Great day for us: Father Gregor

Father Gregor has been working in our communities since 1970 when he immigrated to Israel from Poland. During the years in which he has been active in the midst of the Polish and Hebrew speaking communities, he prepared many children for first communion and confirmation. He is also well known for his trips that brought him to many cities and towns throughout the country in order to bring Christian teaching to far away places where there were children who could not come to the centers of our community. Already in 1982, he published a book that included his lessons about Jesus Christ and the title of the book was "Getting to know the Christ". The book was photocopied to produce a limited number of copies. The black and white illustrations in the book were done by the children of the Jaffa community, assisted by Sister Jacqueline, who helped Father Gregor in those days. In order to situate Jesus in his land, Father Gregor pasted numerous postcards into each copy of the book. Since that time many years have passed and the book became an important tool in the teaching of the children in our communities.

Now, the book is republished in a professional and high quality edition. The original content has been preserved with a few additions that bring it up to date and suit it to the present context of our communities. However, the most important change is the result of the possibilities available due to modern printing. The new book is colorful and easy to read. The letters are big and clear and the illustrations and photographs that accompany the written text help to understand what is written and situate it within he panoramas of our country. The book contains 191 pages and presents the life of Jesus from the annunciation by the angel to the foundation of a community composed of Jews and non-Jews.

Our hope is that this book will be the first volume of our Hebrew language school books for Christian religion for youth in Israel. We are planning on a second volume, "Getting to know the Church". Again, we are deeply thankful for the generation of pioneers in our communities who worked so hard to establish this wonderful structure of our Hebrew speaking Catholic communities in Israel. We thank once again in a special way Father Gregor for the years of devoted service and we wish him many more years of health, strength and continuation in his service in the midst of our communities!

A special thanks goes to the staff of the Latin Patriarchate Printing Press and especially to its managing director, Mr. Mounir Hodaly, for their tireless and professional work which has produced this beautiful volume. In addition, we wish to heartily thank the German organization that works so hard to support the Church wherever there is need, "Kirche in Nott", which contributed generously towards the publication of the book allowing us to distribute the book free to our children.

Whoever is interested in acquiring the book can contact Father David, Vicar for the communities. The book costs 65 NIS.