During this time of trial for Israel, leaders in the UMJC are showing solidarity by visiting in person. Executive Director Dr. Jeffrey Seif and his wife, Barri Cae, recently returned from Israel, as did UMJC Rabbi Michael Kashdan. Jeff Seif’s brief report is followed by a longer account by Rabbi Kashdan.

As representatives of the global Messianic Jewish movement and in solidarity with the greater Jewish community, we affirm our standing with Israel in defense of our homeland. Our hearts are broken to see this present evil perpetrated against Israel. The current war against Israel has united the people of Israel and we stand united with them.

Jews and their allies from across America converged at the National Mall in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, November 14, to make a three-fold statement: support for Israel in its war against Hamas, a demand for immediate release of all hostages, and opposition to the dramatic rise in antisemitism.

Amid mounting opposition to Israel’s defensive war against Hamas, and a sharp rise in antisemitic activity in the US and beyond, major Jewish organizations are calling for a “March for Israel” on Tuesday, November 14.

A federal jury on August 2 voted to sentence Robert Bowers to death for killing 11 worshipers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. In June, the jury found Bowers, 50, guilty of dozens of federal hate crimes in a trial held at the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania.

Sandra Sheskin Brotman entered into her eternal rest peacefully surrounded by family and friends on Monday, May 29, 2023. Sandra, a matriarch in the Messianic Jewish movement, was full of life, passionate about her faith, and rarely missed an opportunity to share the love of Yeshua with others.

US Special Envoy Deborah Lipstadt cited the Haggadah in a recent interview to explain why increased engagement with antisemitism won’t necessarily lead to a decrease in attacks: “The authors of the Passover Haggadah, one of our oldest texts, recognized hundreds of years ago that ‘in every generation there are those who rise up to destroy us,’ which is why historians talk about antisemitism as the oldest hatred.”

Chaim Urbach passed away on March 10 after a long struggle with declining health. He was born and raised in Israel, where he came to know Yeshua early in life under the influence of his parents, Eliezer and Sara. The family immigrated to North America in 1964, and eventually settled in Denver, where he met and married his beloved Joy, and devoted himself to Messianic Jewish ministry as an esteemed leader and mentor.

On Erev Shabbat, February 10, near the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem, Yaakov Paley, a 6-year-old boy and Shlomo Laderman, a young man who was married only two months ago were killed and several others have been wounded in a car-ramming terror attack.

Mark Greenberg departed to be with Yeshua Friday night, January 13, after a brave, two-year struggle with vascular disease. He was the rabbi of Shalom Rome, a UMJC-affiliated congregation in Rome, Georgia, from 2016 until the Covid pandemic and his condition led to his medical retirement in 2020. Mark was also a cofounder of the Tree of Life Bible Society along with his wife, Daniah.