<p> &nbsp;</p> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="t1" width="600.0"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="td1" valign="middle"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="t2" width="600.0"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="td2" valign="middle"> <p class="p4"> We wanted to thank you again from the bottom our hearts for your love, prayer, and support.</p> <p class="p4"> Today we dedicate Psalm 40:1-3 to ourselves and the body of the Lord Yeshua.</p> <p class="p4"> <span class="s3"><b><i>1</i></b></span><b><i>&nbsp;I waited patiently for the LORD;<br /> And He inclined to me,<br /> And heard my cry.<br /> &nbsp;</i></b><span class="s3"><b><i>2</i></b></span><b><i>&nbsp;He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,<br /> Out of the miry clay,<br /> And set my feet upon a rock,<br /> And established my steps.<br /> &nbsp;</i></b><span class="s3"><b><i>3</i></b></span><b><i>&nbsp;He has put a new song in my mouth-<br /> Praise to our God;<br /> Many will see it and fear,<br /> And will trust in the LORD</i></b></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td1" valign="middle"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="t2" width="600.0"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="td2" valign="middle"> <p class="p2"> <b>MORE ON THE JERUSALEM POST ARTICLE</b></p> <p class="p2"> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p> <p class="p6"> On Dec. 7, 2011 the Jerusalem Post published the story about the judges&#39; decision that Jack Teitel is mentally fit to stand trial with an obvious downplay, calling our family &quot;American Christian Missionaries&quot;. As most of you know, the word &quot;missionary&quot; demotes us to the status of someone&nbsp;being under the auspices of the Vatican, or criminals who bribe people to convert to another form of religion. In this mentality it means that you are a stranger, a non-Israeli that has no contribution to Israeli society.&nbsp; We wrote this letter to protest:</p> <p class="p6"> Dear Sir/Madam,</p> <p class="p6"> We are writing concerning the article which appeared in the Jerusalem Post on December 7, 2011 entitled &quot;Court rules Yaakov &#39;Jack&#39; Teitel fit to stand trial&quot; (<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=6tbbvocab&amp;et=1108965676665&amp;s=15&amp;e=001WfEbyUlGBB87ZwI9hhIyk1Edz7-iAY-vjIzAK0pqhWkvo6UNl6J5D_h1sflV08pWcuGd8oOmpPkd4yIv0qTq8ilfTezMRJ4oTpGtYQ7f-ccAFg58K0In2qzOw5R9pcEX4PqoEB83iaZTIrXm9hY1iXB4eCuHiSTc"><span class="s4">http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=248530</span></a>) by Joanna Paraszczuk. The article mentions the heinous crime that was perpetrated by Jack Teitel in our home in March, 2008. While the criminal, Jack Teitel, was referred to as an &quot;American-Israeli&quot; we, the victims, were mistakenly and disrespectfully referred to as &quot;American Christian missionaries&quot;. We are a Jewish family with six children who for the past 26 years have lived, struggled and contributed to Israeli society as citizens of the state, including IDF service, like every other Israeli citizen. We are dual citizens and so like Jack Teitel could be referred to as American-Israelis. As Jews we believe that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah.</p> <p class="p6"> <br /> Partly because of the tragic event which so critically wounded our son, we have friends from all over the world who are staunch supporters of Israel.</p> <p class="p6"> <br /> In response to your article we have received many letters from these individuals and organizations that are very familiar with the semantics of what the word &quot;missionary&quot; means to the Jewish people. These individuals and organizations rely very much on the Jerusalem Post for their tourism and activities and do business with your sponsors. Many are subscribers to the Christian edition and other features on JPost. However, they said that the bias that you display in not representing us in a respectable way is offensive, not only to us, but to them. One of those offended by the way we were described in the article is Donna Diorio, a staunch Zionist who expressed it in this way:</p> <p class="p6"> <b>The Jerusalem Post mentions Teitel&#39;s bombing of the Messianic Ortiz family only EIGHT paragraphs into the article! The most intense in terms of planning and device used in all of his murders and attempted murders yet it is mentioned so low in the article. And the article misidentifies the family as &quot;American Christian Missionaries&quot;. The reality is that the family holds dual American and Israeli citizenship. Leah a Jew married David a Puerto Rican and their children are Israeli Jews. David and his sons have served in the Israeli IDF- several in elite units of the IDF. They deserve to be called what they are -Israeli Messianic Jews.</b></p> <p class="p7"> <b>&nbsp;</b>Many of these groups, individuals and organizations are waiting for a statement from us. We will answer them. Many of them are dear friends who have visited here many times, many have lived here, many have volunteered on kibbutzim, and some are travel agents, tour leaders, academics, politicians, etc., however we wait for a response from you to correct this improper reporting.</p> <p class="p6"> <br /> Again, we wait for your reply.</p> <p class="p6"> Sincerely,</p> <p class="p6"> David and Leah Ortiz</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="t2" width="600.0"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="td2" valign="middle"> <p class="p2"> <b>APOLOGY!</b></p> <p class="p2"> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p> <p class="p6"> Today we received notice from a sister in the Lord in the Southern part of Israel that an apology had been posted in the Jerusalem Post!&nbsp; We didn&#39;t even know, so we thank her for not only finding and reading it, but for not assuming that we&nbsp;knew about&nbsp;it and for contacting us. Here is the response from the editors of the Jerusalem Post:</p> <p class="p8"> <span class="s2"><b><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=6tbbvocab&amp;et=1108965676665&amp;s=15&amp;e=001WfEbyUlGBB8pICdXIZsVCqtg8QseV7DtI--dzj_b6H3tmRcku9TKshqroUHZ5TJwK5l3fg519lvr0uUHwc4jg-pqy_9uNIj3vx92U27MC7ln7Ft7l9IbkwNIgzglnw_IzcwlIf-tetciHNBSwJGjPkgwcztgaUwPH3OJp3NxnCdCY5QfURT1Fg==">http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Letters/Article.aspx?id=249335&amp;R=R102</a></b></span></p> <p class="p9"> <b>APOLOGY</b><br /> <br /> In &quot;Court says Teitel fit for trial&quot; (December 7), it was incorrect to call the Ortiz family of Ariel &quot;American Christian missionaries.&quot;<br /> <br /> They have dual American- Israeli citizenship. The mother and her children are halachically Jewish, and not Christian, although they believe in Jesus as the messiah, placing them in the category of &quot;Messianic Jews.&quot; Also, we should have pointed out that while some have alleged that the Ortizes engaged in missionary activity among Jews, there is no proof of this. We apologize to the family.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="t2" width="600.0"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="td2" valign="middle"> <p class="p2"> &nbsp;<b>THANK YOU LORD!</b></p> <p class="p2"> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p> <p class="p10"> We are praising the Lord for this, and we pray that in the future they will refrain from disrespectfully referring to our family, other Messianic believers, and therefore to Yeshua Himself, &nbsp;in a demeaning manner, directly or indirectly.&nbsp; Thank you for your fellowship and prayer.</p> <p class="p11"> Yours in the Messiah,</p> <p class="p11"> Leah and David</p> <p class="p12"> <span class="s2"><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=6tbbvocab&amp;et=1108965676665&amp;s=15&amp;e=001WfEbyUlGBB9uxirydUj8SV0RATwFXCfQo_NORMZmYWqW6nYaok2pDAtCer23As6mdI_txx0xHORFBIVFMw43OQDmofDKK6GkI5sAOIRSKPI=">www.amiortiz.com</a></span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>