Biblical musical in Jerusalem – Shomer HaBrit: The Guardian of the Covenant
During Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Bible will come to life in Jerusalem through dance and song in “The Guardian of the Covenant” musical, a show that will take you into the world of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
The show will run five times in English, Hebrew and French, in the Pavilion performance hall in the Clal Center, at Jaffa St. 97, Jerusalem, today and tomorrow: Oct. 12 and 13. The Oct. 13 show times are set up so that people attending the Jerusalem March of the Nations can also attend the musical. Tickets can be purchased for 45 NIS (around $13 USD) by clicking here.
Stéphanie Jérémie, the producer and initiator of the musical, made aliyah 12 years ago from Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean. She lives in Israel with her husband, Loïc Jérémie, also from Guadeloupe, and their three children, who were all born in Israel. They run Jeremiah Tours, which brings French-speaking tourists to Israel.
“I am Jewish, but when I speak with Israeli friends about Yeshua, or mention that my husband is Christian, they shut down and don’t want to hear,” Jérémie said to ALL ISRAEL NEWS.
“They are in their own world. And at work, I noticed the same thing with the Christians. They are happy to visit Israel, but they say that the New Testament is more important. They dismiss the people of Israel and think that ‘now it’s us.’” This bothered her.
Then, one day, a person from their tour group came up to Jérémie and asked, “If the people of Israel are still God’s chosen people, what does that make us? What are we?”
How would you answer that?
“I talked to him at length about Abraham, and God’s promises about the people and the land, and how all peoples will be blessed,” she recalled. “But the question still lingered around and bothered me. I realized we need to explain this – how we have one Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and we have only one God; and that God has the people of Israel and also the Christians.”
“Some seem to think that the Christians are only of the New Testament, and the Jews are only of the Old Testament, but God is bigger than that,” she said. “He works from the aleph to the tav, from the beginning to the end, and I felt I had to tell this story from start to finish. So that both Jews and Christians understand that we have only one God. And I wanted to tell it as a musical, not as a long, boring speech. I wanted to tell it with songs, with dance, with art.”
Shortly after this question was posed to her, COVID-19 hit the world, Israel closed its borders, and there were no tourist groups. Suddenly, Jérémie had time for creative endeavors and started to write the musical. It took her over a year and a half to complete.
“I had the vision, and my husband helped me write and prepare it. We’ve seen so many blessings and miracles throughout, because I’m not a professional dancer or musician, but I have an amazing team of four really talented women from all over the world, and God really blessed us. When we are weak, He is strong,” she said.
Besides the musical’s dancers, Jérémie has brought several Arab and Jewish Messianic musicians to collaborate on the project, including Evan Levine, Rebekah Wagner and many more who helped in the musical’s development.
“We want to give people an opportunity to hear the full story of the Bible. It’s not each one being in their own world, but that we are together. There is one God, and a full story from Genesis to Revelation. The show is not made to evangelize or convince, but to give people the opportunity to know the entire message of the Bible. Everyone is free to believe it or not. I am just telling the story,” Jérémie said. “God speaks to people’s hearts, not me. I had an interesting conversation with a Jewish religious tour guide. He said that ‘I might not believe in Yeshua, but I can say one good thing about him: Thanks to him, the Gentiles now believe in one God instead of being pagans.’ I thought that was really nice.”
Jérémie said they have invited believers and non-believers to the show.
“I believe it is for everyone. Everyone is thirsty for the truth, no matter what. I want to tell the truth in love,” the producer said. “It’s the most famous book in the world, and most of the events in it happened here, in Israel. So I think it should be of interest to everyone, no matter if they believe it or not. I didn’t even write the story, I’m just telling it. God wrote the actual story.”
Jérémie said that the name of the musical, “The Guardian of the Covenant,” ties in with what she has said – that He is faithful from aleph to tav, from the beginning to the end; that we are just humans, but He has a plan and knows what He is doing; that He will fulfill his covenant. That’s also why Sukkot is the right time to present it, Jérémie said – because the holiday celebrates the faithfulness of God more than any other holiday: illustrated by how He kept and guided the people of Israel in the wilderness when they lived in booths.
With the Feast of Tabernacles one of three pilgrim festivals of the Jews, and the annual holiday set for a future time in which all nations will come to worship God in Jerusalem, Sukkot already draws many visitors to the holy city, both Jews and Gentiles. There is an atmosphere of celebration in the air at this time, and it’s just the right context for a musical.
Jérémie encourages “anyone who has friends in Jerusalem who have heard of the faith, tell them to go see this musical. It will explain the connection between us.”
“I know many people who will never set foot in a church or Messianic congregation, but they won’t object to go see a musical,” Jérémie said. “And also – please pray. My heart is really yearning for people who don’t believe to come see this. Even if they don’t come to faith, but just learn something new about what we believe, that’s great.”
Jérémie encouraged purchasing tickets for friends and locals to help toward the expenses of the musical, even without attending in person. Tickets can be purchased here or you may also chose to financially support this Biblical musical by purchasing a ticket as a donation if you cannot attend the performance in Jerusalem.
Pray that this musical will touch many peoples’ hearts, and that it will help both Jews and Christians see that we have one God, one Bible and one Messiah.
So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
Tuvia is a Jewish history nerd who lives in Jerusalem and believes in Jesus. He writes articles and stories about Jewish and Christian history. His website is www.tuviapollack.com