A Higher Calling for Former News Editor Craig Shrum
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[(Editor's Note: Craig Shrum was news editor of the Du Quoin Evening Call and earlier this year began a mission to Jerusalem as part of the volunteer "Bridges for Peace" initiative. Craig is well-known and well-liked and a newsletter he sent to the Du Quoin Evening Call last week is very insightful as to his work--John H. Croessman).
It's been about six weeks since my last newsletter, and a lot can happen in six weeks! Many of you know that my assignment to move north to the Bridges for Peace Outreach Center in Karmiel, in the Galilee, has been postponed until probably at least January. Viktoriya, my supervisor here at the Jerusalem center, is experiencing some health problems. Once those are resolved, then the plan is still for me to head to Karmiel and begin working to expand the Immigrant Gifts and Adoption Program to that office.
The change of plans is not all bad, as I'm able to help Viktoriya now and will cover for her if she has to be out of the office. So I'm learning more about coordinating Adoption, which is good preparation for whatever is to come. This month we have about 240 families receiving food and bus passes from Bridges for Peace; during the fall festival season in Israel those gifts are an extra blessing.
Last week, a university student from Russia told me that the twice-monthly food allotments he and his friends receive through the Adoption Program are an enormous help. "A couple of days before we come to pick up our food, we're glad that it's almost time for us to come" and get the allotment, he said. With food price increases and economic uncertainty affecting Israel as much as they do the rest of the world, meeting the needs of young people and families in Jerusalem is a practical outreach that really benefits those helped through the Adoption Program.
Feast Time
I'm grateful to be here in Jerusalem during the time of the fall feasts. You can read more about them in Leviticus 23, but we just celebrated last week Rosh HoShanah or the Feast of Trumpets. This week we observe Yom Kippur starting Wednesday evening. This is a solemn fast and to observant Jews the holiest day of the year. During the times of the biblical temple, this was the one time per year when the Israelites' high priest could enter the Holy of Holies in the temple and ask God to forgive all the sins of the people.
The 10 days between Rosh HoShanah and Yom Kippur are known as the Days of Awe, when many people reflect on their relationship with God and with their friends and families, seeking to be right before God in all areas as Yom Kippur draws near. And on Yom Kippur, many Israelis fast according to the commandment in Leviticus, not eating any food or drinking any liquids for 24 hours. So my last supper is tonight!
Then with some friends I plan to go to the Western Wall, where there will be quite a crowd of Israelis and visitors from around the world gathered at the site. The wall is all that remains of the Jewish temple complex that stood during Jesus' time and is just below the site of the Temple Mount, where the high priest offered the sacrifices during the biblical observation of the Day of Atonement.
Coming Up Next…
Most of you know that I head home to the U.S. for most of the month of December. I fly out from Israel on Dec. 2 and will most likely return to Jerusalem on or about Dec. 30. Right now, I plan to serve with Bridges for Peace throughout 2009.
You can support me financially with your tax-deductible donations: Send contributions to Bridges for Peace, PO Box 410037, Melbourne, FL 32941-0037. Make checks payable to Bridges for Peace, but please write on the check "In Support of Craig Shrum."