Food program provides Israeli families with Christian love and spiritual nourishment

 ASHDOD, Israel — While his country battles for its survival on multiple fronts, Beit Hallel Pastor Israel Pochtar fights to open more doors for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this Jewish nation.

His weapon of choice is Christian love, best expressed through Beit Hallel’s many care and sustenance programs for the poor, needy, and broken individuals in Israeli society — with a particular emphasis on new Jewish immigrants, Holocaust Survivors, World War II veterans, single mothers, and children.

Beit Hallel congregants and volunteers assemble each week to pack food boxes, quality clothing, furniture, appliances and more. Many people in need come to Beit Hallel to pick up goods and experience fellowship, while other goods are delivered to families — along with heaping doses of encouragement and hope.

Their mission of delivering hope by addressing practical needs of people is something that People Helping People Network founder Jeff Cardwell can relate to. It’s what PHP’s HOPE Equation (Housing + Hunger relief + Healthcare + Education x Faith = HOPE) is all about.

As many Christians do, Cardwell holds a special place in his heart for the Holy Land and is concerned for the people of Israel. Now, PHP is partnering with Beit Hallel so that those who long to help Israelis in these difficult times can feed families — and their souls — through the food distribution project that helps more than 1,000 people each month.

“Pastor Israel and his congregation are putting faith into action, as Jesus calls us to do and as we also practice at The People Helping People Network,” Cardwell said. “Our mission is to match those who want to help people with those like Pastor Israel who can deliver the help. By feeding hungry Israelis, Beit Hallel is making a real, tangible difference in people’s lives — and demonstrating the Gospel in the process.”

Pastor Israel said their humanitarian programs are helping Israelis see the Christains in a new light, especially in such difficult times.

“It’s like a soft way of preaching the Gospel,” he said. “Israelis don’t know about the love of Christians. Now, I see it, little by little, it’s happening.  And it’s growing more and more. As more of the secular world turns against Israel, the message of love from Christians becomes more important.”

He also knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the Gospel because he grew up Jewish, generations of his family having escaped the Holocaust and then fleeing the Soviet Union after having settled in Crimea. Being the one spreading the Gospel is not something he could have foreseen in his youth, even as his family often hid their Jewish faith to avoid persecution. But he never lost his connection with God.

“I actually prayed all my life,” he said. “I was talking to God more and more, asking Him to show me the way. He sent me a friend who had just become a born-again believer, dramatically saved. He preached about Jesus to me.”

The 18-year-old Pochtar argued from his Jewish perspective, but he had come into the conversation with an open heart. He felt something move in his heart, and his life changed.

“It just happened so quickly,” he remembers. The Holy Spirit was touching my heart so strongly. That same day I gave my life to the Lord. Jesus came into my heart.”

He went to a Swedish bible school where he met his future wife. He had planned to someday go to Israel to live but expected that to be after he retired. When a revival broke out with many people being saved, he heard speakers preach about the prophecies of the Bible and decided Israel was calling him sooner rather than later.

That was 30 years ago.

“It was pre-Internet time, so all the Christian congregations were underground,” he recalled of joining a congregation in Tel Aviv. “I spent two years in that congregation. I had an American rabbi/pastor, and he asked to be full-time minister and evangelize. We had a wonderful 10 years in Tel Aviv. It was a happy life with so many friends.”

Then he felt a new message come into his heart.

“God sent the message to leave everything behind and move to Ashdod and start a congregation,” Pastor Israel said. “My church in Tel Aviv had no vision to start new churches. He said, ‘If God calls you, bless you, bye-bye, shalom.’ I was a little bit sad, but I knew that it was God’s way for us.”

It was not easy starting the congregation in Ashdod, an all-Jewish city. There were 400 synagogues in town, but no churches or mosques were allowed. Beit-Hallel still assembles in a public building, where they were often harassed in the early days from the door of the building to the streets of town, where posters condemning the pastor and his wife were sometimes posted.

“We started to grow quickly,” he said. “Many many young people were saved. Then we entered a long season of persecution. Those were difficult years. But, little by little, with spiritual grounding and faith in God and Jesus, we learned how to live with persecution.”

They persevered through those days, again, by demonstrating love rather than by responding in kind.

“In Tel Aviv, we did some humanitarian work, but we never saw any spiritual fruits of it,” he said. “But in the time of persecution, God started speaking to us. He said, ‘I want you to take care of the poor and needy, new immigrants, Holocaust survivors.’”

So, they did — and this time the spiritual fruits flourished.

“I couldn’t even imagine that helping the poor and needy would be such a powerful message about Christians,” Pastor Israel said. “That’s why we’re growing. That’s why we see so many salvations — some radical salvation and some slow processes of people getting touched by the Holy Spirit little by little. … We do street evangelism, but really what works best for us is helping people and sharing with them about Christianity.”

While many hunger relief efforts by The People Helping People Network have involved shipping food to international families in need, others involve funding in-country food programs. Because the state of Israel places many restrictions on outside food for religious and other reasons, it is more effective to fund the purchasing of food within the country.

“It’s easier to buy in the land and in the factories, and it helps the Israeli economy, as well,” Pastor Israel said. “And we’re trying to buy more and more from the kibbutzes that have suffered from the war.”

Beit-Hallel usually gets about 250 volunteers to pack the food items, about half of whom are members of the congregation while the other half are not Christians, he said, adding that they simply want to bask in the joy of Christian service.

“We’ve had people come to receive help, but I’ve seen some people say they don’t need it but say they’re giving it to their neighbor who does have needs,” Pastor Israel said. “And we’ve have volunteers who’ve told me, ‘I come here just to be in this atmosphere of encouragement, hope and love. Because of you guys and the atmosphere, I’m here.’”

Ultimately, it’s all about delivering nourishment for the body — and the soul.

“We come with the food baskets and a message of hope and encouragement as Christians,” he said. “That really touches the lives of people. We see tears, and they are so grateful. … Food is important, but God is using that to share love with people and ultimately turn them to the Gospel.”

Pastor Israel not only helps distribute hope throughout the country, but he also exudes hope himself. He is hardly out of touch with the dangers of the turbulence in the Middle East as his two sons are both serving in the Israeli military, among 30 other children of his fellow congregants. As someone whose congregation suffered losses on October 7, 2023 — including his youngest son’s best friend who was shot in the neck and bled to death while he and his machine gun stood between terrorists and a kibbutz — he is fully aware of the horrible attack that provoked the current war.

And, yes, he has hope. Now is the time for hope, he insists, not for despair.

“We want peace,” he said. “We want shalom. It’s tough, but also it’s a great time for the Kingdom. It’s a great time for us to speak about Jesus and to spread hope.”

While the sounds of blaring air raid sirens, swooshing rockets and thundering explosions are far too common, he said Israelis have learned to persevere and to go on with their lives as much as they can. They cannot give terrorists the satisfaction of constantly cowering in fear.

“It’s fight with one hand, and celebrate with the other hand,” he said of the Israeli spirit. “Construction is going on like crazy in Israel. A lot of babies have been born in the past year. It’s amazing. There’s death, but Israel is celebrating life as much as we can and trying to rejoice in the Lord.”

He encourages Christians to pray for Israel and insists that this is a spiritual battle for all of God’s people. He also knows that not everyone is on board with Israel’s fight.

“When I watch Christian TV, it seems like everybody supports Israel,” he said. “But in actuality, it’s not that way. All the Christians who help Israel, that is setting the stage to reach Israel with love — practically and spiritually.

“So, first of all, pray for shalom, pray for peace,” he added. “It looks like there are no solutions. You can’t kill everyone. Political solutions, Israel has tried everything. There can only be a spiritual solution. So when I say pray for peace, it means a lot. Only supernatural intervention from Heaven can bring peace. There is religious and spiritual warfare, so only spiritual solutions can change that. Only God can change that. So, pray for peace. Pray for Palestinians. Pray that doors for the Gospel will be opened to Gaza.”

He knows that peace will only be realized after much pain. The end result is what matters most to him.

“We see through the struggles and battles that eventually Israel will open up to Jesus more and more,” he said. “That’s the ultimate goal of God — that all of Israel will be saved. I understand more and more. When I was younger, my vision was more of a happy picture of the salvation of Israel. Now I see that it is not. But it’s a beautiful process to see Jewish people coming to Jesus. 

“God promised that he is going to save the Jewish people and restore Israel,” he concluded. “Israel will return to Jesus.”

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