“I was born in Jerusalem in 1966 and grew up in a traditional Jewish home. I first met my husband Aviel, Editor-in-Chief of Israel Today, when we were both 16-years-old on Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem. We have raised three boys and a girl.”
“We live on a Moshav, a collective farming community, located in the magical Judean Mountains. My love for and faith in the Bible is an integral part of who I am and how I live my life. And I live with great appreciation and joy for all that life has given me.”
Together with Aviel, Anat has been a part of Israel Today since 1990. In addition to her many other duties, she writes a regularly on the Bible, faith and the God of Israel.
Shemini Atzeret. After weeks full of movement, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur to the days of Sukkot, filled with guests, joy and visible symbols, there finally comes a single, almost silent day: Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of assembly.
The Bible shows us that pain and joy can dwell within the same heart – and that true joy does not begin where tears disappear, but where they are allowed to have their place.
When your life moves between extremes, what helps you find your own point of balance again?
Samuel learns to recognize God’s voice – and shows us why true listening requires courage, patience, and faith.
We have become guilty
Every year, when we reach the Parasha Vezot Habracha, I have the feeling that this is actually not an ending at all.
We are used to thinking that the big questions of life are questions of identity: Who am I? What matters to me? Who do I want to be?
This year, the two weekly portions Nitzavim and Vayeilech are read together. And it is precisely this combination that has made something clear to me about the way we live our lives.
What may seem here like a platitude is actually a lesson that is difficult to take to heart in life. This saying touches on the human desire to have everything at once: success, security, meaning, control.
Jacob believed he had to be someone else in order to receive the blessing. But his search for his own identity was far from over. His path led him away from home – and many years later back to the crucial question: Who am I really?
