‘Shaheed’ for the Gospel

Rami Ayyad, a 29-year-old father of two with a pregnant wife, became the first martyr for the gospel in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. His death underscores the mounting danger faced by evangelical Christians in Gaza.

Ayyad’s body was found some 12 hours after he was kidnapped, with two gunshot wounds including one to the back of the head, stab wounds and with a blow to the head.

When Hamas seized control of Gaza in a Palestinian civil war in June, its leaders announced that a new era of Islamic rule had arrived. For Christians, it amounted to an ultimatum: submit to Allah’s dictates or leave.

Some 3,000 Christians or fewer live among 1.5 million Palestinian Muslims in Gaza. Evangelical Christians number in the mere hundreds, and most are wary of speaking to outsiders about their trials for fear of retribution from their Muslim rulers. 

Pastor Hanna Massad of the Gaza Baptist Church spoke of Ayyad’s final hours. Two days prior to his kidnapping and brutal murder, he was followed home from work at Gaza’s only Christian bookstore by a car full of Islamic militants. Ayyad had been threatened by Muslim elements before, and his unwelcome entourage was seen as little more than an act of intimidation. But after closing the Bible Society bookshop on a Saturday afternoon, he was abducted, held for several hours and killed.

Massad said that Ayyad was one of his congregation’s most beloved and passionate members, and a man who fearlessly shared the gospel despite the threats that sought to silence him. “Rami was a very strong believer. He would not compromise with his faith,” said Massad. Even in the face of death threats, Ayyad “loved the Lord and was willing to pay the price for his faith.”

Massad said the dangers facing believers in Gaza are growing. “We never had anything like this,” said the pastor, noting that an increasing number of local Christians “are afraid and some have many questions.”

Nevertheless, most remain dedicated to their faith and  hold up Ayyad as “a shaheed (martyr) for the gospel.” It is an ironic twist because Palestinians use the Islamic (Arabic) word “shaheed” to describe suicide bombers.

Massad said that he has no doubt the Lord will use Ayyad’s death in a powerful way, and while Gaza believers wait for the next step to become clear, they will continue to pray for and encourage one another.

Echoing the propaganda of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the international media maintains that relations between Christians and Muslims in Gaza are generally good. But it is becoming clear that Christians are merely tolerated, and evangelical Christians even less so. Those who dare to share the gospel in Gaza truly lay their lives on the line.

Sabbatical Year, not so Restful

 
DALTON, northern Israel – It is supposed to be a year of rest for the land in accordance with the biblical command to refrain from working the ground every seventh year: “You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat.” (Exodus 23:10-11)
 
The sabbatical year (shmita in Hebrew) began on Rosh Hashanah (September 12th), but lawyers, rabbis and farmers are doing anything but resting as a war between synagogue and state is brewing.
 
Normally, the sabbatical year has a routine approved by the Chief Rabbinate: Jewish farmers “sell” their land to non-Jews during that year so that produce is considered kosher because it was not grown by Jews. This is known as heter mechira (consent of sale). With this practice, instituted in the late 1800s, the fruit and vegetable market generally stays the same.
 
This year, however, the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical authorities adopted a stricter approach. “From the point of view of the Rabbinate the heter mechira is acceptable,” said Avi Blumenthal, spokesman for Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger. “But the local city rabbi has the right not to accept it.”
 
The decision put a wedge between the rabbinate and farmers, and even Zionist Orthodox Israelis are unhappy about it. The rift deepened when some local rabbis adopted the strict ultra-Orthodox view and warned that they would revoke kosher licenses to shops and restaurants if produce was bought from a farm that was symbolically sold. That means major losses for the nation’s farmers.
 
In the late 1880s, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook came up with the idea of heter mechira so the Land may be cultivated at no loss to farmers. But many ultra-Orthodox Jews see this as a way to avoid religious obligations. During shmita years, they buy their produce from Arab farmers in Israel, the Palestinian territories, or import from abroad.
 
“This is a betrayal of religious Zionism and a betrayal of Jewish farmers,” Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, rabbi of the settlement of Efrat near Bethlehem, said. “Tragically, issues such as this are dividing even observant Jews.”
 
Riskin said his community never buys Arab produce even during a shmita year.
 
Tzohar, a group of younger Zionist rabbis, announced that they will issue heter mechira certificates of their own in cities where the local rabbi will not. “We believe it is important to strengthen Jewish farmers and provide reasonably priced produce to the Jewish nation,” said Tzohar chairman Rabbi Rafi Freuerstein.
 
Agriculture Minister Shalom Simchon accused the ultra-Orthodox, who represent only 5 to 7 per cent of the population, of “religious coercion” and announced that he will ban imports that compete with Israeli farmers. That could affect Palestinian farmers in Judea and Samaria, though produce is not likely to come from Gaza as it did seven years ago. Israel has stopped all exports from Gaza since the Hamas takeover in June.
 
The shmita feud was so bitter that it wound up in the Supreme Court, which responded to an appeal from the Israel Farmers’ Federation and the Plants Council.
 
“This is a clash between religion and state,” said the farmers’ lawyer Shaul Pelles. The court ruled in favor of the petitioners and ordered the Chief Rabbinate to force local rabbis to change their decision or replace them.
 
At the moment, refrigerated fruit and vegetables grown before the Jewish New Year are being sold. But planting will soon begin for winter vegetables such as peppers and lettuce, which take only two to three months to grow.
 
In Upper Galilee, the prestigious Dalton Winery is harvesting grapes and making wine, but producing only one kosher label this year while the rest will be marketed abroad.
 
“If you’re a wine fan, you’ll still have the Dalton label on the shelf,” Assaf Haviv told us. “But most will be sold outside the country. This year we will sell modestly in Israel.”