“If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have had any celebration.”
Those words stayed with us after a recent Rosh Hashanah gathering in Jerusalem.
Nearly 50 people came together around the tables, many of them olim chadashim—Jewish newcomers who have only recently made Israel their home. Making a new beginning in Israel can be exciting, but it can also be deeply lonely. Family and longtime friends may be thousands of miles away. Familiar communities have been left behind. New friendships take time to form. And when the biblical Feasts arrive, that absence can be felt even more strongly.
Several people told us that without this gathering, they simply would not have had a Rosh Hashanah celebration at all.
So together with our ministry team in Jerusalem, we did something very simple: we made room at the table.
There was a hot meal, music and songs, conversation and laughter, and a message about the meaning of the Jewish New Year and the faithfulness of God. There was something especially meaningful about celebrating a new year with people who are themselves beginning a new chapter of life in the Land of Israel. For one evening, people who might otherwise have celebrated alone found themselves surrounded by others ready to welcome them.
But what happened around those tables is part of a much bigger story.
Through Voice of Judah Israel and our work together with Beit Hallel Congregation here in Israel, we are seeing the beginnings of a growing ministry community in Jerusalem. The work is still young, but week by week relationships are being built.
Through humanitarian outreach, people facing difficult circumstances receive practical assistance, but they also encounter something equally important: people willing to listen, encourage, pray, and walk alongside them. A weekly Bible study provides another place where people can open the Scriptures together, ask honest questions, discover the Jewish roots of biblical faith, and learn more about Yeshua the Messiah.
This is why gatherings like our Rosh Hashanah celebration matter so much.
A meal may seem like a simple thing. But something happens when people sit around a table together. Strangers begin talking. Names become familiar. Someone who arrived in Israel without a circle of friends begins to discover community. Trust grows. And sometimes those relationships open the door to much deeper conversations about God.
We saw that happen during this gathering.
Along with the meal and celebration, a spiritual message was shared, and as the evening continued, it became clear that several people were especially open. Toward the end, our team invited anyone who wanted prayer to join us.
About six people chose to pray with us in the name of Yeshua.
It was not a dramatic moment. It was quiet and personal. Yet for us, it captured something beautiful about the way ministry often happens here in Israel.
Sometimes it begins with an invitation.
Sometimes it begins with a meal.
Sometimes it begins by noticing that someone has nowhere else to celebrate and simply saying, “There is a place for you here.”
And then God begins doing something in a heart.
This is also why we believe there is so much potential in what is beginning in Jerusalem. Our vision is not simply to organize occasional events. We want to see a strong, living community take root in this city—a place where practical needs are met with compassion, relationships grow naturally, the Scriptures are opened faithfully, and people have an opportunity to encounter the hope of Messiah and become firmly rooted in their faith.
We are still near the beginning. But every Bible study, every humanitarian outreach, every shared meal, every prayer, and every new relationship adds another piece to the foundation.
And perhaps those Rosh Hashanah tables gave us a small glimpse of what this community can become.
For our friends who stand with Israel from around the world, we invite you to stand with this young work in Jerusalem as well. Pray for the new immigrants beginning their lives here. Pray for those who are lonely or searching for community. Pray for the people opening the Scriptures with us each week. And pray that many hearts will come to know the hope and salvation we have found in Yeshua.
We also invite you to help us continue building. Your partnership through Voice of Judah Israel helps create opportunities here in Israel for practical needs to be met, relationships to grow, the Word of God to be shared, and people to discover a community where they belong.
Because for someone beginning again in a new land, an open door and a place at the table can become the beginning of something much greater.
Thank you for standing with the people of Israel and with us.
