Shevet Achim

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Shevet Achim

The name Shevet Achim is from Psalm 133: "Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity."

Shevet Achim is a Christian community based in Ashdod and Jerusalem which helps Middle Eastern children with congenital heart disorders receive life-saving medical care at Israeli hospitals.

05/17/2026

This week Michiel and I were in northern Iraq, following up with some of the families our community has served there over the last 22 years. Yaqoob came to Israel in 2012 when he was 11 years old, and was miraculously raised back to life at Sheba hospital after two weeks on ECMO heart-lung support.

When he heard we were coming this week, he wrote us: "I’ve been waiting for you for 9 years. Honestly, you made me very happy."

When we finally reached his isolated town, I was surprised to meet a giant towering over me, his beautiful daughter by his side.
shevet.org/?p=127401

05/15/2026

Late this afternoon, before the impending Shabbat, a new child was rushed into Israel by ambulance from the West Bank. I met two-month-old Faris and his mother as they stepped off the elevator. She was tightly embracing her ailing son in her arms. I greeted her quickly and proceeded to direct her into the ICU. There doctors and nurses were expectantly waiting for the baby boy. Everything was ready for him, and they immediately sprang into action.
shevet.org/?p=127386

05/10/2026

Ali’s father cried for a week when he learned that his newborn son had a serious heart defect, and would not survive unless he traveled to another country for surgery. Local doctors suggested three Middle Eastern countries that could possibly help, but Ali’s father refused them all. He wanted the best for his son, and in his mind that meant turning to Jews or Christians. And not just because he saw their countries as more technologically advanced. “As soon as I heard Israel I had peace,” he told us when we visited him at his home yesterday. “My heart is with Messiah. He saw me and my heart, and he showed me the way.”
shevet.org/?p=127352

05/08/2026

Sunday was such a busy day at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel. In addition to the ongoing fight for Obeida and Jude, three more West Bank children with very complicated hearts were back for ongoing follow-up after their surgeries. Rosy-cheeked Ali from Hebron had an interventional catheterization last month, and his cardiologist tells us he’ll need another catheterization in September between the high holy days.
shevet.org/?p=127343

05/03/2026

Today started beautifully, as sleepy newborn Obeida was awakened and wheeled off for the high-risk surgery which, medically speaking, represented his only chance to live in this world. How sweet it is to see the people of Israel extending this blessed opportunity to Obeida’s desperate young Palestinian parents. How bitter it would be to see one’s firstborn child die in a world where no one even tried to help.

It was late afternoon before the surgeon emerged to share with Obeida’s father about the battle going on behind the OR doors:
shevet.org/?p=127297

05/01/2026

Obeida was transferred this week from Bethlehem to the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, just one week old. He was born with essentially half a heart and will need multiple surgeries; the first and most high-risk surgery will be this coming week, Lord willing.
When I left Obeida’s young father after getting them settled in after admission, I could see the worry and hesitation on his face. I was thankful to be able to earnestly encourage him that his son was in good hands:
shevet.org/?p=127252

04/26/2026

This morning we heard about five-day-old Obeida, who was born in Bethlehem with the most severe of heart defects, basically missing the left side of his heart. There’s no repair for this, but a series of three palliative surgeries in Israel can keep about 50% of these children alive up to age five and beyond, possibly into adulthood. It’s a hard, hard road to walk, and not all families we’ve met are willing. Tonight Michelle and I found Obeida in Bethlehem, and learned from his neonatal ICU physician Micheline what the family has decided:
shevet.org/?p=127193

04/24/2026

Five-year-old Sanad from Hebron visited Sheba Medical Center in Israel this week for dental surgery. Sanad had a painful tooth that had to be pulled to protect his heart from infection during his upcoming cardiac procedures. Sanad was a compliant boy for the dentist, and the dentist and his team were excellent. They were so nice to Sanad and his kind mother!
shevet.org/?p=127158

04/20/2026

We pray that the people of Israel will have opportunities to see loving Palestinian fathers, laying down their lives for their children, as worthy neighbors rather than as a threat. Perhaps that’s part of the reason our Father continues to send to Israel little agents like Aiesha, who was in the echo clinic with Ben this morning. To soften hearts, including our own.
shevet.org/?p=127143

04/17/2026

We rejoice in the magnificent recovery of Sila, a month-old baby from Nablus, from an extremely difficult surgery to switch the great arteries of her heart. Already she is entirely off oxygen and looking like a normal newborn, because of the tremendous Israeli doctors and nurses who have worked tirelessly to provide her lifesaving care--the majority of which took place underground in the makeshift parking lot turned emergency wartime ICU:
shevet.org/?p=127114

04/12/2026

Can hearts toward Israel be changed? The story of Mustapha Ezzarghani, president of the Moroccan-Israeli Friendship Association: "I grew up with narrative beliefs about Jews that I had never questioned, because they were all I had ever been taught. Then something happened. I met a family in Morocco whose daughter had a serious heart condition. They told me her life had been saved by Israeli doctors. That moment changed everything."

Looking back in our archives, it appears he may have encountered the family of Hiba, who was the first Moroccan child to come to Israel for heart surgery back in 2010:
shevet.org/?p=127042

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Denver, CO

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http://www.shevet.org/

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