“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”
Matthew 9:36
There is something extraordinary about the biblical Feast season here in Israel. As Rosh Hashanah approaches and then Sukkot follows, the rhythm of the entire country begins to change. Families gather, holiday meals are prepared, schools and businesses adjust their schedules, and throughout Israel there is a heightened awareness that we have entered a significant time on the biblical calendar.
For us, these days also bring an extraordinary opportunity for the Gospel.
This Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot, through Voice of Judah Israel and our work together with Beit Hallel Congregation, hundreds of Israelis will be invited to journey into the Galilee for a full day of relationship, biblical discovery, testimony, and the clear proclamation of the Good News of Yeshua.
And as we prepare, one passage keeps coming to mind.
Matthew tells us that when Yeshua looked upon the multitudes,
“He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”
Yeshua saw a multitude—but He never saw merely a number. He saw people.
That matters to us because this outreach will involve hundreds of Israelis. Buses will travel north. Tables will be filled. People will visit biblical places and sail across the Sea of Galilee. Eventually, everyone will gather together to hear the Gospel.
But behind those hundreds will be hundreds of individual stories.
There may be new immigrants still finding their place in Israel. Families carrying pressures that no one around them knows about. People who have questions about God but have never known where to ask them. Israelis who have heard the name of Yeshua throughout their lives but have never clearly heard who He is from the Scriptures.
We may not know every story when the buses leave. But God will.
This was the compassion we see in Yeshua. Matthew tells us that He went throughout the cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and ministering to people. When He saw the multitude before Him, He told His disciples,
“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:37–38
Yeshua saw. He was moved with compassion. He told His disciples to pray—and then He sent them.
Compassion became movement.
There is something especially meaningful about doing this during the biblical Feasts and doing it in Galilee.
Our guests will walk through places connected with the Scriptures, share meals together, hear testimonies, ask questions, and open the Word of God. They will sail across the Sea of Galilee, surrounded by the landscape where Yeshua called His disciples, taught the crowds, healed the sick, and proclaimed the Kingdom of God.
For many Israelis, Yeshua can feel distant from their Jewish identity. Yet here they will have the opportunity to discover Him in the context of the Scriptures and the land of Israel—to see that Yeshua was Jewish, that His first disciples were Jewish, and that the Good News of Messiah is deeply rooted in the story God began with Israel.
At the heart of each outreach day, everyone will gather and the Gospel will be proclaimed clearly.
For some, it may be the first time in their lives they have ever heard the Good News of Yeshua personally and clearly explained.
That is why we see this Feast season as much more than an opportunity for an excursion. It is an opportunity to bring Israelis into an environment where relationships can form naturally, questions can be asked, testimonies can be shared, the Scriptures can be opened, and the message of Yeshua can be heard.
We cannot determine what happens in someone’s heart. Only God can do that.
Our responsibility is to go—to invite, to welcome, to open the Scriptures, to proclaim the Gospel, and then to trust the Holy Spirit.
This is also why your partnership through Voice of Judah Israel matters so much during this season. Though many of you are thousands of miles from Galilee, you can stand with what God is doing here in Israel during these biblical Feasts.
Approximately $100 makes this complete day possible for one Israeli—including transportation to and throughout the Galilee, meals, visits to biblical places, the Sea of Galilee boat trip, and the evangelistic gathering.
Behind that $100 is a person. Someone who may never have opened the New Testament. Someone carrying questions about God. Someone who may hear the Good News of Yeshua clearly for the first time.
This Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot, you can help us make room for that person.
Whether you sponsor a complete place for $100 or give whatever the Lord places on your heart, your partnership through Voice of Judah Israel will help bring Israelis into Galilee to open the Scriptures, hear the Gospel, and discover Yeshua.
And as you stand with us, please pray—for open hearts, for meaningful conversations, for our teams as they share their testimonies, and above all, for the Holy Spirit to draw people to Yeshua.
Two thousand years ago, Yeshua looked upon the multitudes in this land and saw them. This Feast season, as hundreds of Israelis gather in Galilee, we want to see them as He did—with compassion for every individual life.
Will you help us make room for one more this Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot?