that is one of the memories that is hard for her to forget. If anyone has read about the ship "The Exodus" or seen the movie with Paul Newman (around 1963), D was one of the people onboard.

M is from Hungary. She came from a town with a population of 4,000 Jews and when the Holocaust was over, only 50 returned. M is age 89 but still tends her home and has beautiful gardens including a rose garden which is a real joy to her. The first part of her life, she was non-religious but now she believes in God and talked about how He has gotten her through many horrific situations that we cannot even imagine. She has such a lovely, sweet spirit about her - only God could have given it to her considering all she endured. She was also at Auschwitz and relayed how they had to be in their "house" by 6 p.m. and the next morning if they weren't able to move, they were sent to the gas chamber. They ate grass and other greens that were cooked with vegetable peelings - that is all there was. She made aliyah, married, had a family and proudly displays pictures all over her walls. She insisted we take the roses back to Jerusalem.

Living in Israel are 80,000 Holocaust survivors and 300,000 who were evacuated into ghettos or forcibly removed from their communities. The purpose of the CFI team ministering to these survivors is to fulfil Isaiah 40:1 which says "Comfort, comfort my people..." and they are doing that with great compassion and the love of Christ.