The news in Israel is focusing on two subjects right now: Syria and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, otherwise known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year when Jews all over the world spend the day in fasting and prayer. This year, though, marked the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur … Read more
We have just returned from our annual summer vacation with our children and it was wonderful! We hiked in the rivers and valleys of the Galilee and the Golan Heights, splashed in the streams and springs of the North and just enjoyed our time together. When the children were young, all of our children went … Read more
Yesterday was a fast day, the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, which ushers in a 3-week mourning period for the first and second temples, thousands of years ago. Our sages have long laid the blame for the destruction of the Second Temple and the subsequent exile from the land, in the first and … Read more
Have you ever thought, “I want to do something for Israel, but I don’t know what to do.” Now there is an opportunity to connect in a very special and unique way where you canmake a difference. Christian Friends of Israeli Communities is offering you an opportunity to host our Israel Director, Sondra Oster Baras, … Read more
I spoke to Nomi Teplow the other night and it gave me a little twinge in my heart when I realized it was Sunday night and the women’s choir was assembling in her living room. And I wasn’t there… The past two years I stopped going to choir practice when life got a little too … Read more
My friend and neighbor, Lenny, is back at work this week after taking off for the week-long Passover holiday. Lenny is the creator, owner, manager and chief baker for his bakery, here in Karnei Shomron, and Passover, with its strict and inherent prohibitions against eating leavened bread, gives him a forced vacation! But during … Read more
Prime Minister Netanyahu just completed a very important visit to the US. He addressed AIPAC, the important pro-Israel lobby organization, and met with President Obama. Commentators have seen Obama’s speech at AIPAC as very pro-Israel, although some have questioned whether that was a function of pre-election strategy. But the overriding issue of this visit was … Read more
Tomorrow is Tu B’Shvat, the annual holiday of trees. Although this day was well known in Jewish sources for centuries, since the beginning of the 20th century, when Jews began returning to the Land of Israel in large numbers, this day took on greater significance. The early Zionist pioneers found a desolate land, with a … Read more