A New Website

A New Website

After much planning and work, I have just created a new website about us called www.jamiecowenministries.com. In Israel I’m known as Jamie or James Cohen. That’s the name used in our law firm and on the law firm’s website. The problem with the name is that when you google Jamie Cowen, it appears that I either died over two years ago or joined the witness protection program. For all intents and purposes, I stopped existing in 2011. In addition, now with the emphasis on building a law firm here, it seems like my 22 years of ministry didn’t matter – au contraire. Yet, to be honest, highlighting or even mentioning my faith and experience in our legal work, certainly in a public manner, will drive business away. Therefore, the new website was developed to include my weekly updates, articles, recorded sermons, background and a means to donate.

First, the name of the site – jamiecowenministries.com. I know it sounds egotistical, as if I’m some big macher, but I figured it would be the easiest way to find me via google. I guess I could have used a name like lostinhebrew.com, but then it would be difficult to track me down, and I’d have to explain to everyone why the name – too embarrassing. Even worse, with such a website, pranksters would likely trap me by sending me messages in Hebrew, and then I’d be faced with the constant reminder of my language limitations. Also, the anti-missionary article that was written about me last summer appeared as the first reference in a google search of my name and still appears on the first page. Thus, folks going to my website will help drive down the position of the other article.

What I’m hoping will be a highlight of the website is the ability to listen to my messages given over a 20 year period. I brought with me cassette recordings of my messages from 1991-2005. All of these messages need to be converted to a digital format in order to put them on the website, and Mark Chopinsky of Israel’s Hope fame and his son, Eli, are doing this in their recording studio here for a very reasonable price. After 2005 my messages were recorded on CD in digital format. Folks have them in Richmond, and they will be uploaded directly to the site. All in all, there are about 1000 messages, none of them repeated although general themes were repeated from time to time. In the last 10-12 years of my service as rabbi at Tikvat Israel, I often spoke directly from the Torah portion read that week. In Judaism the Torah (5 books of Moses) are divided into 54 readings spread out over a year, so that the totality of the Torah is read every year. What I’m hoping to do is to locate the messages connected to the weekly Torah reading and make at least one of them the highlighted message for that particular week. This will assist those who follow the Torah portions when they read the Scriptures. During my years at Tikvat, the person responsible for handling the sound and doing recordings for most of that time was my good friend, Jerry TerLouw, probably the most godly sound man on earth. Jerry, a big thank you for your sacrificial service over all those years.

Another feature of the site will be cataloguing my weekly updates since we moved here, so folks wanting to follow our escapades can do so. I’m also including articles I’ve written or am writing on spiritual subjects. In addition, I’m hoping to write articles about my experiences in Richmond and before to highlight how God has worked in our lives. Many of our experiences need to be recorded as a way to encourage people that God is real and active in the world today. As an example, I recently wrote an article and published it to the website about the history of Russian Immigration Services, an organization we established alongside our congregation in Richmond to assist the Russian Jews immigrating there. It was probably the most rewarding work in my 22 years serving in the congregation.

In addition, there is a description about our ministry here in Israel – Adonai Shamah Congregation, and a way to support our work. Jamie Cowen Ministries is not an organization. Rather, the organization to which support can be sent is the congregation, which is a 501 c 3 organization. When we’re back in the States in the summer, we will also set up a page to sell items, such as Stacy’s worship CD (and hopefully more CDs in the future) and my Jewish history course.

Lastly, I want to give a huge thank you to my good friend, Jason Linas, who designed this site. He’s a wonderful, giving friend, who is a very talented web designer. If you’re in need of work, I suggest you check out his website at www.jlinasdesign.com.

Purim

 Last week we celebrated the holiday of Purim, originating from the Book of Esther in the Bible. Purim is considered a minor Jewish holiday, but in Israel everyone celebrates it. Basically, it’s a godly Halloween. Our kibbutz had a big Purim party last Friday night, and the theme was horror shows. (Whatever happened to the godly Halloween). We didn’t feel too comfortable with the celebration, and besides, it began at 10 PM, and we oldies are already in bed by then, so we missed it. However, the following day, Ohalei Rachamim (Tents of Mercy) congregation near Haifa, where we often go on the weeks our own congregation doesn’t meet, held a party during their main service. Everyone was to come dressed up.

Because I got caught up in several conversations I missed out on the famous hamantaschen pictured below. Hamantaschen is a Yiddish word for the pastries eaten during the holiday. They’re supposed to represent Haman’s (the villain in the Book of Esther) hat, pockets or ears, as the case may be. In Israel they’re referred to as Oznay Haman (Haman’s ears). I did get some pretty good ones from the local bakery, however.

Adonai Shamah

For those wanting to make tax deductible contributions to our ministry, you can send checks payable to Adonai Shamah Congregation (our congregation here), 2510 Stratford Road, Richmond, Virginia 23225. Thank you for your assistance.

Lehitraot (see you later), Jamie Cowen

First Foray into Israeli Politics

For those who have followed our lives since we immigrated to Israel over two years ago, you may remember my interest and “calling” into involvement in Israeli politics. This past week was the inaugural event. In the Fall there were municipal elections throughout Israel including the mayoralty election in Beit Shemesh, originally a Biblical town. Beit Shemesh is located on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Until the 1990’s Beit Shemesh was a typical Israeli city comprised of Jews from around the world. However, beginning in the 90’s, thousands of haredim (ultra-Orthodox) moved into the city. As their numbers increased, tolerance for alternative ways of life diminished, including spitting on young girls “improperly” dressed, forcing women to the back of buses, demanding government services and payments without reciprocal civic duties on the part of the recipients, etc. The Fall election brought the increasing divide to a head when the secular community, i.e. those who are not haredim, rose up and supported a popular and experienced candidate to oppose the current haredi mayor.

The Fall election was very close, but the incumbent mayor won. There were numerous allegations of election fraud, resulting in court decisions to undo the results and to redo the election. Apparently, many members of certain haredim sects who refuse to acknowledge the existence of the State of Israel and who don’t vote, gave their identity cards to non-residents of the city who voted in their stead for the incumbent mayor. Chicago, sound familiar? This past Tuesday was the new election.

The Israel Leadership Institute,  www.israeleader.org,  headed by my friend Eeki Elner, assumed a lead role in supporting the “secular” candidate, who interestingly was also supported by most of the modern Orthodox in the city. The Institute recruited hundreds of young volunteers around the country to assist in a get out the vote campaign on election day.  When I saw the information about the plan, I contacted Eeki to see if I could serve in some capacity. He said of course. He told me to meet him at party headquarters at 1 PM. He wanted me to organize and supervise a cadre of young folks who would troll certain apartment buildings for non-voters and encourage them to vote.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Because of my limited Hebrew, I knew there wasn’t much I could add. I arrived at the headquarters, and there was a war room of sorts, like what you’d see in the States. Folks were on computers, monitoring election turn-out. Maps were spread on tables where certain areas were targeted. A marking board was used to identify precinct captains and areas currently being worked. A young guy who seemed to be in charge explained to me in English what areas they were targeting and what percentages of turnouts they were hoping for.

Because the buses of young volunteers were delayed, Eeki drove me and a few others around the city to observe what was happening. Traffic jams were galore. It was interesting to observe the divide in the city. There were areas exclusively inhabited by the haredim. They had their own election tables set up in front of polling booths. Hundreds of black coated haredim swarmed around the tables. With the exception of the few haredim sects who refuse to participate in elections, the remainder votes in huge percentages because they’re directed to by their rabbis, who have almost dictatorial control over their communities. Beit Shemesh is a beautiful city, located in the hills just outside of Jerusalem. But sadly haredi areas of the city were in shambles and dirty.

Late in the afternoon the young volunteers arrived. They were briefed by the political leaders. They were to knock on doors, explain who they were, ask the inhabitants if they had voted, encourage them to vote if they hadn’t and give them phone numbers if they needed assistance to vote. Most of the volunteers were late teens to early 20’s and were quite enthusiastic. I would guess about 200 actually came. Everyone was to wear a shirt which says in English, “I am fighting for Israel both Jewish and democratic.” See the pic of me wearing it.

I was assigned one large group to oversee, and we headed to an area of older and probably poorer apartment buildings. I noticed a number of Ethiopians lived there. The leader told everyone where to go and identified me as the one to resolve problems. (That’s laughable!) We hit 3 large apartment buildings. I positioned myself outside them to keep an eye on everyone. While there, the winds picked up, the temperature plunged, and it started raining. I had left my jacket at headquarters. The most excitement occurred when some young kids discovered a tarp in the entrance way and out popped two tiny kittens, just days old. I put them back into the tarp and covered them, but the mom seemed non-existent. After 45 minutes the volunteers emerged from the apartment building seemingly quite pleased with the results, and I directed them to another building in my halting Hebrew (probably appeared to them as some old demented fool).

By now it was getting late. I was hungry, tired and cold, and honestly, didn’t feel like I was contributing much. I hitched a ride with another staffer back to headquarters. The leaders looked concerned because their numbers weren’t as high as they had hoped. I asked about an area in the city, almost exclusively Ethiopian, as to whether volunteers had gone there. They said no; they couldn’t afford the manpower for what they considered would be a difficult community to persuade. Personally, I disagree; I think it may have been a fatal mistake.

Around 8:30 Stacy showed up with the car (she’d been visiting Rebecca and family in Jerusalem), and we headed home. I felt pretty discouraged because I couldn’t follow most of the intense Hebrew spoken all day and didn’t feel I’d contributed much. The next morning the results showed the incumbent haredi mayor won again by about the same margin of votes as the last election. I wrote to Eeki thanking him for letting me participate and apologizing for not doing much. He wrote back a very encouraging note, saying that was not true; I had contributed a lot by watching out for the young people. All in all, I’m glad I went, but it showed me I have a long way to go if I’m going to contribute to this society.

The Rains Finally Arrived

 After the massive rain/snow storm here in December, little rain fell. By the end of February, it was the driest winter in 50 years. February was the driest in 150 years! For most of the country, rainfall was about ½ of normal. Due to the recent opening of desalinization plants along the Mediterranean, Israel is not as dependent upon annual rainfall as before. However, a prolonged drought would still be devastating. Suddenly, this past week the rains returned. March is part of Israel’s rainy season, but really the tail end. January and February historically are the wettest months. It’s been raining in our area the entire week, and some of the storms were pretty intense, bringing a lot of rainfall. In fact, we even had one or two thunder storms, not as common here as in States because it doesn’t rain here when it gets warm, the normal prerequisite for thunder storms. Pray that the rains continue. Rain is a sign of God’s blessing.

“ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.” Lev. 26:4-5.

Adonai Shamah Congregation

As I’ve shared before, our small group meets every other week, now in different locations. Recently, we had another couple about our age join us who have lived here for over 20 years. That was an encouraging development. We decided to hold our last service (last Shabbat) at their home in Netanya. When we arrived, there were other couples there. As it turned out, one of the couples was David and Lisa Loden, Messianic Jewish pioneers in Israel, who have written many of the Israeli Messianic community’s songs. David left before the service started due to conflicts over time, but Lisa remained. The other couple was Ron and Marlene Pfefer, Messianic Jewish pioneers in the States who helped start the first Messianic Jewish congregation in Chicago (one of the first in the US) and later the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. I was really honored to have such esteemed and veteran folks in our little group. They seemed to enjoy the service. It seems there is an increasing hunger for a more Jewish traditional based service. I’ve also been in touch with a young Messianic Jew, who is also seeking a more traditional approach. Please pray for guidance for our small group. We have both Messianic and non-Messianic Jews who attend.

Man at the Well - March 6, 2014

Shalom Chaverim,

The Man at the Well

 As I’ve shared before, immigration clients can be fascinating and unusual people and often have bizarre stories. The Man at the Well is one of them. Most of you are familiar with the New Testament story of the woman at the well. Yeshua met a Samaritan woman at what is called Jacob’s well, named after the patriarch Jacob of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lore. It’s a great story, but the point for my update is that Yeshua said to her at one point, “the fact is you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.”

The Man at the Well is Israeli born and had lived in the US for nine years. In 2008 he was deported back to Israel for being in the US without legal status. He tried to return in 2010 but was told he was barred from reentry for 10 years. While in the US, he helped to start what became a large and very profitable company. He wanted me to help him find a way back to the US.  Immigration law often can be complex. Of course, you must understand the facts of a case before figuring out how the law applies. This is especially true when someone has been deported. So, as usual I asked him to provide me a timeline of his period in the US.

He apparently entered the US in 1999 on a French passport – his mother was French. In 2001 he married an American woman. Within a few weeks, he discovered his wife was having an affair with his brother, so he divorced her. He and his brother now are partners in this large, profitable company, and he remains good friends with his former wife, who has four children with his brother. In his view, “que sera, sera.” In 2002 he married his second wife, and she applied for immigration for him. He was about to receive his green card, which would have resolved all of his problems, but instead he fell for another woman, so he decided not to pursue the green card and divorced wife no. 2. He then married wife no. 3, and she applied for a green card for him. However, he discovered she was involved in criminal activity (don’t know what it was and didn’t ask – better at this point, not to know). He then divorced her, again before receiving a green card.

Somewhere along the line, he married an Israeli woman, wife no. 4, who happened to be in the States. It’s unclear if he married her while still married to wife no. 3 because he only went to a rabbi in NY for a Jewish wedding.  Neither he nor the rabbi ever registered the marriage with any civil authority, so there’s no record of the marriage. He then went to an interview with respect to his green card application absent wife no. 3 – the American criminal. He was told without her he could not get his green card. This part is confusing because I’m unsure if he had divorced her yet and was married to wife no. 4. Anyway, a week later he was picked up by the Immigration police (ICE) and put in detention. 10 days later he was deported back to Israel.

Wife no. 4 followed him back to Israel. He then contacted the rabbi in NY who sent him the marriage papers, and he registered his marriage with wife no. 4 in Israel. Sometime afterward, he and wife no. 4 got into an argument. He went to another rabbi in Israel and received a get (Jewish religious divorce decree), but then made up with her, so they still live together (technically unmarried) with their two children.

After listening to all of this and writing down a time-line, I was exhausted. That’s when I remembered the New Testament’s woman at the well story and realized I was talking to a modern Man at the Well. I was tempted to tell him, but figured he probably was not familiar with the New Testament, and besides, I wanted him as a client, and the story probably would offend him. (Years ago, while rabbi at Tikvat Israel congregation, I did meet a woman who had been married 5 times, and I told her she reminded me of the woman at the well. As you can imagine, it didn’t go over too well – no pun intended.) I did tell him his story should be on a soap opera; I’m not sure he got it.

We discussed his case, and I thought he had a chance of returning to the States – maybe now as a Mormon. Wife or un-wife no. 4 then showed up with their two kids. They explained both kids were American citizens because they were born in the States, and now they all wanted to return to the States. I said there was no chance unless they were officially married. That set off a barrage of Hebrew between the two of them. I’m not sure what the problem was – I mean five times must be the charm.

After more research at home, I realized his case for re-entry to the States was weak. I informed him. He seemed discouraged. It’s also a pity because I probably lost a decent case. But I will always remember I met the Man at the Well.

Tours

We also met with two tour groups within the past week. Believe it or not, the first one was supposed to have included Jeff Foxworthy, the comedian and TV celebrity. Apparently, he got injured just before the trip and had to cancel, but we did meet his wife – very sweet woman. Stacy played some songs, and I shared our story. Folks were very interested and asked tons of questions. See the poor quality pic of Stacy and me answering questions. This particular tour was organized by our daughter, Amy, who works for a tour company here, so she and her boyfriend, Ephraim, were also present. They stayed with us over the weekend, and after services on Saturday, we went to a well-known site in Haifa that overlooks the Mediterranean. See the much better pic of Stacy and me.

The second group came from our former city, Richmond, and led by our very close friend and former co-worker, Paul Klassen. He brought with him many folks that we knew in Richmond. This time they came to our house, 25 strong, first piling out of the tour bus that probably unnerved our neighbors. We showed them the house, the destroyed wadi out back (grrrr!) and answered questions about life in Israel. We then met them the following night (last night) at their hotel where again Stacy played some songs, and I shared about our experiences.

Meeting the tour groups helped me formulate an idea of making our law firm better known and more available to Americans. Our firm is perfectly situated to offer services to American businesses or organizations that want to do business in Israel. I can represent American interests, and my partners can handle the Israeli side. So, I thought why not create a brochure about our firm in English that appealed to Americans and Europeans and then make them available to tour groups. Consequently, I designed a brochure that’s now at the printer. I’m attaching a copy for your interest.

The Richmond House

 Once again issues have arisen with our house in Richmond. When we moved, we contracted for a home warranty service to cover appliances in the house. We used it once for something small. Just recently, we were informed there were problems with the oven and washing machine. I told our friend who is managing the house to contact the warranty company. The warranty company informed him the contract ended a few weeks ago. I had renewed the policy in January, so I knew that didn’t make sense. I contacted the company from here who told me a payment on my credit card didn’t go through, so they canceled the policy. Of course, I was never informed, and when I called our bank about it (the card is a bank debit card), they had no record of any declines on the account, and there were sufficient funds in the account. I tried explaining it to the insurance company (you know what that’s like). The woman was like Robocop, simply repeating over and over that payment was not made; therefore the policy was canceled. According to her, there was nothing they could do. So, once again, we’re faced with another financial hit. I’m seriously considering contacting the mob and requesting their help to torch the place, and then I’ll take the insurance money. But seriously, we need prayer.

Adonai Shamah

 For those wanting to make tax deductible contributions to our ministry, you can send checks payable to Adonai Shamah Congregation (our congregation here), 2510 Stratford Road, Richmond, Virginia 23225. Thank you for your assistance.

 Lehitraot (see you later), Jamie Cowen

The Move and Plan in Israel Part 1

Rise and Value of Modern Messianic Judaism

Despite Christianity arising out of Judaism, beginning in the second century, Judaism and Christianity parted ways.  Their mutual histories became painful, especially for the Jewish people, as millions of Jews were slaughtered over numerous centuries by so-called Christians.  Following the Holocaust, major Christian leaders began to reconsider a theology that led to the tragedies of the Holocaust and other anti-Semitic events.  Thus, a new dialogue opened with Jewish leaders.  At the same time the modern nation of Israel was established.  In a sense, Christianity became more Jewish friendly.  Accompanying these changes, two other seemingly unrelated events lead to a surge of Jewish young people embracing Jesus as Messiah.  The first was the recapture of Jerusalem by the Jewish people in the Six-day war of 1967.  This apparently fulfilled a prophecy uttered by Jesus (Luke 21:24), leading to what is known as the fullness of the Gentiles.  The Apostle Paul may have well expanded upon this event in Romans 11:25 where the fullness of the Gentiles is associated with the turning back of the Jewish people to the Messiah.  In other words, if the two passages are connected, then following the return of Jerusalem to Jewish control, large numbers of Jews suddenly should embrace Jesus as Messiah. 

The second was the rise of the hippie movement.  Many of the hippies were Jewish young people.  As the ideals of the hippie movement waned, a significant number turned to Jesus and became the Jesus People.  Many were Jews.  These new Jewish Christians were not satisfied with a traditional Christianity that was historically anti-Semitic.  Hence, many of them gathered together for a more Jewish expression of their newly found faith and with it formed modern Messianic Judaism. 

Today, there are approximately 1000 Messianic Jewish congregations in the world with over 150 in Israel.  These congregations have provided a home for thousands of Jews who embrace Jesus as Messiah as well as assisting the larger Church of understanding her Jewish roots.  Both Jesus (Matthew 23:23) and Paul (Romans 11:25-26) suggest that the coming of Jews to the Messiah prefaces Jesus’ return to the earth. 

The Move and Plan in Israel Part 2

Messianic Jews Face Persecution in Israel

The numbers of Jews in Israel coming to Yeshua and the rise of Messianic Judaism was slow until the 1990s.  This changed with the huge immigration of Jews from Russia beginning in the 1990s – a number of them had come to faith in Russia through Messianic Jewish outreaches.  (In fact, I had the privilege of teaching many of them while still in Russia through Messianic Jewish Bible schools.)  In addition, some Messianic Jewish leaders from America and elsewhere also immigrated to Israel around the same time, and within a few years had started Messianic Jewish congregations.  These actions began to influence the Israeli population in the 2000s.  Whereas 15 years ago, the Messianic Jews in Israel numbered around 3000, today they number around 15,000, housed in approximately 150 congregations.  Previously, Messianic Jews in Israel were marginalized.   Over the past two years, however, Messianic Jews have been the subject of news reports on television, radio and the print media in Israel, often portrayed very sympathetically.  In the past government and political leaders have steered clear of Messianic Jews and issues that affect them.  Now, that is no longer the case.  Messianic Jewish issues are now lumped together with other minority groups’ needs when discussed in public forums.

Still Messianic Jews often are targeted by the ultra-Orthodox community, which has significant influence in the government.  As examples, in the spring, 2008, a teen-age son of a Messianic leader attempted to open an apparent gift basket, which turned out to be a bomb.  Miraculously, he survived but sustained very serious injuries.  Camera footage captured the placement of the bomb, and it is apparent that the ultra-Orthodox were involved, but up to this point the government has taken no action.  (In November, 2009, the apparent perpetrator was arrested – he is ultra-Orthodox).  In another case, one of my daughters was prevented from immigrating due to her faith.  She and eleven others won an Israeli Supreme Court case in the spring, 2008, forcing the government to grant her citizenship.  Certain leaders of Israeli Messianic congregations have been informed by the government that they may have their citizenship revoked due to their faith.  Finally, my wife and I were arrested, detained and almost deported in December, 2008, for our faith - only the intervention of legal and political assistance prevented it, all reported in a Jerusalem Post story.

There are now many Christian and Jewish organizations around the world that raise significant sums of money to meet humanitarian needs in the Israel.  But we discovered a huge problem.  The donated money circumvents the Messianic Jewish organizations in Israel, despite the fact that many are involved in humanitarian projects.  To respond to this situation, in 2007 I and others formed another organization called the Hope for Israel Relief Fund.  Over the past 25 years there has been increasing interest in the worldwide Church towards the nation of Israel.  This is clear from the surge of Christian financial donations to Israel.  In one particular example, a Jewish rabbi raises approximately $60 million/year for Israel, primarily from Christian donations.  I personally have spoken to the leaders of the donating organizations, and the reason given for not cooperating with the Messianic Jewish community is the fear of creating a rift with the larger Jewish community.  As a result we formed Hope for Israel, whose goals are to raise money from the church world in order to channel it through the Messianic community in Israel to meet the humanitarian needs of the larger population.  This empowers the Messianic Jewish community within the land of Israel.  The Messianic community in the land is very excited about our plans.