Finding Reconciliation In A Divided Land

Roberto Torres-Cedillo: Mordechai, we've just marked over a thousand days of remembering October 7th, the war, the conflict here... How did that impact you personally, but your business and the work you're doing with Firstfruits?

Mordechai Wiseman: October 7th was a huge blow to Israel—reminding people of Jews being hunted door-to-door, breaking our promise of "never again" and failing to provide the protection we're known for. We discovered we aren't as secure, in control, or popular as we thought after coming out of COVID as a booming startup nation. It was a rude awakening back to normal: people don't like us.

With hundreds of thousands mobilized—I'm on the SWAT unit, everyone's in reserves—rockets flying, and Iran, it requires resilience of a whole other level. It hits close to home; friends and loved ones go into service and some don't come back home, like my son. You have trauma at the national, community, family, and personal levels piling up. We're in a new normal, and I tell our entrepreneurs be prepared for choppy waters. This is about learning to swim in the storm.

Roberto Torres-Cedillo: People in the West think of Israel as a startup nation—which it is—but being here, I've realized that being in Israel is hard. People struggle to make ends meet... How have you used your endeavors and Firstfruits to meet that need?

Mordechai Wiseman: Israel is a fusion of East and West, modern and ancient. There is a tremendous spirit of innovation and very sharp people, but the cost of living is much higher than the average Western country while wages are not as high. At least half the population struggles economically, that’s a reality.

Believers and followers of Yeshua in the land are mostly immigrants or minorities, facing the additional pressure of being a minority within a minority within a minority. At Firstfruits, job number one is helping people understand who God made them to be—that they are more than conquerors, called to walk in victory and fruitfulness. Prosperous living is about all of life, identity, calling, and moving from merely believing in God to being disciples who act as salt and light and a blessing to the nation.

Roberto Torres-Cedillo: But here, as a Jew—you're Jewish, but you're a believer in Yeshua—what are some of those rejection moments that you've had to deal with as a family?

Mordechai Wiseman: When my grandparents became followers of Yeshua in the 1950s, it was a major crisis. To many Jews looking back at 2,000 years of Christian persecution, crusades, and the Holocaust, following Yeshua feels like a betrayal—selling your soul to the dark side. While Muslim believers often face extreme persecution because Islam is a total worldview, Jewish believers usually face intense confusion and strong rejection, sometimes with parents sitting shiva as if they've died.

It took our family three generations and 50 years to work through that. But in a strange way, being a bereaved father now—having paid the blood price—when I talk to Orthodox or atheist Jews, once they find out the cost our family paid to remain in the land and serve, they can't reject us because we paid the blood price. It's not something I would have wished for, but it's a reality.

Roberto Torres-Cedillo: Another price that you're paying... is collaborating, actually loving your neighbor. Jews and Arabs working together... What was the heart behind that?

Mordechai Wiseman: God loves all of humanity, and Jewish followers of Yeshua are no more special in the kingdom than anyone else. My Arab brethren are children of Abraham as well; in the kingdom, we're blood brothers. If our love is not practical, visible, real, and intentional—showing the DNA of sacrificial love—we have no business calling ourselves children of God.

One of the most significant relationships in my life is with my best friend and co-founder Naim, an Arab believer who has also had to pay a high price to hang out with a Zionist Jew. Together, we fight shoulder-to-shoulder to build a more prosperous body of Messiah that gives Israel an example of what hope looks like. When my son Aviel was killed, Naim was the first non-family member to hear, and he cried like it was his own son. We don't agree on everything or interpret the news the same way, but we are committed to one another and to the kingdom of God.

Roberto Torres-Cedillo: As an Israeli, Jewish, follower of Yeshua, I have a very complex identity... how do you navigate that?

Mordechai Wiseman: Being a follower of Yeshua doesn't erase our other identities; it informs and redeems them. Naim says, "My country is at war with my nation," because he is an Israeli citizen and also a Palestinian Arab caught in the middle.

As a veteran of the Israeli military whose father, grandfather, and children served—and whose oldest son died in Gaza saving hostages and pushing back evil—I don't think weapons bring ultimate peace, but force can hold back evil. Yeshua said "Blessed are the peacemakers"—seeking peace is a continuous action. Our military service and our work in the marketplace are about why and how we do it: are we worshiping God and serving with our whole heart, or trying to control our own destiny?

Roberto Torres-Cedillo: For people that want to know more about what you're doing... where can they find out?
Mordechai Wiseman: You can visit IsraelFirstfruits.org to learn about our charity in Israel and North America, or to connect regarding our impact investment fund for faith-driven businesses. We have been doing this for over 20 years.
Roberto Torres-Cedillo: Wisdom shouts from the marketplace... May God bless you and your family.

Mordechai Wiseman: Thank you. Can I say a word about bravery? Bravery is not the lack of fear; bravery is the choice to do the right thing in the face of fear. God doesn't always take us around the fire; He is Emmanuel, God with us, walking with us through the fire. Faith requires the ability to do the right thing despite perceived threats, because He has overcome.