2,700 years ago, God, through the prophet Isaiah, revealed a vision of the future to the people of Israel: “Foreigners will stand and tend your cattle, and foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.” (Isaiah 61:1) But how can these words be interpreted, and to whom do they refer? Jerome Garbers, a participant in a Young Christians Standing with Israel (JCSI), may have witnessed a small part of the answer.
By Jerome Garbers
Does Isaiah's statement refer to foreign workers after the Israelites' return from Babylonian captivity? Or is it perhaps a metaphorical representation of a future kingdom under the rule of Jesus Christ? Perhaps, however, Isaiah also had the following image in mind: A group of 26 people—Saxons and Swabians, old and young—who answered the call of Young Christians Standing with Israel (JCSI) to travel to Israel for a week in February 2025 to lend a hand to the Israeli vintner Jacob, pruning shears in hand.
Claudia, a volunteer with JCSI and leader of this special tour group, had met Jakob by chance a few months earlier. He told her about his experience on October 7, 2023. Jakob lives just five kilometers (5 miles) as the crow flies from Gaza. When he learned in the early morning hours that thousands of terrorists had invaded the country with the goal of killing as many Jews as possible, he summoned all his courage and joined the fight himself. Through his tireless efforts, he was able to eliminate many terrorists—some of whom were disguised as Israeli soldiers. But what remains, besides the heroism of Jakob and many other Israelis, are the images: images of terrified children hidden by their parents in closets to protect them from becoming victims of the murderous Hamas fighters. So many tragic stories unfolded in those days.
How can one help a people who have suffered such terrible things? How can one share God's love in times like these? Since the attack, there has been an acute labor shortage throughout the country, including in Jakob's vineyard. Claudia therefore suggested asking some people from Germany if they would be willing to travel to Shuva, a moshav near Netivot, for a few days to prune the vines for the upcoming harvest. Jakob agreed.
What Jakob and Claudia hadn't anticipated, however, was the speed with which the news spread. Within a very short time, many people from different church traditions and with varying connections to Israel took up the cause. We set out to share the love of Jesus with the people through hands-on work. Once there, Jakob arranged sleeping quarters for our group in the tents and yurts of one of his friends. In the morning, he picked us up with a tractor, which then took us to the field. After just half an hour of instruction, we got to work. Although most of us didn't know each other beforehand, we quickly became a well-coordinated team and experienced how well we got along.
After finishing our work, we returned to our sleeping places, where we also cooked our dinner. We were all very grateful that it only rained at night and not during the day, and that the rain only found a few holes in the tent. Furthermore, we experienced God's protection in this particular situation: Since February was probably the quietest month since the beginning of the war, we were able to carry out our work largely undisturbed by rocket alerts and even help with the orange harvest twice for a change of pace.
We experienced people's gratitude for our presence. But ultimately, it is we who look back with gratitude on everything we experienced during our time there: the wonderful people we met who shared their moving stories with us; Cornelius, also a volunteer with JCSI, as a fantastic translator; a grapevine brought from Germany that we were allowed to plant in Jakob's field; and so much more.
The most memorable moment was when we sat together on the last evening and Jacob said to us in farewell that he saw us Christians as brothers who stood by the Jewish people, especially in these difficult times. Biblically speaking, he was absolutely right: we all look to the same vineyard owner who planted us with such care and faithfulness and who will hopefully allow us to grow even closer together.
