Featured Stories

You Shall Be a Blessing

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2). Join us as we consider several ways in which we can see that the Lord’s promise to Abraham and his descendants is being partially fulfilled in our world today. Help in

Divine Buzz

{image_1}Ethiopian Nun Emerges as Jerusalem’s Musical Treasure

At the recent four-day Sacred Music Festival in Jerusalem, hundreds of music lovers and performers crowded the city’s holy sites to hear the world’s spiritual and religious music traditions. With top talent from across the globe taking part, no one foresaw that the biggest attraction at the festival—part of the annual Jerusalem Season of Culture—would be a shy 90-year-old nun.

Eighty Hours of Terror

{image_1}Israel Responds in Kenyan Crisis

On September 21, 2013, the African nation of Kenya experienced one of the worst terror attacks in recent history. The death and destruction shocked the world and devastated the country as pictures of injured and dying hit the internet. After the four-day siege ended, the UK and the United States were quick to send aid to the reeling country, but first on the scene was Israel.

Righteous Women of the Holocaust

{image_1}“Attitudes towards the Jews during the Holocaust mostly ranged from indifference to hostility. The mainstream watched as their former neighbors were rounded up and killed; some collaborated with the perpetrators; many benefited from the expropriation of the Jews property.

With Friends Like That…

{image_1}There is an old saying, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?!” If it ever applied to anyone, it certainly does to Israel. Throughout the short history of this tiny nation, wars have been fought with precious few allies, international pressure handled with minimal partners, and an almost constant onslaught of terror endured with very few supporters. The international community has frequently refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to conduct its affairs in like manner to other sovereign nations, and often countries that seemed like friends one day, turned out to be foes the next. And it all began in 1947.

TORAH: The Center of Jewish Learning

{image_1}Torah is one of the pillars of Judaism: “The world stands on three things: on Torah, worship, and loving deeds of kindness” (Pirke Avot: Ethics of the Fathers 1:2). Studying Torah should be a pleasure and sweetens one's life. To emphasize this sweetness, Jewish children may begin their study of Hebrew with letters that have been written in honey. As they learn the letters and enjoy the honey, it is an object lesson to teach them that the study of Torah is sweet, which we read in Psalm 119:103: “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Back on Track!

{image_1}Jerusalem’s historic railway station, which had fallen into a sad state of disrepair, has found a new calling as HaTakhana Rishona (Hebrew for “The First Station”), a colorful outdoor venue filled with food stalls, family entertainment, and an exhibition of historic photographs on display inside the old station house.

What Does the Lord Require?

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“Not a Title to Glory”—The Irena Sendler Story

By Kathy DeGagné, BFP Staff Writer

She was a mere whisp of a thing—barely five feet tall—but she was a woman who defied the powerful Nazi war machine—and triumphed.

Saving the Med—Israeli Leads International Effort

{image_1}By Karin Kloosterman, ISRAEL21c

Over the millennia, the Mediterranean Sea has become much more than a transport hub for empires that control the region—it links nations, feeds countries, and its shores hold some of the world’s most expensive real estate and natural beauty.

A Palestinian Crisis of Expectation

{image_1}Many nations considered the appointment of Rami Hamdallah as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA) a ray of hope for stability. Although he lacked any previous experience in government, he was lauded as a moderate. With some hope remaining that a national consensus government, comprised of both Fatah and Hamas loyalists, would be formed by the end of the year, many believed Hamdallah would create an interim atmosphere of cooperation that would make it possible for both the PA and Israel to deal with the many difficult issues facing Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) today. Remarkably, his term only lasted 18 days.