Leah (Wiesje) de Lange passed away in Jerusalem

Last night (September 29, 2013) Leah (Wiesje) de Lange passed away in Jerusalem 75 years old. We remember Wiesje as a strong defender of Israel and a faithful friend of the organization Christians for Israel.

Wiesje de Lange was born in the Netherlands in 1938 as Wiesje Samuel Prins (later Leah de Lange-Samuel Prins). During World War II she was hidden, as a small child, at different addresses. This period and the years after the war - both her education in the Netherlands as well as her life in Israel since 1964 - marked her life. In the Netherlands she met her great love Ab de Lange; together they started a family and made aliyah to Israel. They were blessed with children and grandchildren. They thoroughly enjoyed them, because they always felt how they missed those who were murdered during the Shoah.

Wiesje meant much for our organization in the Netherlands. From 1993 till 2010 she went on speaking tours every year, she wrote for “Israel Aktueel” and “Profetisch Perspectief” and she published several books. The most well known book is “Een tocht for Trinie” , about her time hidden underground and the relationship with this special woman in the years after the war. Those who met Wiesje once and heard her speaking were usually deeply impressed. Powerful, with a deep faith, purely Jewish and sparkling. Always defending the state of Israel, never tired to explain the situation again and again, always pointing to the G-d of Israel.

Wiesje grew up in the Achterhoek, spoke fluent Hebrew in Israel, usually did three things at the same time. That resulted in a special way of speaking and writing; people were captivated as they listened or read, but had to give their full attention in order to understand everything. Her point of view was clear and could not be contested. In her last book, “Mee luisteren met Israel” , she wrote about her land and people: “Israel is attacked by the world as no other nation, persecuted, tortured, killed, but never encountered with indifference. The amount of energy that the world wasted in the destruction of Israel, cannot be calculated. It seems to me that this is the aim that has constantly been written on top of an agenda, from the first Jew on earth.”

Wiesje was clear about what the nations did to her nation and what they are still doing, but she also spent a great deal of her speeches and her writing about what her nation meant to other nations. “Israel received the command to spread monotheism in the world; all nations were supposed to get to know this. Did Israel succeed in this task? The Book of Books was translated from the original Hebrew in the languages of the world so that all could join in listening together with this nation of slaves, elevated by G-d to being carriers of the Stone Tablets.”

Through her captivating way of speaking she succeeded in reaching this goal. Many Christians started to see and understand, because of her, how G-d restored Israel in our world. As an organization, we don’t just join in listening, we join in empathy. Wiesje has brought the Jewish people closer to us and enabled us to comfort where needed. A great achievement that will continue to have an effect in the future.

We pray that G-d will strengthen her family and be very close to them. May her soul be bundled in the bundle of eternal life.

By Pieter Bénard

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