There is no greater joy on earth than giving birth to a healthy baby. That moment when life bursts forth from the womb is probably the closest we, as human beings, can get to the Divine. And for God-fearing peoples all over the world, it is a time of thanksgiving, time to offer joyous prayers to God for His wonderful gift to us, the parents, grandparents and the entire family circle of this new baby.
Join me in our newest Community at a Glance video, where we visit Tekoa. Home to over 200 artists, Tekoa wishes to nurture its community’s affinity for culture and arts. It has recently created a local artists’ center, a hub for the arts in Biblical Israel, and a center of spiritual creativity.
For most of the last two years, Israel has been embroiled in an ongoing election campaign, with four elections taking place in less than two years. Most of the time, we were governed by transition governments and for a short time by a permanent government that only lasted a few months. It has been chaotic, to say the least.
Join me as I visit Telem, a small and isolated community of ninety families located just outside Hebron. The people of Telem, salt of the earth Zionist pioneers, have created a close-knit community where everyone is family.
Israel experienced a totally new reality during these past few weeks. A reality that could have been expected, a reality that some might even say was an obvious development. But at the end of the day, we woke up one morning and realized that the Arab-Israeli Conflict that we have been talking about for decades, was far worse than what we may have hoped. That whatever progress we thought we made in the past 20 years may well have been cosmetic at best, or at worst a deliberate manipulation of the Israeli psyche.
I first visited Alei Zahav more than 20 years ago. It was a small, rather sleepy, community, populated almost entirely by secular Jews. They had a strong connection to the Land of Israel and were proud of their community. A few years later, I visited again and encountered residents who had grown older and were … Read more
January 12, 2021By Sondra Oster Baras On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden will become president of the United States. The election campaign was fierce and it took time until the results became final but now that Biden’s inauguration is only days away, the time has come for us, in Israel, to reflect on what this … Read more
As Christians become more involved in Israel and get to know Jews and Jewish customs, some are adopting these customs. What is this all about? How do Jews view this phenomenon?
Sondra Oster Baras engages Tommy Waller, passionate Christian Zionist and founder and director of HaYovel, in a fascinating discussion on a topic that often divides Christians and Jews: Should Christians evangelize Jews and how and why do Jews respond to attempts to evangelize them in an extremely negative way?
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