Gush Etzion and Efrat

We set out early for the Temple Mount. Had a wonderful time there in the morning. Then we descendent through the Lions Gate? to the Tzurim Valley to visit one small part of the largest archaeologist community in the world here in Jerusalem. They are working on finding artifacts around in dirt that was transported there from near the temple mount. 2 ladies in our group found an ancient coin in one of the buckets of dirt they sifted through. Next,we drove to Rama, to the Prophet Samuel's tomb to pray. It's located under an ancient church. Many orthodox men were praying down there in the basement.
From there we went to Gush Etzion. As we came into town, I felt the incredible love of God for the people here. I believe this is one of the places the Lord will have me focus my prayers. I knew this before I found out about the history of the town. Settlers have been killed off or driven away from their farms here on three occasions. In the war in 1967, the people here held back the enemy to protect Jerusalem from being captured. All died. The bunker they fought from is now a national memorial.
We met the director of the Center for Christian Jewish Understanding here. He brought us to his nearby town of Efrat (another name in the Bible for Bethlehem) It is a modern Jewish town right next to Bethlehem. Rabbi Riskin from a the huge Times Square Synagogue left his ministry to the upper eschelons of American Jewish society in the '90's. He said God called him to leave his rich comfortable life to establish this town. He made aliyah to Israel, became a citizen, and lived out in a tent there with his wife and small children while he oversaw the building of this town.
Now, Jews in Israel are not like American Jews. They are more religious and they mistrust Christians. Many of their grandparents are holocaust survivors who warned them never to trust Christians. In Efrat, we shared life in a synagogue and had a bible study together. The leader there shared that many cutting edge Jewish religious leaders are recently beginning to support Jewish relationships with Christians. This is the first time this has happened since Israel became a country in 1948. We witnessed a new thing God is doing in Israel. This is a historic moment in time! God has opened a door that the enemy thought he could keep closed.