April 10, 2025 • 27 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
In the days and weeks and months since the Ramas
terror attacks of October seventh, despite the pain and trauma
still being experienced by the people of Israel, I've also
witnessed moments of true inspiration, of healing, of fellowship. One
of these inspiring experiences happened this past November when a
group of cowboys came to the Holy Land. Yes, cowboys,
(00:31):
Christian cowboys from America. These cowboys from Montana and Arkansas
traveled with me to visit survivors of the horrific attacks
on Kibutznachalos.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
There.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Together, we delivered food to these people who've been displaced
from their homes near the Gaza border. We played with
the children who'd witnessed things no child should ever witness,
and we heard the stories of those who had survived
the attacks of October seventh. But why, you might wonder,
were Christian cowboys from America here in the Holy Land,
(01:05):
especially during War Well, these cowboys were in Israel helping
with farm work in Judaea and Samaria. The farm that
they were working on is a very very special place
called Haiovel. And today I have invited a very special
guest to the podcast, Tommy Waller is a Christian from
America himself as well as a farmer, but for nearly
(01:28):
two decades he has also lived here in Israel, where
he runs Hayovel. Hayovel has, like the Fellowship, a mission
of building bridges between people of faith. It brings Christians
to Israel, just like those cowboys, to not only tour Israel,
but to experience and help Israel. I'll let Tommy explain
(01:49):
more so without further ado, I welcome Tommy Waller. Welcome Tommy,
Welcome to my podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, I'm so glad to be here, Yayel, this is wonderful.
I'm very honored that you invited me.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I want as many people as possible to hear about
the incredible work that you do here in Israel, that
you've been doing for so long. So can we start
off by just giving me an overview of what is
Hayovel and where is Hayovel?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Okay, Well, first of all, Hayubel is located here on
the mound of Blessing a mount Garzine, the area where
Abraham came and left his father's house Genesis fourteen. And
check them. I have a hard time, honestly trying to
tell people because it really wasn't me. Something happened along
(02:38):
the path that God had us on that led us here.
And I don't know that there would have been any
other place in the world in Israel, specifically that we
could have done what we have done without the embrace
of the community here in harbor Ah. These are Jews
here that are really protecting the family cemetery. Joseph is
(03:00):
buried here. This is the obviously the place where Joseph said,
bury me in the land of Israel. And you believe
this is Israel. So how we got here is very interesting.
So I started right out of college, got married to
my beautiful wife, Sherry. I went to work for a company, FedEx.
(03:21):
Stayed with FedEx for about thirteen years. This was in
the nineties, so right before Y two K when the
rumors of way two K came. I had grown up
on a farm. As growing up on a farm, I
loved being in a farm, and I thought as a
child that I don't want to do farming forever. I
want to go into the corporate world and I want
to do this. But I found myself in that world
(03:41):
and just kind of longing for the land again, and
so y two K came. What an opportunity. Most people
were like, this is the end of the world. I'm
going No, we're gonna jump, We're gonna go vibe, sell
everything we had, and we bought property within in the
middle of it, right in the middle of an homage community.
So here we are eleven eleven children living in an
(04:02):
Amish farm, completely debt free. My children still refer to
this as the storybook chapter of their lives. And we
did not think that we would ever probably lead this.
This was such a good thing. I was, you know, home.
We were working as a family together, so much ministry
to other people that were hurting family wise. We were
(04:23):
working out of Nashville. A lot of our customers that
were buying our produce were music industry people. They would
come and just sit with us. Many of them, as
you probably know, in the music industry, is not favorable
to families, and they would just come and we just ministered.
About six years into this story book, I ended up
(04:45):
getting having an opportunity to go to Israel with some
guys that were doing business, and I said, sure, I'd
love to love to hang out. Little did I know
that this trip was for me, you know, like somebody
had heard that I was a arming you know, and
obviously I still had that kind of omous look about me.
I met a man here that said, hey, you know,
(05:07):
I have a friend that I met just a you know,
a couple of months ago by chance, that has a
vineyard in Samaria and on Mount Garzine. You know, would
you like to go and visit it? Sure?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
You know, yes, you thought you were just going to
stop and see something beautiful. You didn't realize that the
whole trajectory of your life.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, I'm on tour. I'm a tourist visiting the Holy
Land for the first time. And uh, I had never
met all this art, believe. But in the middle in Tennessee,
rural Tennessee, outside of Nashville, there's nothing hard. There's hardly
any especially you know, twenty years ago there was not
that many Jews living in Nashville. There's still today, not
(05:51):
a big population of Jews living in Nashville, especially religious Jews. Yeah,
and I had never encountered. I had worked with Jewish
peace secular Jews in effed X, but never never, ever
had a conversation with the religious Jew. Ever, and here
I was in the in this vineyard, and this religious Jew,
(06:12):
with all his garb, with all his you know, with
all the trappings of a religious Jew, began to read
to me from Jeremiah thirty wow. And he told me
as Jeremiah was telling, was dreaming, was seeing a vision
that there would one day be vineyards planted on the
mountains of Samaria. And all of a sudden I realized that,
(06:36):
you know, God was outside of my box. God was
still moving. Wasn't in my building anymore, wasn't in the
church building that I was going to. He was here.
He was actively moving in the state of Israel. And
I'm telling my knees almost buckled.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I'm like he was speaking to you in the hole land.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yes I'm almost emotional talking about it. But but he
said I. The only thing I could respond to him
was do you need help? And honestly, I wasn't thinking
about Jewish Christian relationships. You say, that's what we that's
what we're It has become very much a part of
that building, reconciling differences. But at that time, the only
(07:19):
thing I was thinking about was I want to be
a part of this, you know, I want to be
a part of what God's doing. My life changed in
that one conversation, and all I could think about was
how do I get back here? I tell people we
were kind of like we became like the Beverly Hillbillies.
We wrote it and loaded up the family and moved
to the mountains of Samaria, and we began helping him.
(07:42):
First of all, That's how it started. We began, uh
we we later on realized that, you know, there was
a lot of farmers that needed help, and uh, we
began to love them and to see their their faith,
their zeal you know, for for God, not in the
way that the media presents them, but in a way
that we began to love them very much, and we
(08:05):
understood that, you know what, we need that kind of zeal.
We need to love the Word of God like they
were loving the Word of God and understanding that's touchable reality.
That's how it all started, and from there it just
took off. You know, we've had our ups and downs,
as Israel has had its ups and downs. We were
here in the Entifada at the end of the Intifada
(08:27):
in two thousand and four. That's when I came here
and we experienced even just right here below. We were
right and right in the middle of an entrance to
the novelists. And the second a suicide bomber that had
two bombs on his back. This was a fourteen year old.
(08:50):
The idef had caught him and was able to get
the bombs off the back. But then as I was
standing with the Jewish people on the side of the road,
we were all kind of you know, back They told us,
you know, we're driving in They told us to pull over.
Sherry and I vote. This is Sherry's first trip two
thousand and five, the beginning of two thousand and five,
(09:10):
and all of a sudden, we're standing with the Jewish people.
They're asking me, now, this is my first time actually
talking to a lot of these guys, and they're saying,
what are you doing here? You know? And that is that,
you know what, that's a good question. I'm sitting here
with the you know, with this suicide bomber, probably one
hundred less than one hundred yards from me. All of
a sudden, the bomb exploded in a in a you know,
(09:35):
in a container. They had detonated it, and it shook
the whole ground. It felt like an earthquake, and all
of a sudden we embraced the Jews and myself and
my wife. It was almost like this exclamation point. You know,
I got you here for a reason, the Isaiah forty
passage where it says, you know, comfort your people. It's
(09:56):
just an example of so many examples that that God
is allowed us to be here. You mentioned the cowboys.
I still can't really explain what happened there.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
That was one of the most amazing things. And it's
just hearing your story though, Tommy, there's a Hebrew verse
of so Sebla. The end result is the reflection of
the first thought and to see how your whole life
that in some ways you even rejected, ended up being
a training for what you ended up giving to Israel
(10:30):
and the Jewish people. And I can just imagine you
standing there on your first trip to Israel and recognizing,
which is something we've all experienced here in Israel. It's
not just the God of the Bible, it's the God
of today. It's not just the God who was speaking
thousands of years ago, but it's the God who continues
to speak to us on this land through the people today.
(10:53):
And the fact that you heard that call, Tommy, is
something that not everybody hears that whisper of God on
their life, and even when they hear it, it doesn't
necessarily move them to make those very hard decisions to
pick up their life, their wife, their children, everything they've known.
Just like in Abraham, leave the land of your forefathers,
(11:14):
your language, your culture, your family, and go to the
land that I will show you the fact that you
did that in order simply to stand with and help
the Jewish people something that is not a small deal.
And I have to take a second to stop and say,
on behalf of all the people of Israel, thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well, you know what, as we say in Tennessee, back
at you, because yeah, I just feel like the return
in the Ezeko thirty six really always kind of inspired me.
It was actually the return of the Jewish people that
God says that you know, we will know, the nations
will know God. So I'm very I'm very thankful there
where God's name is hallowed. When the Jews, you know,
(11:55):
returned to the land that I promised them, then the
nations will know. It's like God is really in that verse.
It's not really about him, and it's not really about
the Jesus, about Hey, you guys, you have something to
do with the rest of the world. You know, let's
get to it. I'm thankful that you and your family
and the families here in Arbora Kha and the communities
(12:16):
here really walking out God's word. If that had not happened,
we would not be here. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Wow, wow, incredible, what an honor. And it's I think
this is like like you're talking about. This is what
God in the vision when he said he named Matovuma
nam Schevetaa had how good and pleasant it is when
brethren dwelled together. And I remember when my father Rabiria
Ekstein died. It was actually exactly five years ago. People
(12:45):
said to me, you know, when your father started this
organization of the Fellowship, he was the only one doing
bridge building work. Now you have competition. And I looked
at them like they were crazy. I said, I don't
have competition. There's enough room for everyone. The more there
are Jewish and Christian individuals who are focusing on what
brings us together, on appreciating our differences of standing in
(13:08):
God's word, that we are God's children and we need
to stand together, especially now in the face of darkness
and evil. The more people who will join that mission,
I believe is a testament to the success of my
father's vision. So the fact that there are so many
leaders now who are dedicated both on the Jewish and
Christian side, to this bridge building work is something that's
(13:32):
inspiring for me and gives so much hope for the future,
just as it says Ulam, there is hope for the future,
said the Lord, and your children will return to the land.
And the fact that as a Christian you are not
only witnessing that, but helping that supporting that is something
that I know is strengthening both of our faith, both
(13:55):
as Jews and as Christians, both as Israeli's and Americans.
And you were here, Tommy on October seventh the same
way every single Israeli was. Could you tell us where
were you on October seventh? What were your thoughts? And
you mobilized very quickly in order to once again do
(14:18):
what you could in order to help uh strengthen the
people of Israel.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Where were you.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
On October seventh? And how was your life changed ever since?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
You know I woke up that morning we had just
you know, celebrated the Sinkatra with the Jewish people. I
was sore. My wife could hardly get out of bed
because he was so crazy. We were that kind of strange.
Christen's here, you know, we've embraced our brothers here on
the mountain. So Saturday morning was just another morning, you know,
(14:51):
to us, until I saw one of our Jewish friends
and he arrived here in a car and I thought, Hi,
this is strange. Yeah, you know, is he in the car?
You know? And he told us what was happening. And
I would say that most people in Israel felt it
because we didn't hear the whole story. In the beginning,
maybe there was a fifty or a few, but then
(15:13):
it seemed like it was almost happening. Every day. We
were hearing the numbers increase, and when is this going
to stop? You know, it kept going. It just did
not seem to stop, and we were finding things and
you know, finding people. It just grew to something that
we never never thought could happen. In the processing of
all of this, we realized that in Judy and Samaria,
(15:36):
most of most of the communities here have have no fences.
A lot of them small communities, and the farms that
we worked with certainly don't have fences, and we began
asking them, are you ready for something like this? We thought,
we have got to find out are we prepared? And
we what we found out that it was that we
weren't prepared. We were prepared for maybe one or two
in filtrations, you know that we that's normal here, but
(15:59):
we can we stopped those primarily almost one hundred percent.
Something like October seventh could much easier easily be done
here than it could be than it would than it
did in the South and out of Gaza. So we
began to mobilize and start raising money through Operation Etai,
(16:19):
which is a is a great story. It's kind of
a rude story where e Tai is one of those
guys that just wouldn't let David alone. He wasn't Jewish,
and he said, you know, I'm going to follow you.
We we started operating the Etai and we began to
raise funds for specifically the front line UH in in
(16:39):
the communities, the security forces that operate in the community
outside of the idea of control and UH that's that's
what we've been doing and UH and we've had an
amazing response. We've had. We've been able to bring a
lot of supplies into to equip those on the front
line farmers that had nothing. We had one drone that
(17:00):
we that we distributed to one of the farmers and
he said that night that he'd got the drone. He
was able to use it and found someone trying to
do some things to his to his family right near
his house. And when the sun goes down, it's it's dark, obviously,
and it's very difficult to see.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So they need, you know, things like thermal vision and
and night vision equipment. Stuff like that also very expensive
as well, as you know. So this is uh, this
is what we're on right now, and this is what
the cowboys were part of, uh, But they were part
of so much more. Last night I went to a
you'll appreciate this, and I really want to tell a
(17:40):
story about your dad too, concerning a winery before we
get off. So last night we actually were at an
event to dedicate a winery that we built in the
s Kodesh, which is right outside of Shiloh. We were
there last night. What a beautiful winery, actually amazing mennonits
min and nights from Ohio Holmes County, Ohio mina night
(18:03):
one of the largest men night communities in the US. Uh.
These they're starting to get the Israel day. These are
serving harded people, the people obviously that we spent six
years with. These are the people and they're coming here
and they built a winery. It's just amazing and uh.
And they were crying and emotional and you know, saying
(18:23):
to me, Tommy, we're gonna bring We're gonna have from
our our county. We're gonna have hundreds of people coming in,
you know, every month to help the Jewish people here.
So it's a real turnaround of excitement, Uh, to be
part of the story. They just want to be part
of the story. And they're seeing it through service, you know,
through giving through their feet and their hands, and such
(18:46):
a blessing.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
How incredible. So Tommy, I'm going to ask you one
question and then I want to get to this exciting
story with my father which I haven't heard, which I'm
excited about. But when I hear you talking, it's something
that's very different than the Christian who I speak to
around the world. Is very different. Once you're here and
you understand the situation Israel in a unique way. I
(19:07):
hear a lot of Christians who are challenged with what
God is wanting from them, that on one hand they're
called to stand with Israel and the Jewish people, and
on the other hand they're called to love. And I
don't think that many people understand the evil that Israel
is facing right now, of the intent to simply kill
(19:30):
and destroy the nation of Israel. And I believe that
that's what God is referring to. And he says Ahveah shemsinural,
lovers of the Lord despise evil. And of course not
everyone is evil, who the Arabs, who you live by,
or even in in Gaza. But as a Christian, it
sounds like you saw on October seventh, how it's not
(19:52):
just a few terrorists, but it's a deep cultural hate
and desire for Jewish blood, just like we we saw
in the Nazis, or we saw on Amalek, or we've
seen going back to the biblical time from the Jewish
from the time the Jewish people were created as a nation,
there have been this evil that has wanted to destroy us.
As a Christian living in Israel right now, how do
(20:15):
you how do you deal with that? How do you
see that? What would you say to your Christian brothers?
And sisters around the world who are having this, uh,
this this crisis of what side do I stand with?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, that's that's a great question because we even in
Christianity were most of us were horrified in the you know,
as we hear the accounts of the Holocaust, most of
us said, if it were if we lived in Germany,
if we lived in Europe, we would fight against it.
(20:48):
We would not be indifferent, we would fight. What I
say to that is here we are what are you
doing because indifferences unfortunately taken hold, you know one more time.
So I'm really calling the church and the pastors out
to get behind their pulpits and say have the courage
because this is a biblical story that's not stopped. Yeah,
(21:10):
I want to tell Christians to stop one being indifferent
and stop fueling these atrocities against the Jewish people, this
evil against the Jewish people, because you're not helping by
saying that the Arabs are justified and not justified. Even
here as I'm here, there are factories in Judean Samiria
(21:31):
built by Jews to give Arabs in Palestinians jobs. Arabs
and Palestinian Jews and Palestinians that actually went to vacation
together as pictures on the boards in these factories, thousands
of Arabs being given, even in the even in the
situation that we're in before October seventh, which is not good.
(21:56):
But this is what I would say to the Christian communit.
Let's get back to the scripture, Let's get back to
the Bible. Hold on to the word of God. There
are promises in there are that God is not going
to turn his back on He's not going to make
void and we need to we need to give that message.
And it starts with us, starts with us.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Wow, it's so powerful, Tommy, because what you're saying is
the promise of Genesis twelve three is real. And the
truth is, if you could ever see that in action,
it's in Israel. That if in Gaza, instead of investing
in terror infrastructure to destroy Israel, they would have invested
in creating a beautiful beach front resort town, you would
(22:40):
have seen those blessings in the most tangible way. But
instead they decided on investing in terror tunnel. So you
see the opposite destruction and death. It's an honor to
hear the testimony of your faith and how God has
moved in your life. I would love to end with
the story that I haven't heard yet that he wanted
(23:01):
to share about my father.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I had admired your dad from a distance for many years,
and uh, i'd never actually got the chance to meet him,
our friend smoothly botek. Uh, he's he's a friend of mine.
And I did about dinner in his house in New Jersey,
uh several times, and he had actually come here. I
had actually brought him, brought him to uh to overlook
(23:25):
at Joseph's tomb here a couple of times. He was
having a bar mitzvah for his son and invited me
at the Suggo winery. And suggohed is one of the
wineries that we we help and we we helped start
actually and uh so your dad was there and so smoothly.
You know, if anybody knows smoothly, he's not shy to
(23:49):
say the list. Yeah right, So he grabs me, Tommy
grabs me, hugs me and everything he has. I got
somebody I want you to meet. And uh so he
took me over to your dad, uh, and he introduced
and we were talking and conversing, and we began to
talk and we just connected right away. Told me let's
(24:11):
get together. We we you know, let's let's meet even
this week, let's meet this week. After that, we went
out to the uh you know, when the celebrations started.
I was, you know, not still not really comfortable, you know,
just asserting myself into the circle of dancing and everything else.
I was sitting down inside. Your dad came over to me.
(24:32):
We just met. He came over, he grabbed my hand,
pulls me into the circle. Were dancing together in this circle,
and it was I was like blown away. My wife
was in tears, and it was just a beautiful scene
and it was an amazing time. And I left there
and then two days later your dad passed away, and
(24:57):
it was very heart for me. I didn't have obviously
the history that you had as a daughter, but I
had this experience and it was sorry, I'm getting a
most but it was such a blessing to me. And
(25:18):
you know, I appreciate so much. Your dad wasn't afraid
of me, wasn't ashamed of me, wasn't he wanted just
to embrace me. And even though we had only met,
you know, maybe twenty minutes before, he grabbed me and
pulled me in a circle. Just a beautiful story for me,
(25:38):
and it's a beautiful memory and I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Wow. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. I
think that definitely summarizes my father. He was a man
of his heart, that he did what he believed was right,
and he connected to people and he appreciated what you
were doing. So it's not at all a surprise to me,
(26:04):
but it so perfectly sums up the life that he
led and the values he appreciated and lived by unapologetically. Yeah, Tommy,
thank you, thank you. Thank you for the time that
you've took today to speak with me, and for doing
so much to help Israel for so many years and
(26:27):
especially now in her time of need, and for being
forefront and building bridges which are needed now more than ever,
between Israel and the world, between Christians and Jews, between
America and Israel, between people of faith. You are someone
that I admire greatly and am honored to have you
on my podcast. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Thank you, Yaale, I'm very it's amazing what you did.
You guys, your organization really laid a path for us
to do what we're doing. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
God, Bless you, my friend, God, bless you. Maybe have
good times together.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yes. Amen,
In the days and weeks and months since the Ramas
terror attacks of October seventh, despite the pain and trauma
still being experienced by the people of Israel, I've also
witnessed moments of true inspiration, of healing, of fellowship. One
of these inspiring experiences happened this past November when a
group of cowboys came to the Holy Land. Yes, cowboys,
(00:31):
Christian cowboys from America. These cowboys from Montana and Arkansas
traveled with me to visit survivors of the horrific attacks
on Kibutznachalos.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
There.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Together, we delivered food to these people who've been displaced
from their homes near the Gaza border. We played with
the children who'd witnessed things no child should ever witness,
and we heard the stories of those who had survived
the attacks of October seventh. But why, you might wonder,
were Christian cowboys from America here in the Holy Land,
(01:05):
especially during War Well, these cowboys were in Israel helping
with farm work in Judaea and Samaria. The farm that
they were working on is a very very special place
called Haiovel. And today I have invited a very special
guest to the podcast, Tommy Waller is a Christian from
America himself as well as a farmer, but for nearly
(01:28):
two decades he has also lived here in Israel, where
he runs Hayovel. Hayovel has, like the Fellowship, a mission
of building bridges between people of faith. It brings Christians
to Israel, just like those cowboys, to not only tour Israel,
but to experience and help Israel. I'll let Tommy explain
(01:49):
more so without further ado, I welcome Tommy Waller. Welcome Tommy,
Welcome to my podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, I'm so glad to be here, Yayel, this is wonderful.
I'm very honored that you invited me.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I want as many people as possible to hear about
the incredible work that you do here in Israel, that
you've been doing for so long. So can we start
off by just giving me an overview of what is
Hayovel and where is Hayovel?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Okay, Well, first of all, Hayubel is located here on
the mound of Blessing a mount Garzine, the area where
Abraham came and left his father's house Genesis fourteen. And
check them. I have a hard time, honestly trying to
tell people because it really wasn't me. Something happened along
(02:38):
the path that God had us on that led us here.
And I don't know that there would have been any
other place in the world in Israel, specifically that we
could have done what we have done without the embrace
of the community here in harbor Ah. These are Jews
here that are really protecting the family cemetery. Joseph is
(03:00):
buried here. This is the obviously the place where Joseph said,
bury me in the land of Israel. And you believe
this is Israel. So how we got here is very interesting.
So I started right out of college, got married to
my beautiful wife, Sherry. I went to work for a company, FedEx.
(03:21):
Stayed with FedEx for about thirteen years. This was in
the nineties, so right before Y two K when the
rumors of way two K came. I had grown up
on a farm. As growing up on a farm, I
loved being in a farm, and I thought as a
child that I don't want to do farming forever. I
want to go into the corporate world and I want
to do this. But I found myself in that world
(03:41):
and just kind of longing for the land again, and
so y two K came. What an opportunity. Most people
were like, this is the end of the world. I'm
going No, we're gonna jump, We're gonna go vibe, sell
everything we had, and we bought property within in the
middle of it, right in the middle of an homage community.
So here we are eleven eleven children living in an
(04:02):
Amish farm, completely debt free. My children still refer to
this as the storybook chapter of their lives. And we
did not think that we would ever probably lead this.
This was such a good thing. I was, you know, home.
We were working as a family together, so much ministry
to other people that were hurting family wise. We were
(04:23):
working out of Nashville. A lot of our customers that
were buying our produce were music industry people. They would
come and just sit with us. Many of them, as
you probably know, in the music industry, is not favorable
to families, and they would just come and we just ministered.
About six years into this story book, I ended up
(04:45):
getting having an opportunity to go to Israel with some
guys that were doing business, and I said, sure, I'd
love to love to hang out. Little did I know
that this trip was for me, you know, like somebody
had heard that I was a arming you know, and
obviously I still had that kind of omous look about me.
I met a man here that said, hey, you know,
(05:07):
I have a friend that I met just a you know,
a couple of months ago by chance, that has a
vineyard in Samaria and on Mount Garzine. You know, would
you like to go and visit it? Sure?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
You know, yes, you thought you were just going to
stop and see something beautiful. You didn't realize that the
whole trajectory of your life.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, I'm on tour. I'm a tourist visiting the Holy
Land for the first time. And uh, I had never
met all this art, believe. But in the middle in Tennessee,
rural Tennessee, outside of Nashville, there's nothing hard. There's hardly
any especially you know, twenty years ago there was not
that many Jews living in Nashville. There's still today, not
(05:51):
a big population of Jews living in Nashville, especially religious Jews. Yeah,
and I had never encountered. I had worked with Jewish
peace secular Jews in effed X, but never never, ever
had a conversation with the religious Jew. Ever, and here
I was in the in this vineyard, and this religious Jew,
(06:12):
with all his garb, with all his you know, with
all the trappings of a religious Jew, began to read
to me from Jeremiah thirty wow. And he told me
as Jeremiah was telling, was dreaming, was seeing a vision
that there would one day be vineyards planted on the
mountains of Samaria. And all of a sudden I realized that,
(06:36):
you know, God was outside of my box. God was
still moving. Wasn't in my building anymore, wasn't in the
church building that I was going to. He was here.
He was actively moving in the state of Israel. And
I'm telling my knees almost buckled.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I'm like he was speaking to you in the hole land.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yes I'm almost emotional talking about it. But but he
said I. The only thing I could respond to him
was do you need help? And honestly, I wasn't thinking
about Jewish Christian relationships. You say, that's what we that's
what we're It has become very much a part of
that building, reconciling differences. But at that time, the only
(07:19):
thing I was thinking about was I want to be
a part of this, you know, I want to be
a part of what God's doing. My life changed in
that one conversation, and all I could think about was
how do I get back here? I tell people we
were kind of like we became like the Beverly Hillbillies.
We wrote it and loaded up the family and moved
to the mountains of Samaria, and we began helping him.
(07:42):
First of all, That's how it started. We began, uh
we we later on realized that, you know, there was
a lot of farmers that needed help, and uh, we
began to love them and to see their their faith,
their zeal you know, for for God, not in the
way that the media presents them, but in a way
that we began to love them very much, and we
(08:05):
understood that, you know what, we need that kind of zeal.
We need to love the Word of God like they
were loving the Word of God and understanding that's touchable reality.
That's how it all started, and from there it just
took off. You know, we've had our ups and downs,
as Israel has had its ups and downs. We were
here in the Entifada at the end of the Intifada
(08:27):
in two thousand and four. That's when I came here
and we experienced even just right here below. We were
right and right in the middle of an entrance to
the novelists. And the second a suicide bomber that had
two bombs on his back. This was a fourteen year old.
(08:50):
The idef had caught him and was able to get
the bombs off the back. But then as I was
standing with the Jewish people on the side of the road,
we were all kind of you know, back They told us,
you know, we're driving in They told us to pull over.
Sherry and I vote. This is Sherry's first trip two
thousand and five, the beginning of two thousand and five,
(09:10):
and all of a sudden, we're standing with the Jewish people.
They're asking me, now, this is my first time actually
talking to a lot of these guys, and they're saying,
what are you doing here? You know? And that is that,
you know what, that's a good question. I'm sitting here
with the you know, with this suicide bomber, probably one
hundred less than one hundred yards from me. All of
a sudden, the bomb exploded in a in a you know,
(09:35):
in a container. They had detonated it, and it shook
the whole ground. It felt like an earthquake, and all
of a sudden we embraced the Jews and myself and
my wife. It was almost like this exclamation point. You know,
I got you here for a reason, the Isaiah forty
passage where it says, you know, comfort your people. It's
(09:56):
just an example of so many examples that that God
is allowed us to be here. You mentioned the cowboys.
I still can't really explain what happened there.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
That was one of the most amazing things. And it's
just hearing your story though, Tommy, there's a Hebrew verse
of so Sebla. The end result is the reflection of
the first thought and to see how your whole life
that in some ways you even rejected, ended up being
a training for what you ended up giving to Israel
(10:30):
and the Jewish people. And I can just imagine you
standing there on your first trip to Israel and recognizing,
which is something we've all experienced here in Israel. It's
not just the God of the Bible, it's the God
of today. It's not just the God who was speaking
thousands of years ago, but it's the God who continues
to speak to us on this land through the people today.
(10:53):
And the fact that you heard that call, Tommy, is
something that not everybody hears that whisper of God on
their life, and even when they hear it, it doesn't
necessarily move them to make those very hard decisions to
pick up their life, their wife, their children, everything they've known.
Just like in Abraham, leave the land of your forefathers,
(11:14):
your language, your culture, your family, and go to the
land that I will show you the fact that you
did that in order simply to stand with and help
the Jewish people something that is not a small deal.
And I have to take a second to stop and say,
on behalf of all the people of Israel, thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well, you know what, as we say in Tennessee, back
at you, because yeah, I just feel like the return
in the Ezeko thirty six really always kind of inspired me.
It was actually the return of the Jewish people that
God says that you know, we will know, the nations
will know God. So I'm very I'm very thankful there
where God's name is hallowed. When the Jews, you know,
(11:55):
returned to the land that I promised them, then the
nations will know. It's like God is really in that verse.
It's not really about him, and it's not really about
the Jesus, about Hey, you guys, you have something to
do with the rest of the world. You know, let's
get to it. I'm thankful that you and your family
and the families here in Arbora Kha and the communities
(12:16):
here really walking out God's word. If that had not happened,
we would not be here. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Wow, wow, incredible, what an honor. And it's I think
this is like like you're talking about. This is what
God in the vision when he said he named Matovuma
nam Schevetaa had how good and pleasant it is when
brethren dwelled together. And I remember when my father Rabiria
Ekstein died. It was actually exactly five years ago. People
(12:45):
said to me, you know, when your father started this
organization of the Fellowship, he was the only one doing
bridge building work. Now you have competition. And I looked
at them like they were crazy. I said, I don't
have competition. There's enough room for everyone. The more there
are Jewish and Christian individuals who are focusing on what
brings us together, on appreciating our differences of standing in
(13:08):
God's word, that we are God's children and we need
to stand together, especially now in the face of darkness
and evil. The more people who will join that mission,
I believe is a testament to the success of my
father's vision. So the fact that there are so many
leaders now who are dedicated both on the Jewish and
Christian side, to this bridge building work is something that's
(13:32):
inspiring for me and gives so much hope for the future,
just as it says Ulam, there is hope for the future,
said the Lord, and your children will return to the land.
And the fact that as a Christian you are not
only witnessing that, but helping that supporting that is something
that I know is strengthening both of our faith, both
(13:55):
as Jews and as Christians, both as Israeli's and Americans.
And you were here, Tommy on October seventh the same
way every single Israeli was. Could you tell us where
were you on October seventh? What were your thoughts? And
you mobilized very quickly in order to once again do
(14:18):
what you could in order to help uh strengthen the
people of Israel.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Where were you.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
On October seventh? And how was your life changed ever since?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
You know I woke up that morning we had just
you know, celebrated the Sinkatra with the Jewish people. I
was sore. My wife could hardly get out of bed
because he was so crazy. We were that kind of strange.
Christen's here, you know, we've embraced our brothers here on
the mountain. So Saturday morning was just another morning, you know,
(14:51):
to us, until I saw one of our Jewish friends
and he arrived here in a car and I thought, Hi,
this is strange. Yeah, you know, is he in the car?
You know? And he told us what was happening. And
I would say that most people in Israel felt it
because we didn't hear the whole story. In the beginning,
maybe there was a fifty or a few, but then
(15:13):
it seemed like it was almost happening. Every day. We
were hearing the numbers increase, and when is this going
to stop? You know, it kept going. It just did
not seem to stop, and we were finding things and
you know, finding people. It just grew to something that
we never never thought could happen. In the processing of
all of this, we realized that in Judy and Samaria,
(15:36):
most of most of the communities here have have no fences.
A lot of them small communities, and the farms that
we worked with certainly don't have fences, and we began
asking them, are you ready for something like this? We thought,
we have got to find out are we prepared? And
we what we found out that it was that we
weren't prepared. We were prepared for maybe one or two
in filtrations, you know that we that's normal here, but
(15:59):
we can we stopped those primarily almost one hundred percent.
Something like October seventh could much easier easily be done
here than it could be than it would than it
did in the South and out of Gaza. So we
began to mobilize and start raising money through Operation Etai,
(16:19):
which is a is a great story. It's kind of
a rude story where e Tai is one of those
guys that just wouldn't let David alone. He wasn't Jewish,
and he said, you know, I'm going to follow you.
We we started operating the Etai and we began to
raise funds for specifically the front line UH in in
(16:39):
the communities, the security forces that operate in the community
outside of the idea of control and UH that's that's
what we've been doing and UH and we've had an
amazing response. We've had. We've been able to bring a
lot of supplies into to equip those on the front
line farmers that had nothing. We had one drone that
(17:00):
we that we distributed to one of the farmers and
he said that night that he'd got the drone. He
was able to use it and found someone trying to
do some things to his to his family right near
his house. And when the sun goes down, it's it's dark, obviously,
and it's very difficult to see.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So they need, you know, things like thermal vision and
and night vision equipment. Stuff like that also very expensive
as well, as you know. So this is uh, this
is what we're on right now, and this is what
the cowboys were part of, uh, But they were part
of so much more. Last night I went to a
you'll appreciate this, and I really want to tell a
(17:40):
story about your dad too, concerning a winery before we
get off. So last night we actually were at an
event to dedicate a winery that we built in the
s Kodesh, which is right outside of Shiloh. We were
there last night. What a beautiful winery, actually amazing mennonits
min and nights from Ohio Holmes County, Ohio mina night
(18:03):
one of the largest men night communities in the US. Uh.
These they're starting to get the Israel day. These are
serving harded people, the people obviously that we spent six
years with. These are the people and they're coming here
and they built a winery. It's just amazing and uh.
And they were crying and emotional and you know, saying
(18:23):
to me, Tommy, we're gonna bring We're gonna have from
our our county. We're gonna have hundreds of people coming in,
you know, every month to help the Jewish people here.
So it's a real turnaround of excitement, Uh, to be
part of the story. They just want to be part
of the story. And they're seeing it through service, you know,
through giving through their feet and their hands, and such
(18:46):
a blessing.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
How incredible. So Tommy, I'm going to ask you one
question and then I want to get to this exciting
story with my father which I haven't heard, which I'm
excited about. But when I hear you talking, it's something
that's very different than the Christian who I speak to
around the world. Is very different. Once you're here and
you understand the situation Israel in a unique way. I
(19:07):
hear a lot of Christians who are challenged with what
God is wanting from them, that on one hand they're
called to stand with Israel and the Jewish people, and
on the other hand they're called to love. And I
don't think that many people understand the evil that Israel
is facing right now, of the intent to simply kill
(19:30):
and destroy the nation of Israel. And I believe that
that's what God is referring to. And he says Ahveah shemsinural,
lovers of the Lord despise evil. And of course not
everyone is evil, who the Arabs, who you live by,
or even in in Gaza. But as a Christian, it
sounds like you saw on October seventh, how it's not
(19:52):
just a few terrorists, but it's a deep cultural hate
and desire for Jewish blood, just like we we saw
in the Nazis, or we saw on Amalek, or we've
seen going back to the biblical time from the Jewish
from the time the Jewish people were created as a nation,
there have been this evil that has wanted to destroy us.
As a Christian living in Israel right now, how do
(20:15):
you how do you deal with that? How do you
see that? What would you say to your Christian brothers?
And sisters around the world who are having this, uh,
this this crisis of what side do I stand with?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, that's that's a great question because we even in
Christianity were most of us were horrified in the you know,
as we hear the accounts of the Holocaust, most of
us said, if it were if we lived in Germany,
if we lived in Europe, we would fight against it.
(20:48):
We would not be indifferent, we would fight. What I
say to that is here we are what are you
doing because indifferences unfortunately taken hold, you know one more time.
So I'm really calling the church and the pastors out
to get behind their pulpits and say have the courage
because this is a biblical story that's not stopped. Yeah,
(21:10):
I want to tell Christians to stop one being indifferent
and stop fueling these atrocities against the Jewish people, this
evil against the Jewish people, because you're not helping by
saying that the Arabs are justified and not justified. Even
here as I'm here, there are factories in Judean Samiria
(21:31):
built by Jews to give Arabs in Palestinians jobs. Arabs
and Palestinian Jews and Palestinians that actually went to vacation
together as pictures on the boards in these factories, thousands
of Arabs being given, even in the even in the
situation that we're in before October seventh, which is not good.
(21:56):
But this is what I would say to the Christian communit.
Let's get back to the scripture, Let's get back to
the Bible. Hold on to the word of God. There
are promises in there are that God is not going
to turn his back on He's not going to make
void and we need to we need to give that message.
And it starts with us, starts with us.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Wow, it's so powerful, Tommy, because what you're saying is
the promise of Genesis twelve three is real. And the
truth is, if you could ever see that in action,
it's in Israel. That if in Gaza, instead of investing
in terror infrastructure to destroy Israel, they would have invested
in creating a beautiful beach front resort town, you would
(22:40):
have seen those blessings in the most tangible way. But
instead they decided on investing in terror tunnel. So you
see the opposite destruction and death. It's an honor to
hear the testimony of your faith and how God has
moved in your life. I would love to end with
the story that I haven't heard yet that he wanted
(23:01):
to share about my father.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I had admired your dad from a distance for many years,
and uh, i'd never actually got the chance to meet him,
our friend smoothly botek. Uh, he's he's a friend of mine.
And I did about dinner in his house in New Jersey,
uh several times, and he had actually come here. I
had actually brought him, brought him to uh to overlook
(23:25):
at Joseph's tomb here a couple of times. He was
having a bar mitzvah for his son and invited me
at the Suggo winery. And suggohed is one of the
wineries that we we help and we we helped start
actually and uh so your dad was there and so smoothly.
You know, if anybody knows smoothly, he's not shy to
(23:49):
say the list. Yeah right, So he grabs me, Tommy
grabs me, hugs me and everything he has. I got
somebody I want you to meet. And uh so he
took me over to your dad, uh, and he introduced
and we were talking and conversing, and we began to
talk and we just connected right away. Told me let's
(24:11):
get together. We we you know, let's let's meet even
this week, let's meet this week. After that, we went
out to the uh you know, when the celebrations started.
I was, you know, not still not really comfortable, you know,
just asserting myself into the circle of dancing and everything else.
I was sitting down inside. Your dad came over to me.
(24:32):
We just met. He came over, he grabbed my hand,
pulls me into the circle. Were dancing together in this circle,
and it was I was like blown away. My wife
was in tears, and it was just a beautiful scene
and it was an amazing time. And I left there
and then two days later your dad passed away, and
(24:57):
it was very heart for me. I didn't have obviously
the history that you had as a daughter, but I
had this experience and it was sorry, I'm getting a
most but it was such a blessing to me. And
(25:18):
you know, I appreciate so much. Your dad wasn't afraid
of me, wasn't ashamed of me, wasn't he wanted just
to embrace me. And even though we had only met,
you know, maybe twenty minutes before, he grabbed me and
pulled me in a circle. Just a beautiful story for me,
(25:38):
and it's a beautiful memory and I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Wow. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. I
think that definitely summarizes my father. He was a man
of his heart, that he did what he believed was right,
and he connected to people and he appreciated what you
were doing. So it's not at all a surprise to me,
(26:04):
but it so perfectly sums up the life that he
led and the values he appreciated and lived by unapologetically. Yeah, Tommy,
thank you, thank you. Thank you for the time that
you've took today to speak with me, and for doing
so much to help Israel for so many years and
(26:27):
especially now in her time of need, and for being
forefront and building bridges which are needed now more than ever,
between Israel and the world, between Christians and Jews, between
America and Israel, between people of faith. You are someone
that I admire greatly and am honored to have you
on my podcast. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Thank you, Yaale, I'm very it's amazing what you did.
You guys, your organization really laid a path for us
to do what we're doing. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
God, Bless you, my friend, God, bless you. Maybe have
good times together.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yes. Amen,
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