TWR team in Israel exhausted from ‘running to bomb shelters’
A meeting between members of TWR's ministry team in Israel was interrupted by alarms warning of a missile launch from Iran, sending them to shelter in the subway below ground.
The cost of war for TWR’s team in Israel starts with sleeplessness.
“They’re exhausted,” said Pavel Shifman,* TWR director for Israel. “They’ve not been sleeping well for the past couple of weeks now.”
The reason is clear in a video shot by the five-member team during the week of March 9. Since the latest conflict began on Feb. 28, both nights of sleep and daily activities have been frequently interrupted by quickly taking refuge in underground shelters.
“Iran shoots their missiles in a very sophisticated way,” Shifman explained. “They do it several times during the day and night because they want the whole country running to bomb shelters. And there is a psychological effect.”
The team members, who serve part time while holding down other jobs, all are Jewish believers who immigrated from Russia and want to reach their own people in their own language, Shifman said. Every seventh person in Israel speaks Russian, he pointed out.
The Middle of War
Most Russian-speaking Jews in Israel are either secular or nominally religious, Shifman said. But since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, the country has essentially been at war.
The Russian-speaking Jews “find themselves in the middle of the war,” Shifman said. “That makes them ask questions. These are good questions, legit questions, and this is where the message of Jesus gives perfect answers.”
The TWR Israel team broadcasts content and shares testimonies of believers, some of which draw thousands of views, he said. Every other Friday before Shabbat, they go on the street and offer a copy of the New Testament or other books.
‘Part of Your Routine’
Shifman was in Israel with the team during the first week of February, “expecting war any day,” he said. “The chance was very high that the war would take place.”
Shifman and his wife were international workers in Israel for six years in the early 2000s. That was the time of the Second Intifada, which also was marked by violent confrontation.
“You get used to that,” he said. “It just becomes part of your routine, your reality.”
Now traveling in the United States, Shifman received a cautiously hopeful message from the team on March 17. “They say it’s a lot quieter,” he reported. “We can sleep at night now in some places.”
Prayer Call
Shifman shared these prayer requests for the work in Israel:
- Please pray for the war to end the way God wants it to end.
- Please pray for the nations to come to Christ, not just the Jewish people but the Arabic people and the Palestinians.
- Please pray for the church. The Messianic church in Israel, has grown from about 3,000 to about 30,000 in the past 40 years. As the church grows, pray for unity.
- Please pray on behalf of the Reconciliation movement in which Arabic-speaking and Jewish pastors are meeting. “They talk about the importance of Israel in biblical prophecies and the future of the region, and they take communion together as one body of Christ.”
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*A pseudonym
