Meet the Makuya, Israel’s most unwavering supporters

[Sally]

Here we have another branch of Zionists.


ISRAEL TRAVELS / Over 300,000 Japanese subscribe to the Makuya newsletter
Meet the Makuya, Israel’s most unwavering supporters
Abraham Teshina’s ‘New Zionism’ movement was born in Japan in May 1948, as Israel declared independence. It was no coincidence
BY AVIVA AND SHMUEL BAR-AM May 30, 2015, 9:46 am 32

• 
  
  Makuya members march in Jerusalem (Shmuel Bar-Am)
• 
  
  Shavuot study at the Jerusalem Makuya Center (Shmuel Bar-Am)
• 
  
  Makuya members march in Jerusalem (Shmuel Bar-Am)
• 
  
  Jerusalem Makuya Center director Asher Seito Kimura, his wife Tzofiya and their children Shmuel Bar-Am)
• 
  
  Makuya members at the Jerusalem center (Shmuel Bar-Am)

<>

Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am

For some time now, I’ve been singing the Israeli National Anthem with less fervor than in the past. Indeed, despite the Zionist zeal that brought me to Israel nearly five decades ago and which will undoubtedly keep me rooted to this country forever, I may have become a bit jaded. And so have many of my friends.


Small wonder, then, that when a group of us spent an evening with members of the Japanese Makuya in Jerusalem, we could barely hold back our tears. For when they sang “Zion, Zion, Zion” under the Israeli flag, their enthusiasm and shouts of joy could have raised the roof. With a collective lump in our throats, my friends and I were carried back to a simpler time, when it had all seemed only a matter of survival – and Israel had somehow survived.


The Makuya movement was born In May of 1948, the same month and year in which Israel declared its independence. But the Makuya don’t believe in coincidence. In fact, they consider the establishment of the modern State of Israel and the reunification of Jerusalem 19 years later to be the fulfillment of biblical prophecies, miraculous works of God.

Continue reading at:

Meet the Makuya, Israel’s most unwavering supporters