German Christians seek to help Holocaust survivors in Israel

Members of the TOS Church Tuebingen in Tuebingen, Germany are taking a stand for Israel this Hanukkah, literally

Will King|Published: 12.11.07 , 19:35

Every night during the Hanukkah festival several of the “TOS Church Tuebingen" members will, according to a press release from the church, “…keep a vigil for victims of the Holocaust on the square in front of the tax office in Tuebingen, Germany. The location of the tax office has a symbolic meaning, because this office was in charge of the material dispossession of the Jews during the Nazi era.”

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The church members together with TOS Ministries International are also calling upon their local community to make donations towards benefiting Holocaust survivors in Israel.

Pointing to poverty rates in Israel amongst Holocaust survivors, church members asked, “can we allow, that these people, who already suffered dispossession, persecution, concentration camps and mass murder from us Germans, have not even the most necessary basics to live a second time?”

Pastor Jobst Bittner of the TOS Church said, “With this symbolic initiative we want to set a clear sign for the enduring responsibility of the following generation in Germany right in the midst of public discussions to amend payments of compensation to Holocaust survivors.

"We want to use this initiative to encourage people to counter the dark chapter of the dispossession of Jews in Tuebingen during the time of the Nazis with their donation as a light," he said.

The project is a joint initiative of the TOS Church together with TOS Ministries International and the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ). Head of the JIJ, Calev Myers said that their mission is to, “…advance civil rights, freedom of religion and social justice in Israel.” Myers said that he is particularly concerned about Holocaust survivors and that, “the Jerusalem Institute of Justice tries to fill in the gaps where there just isn’t enough public funds to meet the need.”

TOS and JIJ are hoping to raise enough money through their campaign to purchase and distribute 10,000 blankets this winter to Holocaust survivors and other elderly citizens in Israel living below the poverty line.

While this is indeed a noble goal, Myers admits that this number is only “scratching the surface,” citing 2006 figures from the Israeli government stating that of the approximately 680,000 elderly persons in Israel, some 25 percent of them live under the poverty line.

For the members of the TOS Church, they state that, “…this symbolic act will point to the future and be a sign of taking civil responsibility in a town which actually persecuted and dispossessed the Jews 70 years ago.” The TOS Church routinely holds conferences and special events, such as a March of Life they conducted last April from the former Bisingen Camp to Dachau, in order to raise awareness of Israel, the Jewish people, and push their fellow Germans to acknowledge and share in the hurt that they caused the Jews through the Holocaust.

For Myers and the JIJ, he hopes the blanket campaign shows that, “Zionism is alive. There are many sincere believers from the Judeo-Christian society worldwide that care about Israel and the welfare of its citizens. They want to come alongside the Israeli government,” he continued, “and donate their resources to continue the establishment of a thriving Jewish state within the borders of Israel.