Christians from nearly 30 countries sent a prayer for peace and divine blessing to Israel through a special Sukkot video that has thus far garnered around 100,000 views.
The video of “Btfilah Amen” was created by Christian Zionist recording artists, musicians, and choirs and debuted on the eve of the Sukkot holiday as part of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem’s Feast of Tabernacles kick-off event. It was then uploaded to social networks and has garnered 75,000 views on YouTube and around 25,000 on Facebook in just a few days.
ICEJ usually hosts the Feast of Tabernacles live in Jerusalem with around 6,000 attendees. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the embassy has been forced to move it online for the last two years. This year, hundreds of thousands of participants are watching eight days of broadcasts from the Holy Land. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and President Isaac Herzog all took part in the opening ceremony.
The song “Btfilah Amen” was Israel’s entry into the 1995 Eurovision song contest. It was first sung at Eurovision by Liora.
Its lyrics are in Hebrew. Translated, they ask God to “give a blessing of peace and guard our house” and to “bring us closer to the dream within us” and to “open our hearts that we will always sing to you.”
This latest version was performed by singers and musicians from Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Your devotion to Israel is not only a blessing for us,” Bennett said during the opening event last week, “but it has helped us sustain our situation during the most trying times, including wars. You rejoice in Israel’s many triumphs, and you stand with us side-by-side when we most need it.”
He said that Christian love for Israel is “legendary.”