Root and Branch Project Brings Christians, Jews Together to Help Israel's Suffering Communities

JERUSALEM, Israel – The aftermath of October 7th has brought many unique people from around the world together in Israel to offer their help.

In one example, an Iranian-born Christian, an Orthodox Jew, and a large family from the Arctic Circle have teamed up to help suffering communities here.

Harvesting olives around areas devastated on that tragic day is one project of the Genesis 123 Foundation, founded by Jonathan Feldstein. It's also building bridges between Jews and Christians, and the Jewish state.

Feldstein told CBN News, "We chose to work along the Gaza border in communities that were the most hard-hit by the Hamas massacre – to take the olives from those communities that wouldn't otherwise be used, to turn them into oil and then create revenue for that, that goes back into their own communities.

Feldstein, the founder of Genesis 123, is heading up a project called the Root and Branch initiative. He says a key goal is making meaningful relationships

"Everyone is overwhelmed, grateful, excited, about the fact that these Christian volunteers have come, especially now we're in the midst of a war," he declared.

Feldstein, an Israeli and an Orthodox Jew, has partnered with Marzi Amirizadeh, an Iranian-born Christian sentenced to death by  the Islamic Republic regime for her faith. She now lives in the United States.

"The whole idea to bring Christians to harvest olives was Marzi's," Feldstein explained. He added, "I felt a big response in my heart to encourage more Christians to stand up with Jews. and also restore friendship between Persians and Jews." 

Amirizadeh established newpersia.org for this purpose. When she met Feldstein and his family two years ago during her first visit to Israel, they realized they shared a similar vision.

"The vision that God gave me is Root and Branch," she told us. 

Feldstein explained that scripture contains prophetic references to such a project in both the Old and New Testaments.

"The verse from Romans 11 referencing the Jews as the root supporting the branch," he said. "And then from Ezekiel 36, the prophecy of when the Jewish people come home, the land will blossom again. Now these trees that we're harvesting epitomize the flourishing and the blossoming. Every olive that we pick, every liter of oil that we make, that's the fulfillment of prophecy."

Helping the land heal was a goal that brought Sarah Stewart, her husband Luke, and their six children to Israel. They had to take multiple flights from their Alaska home to get here.

Sarah Stewart told us, "We lived in a small Eskimo village of 100 people above the Arctic Circle. As we learned Hebrew, we learned what God is doing in the land of Israel."

Luke recalled, "October 7th happened  When I saw some of the pictures of the children who were taken captive I realized that those could have been my kids. And so for a year, I've been trying to come, wanting to do something,"

Sarah says her kids forage for berries back home in Alaska, so shaking olives from trees is easy.

"This is a really, really fun time for us," she stated. "Israel's in the Father's heart. He will bless those who bless Israel, you know, we just want to be a part of what He loves."

Pastor Danny Austin identifies with a historic failure of the Church.

"Here we are, right in the midst of a war, able to gather olives to help those (who) are suffering. When the Holocaust took place, the world didn't want to see, and they said it wasn't real. And so they just walked away. So, here we are with 18 people. I'm going to go back and tell our church. We have over 3000 members. They know the Bible and they know how important it is to be involved with what's taking place in Israel."

Cyndi McKain tells CBN News that she came from Georgia to see the situation firsthand and spread the word back home.

"To bear witness in the United States of what Israel has gone through, and that's one thing that breaks my heart," she said.

Amirizadeh related, "Jonathan helped me to visit all the communities that were destroyed by terrorists and it was very heartbreaking."

Since Amirizadeh experienced torture in Iran, she can uniquely identify with the suffering here.

"I was in prison and I was sentenced to death by hanging just because of, you know, believing in Jesus. The regime executed my best friend. They killed my husband. So, to see what happened to Israeli people, I totally understand their pain and suffering," she declared.

Gad Sobol told the group how Hamas kidnapped his twin grandsons, Ziv and Gali from their home in Kfar Aza. They remain in captivity. 

"We are waiting every day to get them alive," he shared.

In response to Sobol sharing about his grandchildren in Gaza, the group gathered around in an impromptu show of support.

"Christians always want to pray," Feldstein remarked. "And that was organic. That just happened. Marzi prayed, and you saw the tears streaming down her face. Cyndi prayed." 

Sobol responded, "Toda, toda, toda (thank you, thank you, thank you)." 

Feldstein observed, "Those are meaningful relationships."

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