A Forgotten Connection between Pentecost & Shavuot?

Shavuot is one of Judaism’s three major festivals celebrated beginning May 21 in Israel and in synagogues globally. Fifty days, in a seven-week countdown after Passover, is completed on Shavuot, (Hebrew, weeks) a harvest festival. Churches describe Shavuot by another name, Pentecost, on May 24 this year.

Over three thousand years ago, God vividly bequeathed Torah with the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Acts 2 explains that 1500 years later in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit showed up while Jews celebrated their ancient festival of Shavuot. Fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, His promises to Jewish believers manifested in another kind of harvest! 

Shavuot solemnizes the written law blended with the Holy Spirit to inaugurate the geographic spread of the greatest event in world history. Annually Jewish people from the ancient known world attended Passover then remained for the fifty-day count to Shavuot, also called bikkurim (first fruits).

Historian Josephus’ estimated that more than two million Jews filled Jerusalem for various ancient Passovers. Acts 2:9-11 mentions some of the countries which are now modern nations: Arabia, Crete, Italy, Libya, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. During the one-of-a-kind Passover where Jesus was arrested, crucified, entombed, resurrected, and ascended forty days later, it indicates a crowd of witnesses both for Passover and Shavuot where many Jews stayed until Shavuot’s fifty-day countdown.

Whether experienced in person or by miraculous news spreading like wildfire throughout Jerusalem and its environs, after that Shavuot, diaspora Jews returned to their countries of residence. This marks the first wave in the geographic spread of the gospel through pilgrims returning home as witnesses. It is a noteworthy fact to recognize that the disciples and other Jewish believers including the apostle Paul composed the early “church.” Jews planted the Good News which originated in the Holy Land, Israel and opened the doors to Gentiles, not the other way around.

With a salute to historian Josephus for his estimates about Passover crowds, it shows how the three major festivals once pulled much of the ancient Jewish world into Jerusalem. Two thousand years later Israel, in its customary way over the centuries, has tied itself to its festivals no matter where they were or what was happening.

That includes the war surrounding the establishment of the modern Jewish state on May 14, 1948, until now 78 years later. The 1948 story about Shavuot is not well known. However, it is yet another illustration of how Israelis have kept the God-sanctioned traditions with weekly shabbats and the pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Succot. Bolstering Jewish strength, these were more than ordinary parties. Each shabbat, each festival, and each year conceived endurance nurtured for thousands of years against all odds, except for God’s unbreakable odds.

The ancient Shavuot pilgrimage became a modern act of defiance as around 600,000 Jewish citizens proclaimed their ancestral homeland on May 14. In 1948 just weeks after Independence Day-in a war they did not begin- Israelis kept Shavuot on June 12, the first festival celebrated once again on their eternal soil. The circumstantial facts are a layered collection of daunting disadvantages. Already mobilized, five Arab armies went into action hours after Israel’s first Prime Minister Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence. The industrialized Nazi genocide had ended in 1945, starvation was rampant in Jerusalem, and the Israel Defense Forces did not yet exist. Aerial bombardments and enemies on the ground meant danger at every turn along with inconsistent electricity, food rationing, and sparse weapons which dictated the realities of Israel’s defensive war.

Israelis questioned whether they could even celebrate Shavuot. Would anyone be alive? Kibbutz Ein Harod for example, described the final decision of its cultural committee. “It felt impossible to abandon this holiday. It is so deeply woven into our lives.” One fighter, Moshe Erem, from Kibbutz Beit Alfa near the Syrian border wrote this extraordinary note in his diary, “After night patrol, we danced the hora at dawn. The Syrians shelled the valley, but we danced anyway. This is our answer.” A gramophone played music for the dancers. At Kibbutz Yifat near Nazareth children carried baskets to their fathers and brothers standing guard. The basket might contain a piece of bread or an egg. A local newsletter in Nazareth described a six-year-old girl who whispered, “We brought fruit and bullets.”

In his diary David Ben-Gurion wrote, “Shavuot. The Cabinet met. We must ensure that the people celebrate, even as war rages.” Golda Meir, later a Prime Minister, wrote to American supporters declaring, “We had no milk or cheese, but we read the book of Ruth, a story of loyalty, like our soldiers.” (Reading the book of Ruth is customary on Shavuot.

In her Letters from Jerusalem 1947-1948 Zippy Porath, an underground fighter, wrote in her diary, “A small convoy of jeeps bearing blessed arms, ammunition, and food came via the hills.” She added, “They’ve broken the siege and lifted our moral high.”

Wars and hatred targeting Israel and the Jewish community worldwide have not subsided. Christians must humbly admit that we do not understand Father God’s timetable. However, Zechariah proclaims. “For this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye.” In ancient Hebrew, the pupil (ishon ayin) is the most vulnerable and fiercely protected part of a person. The vivid idiom reflects that God defends Israel with instinctive protection; that it is akin to a strike against God’s own eye.

Let us purpose to honor God and stand with Israel in meaningful ways as they remain determined to be who they are to enact Shabbat and their festivals.

Israeli Freed Hostage's Story Holds a Key for a Generation at Turning Point USA

When Omer Shem Tov walked onto the stage at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 19, 2025, thirty thousand voices at Turning Point’s America Fest (AmFest) had filled the arena for twenty-four hours already with energy and applause. When Omer began sharing his true story, thirty-thousand voices fell silent transfixed with his fourteen minute, forty-six second talk.

Most knew that after their founder Charlie Kirk returned from trips to Israel, he reported, “Israel changed my life, strengthened my faith, and made the bible pop into reality.” Omer’s story added a profound dimension to Charlie’s legacy.

Mrs. Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow, now CEO, opened (Amfest.com) 2025 on December 18 with a quote that set the stage for a global surge of young conservatives. “For everyone who is new. Welcome home. Turning Point USA is your home, and we’re loving that you’re here.”  Who were those she welcomed? 

Kirk announced that more than half of the attendees were students, representing all fifty states, Puerto Rico, and twenty-five countries. With one hundred and seventy-eight sponsors and forty breakout sessions the slate of prominent-and new- speakers generated a four-day crash course in civics, Judeo-Christian foundations, and political advocacy.

The landmark convocation holds the promise of a cultural resurrection in the United States with a first-person version of a PhD from a former Israeli hostage. 

Twenty-four-year-old Omer Shem Tov’s testimony at AmFest on December 19 served as a momentous lesson with facts wrapped in faith. A hostage for 505 days, Omer stood at the podium declaring, “I stand here not as a victim, but as a witness… to what happens when a person, and a nation, refuses to surrender.” Prior to his appearance he articulated his goal, “to make them [AmFest attendees] understand that the friendship between the U.S. and Israel is one of the greatest things for both countries.”

Omer thanked everyone who prayed and stood for truth emphasizing that the fight is between good and evil. As an expert witness self-educated for a year and a half in dark tunnels, he assigned facts to thirty-thousand listeners about the nature of Hamas evil: “terrorists who turn hospitals into torture chambers, schools into military bases, who murder young people at a music festival, who kill Jews because they’re Jewish, and Christians because they’re Christians.”

The freed hostage recounted his personal struggles which began when Hamas abducted him from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023. The terrorists forced him into a pickup truck amid the murders of festival goers, and kidnapped forty-four into Gaza. Imprisoned for 505 days, Omer survived underground in the terrorist maze of tunnels. He lived in almost total darkness where he sometimes thought he was “going blind, not able to see his own hand.” His hunger was relentless each day with only “a small cracker, and a few sips of salty water.” Omer shared that “the loneliness was the hardest part.” For more than a year, he did not see another hostage. “No faces, silence, darkness and fear.” He knew he had to find a reason to live while his body shrunk with dehydration and starvation.

Omer’s unimaginable hardships then transitioned into a profound experience that sustained him. He confessed to his audience that he had never really spoken to God but each day in the dark he began whispering, “How are you, God? Are you OK?”

Omer illuminated to the rapt listeners that in the darkness, “I felt His Presence.” Although not knowing if he would live or die, he thanked God for everything even in starvation. He went on to mention that one day he overheard Israel Defense Forces nearby. While not found, IDF had left behind a small paper with Psalm 20 written on it. Omer’s captors found it and surprisingly brought it to him.

In moments of light, he memorized Psalm 20:7- “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Omer proclaims, “I found God.”

The prayers grew even more sacred after Omer was freed on February 22, 2025, and discovered that “My mother was reciting the same psalm in my bedroom in Israel while I was whispering those words in Gaza.” In four or five standing ovations, the arena crowd sprang to its feet with Omer’s inspiring testimony.

Omer also explained that after President Trump was elected, “The way they [terrorists] treated me changed completely. They were terrified of him.” He added that the families and Israel thank President Donald Trump for our freedom. “He brought us home.” The huge crowd stood again in one of the standing ovations with extended applause.

In closing his significant speech, Shem Tov affirmed why Turning Point matters. “You see the truth, and you stand for freedom.” In a much-used Jewish phrase of kindness toward someone who has died, Omer observed, “Of blessed memory, Charlie Kirk once said, ‘Hamas are savage animals.’ Take it from someone who spent 505 days as their hostage, he was right.”

Omer identified that the story of Charlie and Turning Point is his story too. “Action over apathy, faith over fear, strength over surrender.” Omer noted that “this evil is spreading, but when I stand here with you today, I feel stronger. Because we’re united, we are free, and together, we will defeat evil.” Omer Shem Tov stated that “Israel will always stand with you.”

I anticipate strengthened advocacy for Israel from young conservatives. Their generational shift will radically infuse support for our ally Israel and for America’s future culturally, politically and spiritually for years to come.

(Click here for Omer Shem Tov’s speech on Rumble/YouTube at J-TV: The Global Jewish Channel)

Spiritual DNA

 

Spiritual DNA

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

 I received a DNA kit one year for my birthday. The results confirmed my Irish, Scots, and British roots. My patriarchal family tree opened the door for me to be a  member of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). My “patriot ancestor” arrived on our shores prior to our fight for independence. Thanks to science, DNA tools have shined a light on our genetics. Indeed, it is fascinating; however, our spiritual DNA holds the treasure of eternal life forged in God’s infinite imagination when He created life “in the beginning.”

 God also wove our spiritual DNA into a redemptive pattern of salvation through the sixty-six books of the Bible and culminates in the Incarnation when Immanuel (God with us) donned our human DNA to walk, teach, die, rise, and return to His Heavenly Father as our advocate.

 In the pages of the greatest, most reliable book in history, the words are transmitted by the Creator of DNA itself. Through Jewish scribes, the Bible brilliantly captivates us with the “greatest story ever told.” God’s human entrance into the world came through Mary, a young Jewish woman. Her DNA was met with the most profound anomaly in human history from God the Father; a virgin birth.

 Our spiritual DNA transmitted through the Jewish tribes set the stage to welcome and crown our Jewish Savior. Encountering Jesus is humbling, rich in overwhelming love, and eternal. Truly more than our human DNA can comprehend! 

 Our spiritual DNA also offers us an enormous family tree stretching around the world across cultures, colors, economic status, national boundaries, and backgrounds! That means that my Christian family includes a potpourri of Americans in varying denominations. Add to the mix Christians on every continent, Muslim and Jewish background believers, and it is a beautiful  tapestry of Christian cultures on earth.

 Whether we know much about our physical ancestry or not, inviting Jesus to dwell in our lives, HE becomes our Spiritual DNA. He saves, guides, and counsels us. He strengthens and enables us to bless and serve others. He enriches our earthly lives and secures our place in Heaven.

God's Divine Diversity in His Tapestry of People Groups

Upwards of 170,000 Ethiopian-Israelis can be found among Israel’s current population. This inspiring Ethiopian statistic reflects a singular fact: Israel is the only nation in the world that has transported black Africans to freedom instead of to slavery. 

In 1973, Israel’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled that Ethiopian Jews were, according to Jewish law, “Sons of Israel” (Bnei Israel). Facing religious persecution and oppression at home, these Africans began the perilous 2,000-mile trek to Israel in relatively small numbers—numbers that ballooned in the early 1980s with Israeli-initiated airlifts undertaken in response to the thousands of Jews dying along the way. What factors drove them to first undertake their dangerous walks through hostile territories?

Similar to all Jews, in the global diaspora Ethiopians held Judaism in their hearts. Their Judaism harkened back to their belief that the Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon resulted in a son, their ancestor Menelek I. Their tradition says that King Solomon gave Menelek a Torah scroll instructing him to teach Ethiopians about biblical Judaism. You may be inclined to dismiss the story, but facts on the ground in Ethiopia prove the ancient Jewish practices in their culture called Beta (House of) Israel.

Encyclopedia Britannica affirms their Jewish Torah culture in Ethiopia. With a Bible and prayer book written in Geʿez—an ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia—they observed the Sabbath, circumcision, synagogues with priests (kohanim) of the villages, offered animal sacrifices, and kept some of the major Jewish festivals. They followed Jewish dietary laws as best they could despite generations of Ethiopian poverty and famine in that nation.

Danielle Mor, a vice president at the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), explains that Ethiopian Jews were among the most ancient Jews in exile. “They are actually believed to be from the tribe of Dan, exiled by the Babylonians.” She further observes that, living in Ethiopia’s northern rural, mountainous region, they were “cut off from the rest of the Jewish world [and] followed more ancient, biblical traditions, not the traditions of the last 2,500 years.”

Fighting famines and persecution in Ethiopia under dictator Mengistu Hail Mariam—and longing for their homeland, Israel—the Ethiopian Jews first headed north to neighboring Sudan. It was not an easy journey. Suffering from starvation, dehydration, and violence meant Ethiopians died by the thousands. Yet the group maintained its cultural determination to reach their ancestral homeland. Thousands of Ethiopians walked into Sudan. They were then housed in strained, sometimes violent conditions in refugee camps.

Israel, learning of the vast number of deaths, decided to get involved. In 1984-1985, the Ethiopian Jews’ dangerous foot journey was transformed into Israeli flights. Via Operation Moses—the first of three clandestine military undertakings—Israeli pilots airlifted an estimated 7,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudanese refugee camps to Israel. But leaks and political pressure forced Sudan to end the lifesaving airlift prematurely, leaving many people stranded.

In 1985, the U.S. launched Operation Joshua to evacuate the Ethiopian Jews remaining and bring them to safety in Israel. Three countries cooperated in the complex covert logistics: Israel’s Mossad, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and Sudanese State Security. However, this enterprise, too, came to a halt when leaks about Operation Moses became public knowledge and Sudan was pressured by Arab countries to stop.

Operation Solomon, the third masterful operation, was carried out on May 24-25, 1991. Launched to airlift Jews threatened by an escalating civil war in Ethiopia, this remarkable 36-hour enterprise is considered one of the most extraordinary rescue efforts in modern history.

Thirty aircraft were utilized for Operation Solomon, including the Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules. Seats were removed to maximize passenger capacity and plastic sheeting was laid down for improved hygiene and disease prevention. One El Al 747 airlift set a world record: 1,122 passengers—and the miracle of two babies born during the flight.

During Operation Solomon, doctors and paramedics were on hand for malnourished Ethiopians, providing water and food. A summation from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that the operation’s execution was flawless: planes took 14,087 Ethiopian Jews from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Israel in one weekend. Once, 25 planes were in the air simultaneously, including planes chartered from Ethiopia’s state airline.

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics recorded that between 1980 and 1992, Israel repatriated upwards of 44,766 Jewish Ethiopians. History books, websites, social media, and videos are replete with diverse facts and stories of Israel’s decision to airlift black Ethiopian refugees to their homeland.

In fact, Israel is alone in its dedicated, complex efforts to rescue Africans instead of enslaving them. 

The Ethiopian Jews’ transition into Israel was indeed complicated and challenging for both Israelis and Ethiopians. As an example, the first years of integrating Ethiopians—who had lived in huts with no electricity—into contemporary Israeli society meant teaching them how to turn on a stove and perform other tasks required for living in a modern culture. Israelis had to make their own adjustments regarding the culture of Ethiopians. Israel, though, has made frequent transitions—receiving people making Aliyah from nations such as India, China, Mexico, and South America—each bringing their own unique cultures.

In frequent trips to Israel, I have met and talked with many wonderful, exceptional Ethiopian citizens. Among them was Shlomo Molla, former deputy speaker of Israel’s Parliament Knesset, who in 1984 arrived in Israel barefooted. Today, Ethiopians serve in the Israel Defense Forces and attend Israel’s Ono College, which champions multiculturalism and where they earn degrees for prestigious positions as attorneys and in the tech sector.

Divine diversity is part of God's beautiful tapestry of people groups. 

Israel's Lion Rises -and the US Hammer Strikes at Midnight

On Thursday afternoon, June 12, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked to the Western Wall (Kotel) with his prayer shawl draped over his suit and the customary kippah on his head. He wedged a note from Numbers 23:24 into the crevice, “Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion.”

The note in the Kotel was made public the next day—after Netanyahu’s address during Israel’s Operation Rising Lion ascending out of ancient Jewish history before the air strikes on Iran early the next morning. Indeed, the Lion is rising with God’s Hand—evident in extraordinary plans and miracles, despite the faltering Islamic Regime that deliberately targeted Israeli civilians and infrastructure.

Days passed during which Israel fought alone with extraordinary success against the Islamic Regime, the world’s largest terror threat. Global news outlets and commentators declared that division existed between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Would the U.S. commander-in-chief utilize our B-2 stealth bombers to drop the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), often dubbed the “bunker buster” bomb—on Fordow, Iran’s deepest underground nuclear production site?

The answer exploded into headlines in the early hours of Sunday, June 22. Our commander-in-chief, President Donald J. Trump, who earlier gave the Islamic Regime a final two-week ultimatum for diplomacy, acted militarily after the Regime’s pointed refusal. The United States B-2 Spirit stealth bombers struck Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The operation was code-named Midnight Hammer, and President Trump enacted his covert maneuvers with his words and schedule. He spoke in nonspecific terms, presented a calm demeanor, and maintained a normal schedule—that is, until right before Midnight Hammer began.

Planned diversionary flights by U.S. stealth bombers headed east in an aerial fake. Other B-2s flew west toward Iran, their true destination to destroy three nuclear sites. In a cooperative goal to disable the terror regime, Midnight Hammer and Rising Lion implemented their own specialized skills and weaponry. Israel never asks the United States for boots on the ground, and during the B-2 attacks, Iran fired no missiles at our U.S. Air Force and no military personnel were harmed. The precision of the Israel and American air forces in targeting only military sites and Islamic Regime terrorists is admirable. In contrast, Iran’s leaders directly attack Israeli civilians, which is unsurprising since that is how Iran’s proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis have functioned during decades of evil.

At this writing, a very fragile ceasefire is in place between Iran and Israel, brokered by President Trump. Currently described as the Twelve Day War, Israel extraordinarily met its goal to disable Iran’s nuclear dream of destroying the world’s only Jewish state. 

However, take a look at Iran's warmongering against the US. Since 1979, the Islamic Regime and its surrogates have attacked and killed Americans upwards of 45 times. In the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, 66 Americans were held captive for 444 days in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. In 1983, Iran-backed Hezbollah drove a truck bomb into a U.S. Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 220 Marines. In the Iraq War, Iran-backed terrorists killed at least 603 American soldiers. In 2020, an Iranian ballistic missile hit an American air base, leaving 100 American soldiers with traumatic brain injuries. 

President Trump not only aided Israel with our precision stealth bombers, he enacted justice for our country!

Oppressed Iranian citizens are celebrating the possibility of freedom after more than four decades of Islamic tyranny. Nevertheless, almost immediately, outrage against President Trump was voiced by Democrats, leftists, and Islamist imams in the United States. President Trump has remained consistent since he first ran for president, repeatedly declaring, “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” He added on May 13, “Iran can have a much brighter future—but we’ll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or a nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make. We really want them to be a successful country.” Although he preferred demonstrated diplomacy smartly done, he acted on peace through strength as the only solution to disarm Iran’s goal of destroying Israel and America to gain worldwide dominance.

President Trump’s stance is the opposite of past American leaders’ appeasement. Their disastrous 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Joint (JCPOA) was based on their inability or refusal to recognize the difference between evil and good. During the Obama and Biden eras, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry directed an operation of deception to foist it onto Americans. Obama made a $400 million cash transfer to the Ayatollahs. Biden as president gave huge sanctions relief that amounted to $16 billion. When John Kerry ran the State Department, he blocked FBI arrests of Iranian operatives in the U.S. to protect the misguided JCPOA agreement.

When you hear less-than-reliable versions about the decisions of President Trump or Prime Minister Netanyahu, recall these examples of free speech hatred in the United States. Yasir Qadhi—a Muslim cleric in Plano, Texas, who is considered the “architect of Islamization in Texas”—pushes American Muslims to unite against non-Muslims, whom he refers to as Kaffir—“filthy unbelievers.” Praising the Islamic Regime, he is against Muslims who do not agree with his ideological warfare.

Say what you will, it does not change the fact that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu know the vast difference between evil and good. They have acted in a war they did not ask for but which was necessary to gain peace for our world through strength. They are rational leaders seeking peace by disabling the irrational Islamist Regime instigating hate through terror. Polling varies, and while Americans are anxious about what’s next, three in four voters now see Iran as a real security threat.

On June 21, when President Trump gave his speech after the U.S. Air Force’s precision strikes to cut off the head of the Iranian snake, he declared in closing: “I want to just say we love You, God.” On June 22, PM Netanyahu returned to the Kotel to give thanks for President Trump and pray for the IDF. 

Again referring to Numbers 23:24, he commented: “Today I return to the same place—and there is a new note: ‘And a nation rose as a lion.’”