Recently I received again an amazing invitation from a dear Greek pastor and friend, Stavros Ignatiou, who had asked me to attend their annual Holocaust Commemorative Event in Cyprus during Holocaust international Memorial Day.
They organize the event all by themselves, sponsoring the whole event with the sole purpose of honoring Holocaust victims and survivors.
Foreign dignitaries and ambassadors from countries like Germany, France & England are invited. Last year they attended and it was amazing to see so many high ranking officials alongside Israeli government officials honoring the Holocaust victims and survivors.
Stavros also invited Holocaust survivors who share their testimony and it’s always very powerful and impacting.
What makes this event so unique, on top of everything else, its timing.
When anti-Semitism is on the rise all over Europe as never before, the attacks are unprecedented and the hatred is palpable, to see a church standing up for what is right, refusing to forget what happened 70 years ago when the world turned a blind eye on the same hatred we see awakening these days against the Jewish people.
Let’s say, honoring Holocaust victims and survivors is not very popular these days. Nothing related to supporting Israel is, but pastor Stavros has always been one of my heroes – a truly courageous man who doesn’t compromise.
It’s a great honor for me to go as a representative of the body of believers in Israel, to bring the message of hope and God’s love.
Please pray for this powerful event, for traveling mercies and for people’s hearts to be touched by the outpouring of love they will witness.
Beit Hallel is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Ashdod, led by pastor Israel Pochtar, serving holocaust survivors and the poor and needy locally and throughout the nation of Israel, while building up the body of Messiah in the promised land of Israel.