October 25, 2005

Shaking in the Middle East

It’s Simchat Torah here in Israel, the last Jewish holiday of the fall season. There are so many holidays in the month of October, some people joke here that you can skip October and head straight for November if you want to get anything done. Many businesses close for days at a time and many of services like banks or the post office have abbreviated schedules. The holidays include Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Awe, Yom Kippur, the Feast of Tabernacles, and Simchat Torah. They fill the month.

Simchat Torah means “rejoicing in the Torah.” Often Jews will go to parks and celebrate by dancing with the Torah. It’s also the day of the year when Jews finish their annual reading through the Torah by reading the last chapter in Deuteronomy and then reading the first section of Genesis.

The Biblical feasts provide a deep rhythm to life here in Israel. But while Jews celebrate these Biblical feasts year by year, menacing signs loom on the horizon. While things may seem “quiet,” it’s not “peace and quiet.” Like giant tectonic plates, the Middle East is shifting. Consider the following:

• The Assad government in Syria is visibly shaken after the Mehlis U.N. report implicated senior members of Bashar Assad’s government in the February 15 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. It remains to be seen how Assad will survive and if so, how badly damaged he will be. Furthermore, if the Allowite minority implodes, will Syria become an Islamic stronghold? The U.N. Security Council will meet on Tuesday October 25 to discuss the report.
  
  
• Mahmoud Abbas returned from last week’s meeting with President Bush still a weakened leader unable or unwilling to disarm Hamas, the other terror groups, or able to bring order to the chaos and anarchy reigning in Gaza and the West Bank. And some observers wonder what will happen in Gaza since Hamas and the Palestinian Authority seem headed onto a collision course. Will Mahmoud Abbas survive? If not, who or what will take his place.
  
  
• The shooting from Gaza continues. Israeli air force bombed some Palestinian sites on Monday in Gaza after terrorists fired five Kassam rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot.
  
  
• The threat of terror continues. Just last week three Israelis were killed in drive by shootings that provided a grim reminder of how random and deadly terror attacks can be in the Holy Land.

Against this backdrop, several thousand Christians came up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. To many of these Christian pilgrims, the Feast is a dress rehearsal when the King of Kings will rule and reign from Jerusalem. It’s revealing to see that Zechariah says when the King is in Jerusalem that the nations will come up to Him during the Feast. It’s a blessed epoch to look forward to and in the minds and hearts of many Christians who came to the Feast, that reality seems closer than ever. But until that time, the world seems headed for more turmoil, trouble, and terror. It’s all the more reason to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and to look forward to the coming of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

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