Chris Katulka: Thank you so much for joining us on The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Chris Katulka, your host and teacher. Right away, I want to encourage you to visit foiradio.org where you can keep up on everything that's happening with our radio program and the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, and you can listen to nearly nine years worth of teaching that we have on our website. Again, that's foiradio.org.

Now, today is one of my favorite episodes that we do. It's called Friends of Israel in Action, where we share about the ministries that we have all around the world. The Friends of Israel Today isn't the only ministry that the Friends of Israel has, we actually have representatives that are serving in the Jewish community all around the world. And today we're going to be speaking with Jael Kalisher. She's a born again believer in Jesus the Messiah, also a native Israeli and daughter to German Jewish parents who've been pastoring in Jerusalem in an ever-growing congregation for more than 30 years.

Jael has always had an ear for music. She studied piano as a teenager. She picked up guitar and percussion over the years as well. Well, after getting her sound engineering diploma, she became the director of a nonprofit called Yuval Arts Worship Center, and together with her musical duo partner and colleague Irit, they produced worship albums, concerts, children's festivals and plays, and travel all around the globe leading worship at various conferences and events. Well, guess what? Today, Jael serves with the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry and she's on tour all over again. In fact, she's going to be talking about the tour that she's doing, leading people in Hebrew worship here in the United States, and connecting people with what's going on in Israel as a result of October 7th. It's going to be a very enlightening interview and I hope that you enjoy it.

But before we get there, first, the news. Jerry Seinfeld, the world-famous Jewish comedian, was heckled by pro-Palestinian demonstrators after he left the 92 Y Community Center where the former New York Times columnist, Barry Weiss, gave the Y’s annual State of the World Jewry address. Protestors accused Seinfeld of supporting genocide over his backing for Israel in its war against Hamas.

Well, here's my take. I don't know anybody who supports Israel and the Jewish people who also supports genocide against the Palestinians. I'll tell you what they do support, and that's bringing an end to Hamas and their terrorist activity against Israel and the Jewish people and their rule over the Palestinians in Gaza.

Chris Katulka: Jael, it's so great to have you on the Friends of Israel Today radio program.

Jael Kalisher: I'm so glad to be here.

Chris Katulka: Jael, you're no stranger to the Friends of Israel. You have a long lineage of Kalishers who have served with the ministry. Your grandfather, Zvi Kalishe,r and your father, Meno Kalisher, have served with friends of Israel, and now you are officially a Friends of Israel representative serving in our international department. And what made you take that leap of faith to serve in full-time ministry with the Friends of Israel?

Jael Kalisher: I have to be honest, I don't know that there was much faith needed in that because the name of Friends of Israel says it all by itself. But also, as I've mentioned to Jim when I was talking to him in my interview, continuing this lineage, as you named it, or legacy as I like to call it, was very important because what my grandpa started 60 years ago now has been so important and my dad has continued that, my brother is a part of this too. And it's not that I'm like, “hey, we need more Kalishers on board!” That was not the thing that drove me to the Friends of Israel.

But actually, the name that Friends of Israel built for itself and actually really by the grace of God that was able to be built for Friends of Israel, which is a name of integrity, some transparency and accountability, I knew that this was... And, of course, the legacy. Continuing the legacy was really the thing that would be the best service for the ministry project, Connections, that I had already started prior to being officially engaged with Friends of Israel.

Chris Katulka: That's amazing. And like you said, it's a legacy. That's fantastic. Jael, I'd love to know what's your vision for your ministry with Friends of Israel? Where do you see yourself ministering to the Jewish community, and how do you see yourself fulfilling that ministry?

Jael Kalisher: Yeah, that's it. It's a quite broad question, Chris, but I'll try to narrow it down. I think the way that I'm wired is very entrepreneurial, meaning that if I see a need, the Lord just births immediately right there the opportunity for a project to fill that need. And really what I was able to see in 2019 in New Zealand is the need to reconnect Israelis that were reached out to outside of Israel, back in Israel to local congregations. And this is how Connections was birthed, and I'll be talking a little bit about that in a few moments. But this is really the current vision that the Lord put on my heart.

And there are so many ways for this to expand. Some of it, The LIGHT Concert Tour, which again we'll touch on in a few moments, that's a part of it in a way and it has become a part of it. I didn't know that prior to embarking on this tour, but it's amazing for me and also for the rest of the team, Paul and Carolyn Pierce and Becky, to see how the Lord is opening doors and connecting puzzle pieces that we would've never thought that are connected, just putting them together right in front of our eyes.

So my vision, I don't know if it's my vision, but the vision that the Lord puts in me, is to reach out to Israelis outside of Israel, but then to make sure that there's a network for them to connect to back in Israel.

Chris Katulka: You saw that happening. You mentioned New Zealand, that you were making connections with Israelis in New Zealand. Can you talk a little bit more about that, maybe dive in a little bit more as to what that ministry looked like as you, an Israeli, serving Israelis in New Zealand? Maybe we have some listeners that are going, what is that all about?

Jael Kalisher: Sure. With pleasure. New Zealand was always a dream of mine to visit. And in 2019, the Lord opened the door for me to be there for seven weeks. And it was more actually a personal time that I took to visit there. But during this personal time, I also asked the Lord for a new vision for a new season that I knew was going to take place in 2020. That's way before COVID. So little did I know what was going to happen.

But while I was in New Zealand, I was exposed to a hosting network that existed there. And by hosting I mean that different Christian families would just open their home for Israeli travelers, Israeli backpackers, that if they were in the area, that Israeli were backpacking or hiking through New Zealand, if they were in the area like this host family, they were welcome to come and spend the night for two nights with them.

And that would open the door then for conversations. And many times, these conversations would lead to faith conversations because it's uncommon for anyone, especially today, to host Israelis or to even seek to engage Israelis in any kind of conversation or interacting. So that really blew my mind. I thought, what? Wait, why are you doing this? And I'm considered a sister in Christ, right? But the love and generosity and care that they showed to these Israelis really was overwhelming and was so beautiful. And I saw firsthand how the non-believing Israelis that were hosted there were impacted by this generosity.

And so I just asked around a little more and got some details as to what that network looked like and where the hosts were stationed and doing a little bit of a research work there about that. And then that led me logically to the question of, okay, so you're doing a phenomenal job here in New Zealand out away from Israel, and I praise God for this. This is amazing. But when those Israelis come back to Israel, who engages them there? Is there a network that they can connect to that basically continues a follow-up conversation with them? And so that's where they said, well, there's some programs that we do, but really it taps onto maybe 50 up to 100 Israelis, and there are thousands that utilize this hosted network in New Zealand. So I thought, well, this percent, this ratio is not very good.

And that's where the idea about creating Connections started forming. And really the idea is to create this network between the churches back in Israel that continue to follow up conversations with those Israeli backpackers. But in order to even start that, you need to collect everyone under one event or under one roof for them to engage one another. And that's why songs and music, I think, are the best means to do that. Everyone can easily come to a concert, especially if it's about songs that will get them an experience that they really, really treasure. And so this is at the heart of connections to engage or to invite everyone to this concert, to this event in Israel, everyone being church representatives and Israeli backpackers, and to allow for this space for them to interact with local churches.

Chris Katulka: That's amazing. I believe that you started ministering full-time with Friends of Israel just in October 2023. So not many days after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th. How has that changed your ministry with Friends of Israel? You kind of came into Friends of Israel right as the war started to take place, when the massacre happened. Can you share about how that's changed your ministry with Friends of Israel?

Jael Kalisher: I don't know if it's changed anything more than just opened a lot of doors for me to just say, hey, I'm in the States. I was supposed to meet with the board and approve the whole process of my representation with Friends of Israel. And I just got to see a lot of people meet with a lot of people and really raise the awareness of what was going on in Israel. And the biggest thing that I've noticed is that there are very, very, very few avenues through which to get factual truth about what was going on there. So this was very pivotal and monumental for me to be able to provide that firsthand.

So I don't know if it changed as much as just opened a different way, different avenue for me to be a representative, which is what this new path that I'm on.

Chris Katulka: I love this new path. Hey, listen, if you're just tuning in, we're speaking with Jael Kalisher, who serves with the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry in our international department. And actually, she's not international right now. She's actually in the United States and she's on a fantastic tour as she goes around with several other Friends of Israel representatives and they connect Christians with Hebrew worship and also what's going on in Israel from a biblical worldview. So when we come back, we're going to talk with Jael about this amazing tour that she's on. It's called The LIGHT Tour. So stick around.

Steve Conover: Chris, when you think of a people group who have been repeatedly threatened and attacked by an enemy whose purpose is to destroy them, who comes to mind?

Chris Katulka: Steve, without a doubt, it's the people of Israel. For millennia, the Jewish people have fought for their lives and somehow never completely lost their strength to keep going.

Steve Conover: I agree. And this has to be why when October 7th happened, while it rightfully crushed the souls of every Jewish person, it didn't wipe out their strength completely, and for good reason.

Chris Katulka: And this good reason is laid out actually within God's Word. And diving into that reason is why the Friends of Israel wants to spend the day with our listeners all throughout the United States for our popular one-day Prophecy Up Close Conferences where we're going to cover Israel's Resilience: The Struggle to Survive.

Steve Conover: Everyone is invited to go to foi.org/prophecy to find a one-day conference in their area and to learn more about what to expect. You can register for a day packed full of studying God's Word together with Bible teachers who are passionate about the people of Israel.

Chris Katulka: We encourage you to come to learn the history, the future, and the ongoing struggle today for Israel's survival and from where that underlying strength comes. To find a Prophecy Up Close Conference in your area, go to foi.org/prophecy. Again, that's foi.org/prophecy.

Chris Katulka: Jael, welcome back. Thanks for being with us. God has gifted you musically. I've seen it. And you've been using that gift to raise awareness about Israel among the churches all over the world. And right now you and several Friends of Israel staff are currently on tour in the United States, which I just love hearing that the Friends of Israel's on tour. Can you share about this tour? I know it's called LIGHT. What does it mean and how has it impacted people as you've been going around?

Jael Kalisher: With pleasure. Well, LIGHT came... I think Becky is the one that came up with the initials for that. And LIGHT stands for, “Love Israel with grace, hope, and truth.” And we thought we can use the G for “gifts” or to represent the fundraiser aspect that we wanted, but I think grace is a far more graceful word, pun intended. And so really, grace is about giving something that is undeserving or receiving something that is undeserving. And by giving, we all know that we receive far more.

And so at the heart of this benefit concert tour is raising funds for everything that's going on in Israel right now on so many levels. You have the humanitarian aid and you have the physical needs, and you have the social needs, and you have just all of these different avenues. But maybe the biggest one that is both today and tomorrow is the soul need or the heart need. People don't know Jesus, and this is our heart's biggest desire for them to know Jesus. But if you're on survival mode because you are injured and your family's injured and your friends are injured, you're not going to be able to hear and listen to anything about faith. And so kind of like the Good Samaritan, you first tend to the physical needs of the people, and then that opens the avenue and the door to reach out to their hearts. And they'll be far more willing to listen to anything that you have to say if they've seen your love and your care for them before.

Chris Katulka: As you're going around, this LIGHT Tour is a way that you're connecting people with what's going on in Israel. But if somebody comes to one of your events, what does that look like, Jael?

Jael Kalisher: Basically it's like a Stand With Israel event really. I share my personal story of my family, how we encountered or what happened on October 7th for us, how it impacted my family with sending no less than 11 family members to the front lines of either the north or the south fronts. Among them, my own brother and sister. My brother who's a father of five and a former paratrooper and my sister is an HR officer and a mother of two. And this for over a hundred days, we would open the news every day to make sure that they're not among the dead because that's one of the ways that you knew if they were alive or not. And no news is good news and praise God, they're back home right now refreshing before they're most likely going to be called to the northern fronts again.

So this is what I talk about through the program. It's weaving my personal story, my family's personal story, and then different songs that talk about this experience, songs that I've written, but also songs that talk about the whole Connections experience. Because as we're talking right now, I was supposed to be in New Zealand and reaching out to these very Israelis that are serving in the front lines. So my heart really goes out to them, and instead of reaching out to them directly, this whole tour is about reaching out to them indirectly and raising the funds to help them and, Lord willing, in the future to engage them through Connections. So this is really what the tour and the concert is all about.

Chris Katulka: As you're doing the concert and you're on the LIGHT tour, you are singing, I'm sure, many Hebrew worship songs. In fact, Jael taught a class for our FOI Equip online series on Hebrew worship, and so she's a specialist in this. And so, Jael, as you're singing Hebrew worship songs, is there one that stands out to you that you've taken personally, something that you've clung to as you worship the Lord as you go about this tour?

Jael Kalisher: That's a really hard question, Chris, because in a way I'm connected to all of them, especially those that I wrote. So I'll give you two bits. One of them is called Friendship and Faith, and it has both Hebrew and English in both languages. And it really talks about what kind of friendship can be formed if you pray for it first and believe for it before it even happened. And this is the kind of friendship that we wish to see between brothers and sisters in Christ, but this is also the friendship that every one of us wishes to have in our own lives. This is definitely something that I've experienced and the Lord has blessed me with miraculously.

And there's another song that's called Hope, and I co-wrote this with Irit Eret who's a dear friend of mine. And really it was about since the Lord is calling us right about, because after COVID there was such a sense of the loss of hope or fear, and really the antidote to that is faith, is hope. And so we compiled a bunch of verses from Job and from the New Testament about what the Bible really has to say about hope and where we can draw our encouragement from.

Chris Katulka: Now, we love Irit over here at Friends of Israel. We know you two have written many songs together. You have been a part of a ministry together in Israel, but is she on tour with you right now as you're traveling up and down the West Coast?

Jael Kalisher: I wish she could have been. I asked her if she could, and initially she was supposed to, at least for the first five weeks. But she is undergoing some kind of a treatment in Israel at the moment, and the doctor actually said that she's not allowed to travel for two weeks. And that was just prior to when she was supposed to leave Israel, and so it didn't work out. So I ended up needing to do the first bit by myself. And that's where Paul, Carolyn, and Becky jumped in and saved the day with assisting, not with singing. Praise God. No, I'm kidding. They're all right. But with narrating the program. And so they've been doing a phenomenal job and we have such a wonderful chemistry together. 

Chris Katulka: You're going through, you're encouraging the body of Christ as you go from church to church, really showing what's going on in Israel, how it's impacted your family in Israel, singing worship songs. But like you said, you're also raising funds for Israel while you're on tour. What are these funds being used for as you're traveling from church to church?

Jael Kalisher: Like I mentioned, the humanitarian aid is the first need that arises today, and that is so vast. You have family needs, you have food stamps, you have medical bills both for families of reservists, for reservists themselves, you have rehabilitation needs, you have just anything that you can think of is probably something that is in need, whether in our church, in other churches, or for the nonbelievers around us. And so wherever we can tap into the help, this is what we try to do through Jerusalem Assembly.

But at the same time, we have to think about tomorrow, about the future, about the moment where, okay, so the needs were met, but then what about the heart needs? What about the souls? Do we have a way to reach out to them with the gospel? And this is, again, I just look at the model of the Good Samaritan and I think first the body was tended to make sure it was healed, and then there was tending to the hearts, then there was conversation and continued relationship with the person to make sure that they have an avenue to hear about Christ. And this is also what the funds are going to be for, to expand Connections and reaching out to Israelis outside of Israel.

Chris Katulka: I've been following you on social media. I've seen you hopping from church to church as you do the LIGHT Tour and able to see you lead worship. I've been able to see pictures of Becky and Paul and Carolyn sitting on stage with you, connecting people with the biblical perspective of what's going on in Israel. Could you share, how could people connect with you? Maybe they want to come to a LIGHT concert and see where you're going and how they can be a part of your ministry.

Jael Kalisher: So I have two really immediate answers to that. One of them is just a link that connects it to our LIGHT Tour and our upcoming events, and that would be gofoi.org/LIGHT, L-I-G-H-T, and LIGHT has to be capitalized. And that will take you to just the webpage that we have for the LIGHT Concert Tour, and get all the information there about everything that I talked about right now and also the upcoming dates. This is one way to do that. And then the other link that I can give is gofoi.org/connections and that takes you to the page that's all about Connections in further detail.

Chris Katulka: That is fantastic. We've been speaking with Jael Kalisher who serves full-time with the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. She is on tour right now with several other Friends of Israel representatives. So if you want to connect with what she's doing, if you want to join one of her concerts, you can go to gofoi.org/LIGHT, and light has to be in capital letters, or you can go to go foi.org/connections.

Jael, thank you so much for being with us and we are praying for you as you're traveling from church to church and connecting people to the events that are happening in Israel through worship. Thank you so much.

Jael Kalisher: Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it.

Chris Katulka: God bless. Bye-bye. I want to thank Jael Kalisher for joining us on the program today. Just a reminder, you can go to gofoi.org/LIGHT, and light is all capital letters, and there you can find out more information about the LIGHT Concert Tour and how you can get involved. Now, next week we're going to be coming back into our study on the Davidic Covenant, so be sure to have your Bibles out for 2 Samuel chapter seven.

I'm your host, Chris Katulka. Today's program was produced by Tom Gallione, engineered by Bob Beebe, edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. And Steve Conover is our executive producer. Our mailing address is FOI Radio PO Box 914 Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. Now that you know, have to mail into us. Again, that's FOI Radio, PO Box 914 Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. Our web address is foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org, or you can call our listener line 888-343-6940.

The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. We are a worldwide evangelical ministry, proclaiming biblical truth about Israel and the Messiah, while bringing physical and spiritual comfort to the Jewish people.