Alyosha Ryabinov /
Powerful Opportunities & Changed Lives
July & August 2019 Newsletter
Powerful Opportunities & Changed Lives
We have had the most full and fruitful season of our lives these past months & our hearts are overflowing with joy! Just last month we spent one week with a group from Dinkelsbühl Germany learning together about the Kingdom & Israel! They also reached out to the Survivors with us. For such a time as this...there are so many opportunities to share His Love, His Word and impart His Power and Glory as never before. Thank you for standing with us!❤️
We Give Thanks for His many Miracles...
Transforming Hearts and Changing Lives!
❤️🌺🌼💕
These days are like no other days! Only our Creator could have written this script for His Kingdom and Glory! Thank you for your love, prayers for Israel and The Kingdom...both here and in all nations of the world!
As we write this email there are many challenges our nation is facing that need all of our prayers. There was a young Ethiopian man who was shot and killed by a police officer and rioting that followed. There is so much prejudice in this land and all that along with pride must come down and be addressed. It is so sad for these precious people who sacrificed so much, many of them walking thousands of kilometres to get here, just to be in Israel. Please pray for them and our government to take a stand of humility and repentance. Moreover we have elections happening again that cost this nation "billions of Shekels" and we pray that the government will overcome all the challenges and be unified for the good of all! Another area to pray for is Syria,...having over 600,000 killed in the war in our neighbouring land. Hezbollah and Iran are true enemies of Israel and they are wanting to set up headquarters in Syria! Not good at all! We must pray with wisdom, not out of fear, but faith and trust HE is in control.
"Let’s Rejoice" as we
Co-Labor together...such a gift from above!
As we wrap up a very busy season here in Israel with the Survivors and our local community, we prepare for several trips overseas at this time. We covet your prayers for strength, safety and a powerful and fruitful time for His Glory and Kingdom. During July we will fly to Asia - Hong Kong, Malaysia, & Singapore and back home for several weeks before we head out to Slovakia, Poland and lastly a Seminar in Lüdenscheid, Germany. Join us if you are in the area! Please write for details.
Here is a little video clip that was filmed at a concert and art fair for Survivors we were involved in last week. It was so much fun to see the impact of how giving a piece of art moves the heart. This week we had a concert in our home and gave out the baskets we prepared and the expressions on their faces were worth it all!
One more video to bless you!
This video was filmed live at a concert that was held at the Helping Hands Coalition Villa in Caesarea. It was for Survivors and Alexander and Cäcilia Dietz sang this beautiful prayer and the Survivors loved it so much and so did we. Just so uplifting! ❤️ The words of the song are: "Father of Kindness, Elohim of mercy, King of Kings that hears prayer".
Over the past several years we have progressively been working along side others serving in Israel to reach the needy and also to bless those who have had severe traumas and hardships in life...multitudes in Israel. Collaboration is such a beautiful thing...such a Kingdom thing! When it comes to meeting needs there is no room to be self serving or exhibiting ye ol' showmanship. We all must come together to work as a family, a team to get the job done. This is the Kingdom!
One group of people we have been reaching out to for 9 years now in Israel are the Holocaust Survivors. Each week we have been requested to be in charge of the music, dance, musicians, artists, etc.. We love this work ~ bringing joy and impartation of true faith and appreciation to these precious people. Not only in Caesarea, but also in our home and in other cities too. We are able to bring a complete sound system, keyboard and give concerts each week.
For us we could have never written a more fulfilling script in our nation ~ Israel, where so many are victims of terror and trauma.There are still tens of thousands of these survivors alive from one end of the country to the other. Each day we are losing their company, for they are up in age(80-90+ years old) and one never knows if we will see them again after a concert. 😔But they will not be forgotten, no ...NEVER FORGOTTEN!
Join us please in praying over our destiny in this nation and all the lives we are able to impact! The fields we labour in along with many local congregations for outreach are the following: the largest psychiatric hospital in Israel, a children's orphanage, and one particular organization we have the honour to work with each week - The Helping Hands Coalition. They requested that we would take the job of providing music and other artists to come each week. The Villa they rent came equipped with a beautiful full sized grand piano. What a divine set-up from heaven to do this for these very precious people. Each week we share our talents and our hearts.
I (Jody) usually like to tell the story of how my grandparents came from Russia and Romania to New York on boats and all but one passed away when I was a very little girl and I hardly remember them. So, I grew up without any grandparents and sorely missed having that kind of a family. I love to let them know how I discovered I did have grandparents and how I discovered it over and over again when I look into their eyes. We are all impacted by this fact...that we are family for one another! ❤️❤️ It warms their hearts and we also talk about the miracle of the plan of our Creator to bring us all home to this amazing nation ~Israel~ being built before our eyes...a fulfilment of Scripture! What a gift this is for each of us. Our KING is faithful! 
This last Sunday we had 40 Holocaust Survivors bused to our home and it was in my heart to prepare baskets with many little gifts for them that speak of their value and preciousness. It was so much fun to create them and two families came to help put them together and even added some sweet little chocolates! The children also made special framed scriptures to give out to each Survivor coming and it has the verse from Isaiah 41:10. Here are a few pictures:
Isaiah 41:10 
Don’t be afraid, because I am with you.
    Don’t be intimidated; I am your Elohim.
    I will strengthen you.
    I will help you.
    I will support you with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
The 40 baskets are ready! Yay!
A very precious young boy serving with all his heart to bless the survivors. He is a huge blessing!
Here is a story written by Hannah, one of the staff members from Helping Hands Coalition who is a blogger for this work. She tells a story each week as we do our work as a team to bless those that come. Here is one blog from a few weeks ago and pictures below:
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JUNE 24, 2019• ARTICLE FROM
HELPING HANDS COALITION BLOG
Having new groups come to the Shalom House is always exciting. There’s nothing better than watching the survivors experience one of these events and talk to people who genuinely want to get to know them. On June 24th, twenty Holocaust survivors from Hadera joined HHC and our guests for a concert at the Caesarea Villa. Also joining us this afternoon was a tour group, called MAGI, from America led by Jeff and Carol Shelton. 
Bozena Gasiorowski opened the afternoon, welcoming the survivors and explaining what the concert would entail, before handing the mic over to Alyosha and Jody Ryabinov. The Ryabinov’s were like rays of sunshine, as they shared about their journey to Israel, you could see their genuine love and compassion towards the survivors. 
Before he began to play, Alyosha spoke about being born into a family of musicians in Kiev. With a violinist and conductor as a father and a violinist and  composer as a grandfather along with a mother who played classical music and taught in Universities in the Ukraine and the USA, Alyosha was surrounded by song and music from a young age. With no choice but to learn an instrument, Alyosha not only mastered how to play multiple instruments but also writes his own music. Claiming that music gives us a chance to hear God’s voice, Alyosha let the meaning of those words hang in the air as he played his first song. 
When explaining music, one must be rather creative. As Alyosha pressed each of the eighty-eight keys on the piano, my mind went to the scene in Pride and Prejudice (the movie version) where Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy meet in the field as the sun rises. As Darcy makes his way towards Elizabeth, the music intensifies, then when they meet the music softens to highlight the monumental moment where Darcy declares his love and Elizabeth finally accepts. I don’t think there is a better way of explaining the feel or essence of Alyosha’s music in any other way.
Tending to stick to his own compositions, Alyosha mixed things up to play a piece of music that touched many lives during the War. Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor Lento con gran espressionesaved not only Władysław Szpilman’s life, but also brought some light into the lives of those who were living in complete darkness.
“There’s no time to play other people’s music and write your own.” – Alyosha
As Alyosha played, some of the survivors shut their eyes, maybe to reminisce about the first time they heard the song. Nobody spoke, and everyone but Alyosha seemed to be frozen in time, absorbing the tunes and enjoying the music.
After waking the crowd out of its trance with a duet, sung by Jody and Alyosha in Hebrew, Claudia took her turn behind the piano. For eight minutes, she allowed her fingers to lead, giving us a glimpse into her world and beauty. With no music sheets or practice, Claudia has a real gift of playing what she feels. 
The concert ended in rejoicing as Alyosha played Hava Nagilla. Taking a simple song and making it into a complicated rhapsody, Alyosha has transformed one of the most well-known Hebrew songs into a piece that tells the journey of the Jewish people, from shackles to freedom. 
With the literal meaning of the song being, let’s rejoice, the room came alive in rejoicing and thanksgiving. Unable to help themselves, everyone’s dancing feet started moving to the famous beat, some becoming so swept away that they joined each other at the front of the room to spin and waltz.
“We are alive because our God is alive. Just like it says in the song, Am Israel Chai, ‘The nation of Israel lives, the people of Israel live, our God lives.’” – Alyosha (with lyrics from Am Israel Chai)
Lunch was served with the help of our American guests and our ever loyal volunteers, Jola and Lilia. It was a touching afternoon that also opened the eyes of our guests, one exclaiming that his favorite part of the event was listening to Jody’s speech at the beginning and seeing how the survivors were thankful and rejoicing even though their childhoods were stolen from them.
Before the bus arrived, a survivor stood to share her story: Born in Moscow, the War began when she was three years old. All women and children in her community were separated from the men and taken to the Far East. Called Moscow-ites and having to trade vodka for food, life was not easy. Anti-Semitism came into the town they were living in the form of injured Russians coming out of battle. When they were allowed to return home, her father was drafted into the Russian army as a de-miner. He died at the age of sixty.
The survivor’s story was emotional, but she was very brave to open up to the group. There are many other stories like hers, and it’s events like the Shalom House that gives the survivors a chance to have their voices heard.
The bus came too soon! After taking a group picture, we said goodbye to the survivors, sending with them our best wishes and love. A big thank you to Bozena Gasiorowski for hosting the event, Holocaust Survivors Hedera and their leader Zola for joining HHC; Jeff and Carol for bringing their group to participate in the afternoon; Jody & Alyosha Ryabinov and Claudia for sharing their serving hearts and music with the group; and everyone else who was involved in making the day so special!
by Hannah - from Helping Hands Coalition
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AGAIN, WE SEND OUR LOVE TO YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR SENDING US TO THE NATIONS AND TO THOSE IN NEED HERE IN ISRAEL. IF YOU COME TO ISRAEL PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR TUESDAY HOME GATHERINGS AT 7 PM AND WE DO SPECIAL CONCERTS FOR TOUR GROUPS AS WELL. AGAIN, WE WARMLY WELCOME YOU! 💕 IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING A SEMINAR HERE IN ISRAEL, OR THIS SUMMER IN GERMANY TAUGHT BY ALYOSHA. PLEASE DO WRITE TO US FOR DETAILS!
Each week Holocaust Survivors are brought by bus for a day of feasting on glorious music, dance and a colourful array of foods...nice to look at and enjoyable for the tastebuds too! It is all our desire to treat them as royalty! 🙏
Alyosha enjoys playing music from the library in heaven as well as his composed music. So many survivors are from Russia and so almost weekly Alyosha gets a chance to use his mother tongue in sharing with these precious people. 🎹🎯🌹
Dancing is one way to really make smiles appear on the faces of those who come...even if they are not able to dance themselves. It is pure joy! Jody loves to sing songs everyone knows like Hava Nagela and many more. The house explodes with festivity!
Alyosha was translating for a woman sharing her life story from the Ghettos, We can't imagine what these people went through during the Nazi regime! Horrific! The pictures remain in their minds so clearly. For this reason we love to shower them with Love and we work to build their faith in the God of Israel who loves them so much!
A FEW PICTURES FROM THE JUNE KINGDOM SEMINAR IN ISRAEL! Alyosha loves teaching and we had a team of 13 students - all ages - come from Germany for a week long seminar. It was such a blessing to learn together, worship and pray each day too. We are looking forward to the next group coming in October. Join us if you can!
As the Survivors leave the Villa in Caesarea their hearts now overflow with the theme of His mighty love and His Glory!
Claudia plays often with us at the Villa in Caesarea and other locations too. She is a beautiful sister we met in Israel and is our neighbour. She is a joy to our lives and has become a very dear friend with a heart of gold. Always loving and serving others!