On Monday, May 29th, 2000, Ruti and I needed to rent a car to take care of some ministry concerns in Eilat. Eilat is 250 miles south of where we live in Tiberias. Eilat is the southern most city in Israel and sits on the Red Sea. When I got to the car rental agency, Karmit, an Israeli woman about 24 years old, took my information down. When it came to my debit Visa check card, it wouldn't clear their $400 amount that she put in. It didn't clear a $300 amount or a $200 amount either. I told Karmit that this particular Visa was directly attached to my checking account, which only had $76 in it. (I don't think Israelis are familiar with debit cards.)

Karmit turned to her boss, Yakov, and told him what was going on. He said that in order to rent the car, I needed to give him a deposit of 2,500 shekels ($625). This would cover our planed time of having the car for three or four days and also the insurance deductible. He also told me to get another credit card. We don't have credit cards as the Lord has shown us to trust Him and to live on what we have. The debit card allows us to buy or rent things with a 'credit card', as long as we have the money in the bank. Once activated, all the money is immediately taken out of our account and transferred to the company requesting it.

Well, I had only 700 shekels ($175) on me. Yakov said it wasn't enough. I told them I had the rest at home (which was our rent money; not due for a couple of weeks, so I thought that I could use it as a deposit). Yakov said that Karmit could take the car and drive me home, get the money, and bring me back and then fill out the forms. I had wanted to get an early start, as it's a five hour drive, but this was going to delay it. If Ruti was ready to go when we got there, we could pack everything in the car and return with Karmit. Ruti wasn't ready.

We got to the house and I told Ruti what was going on. She needed to do some dishes, etc., and so I got the money and left. Karmit drove me back to the office. As we rode back, I asked her what she thought about the Israeli Army leaving Lebanon the week before. She said that it was 'good and bad.' The good was that the Israeli soldiers won't die but the bad is that the Israelis that live along or near the border, are afraid. They have no security. They don't know when a Katusha rocket will come flying in and kill them. I told her it was a mess and it would only get worse.

Karmit is very thin, about 24 years old, dark hair with black framed glasses and black hair. On our way there, Karmit (Car-meet), asked me if I was religious. I told her that I was a Jew that believed that Yeshua was the Messiah. 'Oh,' she said, 'Yeshua, that's not Jesus is it?' I told her it was and she questioned me if I was a Jew. Being a Jew and being a Christian don't make sense to many Israelis, or Jews living elsewhere for that matter. I told her I was a Jew. She said that Jesus was for the Christians. I said that there are many Gentiles that have come to the Messiah of Israel but that Yeshua was a Jew, still is a Jew, and that He is our Messiah. A Jew who believes in the Jewish Messiah doesn't mean they're not Jewish anymore.

She told me that she didn't believe that. I asked her if she believed in what Moses wrote, because Moses wrote about the Messiah. She said that she was religious but not very strong. She told me that she didn't believe in the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible; the Old Testament). I asked her if she was Jewish! : ) I told her that the word 'Jew' means, 'one who praises the God of Judah.'

I waited upon the Lord for what to say next. I sensed that I was to ask her about death. Where would she go if she were to die? She told me that the worms would eat her. I said that even the Rabbis say that there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the wicked; the one going to Heaven and the other going to Hell. And that the Prophets spoke of the Day of Judgment when all mankind would stand before the God of Israel. And King David spoke of the Lord one day raising him from the dead. Of course, this wouldn't mean too much to her as it came from the Scriptures, which she 'didn't believe in' cause she didn't know them! Oh how subtle and perverse is the Adversary.

I began to speak to her about my own experience, when I gave my life to Yeshua. When faced with Jews (or Gentiles), that don't believe in the Bible, I usually turn to my experiences with the Holy Spirit, as it's very hard to argue with someone's experience. I told her that I had come to realize that Yeshua was everything that I had always been looking for but could never quite put my hand on. When I asked Him to come into my heart, I felt the True Shalom of the Spirit of the Living God that day. I knew that Yeshua was our Messiah and that He had been raised from the dead, just as the New Covenant speaks of. God, the God of Israel, had made Himself known to me. This was the way that trust was established and grew, whether with God or anyone. We all 'trust' people to a certain extent. When we get to know a person, we trust them according to how trustworthy they have shown themselves to be. And God knows that we need to come to know Him before we can really trust Him with our lives.

We parked the car and entered the office. As we came in, Karmit turned to me and said half kidding, 'Maybe you're the Messiah?!' I told her that I wasn't but that I knew who was. I gave the money to Yakov who handed it to Karmit to count. After Karmit counted it, Yakov counted it. Then Karmit made a cash receipt for me. I mentioned something about the brakes and Karmit told Yakov about them. On our way back, whenever Karmit would apply the brakes, the steering wheel would shake pretty hard. Yakov said that they would have to be checked out before I could have the car. I told him that I had wanted to leave by 9:30 A.M., and here it was already 10:30, and now the brakes had to be checked. I asked them if they had any other car that I might take. They told me that was the last one. 'Mitz-su-yahn!', I said. That means, 'Great!'

Yakov told me that the brakes wouldn't take but 15 or 20 minutes. I told him that if I was still there by 12 noon, he'd have to take Ruti and me for lunch at El Gaucho. (That's a steak restaurant in town.) He smiled that kind of half snicker smile that tells you that he understood what I meant, didn't know what to say, but wasn't going to agree to it.) Yakov is about 45 years old, dark hair on the sides of his balding head, about five foot seven inches tall and has a belly. He asked me if I wanted to go with Karmit to get the brakes checked. At first, I told him no, because I don't like to place myself in a position of being alone with a woman, if Ruti is not with me. The Lord has shown me that it just isn't proper. It was hard for me to go with Karmit to get the money and return, so I thought I'd stay with Yakov. But then I realized that we had just begun to talk about Messiah Yeshua and that possibly, this would be an opportunity to continue. I told Yakov that I would go with Karmit as, 'We might talk about Messiah some more.' I asked Yakov if I he would call Ruti and tell her about the brakes and after he dialed the number, he gave the phone to me and I told Ruti.

On our way to the place, Karmit beeped the horn a number of times; once at a man crossing the road that she knew, another two times at cars with people in them that she also knew. Tiberias is a town with about 40,000 people in it. I told her that she knew 'everyone' in Tiveria. She said she knew many people through the business.

We got to the place and drove into one of the stalls. It looked like we just might be there for only a few minutes as we didn't have to wait for a stall. We got out and headed for the lounge. It's not what they are in the States. Even though this was a Ford place, there were only four seats and they were already occupied. The 'lounge' was right next to the place where the cars were being worked on and there was no door to separate us from the cars, the fumes, and the great outdoors. No air conditioning, just the outside of the building with a roof for shade. The mechanics worked 'right there' using the roof for shade also. I was grateful for the shade. We stood by a ledge and leaned on it for support.

I continued 'to look' for a way to speak of Messiah. In most every conversation that I have with my Jewish people, I am always 'looking' for what to say to bring Messiah into it. I told Karmit that because I had come to know the Messiah, I was aware or could discern many perversions in Judaism. The kipa (the religious head covering for men), was one of them. I said to her that I didn't wear one because it was pagan; from Babylon. There are many things in Judaism that have come from Babylon. For instance, the names of the months. I said that Nisan and Tishri (the first and seventh months of modern Judaism, are the names we picked up from the Babylonians when we were in captivity there, 2,500 years ago. But in the Bible, they are called Aviv and Aetanim. And that Tamuz, another month in Judaism, is the name of the chief god of Babylon. She was surprised. She hadn't realized that.

I asked her if she knew the reason why Jewish men wore the kipa. She told me that it was out of reverence for God. Then I asked her where in the Torah or the Prophets, did God ever say that he wanted us to wear it? Of course, she couldn't tell me. I told her it was an invention of the Rabbis and that it too had come from Babylon. I put my two hands together, forefinger touching forefinger and thumb touching thumb, to make a circle and I asked her, 'What in the heavens does this remind you of?' She told me, 'The sun.' And I said that in the time of Moses, God gave us a Commandment not to either shave one's head or cut one's hair, in the form of a circle ( Lev. 21:5). I explained to her that the shaving or the cutting of the hair in a circle was used by the ancient priests of Baal to signify that they were the priests of the sun god. Depending on what pagan land one was in, the name of the god would change but the circle would remain the same. It's called the 'clerical tonsure' by the Roman Catholic Church which used to have all their Popes, Cardinals, monks, etc., shave the inner part of the head to form the circle. Now they use what resembles the kipa of the Jews. Their use of the shaving and the kipa is not biblical but pagan.

I went on to ask her if she remembered the Pope as having a 'kipa'? She said she did. I told her that the Pope and the Cardinals have the 'kipa' today, but this was only recent. Up until the 19th century, they too, along with other priests and monks, shaved their heads, symbolizing that they were priests of the sun god. So what were Jews doing, wearing these pagan things?
Karmit was listening and I could tell that she was interested and appreciated what I was saying. I went on to ask her if she kept 'kosher.' This means, to a religious Jew, that they don't eat meat and dairy together, along with not eating ham and catfish, etc. (Lev. 11). She said that she did. I asked her where in the Torah (the first five books of Moses), did God ever say this? She brought up the only passage the Rabbis use to separate meat from dairy. The same verse is repeated three times in the Torah: Don't boil a kid in its mother's milk (Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Deut. 14:21).

I told her that the Rabbis perverted the interpretation of the passage. Nowhere did it say that meat and dairy couldn't be eaten together. Nowhere did God say that it was sin to do so. She said it was a good health practice. I agreed with her but I said that the Rabbis have made it sin for any Jew to eat meat and dairy together and God never said it was. I told her that it didn't stop there but that religious Jews needed to have two separate sets of plates and silverware; one to eat meat on and the other for dairy. Why? So that the two different foods never 'touch'. But it's not that any of what is eaten is unclean or forbidden by God (of the meat and the dairy that a Jew would eat). And not only separate plates and silverware but separate sinks and separate refrigerators! Where does the nonsense end?! I said it was incredible and she agreed with me.

I explained to her that in the three passages of the Torah where God speaks of not boiling the kid in its mother's milk, two follow right after the Feast of Tabernacles and the other one, right before it. Boiling a kid in its mother's milk was an ancient pagan practice for both the Syrians and Canaanites. The God of Israel was telling His People that He wanted them to rely on Him for their harvest next year, and not upon magic. The ancient peoples used that boiled milk to sprinkle it upon their fields so that the following year their harvest would be plentiful. She had never heard that before but it made sense to her.

By this time, the four people that had been sitting down had left, their cars being taken care of. Meanwhile, we were told that there would be a delay as the brakes needed to be replaced and they had to send out for new pads. Mitz-su-yahn! I could almost taste the steak!

Karmit and I sat down. It felt good. We had been standing for about 25 minutes. I asked Karmit if she knew why the ultra Orthodox and Hasidic wear 'payos'? (This is the hair on the side of the head that is uncut, hanging down in front, and around the ears. Sometimes they are two feet long.) She didn't know. I held up one of my tzit-tzit that I wear (Num. 15:37-41), and told her that they say that their payos is 'the tzit-tzit of the head.' They believe it to be mystical. I told Karmit that it made them look like women. She smiled in acknowledgment. I said that Satan had deceived them and all the world could see their shame but they were too 'spiritual' to see it. Because they really didn't know the God of Israel by His Spirit, they were being led astray.

Karmit began to share with me that God did things for her. She said that on many occasions, she would think about a person whom she hadn't seen in a long time and within a few hours, she would see that person. Having heard things like this many times before, I told her that this was not uncommon. It might be of God and it might not be.

The Rabbis rightly say that when God brought Israel to Mt. Sinai to see and hear Him, and to receive the Ten Commandments, that God was arranging a marriage. God was marrying Israel. This is what Covenant really means and why Messiah Yeshua is so important to us. God wants to marry us. This is what an earthly marriage is all about; a picture of the Heavenly Marriage. And the terms of the marriage were that Israel would be faithful to obey Yahveh. God would dwell in the midst of Israel and always be there for us. If only we would cling to Him and obey Him. But our hearts lusted for other gods and their perverse ways.

God didn't call Israel to trust Him until after He had revealed His Love for Israel, by saving her from Egyptian slavery and freeing her from Egypt. Israel during this time, had come to know Yahveh and His Power. It was upon these events that the marriage proposal went forth.

Karmit understood what I said. I related to her that as she sought the Truth about Yeshua, that He would impress upon her heart, His Love for her. I told her that Yeshua said that only He, the Son, fully knew the Father, and that He would reveal the Father to whomever He chose. I told her to ask God and to keep on asking God, until He gave her the answer.

Then I began to teach her some of her history. I asked, 'Why did God have Israel to sacrifice a lamb for Passover, whose blood spared our first born from death?' She didn't know. I said that it was a picture of the Final Judgment Day, a kind of mini-judgment day in Egypt. God could have destroyed all the Egyptians but He left many of them around so they could proclaim His greatness.

The blood served as a sign to God, that His people were in the house. And so the Wrath of God 'passed over' the houses where Israel dwelt. On the Day of Judgment, those who have the Blood of Messiah, the Lamb of God, over their hearts by faith in Him, will have the Wrath of God 'Passover' them too. They will also be instantly changed into one like Messiah: glorified, and living forever in God's Presence.

Then I asked, 'Why did God tell Abraham to sacrifice his son?' She had no idea. I told her that 'the Rabbis say that God wanted us to know that we, as Jews, shouldn't sacrifice our sons, like the pagans' did. But interestingly enough, nowhere in Scripture does God say that is the reason.

I told her that Abraham and Isaac are a picture of our Father, Papa God, offering up His Son, Yeshua the Messiah, so that we could live. Yeshua was a substitute sacrifice for us. Just as the Mosaic Sacrifices all had substitute sacrifices; the Israeli who sinned bringing a sacrifice but not personally dying, so too with Messiah. He died in our place. He took our punishment as Isaiah prophesied:

'Surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our defiant rebellions; He was crushed for our perverse hearts. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way but Yahveh caused our guilt to fall upon Him.' (Is. 53:4-6)

Then, as so often happens, the subject was changed. Karmit wanted me to know of a Jewish woman who had not been 'religious' but had a 'spiritual' experience, and now was 'very strong' in religion. She claimed to have seen King Saul's general, Abner, his face, along with a candle, in her window one night. That's what got the woman on the road of 'strong' religion.

I shared with Karmit that only people who really know God and His Messiah, can discern between God and what is not God. I spoke of how our Jewish people have taken Babylonian mysticism upon themselves, which is called Kabbalah. It is demonic. The face that woman saw, and the candle, were not from the God of Israel but from Satan.

Now Karmit began to share something with me that told me that she was beginning to trust me. She said that she couldn't stand being at her job anymore as her boss, Yakov, constantly berated her and was always angry. Any time that she made a mistake, he was on her. She related how the boss that she used to work for previously, in another job, was so nice. If she made a mistake, he would gently correct her for next time. It was to the point with Yakov that she had already begun looking for another job. She said that she found one at another car rental agency but she needed Yakov to fire her as then she would collect her severance pay for the last year. If she quit, she wouldn't get it.

She said that she was going to have to be sneaky, and make Yakov fire her, and she put her hand in the air to imitate the motion of a snake. I told her that I understood her plight but I also needed to share that any time that we lie or do something that we know is wrong, we destroy a piece of our soul. I explained how leprosy in the Bible is related to sin in that a person who has leprosy is actually still alive but their skin is rotting away. It's a living death. And this is how sin effects our soul. We still live but our soul rots away.

I said that she really needed to trust God with this job situation now. But I also told her it would be hard for her as she really didn't know God...yet. She was just like Moses before he saw the burning bush. Before then he knew 'about' God but after that he would come to really know God. I told her to pray to God, to ask the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob if what I was saying about Yeshua being the Messiah was true or not. And not to stop asking Him until she got the answer.

She asked me about the Shoah (Holocaust). I said that personally, it is very hard for me as I lost relatives in the Nazi inferno and being Jewish, the pain is part of my soul. But I said too that God allows evil to sometimes run unchecked, for His Eternal Purpose. I asked her about all those Hebrew babies that were thrown into the Nile River by Pharaoh's order (Ex. 1:22). And what of Job's sons and daughters? Why did they die? I also told her of the Covenant that we as Jews have broken and that God expressly says in Lev. 26 and Deut. 28 that if we continued to break it, He would cast us to the four winds, which He did. And He told us that in the nations, it wouldn't be good for us. I told her to look around. In all the cities of Israel, who was really seeking to know God and to love their neighbor as themself? She understood what I said.

I spoke of Isaiah, when he actually saw the Holy One of Israel high and lifted up (Is. 6). He said that he was a man of unclean lips and dwelt in a land of uncleanness, for his eyes had seen the King, Yahveh. Not much has changed. Once we see the Lord, we realize how far from His Holiness we really are. And we are humbled. His solution to our dilemma, to our being unclean in His Eyes, is Messiah Yeshua.

Karmit said that she wasn't a bad person. She hadn't murdered anyone. I told her that this was not the criteria for Eternal Life:

'The criteria is to be like God, to be one with Him, to be in union with Him, to be holy because He is Life, Eternal Life. Anything less than this is sin. Love for Him is the Standard and this is reflected in how we treat one another. His great love for us is seen in His giving up His Unique Son Yeshua, so our failures, guilt and sin can be dealt with according to His way. How great is this love of His for us? And all He requires is that we believe what He has done and walk with Him. By accepting Yeshua as our Messiah with all our heart, we are lifted up from the depths of sin and given forgiveness, a clean heart and the Holy Spirit now, and Eternal Life on the Day of Judgment.'

Our divine time was over. Someone came to us and said that the car was ready. I silently thanked Yeshua for the brakes being bad as it gave me so much time to speak of Him to Karmit. On the way back, she asked how long I had been in Tiberias. I told her about a year and two months. As we weaved in and out of traffic, I said that she was a good driver and could drive in New York City. She liked that. We got back to the place in one piece and I took the car, thanking Yeshua for another divine appointment. As you remember Karmit, please pray for her that the Lord will draw her to Himself and that she would come to know His love for her. Thank you.