Sondra Oster Baras, an Orthodox Jew who has devoted her life to reaching out to Christians all over the world to bless Israel, explains the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) so that Christians can gain a better understanding of how Jews revere and observe this holy day.

If you aren’t able to join us live on Facebook, we will have the recording on our Facebook page and on our YouTube channel, and here on our website, so you can watch them any time! We hope you enjoy these Bible teaching done live from Samaria, Israel with Sondra Baras.

Join Sondra Baras as she shares a personal Bible Study teaching from Samaria in the heart of Biblical Israel on the book of Esther.

I know for many who love Israel and follow the Hebraic roots of our faith, whether or not to celebrate Christmas can be a real struggle.  And I usually get some chastising notes and emails from well-meaning folks who are aghast that I allow a pagan Christmas tree in my home, when I should know better!  So I will apologize in advance if talking about Christmas or saying “Merry Christmas” is offensive to you.

If you are one of those who have that desire to visit Israel, I encourage you to take a step of faith and follow that call.  You will never be the same!  Why or how I cannot explain, but I have witnessed it year after year.  You never read your Bible the same way again — something about seeing where your favorite Bible stories took place makes them come alive like never before.

Family was the most important value in my grandparents’ household. We would come together regularly at their house and like every other Jewish family, food was always the main event. Nothing made Bubbe happier than watching her grandchildren eat her amazing overloaded Mexican tortillas and play soccer in her big backyard.

Since joining CFOIC Heartland in 2013, I have made the most wonderful friends, both Jewish and Christian, in Israel and all over the world. I have learned so much about a whole group of people, you our Christian friends, that I had not really known much about. I have come to value and appreciate the vital support we have from our Christian Zionist friends around the world, support that often comes with a love and passion that we rarely find anywhere else.

We cannot change the past nor bring back the dead.  But we can encourage and strengthen the living.  We can reach out to the brave men, women and children of Judea and Samaria and give them what they need, when they need it.  I hope you will help us help them.  I hope you will continue to partner with us as we strengthen the Jewish presence in the Biblical Heartland.

Aliyah’s story begins five years before she was born. Her parents, Avital and Michael Ezer were a young newly married couple in Soviet Russia. They were respected researchers in their fields and had big plans for the future when in 1980; they submitted a request to immigrate to Israel. Their request was denied, and as was the case for all families who requested to move to Israel at that time, their application triggered government persecution.  They were targeted, interrogated and then watched by the KGB, and they lost their jobs.