Aliyah

This article talks about:

• Personal Journey to Aliyah
• Encouragement for Aliyah
• Call for all Jews to return to Israel

-By David and Martha Stern-

A Bit of Background

I, Martha, grew up in Michigan. In the first town we lived in, we were the only Jewish family. (My mother told me about a ladies’ group once inviting her to talk about “how the Jews kept Christmas,” but she politely told them that Jews don’t celebrate Christmas and told them about Chanukkah.) Then, when I was six, we moved to a town with a few other Jewish families living in our subdivision. Nevertheless, my parents were very definite about being atheists, NOT believing in God, NOT being interested in being involved with a synagogue or other parts of the Jewish community, and they certainly had no interest in Israel. My grandfather suggested that they should join a synagogue for the sake of us kids (my younger sister, brother, and me), but it was a “no go”. But they were in fact, definitely Jewish in their style and life. So that left me very much alone and an outsider—not fitting in with the other Jewish kids who all hung together and had their Jewish community. But on the other hand, I also did not really feel like I belonged with the non-Jewish kids.

We would spend summers in upstate NY at Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, with my aunt, uncle, cousins, grandparents, and other relatives. One summer at the lake when I was ten, I read the book “Exodus” by Leon Uris when it first came out in 1958 (I was a precocious reader), and amazingly, I decided I wanted to live in Israel! It just grabbed me. I knew it was for me.

Then, after years of going on through junior high and high school and on to college as an Art student, I was a hippy and all that went with it. My interest in Israel was sort of put on the “back burner”. But in 1972, I, through the grace of God, became a believer in Yeshua the Jewish Messiah! (This is another story for another time.) And along with that, the old desire to live in Israel was rekindled in my heart!

Continuing on with my story, I joined Jews for Jesus in 1974 and was on the first Jews for Jesus summer campaign in New York City. The following year, we all went to the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America summer conference at Messiah College near Harrisburg, PA, on our way to the 1975 New York City evangelism campaign. As the oldest single woman in JFJ, my friends were all rooting for me to find a husband. They had me running the book table so I could meet people. It was a great place to meet people; there were even ladies known as the “Yentas” (matchmakers) who would try to help.

One day, sitting outside the lunchroom cafeteria, I met David, and we started talking (but that too is another story). We went on to chat after an evening meeting, then lunch the next day, and 3 days after we met when we were taking a walk, he pretty much proposed to me. Well, that was neat! But I definitely had some conditions, one of them was, “DID HE WANT TO LIVE IN ISRAEL?” Since I knew as a believer that wives need to follow the calling of their husbands, and since I knew that I was supposed to live in Israel, I had no interest in marrying anyone who wasn’t going to live in Israel.

Well God had worked that out. David was from a well-established Jewish family from Los Angeles. His family had been some of the first 20 Jews in LA in the 1850s and were founders of  the Wilshire Blvd. Temple, an important Reform congregation. The Reform movement was not very Zionistic, and therefore he too had not been at all interested in Israel or in living there. He had also become a believer in 1972, and soon afterward, being a scholarly type (who had gotten his Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton when he was 24), he decided to study at Fuller Theological Seminary to learn more about the faith in Yeshua. In fact, while he was there, for every paper he had to write for all of his classes he wrote something about the Jewish aspect of the faith—what later became known as Messianic Judaism. After his time studying at Fuller, he spent a year studying at the University of Judaism to learn and deepen his knowledge of Judaism. 

But back to our story, as part of the Fuller studies, there was a Hebrew in Israel summer program that he went on. After the summer program ended, he stayed on for a while to explore Israel and in the process, he went to a Yeshiva (a school for orthodox Jews) to experience it. Within a short time, the people running the Yeshiva realized that he was a believer. David had not announced it, but he also didn’t hide it when he was asked more about himself. He actually had said to himself that he “was going to let nature run its course”. He later said, “Nature took about three hours to run its course”. When they realized he was a Believer, he was politely invited to not attend the Yeshiva, but they suggested he meet with a Rabbi who had been a German Lutheran and, as the yeshiva said, “made the opposite odyssey that David had done”—he had converted to Judaism. When David met with him, as they were speaking, the Rabbi who was not offended by David and his Messianic Jewish faith nor his interest in developing it posed him a question, “What are you doing living in L.A.? Don’t you know that since the founding of the Jewish state nothing new will come out of the diaspora?” And he quoted Isaiah 2:3, “For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim.”

And David said he knew in that instant that he was supposed to live in Israel - that he had changed 180` from no interest in Israel to knowing he needed to live there! So when we met the next summer at the messiah Conference and he asked me to marry him, it was a done deal!!! We got married the next spring, and in 1977, we went for a few months to visit Israel. David thought it would be a good idea since I had never been there, so I would know better what it was going to be like before we actually moved there.

In 1979, after our daughter Miriam was born (when she was four months old), we made Aliyah in August 1979. Our friends Shira and Ari Sorko Ram, who had always encouraged people to make Aliyah, met us at the Airport. We stayed with them for a few days and then rented a house near theirs and became part of their congregation in Netanya. We were part of their congregation for four years during which time our “sabra” son Daniel was born when we were all living in Ramat Hasharon, a town near Tel Avi., Then we made the final part of our Aliyah (going up) to live in Jerusalem.

The Actual Process

Since we came as Tourists and wanted to become Israeli citizens, we had to go through the legal government process. We were a bit concerned about whether we would be rejected since we were both believers in Yeshua! But luckily, that was the pre-computer era. We didn’t do the preliminary work from the states where the questions were much more thorough, and from which we probably would not have been accepted since we both had worked for Jews for Jesus, ( I rejoined and he joined after we were married) and since David had studied and taught at Fuller Theological Seminary. Instead, we did a simple process in Israel, first coming as tourists and then applying for a temporary visa that would be valid for three years during which time one could either become an Israeli citizen or not. But rather than wait the three years, within a short time, we applied to change our status to permanent status. And then, once that was done, it was just a matter of 90 days’ wait while the Government could (but didn’t) check if there were any criminal reasons not to grant citizenship. We became Israeli Citizens!!!

To us, it was a no-brainer that we wanted to encourage others in the Messianic movement to also make Aliyah. So, we went back to the states to the various messianic conferences and spoke about Aliyah, and we would have a table with literature about Aliyah. A number of our friends now living in Israel told us that they heard us speak, and the Lord used us to encourage and inspire them to make Aliyah.

One of our favorite things to do as part of our talks on Aliyah at the messianic conferences was to ask, “How many people in the audience are Jewish?” and lots of hands went up. Then David would ask, “How many are wanting to make Aliyah?” and a few hands went down but most stayed up. Then, he would ask, “How many have made definite plans on when they are doing it?” Most of the hands went down. Then he would say, “If you are waiting for a special word from the Lord to tell you to go, you don’t need one. He has already given the word if you are Jewish. God gave the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. You don’t wake up in the morning and pray, “Lord, should I rob someone today?” or “Lord, should I murder someone today?” Of course not! You don’t need a special word from the Lord to know those things. So, in the same way, you don’t need a special word from the Lord to tell you to come to live in Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people! The opposite, you need a special word from the Lord to tell you NOT to come!!! (And in fact, there are people called to ministry and for other reasons to stay in the diaspora. But the rule is: live in Israel!)

Then after a few years, one of the major messianic groups decided to “un-invite” us to speak or even have a table with our literature. They were worried that too much of their constituency would leave. It is too bad that they thought that way! So that year, my dear husband David got T-shirts printed which we wore every day at the conference. They said, “Messianic Jewish Aliyah Information Here”, and had something about Israel on the back of them (a sacrifice on my part since for me part of the fun of the conference was dressing nice in fun clothes). One of our friends, Joe Rosenfarb, who knew that we were not allowed to give a talk or have a table, came up to us and said, “I see you are wearing your ‘table’”.

We have been living in Israel since we made Aliyah in 1979. Israel itself has changed greatly in those 43 years, and we have been happy to be part of and help contribute to the believing community in Israel and to see it grow from a few hundred believers to many thousands with many congregations.

In addition, David has been involved in helping in a number of legal cases to help people with their Aliyah, and also helping people obtain the necessary documents to go through the legal process to make Aliyah. Now, there are believers who have become Lawyers and are continuing with this kind of aid and carrying on the work.

Our friend Meridel Rawlings wrote a book called, “Fishers and Hunters.” The title is based on the verse from Jerimiah 16:16, but it is really interesting to read a couple of verses before that to get the context.

“‘Therefore,’ says Adonai, ‘the day will come when people will no longer swear, “As Adonai lives, who brought the people of Isra’el out of the land of Egypt,” but, “As Adonai lives, who brought the people of Isra’el out of the land to the north and out of all the countries where he drove them”; for I will bring them back to their own land, which I gave to their ancestors. ‘Look,’ says Adonai, ‘I will send for many fishermen, and they will fish for them. Afterward, I will send for many hunters; and they will hunt them from every mountain and hill and out of caves in the rocks.’”

The point of the book is that God will bring His people back to Israel. He has been and he still is doing so. In the first years of the state, many came from all the Arab Muslim countries when they were no longer welcome in their own countries. Since we moved here, there was a large Aliyah from Russia about 20 years ago, and there were rescue lifts of Ethiopian Jews. But it is much better to come when He “fishes” us, when we can come to Israel with planning, with our possessions, in an orderly way, as opposed to being “hunted” when your country has become dangerous due to wars, antisemitism, and persecution or other disasters and you need to flee quickly and with very little—just the clothes on your back. We sadly see throughout history that “hunting” has happened many times and still happens. Even today, we see the situation in Ukraine is very bad, and people coming to Israel have to come with very little.

After we moved to Israel in 1979, I went to Ulpan (the schools to learn Hebrew). There were other new immigrants from lots of places in my class. I enjoyed talking with them and learning where they were from. There were three men from Iran in my class, and one day, only one man came, and I asked him where his friends were? And he said they had gone back to Iran. I was totally surprised and shocked since it was after the overthrow of the Shah and the Iranian Revolution and the takeover by Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran was not a good place. I asked him, “Why did they go back?” and the guy answered, “they loved their carpets.” That was his way of saying they loved the good life that they had in Iran. Jewish people were well off and happy there. I thought after what happened in Germany with Hitler that Jews would know not to stay in bad places.

I, Martha, have a relative from the part of my family from Czechoslovakia, and their story has definitely affected my thoughts on all of this. The family lived in Dresden, Germany, and they were well off. They owned a factory. Then, when things started to get bad because of Hitler, the father did not want to leave his factory, and so they didn’t leave. After he died of natural causes, his wife, my cousin, and his older brother did leave and got as far as Holland, but the Nazis got them, and only my cousin Werner survived Auschwitz. He returned to Dresden (which was then in East Germany under communist control), got his home and factory back, and got married and had two children. Then, one day in the 50’s, a friend told them the KGB is going to get you. They wanted his factory! Werner and his wife Ada said, “We’re not going to make the same mistake twice.” They took their kids and left their home and factory, drove to Berlin, and crossed from East Berlin to West Berlin and declared themselves refugees! Later, when they arrived by boat to America, there was an article in the New York Times about them that said, “Millionaire leaves all for freedom in America.”
 

One last thought. Never think it won’t happen in your well-off, happy country. That’s what Jewish people in Germany thought before Hitler. It would never happen there. David has said that he is waiting for the “Great American Aliyah” wondering what will make the Jewish people there decide to leave their good life in the “Golden Medina” as Jewish people called America when they left their hard lives in Europe to go live a new life. And also, the same goes for other well-off places in the world.

Don’t wait to be hunted! Make plans to come now! And join us in the wonderful adventure of living in our home, Eretz Israel, the land of the Jewish people!

We have been blessed to be pioneers in building messianic Judaism in Israel, and as always, we still encourage friends to make Aliyah.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David and Martha Stern have lived in Israel since 1979, the year they made Aliyah. They are pioneers in the messianic Jewish world. David is the author of the Complete Jewish Bible, the Jewish New Testament, the Jewish New Testament Commentary, Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel, and the Messianic Jewish Manifesto (now renamed Messianic Judaism—A Modern Movement with an Ancient Past). His books have been translated into many languages including Russian, German, Portugese, Spanish, Polish, Dutch, Italian, and lately Korean. They have a Facebook page (David H. Stern author page) with posts about the portion of the week. You can follow them on it. Martha has worked with David, reading through all his books with him as they were being prepared for publishing. They have been members of Netivyah since it was founded. 

Martha is an artist. She works in various mediums including painting - especially watercolor, mosaics, embroidery, and cloth tapestries. One of Martha’s art works is the “Paroket” that she and some of the other women in the congregation made for the Torah Ark that we have in our worship hall.

The Sterns have two adult children and nine wonderful grandchildren.