Jerusalem Day - She Was There
Chira had no idea her love for the Jewish people would land her smack in the middle of the Six-Day War in Jerusalem. As a new Believer, she had discovered God’s covenant love for the Jewish people, and they quickly secured a treasured place in her heart as well. She left her native Finland to work at a Finnish boarding school in Jerusalem. Though bomb shelters and safe rooms had been required by law for every building in Israel since 1951, Chira probably never imagined herself scrambling into one as a fierce war screamed around her.
At the school, Chira was responsible for feeding 30-some students as well as adults. Those responsibilities continued once everyone entered the reinforced safety of the shelter. While airstrikes and artillery boomed above them, the school family hid out together. They didn’t know how long they would have to stay hunkered down and had no idea what the results of the war would be. Chira recalled, “We were lying on the floor in the bomb shelter wondering, ‘Do you think we are in the kingdom of Jordan or are we in the kingdom of Israel?’”
Background to the Six-Day War
In the Independence War in 1948, Jordan captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank. In 1950, they brazenly annexed them as part of Jordan. In 1967, tensions between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries grew increasingly volatile, particularly at the Syrian border to the northeast. From the Golan Heights, Syrian snipers frequently fired down on Israeli farmers below. In April of 1967, Syrian gunners fired on an Israeli tractor farming in the demilitarized zone, and a skirmish ensued. Israel ultimately responded with airstrikes on Syrian military positions and nearby villages.
Several weeks later, Egypt gained false information from Russia that Israel was amassing tens of thousands of troops to attack Syria and march into Damascus. Egypt pulled together its military resources and began positioning them in the Sinai Peninsula at Israel’s southern border. With that, Israel had no choice but to reinforce its own troops at the Sinai border. But in doing so, they sent along a message to Egypt saying, “Israel wants to make it clear to the government of Egypt that it has no aggressive intentions whatsoever against any Arab state at all” (Honest Reporting).
Arab hostility
The message failed to calm the adrenaline now coursing through the Arab nations surrounding Israel. Rather, they escalated their efforts, garnered additional allies, and grew feverishly intent on destroying Israel.
Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser declared:
The existence of Israel is in itself an aggression…what happened in 1948 was an aggression – an aggression against the Palestinian people. … (the crisis had developed because) Eshkol threatened to march on Damascus, occupy Syria, and overthrow the Syrian regime. It was our duty to come to the aid of our Arab brother. We will not accept any…coexistence with Israel…. Today, the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel…. The war with Israel is in effect since 1948 (The Six-Day War, Honest Reporting).
Cairo radio carried caustic messages that inflamed the already volatile situation including, “The Zionist barrack in Palestine is about to collapse and be destroyed. Every one of the hundred million Arabs has been living for the past 19 years on one hope – to live to see the day Israel is liquidated…. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is a total war which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence” (The Six-Day War, Honest Reporting).
To the south, east, and north Israel faced roughly 200,000 Arab forces fidgeting with zealous readiness to charge through her borders at any moment. With additional troops to draw from, the Arab alliance outnumbered Israel in soldier-power and had the upper hand with more weapons, tanks, and aircraft as well. Pressed, Israel determined its best defense was offense. On June 5, 1967, Israel launched a surprise attack on Egypt’s air force destroying most of it in just a few hours (The Six-Day War, Honest Reporting).
Jordan engages
Israel appealed to Jordan to stay out of the conflict, but Jordanian military in Tel Aviv repeatedly barraged Jerusalem with artillery fire. Jordan continued its attacks and overtook the United Nations headquarters in Jerusalem. While Chira and the Finnish school residents hunkered down in their shelter, the war raged outside. Israeli troops fought hard to drive back the Jordanians from Jerusalem. “We didn’t know how the border was shifting,” Chira said. As she pondered what kingdom they were in, with deep trust she concluded: “We are in the kingdom of God.”
Israel victorious
Israel overcame Jordan’s forces, and in so doing retook eastern Jerusalem on June 7th. Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Dayan announced:
This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy places, never to part from it again. To our Arab neighbors we extend, also at this hour – and with added emphasis at this hour – our hand in peace. And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, we solemnly promise full religious freedom and rights. We did not come to Jerusalem for the sake of other peoples’ holy places, and not to interfere with the adherents of other faiths, but in order to safeguard its entirety, and to live there together with others, in unity (The Six-Day War, Honest Reporting).
By June 11, the war was over, and for the first time in 2,000 years, Jerusalem was unified under Israel control.
Jerusalem Day
This year marks the 50th anniversary of that historic event. On the 28th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar (May 24, 2017, beginning the evening of May 23), Israel and Jewish people the world over will celebrate Jerusalem Day. Ceremonies and festivities across the nation will commemorate the victory, honor the heroes, and entertain celebrants gathered together all throughout Israel.
Prophetic Significance
It has been fifty years since Jerusalem was released from Gentile rule.
Fifty has always been a notable number in the Bible. Fifty years marked the biblical jubilee year in which servants were freed, debts released, and all property was returned to its original owners. Fifty days after Passover is the Feast of Shavuot, or Feast of Weeks. It is a pilgrimage feast that Jewish people returned to Jerusalem to observe. Fifty days after the resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus), on Shavuot, God bestowed the Holy Spirit to dwell within each Believer.
In Luke chapter 21 Yeshua foretold the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem that would take place in 70 A.D. He went on to speak of the turmoil to occur in the Last Days. And He spoke of Jerusalem: “Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).
Chira Kaplan was there
Chira Kaplan, before she married Jewish Voice founder Louis Kaplan, was there in Jerusalem when it came out of Gentile hands. After spending three days and nights huddled together in the bomb shelter, the residents of the Finnish school emerged to a free Jerusalem.
"When the war was over, we had the privilege of walking to the Wailing Wall with the throngs of Jewish people who went into the Old City while there were still snipers, but there were soldiers along the way to protect us. It was the Feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost, a pilgrim feast, and it was very special to be able to experience this moment that Jesus proclaimed when He spoke about the End Times – that Jerusalem would be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And now, Jerusalem was united and in the hands of Israel, and we went and experienced the same joy as King David when he wrote in a psalm, 'I rejoiced when they said, "Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates O’ Jerusalem"' (Psalm 122:2).
Another fifty-year story
The restoration of Jerusalem to Israel heightened interest in the fledgling nation at the same time the Jesus Movement was drawing many Jewish young people to the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua. It hardly seems a coincidence that just six months before the epic results of the Six-Day War, God led Louis Kaplan, a Messianic Jewish Believer, to launch a ministry focused on reaching Jewish people with the Gospel. The year 2017 marks not only the 50th anniversary of a free Jerusalem but the 50th anniversary of Jewish Voice Ministries as well.
Jonathan Bernis is leading a Jewish Voice tour to Israel during which some 300 guests will join the festivities on Jerusalem Day. Together they’ll celebrate with Israel the jubilee anniversary of Jerusalem’s liberation; prophecy fulfilled and God’s ultimate plan of redemption; His heart to see all Israel saved; and also how He has called JVMI to be a part of bringing that to fruition.
Congratulations Israel!
