On Monday, February 5th, 2001, Ruti and I were buying some nuts from a store that opens to the street when we saw a believer from Finland pass us. We greeted Thomas who has a ministry to his people that are in the Land of Israel and asked how his wife and the new baby were. He pointed to a table on the street about 20 feet from us where both his wife, her sister, Thomas' new born baby and three year old girl were sitting and eating falafel. Her sister was visiting from Finland. Thomas left us on a short errand and I suggested that Ruti go over there and talk with them while I bought the nuts and that I'd join her when I got done.

I was almost finished ordering the nuts when I felt a tap on my left shoulder. I turned to see who it was and I was shocked. It was the leader of the Mob Squad who had grabbed my arm and threatened to murder me over a year ago. Five months ago he saw me in a supermarket and shoved me. But three weeks ago, on a shayroot (van taxi) with him, I shared my desire to present Messiah as we rode to our different destinations. At that time he looked like he would rather have been somewhere else. I've been praying for him and so I felt some of Yeshua's Love for him. I have an intense desire to see him come to Messiah. My eyes didn't leave his and I know he saw that I was 'for him.'

He told me that he wanted to talk with me about Messiah. Not to find out about Him but why I had 'to tell everyone I met' about him. Couldn't I just go about my business without doing that? I told him that Messiah burned in my soul and because I know Him and the Life He gives me, I want all my Jewish brethren to know Him, 'especially you.'

He told me again that he'd like to talk more with me and he asked me for my phone number. I gave it to him realizing that him being who he is, one of my chief antagonists in Tiberias, I was setting into motion things that might come back to Ruti and me that would be for evil. But I also knew that our Lord Yeshua is King and He watches over His Flock and many times He deflects evil from happening to His Chosen ones but if He doesn't, He has another purpose.

We talked some more and were getting into Hebrew that I didn't know. He said that he would go and try and get someone to translate for us at a later date, as he wanted to talk with me. I told him that I wanted to do that.

Before he left, we exchanged names. I watched him walk away and I still hadn't paid for those nuts yet. That's alright as there were many helpers behind the counter and 'my helper' knew me and went to help another customer as Gadi and I spoke. I paid for the nuts and began to walk toward Ruti. Before I could get to her, Gadi had returned with an Israeli Orthodox woman who knew some English. (Gadi is an Orthodox Jew.) That was quick!

I welcomed the opportunity and he suggested that we three sit down at a table that was one table away from where Ruti, with her back to me, was talking to our friends from Finland. She hadn't seen any of the first communication with Gadi and was unaware of what was now transpiring. I called to her and she immediately saw who was with me. She said, 'Shalom' to the women from Finland and joined me at the table with Gadi and Segula. (Segula means, 'treasure' in Hebrew and Yahveh uses it when He speaks about Israel in Exodus 19:5:

'Now therefore, if you will obey My Voice and keep My Covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people. For all the Earth is mine.'

Gadi is an affectionate way of saying Gad, which means, 'good fortune' and is one of the sons of Jacob in Gen. 30:11. My heart was racing. This was a very important time. They checked us out; were we Jews, how long had we lived in the Land, how many others of us were there, etc. And we were more than willing to be willing. I asked him if he wanted to know Messiah. He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'You want to know Messiah, as long as it's not Yeshua.' He said that the Name of Yeshua was very painful to him. Christians have hated the Jews for 2,000 years and so we (Ruti and I), had to understand that we were bringing that pain to him.

I told them I fully understood. I shared with them that I lost family in the Holocaust, so that they would know that I understood. (Germany was a Christian nation.) I also said that I knew about the Church's position against our people for all these centuries.

I told them that God knew that Israel would reject Messiah when He came 2,000 years ago and Isaiah speaks of this in the 53rd chapter. I gave them some Scripture from it, telling them that Israel would despise and reject Him but that He would be our ultimate atonement, much like the High Priest Aaron would do for Israel on the Day of Atonement. Everything within me was striving to reach out to him, to bring Messiah to him and him to Messiah.

Gadi seemed to understand what I was saying in that it looked like he had heard it before, but Segula hadn't. She was set in her way, as I would see when it ended, but she heard things that day that she never heard before.

I told them of my coming to Messiah Yeshua and how the Holy Spirit had come upon me when I gave me life to Yeshua and I knew that my belief in Him was not a figment of my imagination, but God confirming that Yeshua was our Messiah. I also said that I wanted Gadi to know Messiah Yeshua as I did because He gives us Joy and Life. He said that he was waiting for the Messiah to come. I asked him if he had ever heard about Messiah, the Son of Joseph? Much to my delight, he said that he had. I asked him then why does Messiah the Son of Joseph have to die, as reflected in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. I began to explain and he finished and said, 'for an atonement.' I said, 'Right!' He had heard some of this before.

Segula asked me if I would be open to speaking to a rabbi about this. I said that I would love to speak with a rabbi about it. When can we do it?! They talked a little among themselves and said that we probably couldn't because no rabbi in Tiberias knew English and my Hebrew wasn't fluent. I said that we could get a translator for us but she said it wouldn't work. I let it go but still want to see if that can come about. I would love to sit down with a rabbi and some of his people and show them Messiah Yeshua in the Tanach. And I stressed the Tanach.

Segula then went on to say that if a rabbi could show me where I was wrong in believing in Yeshua as Messiah, would I have the strength to give Him up. I told her to 'be careful', because I would turn what she was saying around to her. If I could show her that Yeshua is our Messiah, would she have the strength to believe? I also said that I know that Yeshua is the Messiah and she has never seen this, so how could she know for certain that Yeshua wasn't? I had at one time not believed and now I do, whereas she has never been on my side of the fence. She acknowledged that what I said was appropriate.

I also told her that what she has heard about Yeshua before, were all lies. They are designed to keep her and Gadi from coming to Yeshua the Messiah. I didn't go any further with that but there is a medieval tractate called Toldot Yeshu (the generations of Yeshu) that is filled with slanderous lies about Yeshua. The Rabbis have given Yeshua the name, Yeshu. It's an acronym that means, 'May his name and memory be blotted out' (of the Book of Life).

I had taken out my 'Hebrew Picture of Messiah,' the two sheets, and I presented them to Gadi. I told him that the first sheet dealt with Scripture from the Tanach that concerned the Messiah, the Son of Joseph and the second sheet was from the New Covenant, where Messiah Yeshua did, or had happen to Him (death), what was spoken about in the Tanach. He looked at it and accepted it, and I showed him at the bottom of the second sheet, where my phone number was, to both confirm the phone number I had given him previously was correct, and that if he wanted a Tanach with a Brit Hadasha (New Covenant), to call me and I'd give him one (as it's written just before my phone number).

Gadi had seen enough for now and said that it was time to go. I looked him in the eyes and told him that I wanted him to come to know our Messiah. He accepted my words but from the look on his face I saw, 'I hear what you are saying, but there's a great difference of opinion between us.' I understood.

Make no mistake about it, Gadi didn't want to talk with me to find out how to come to Jesus, but how to neutralize me. I have heard of some believers over the years having had firebombs thrown into their homes at 3 A.M. I have thought many times that Gadi may well have been in charge of those incidents. But Gadi also has the potential to be like the Apostle Paul in that Paul was against the believers at first too.

PLEASE lift up Gadi now, that Yeshua would touch his heart, reveal Himself to him, and bring Gadi into the Kingdom, and Segula too. And that many, many Jews, Orthodox and secular, would come to Yeshua because of Gadi's entry into the Kingdom. Thank you!