Israel has been a home to the Jewish people since God first promised it to the patriarch Abraham around 2000 BC. After a forced exile that lasted over 1800 years—during which only a small number of Jews remained in the land—the modern state of Israel was established in 1948. Today, there are over 5,313,000 Jewish people living in the land! All one has to do to meet someone Jewish is walk outside on any street in any town.

Jews for Jesus has been ministering in Israel since the 1980’s with short-term teams, but in 1994 Efraim and Jeannie Goldstein moved there with their two boys to establish our permanent Tel Aviv branch office. After twelve years of building the work, Efraim transferred leadership to Dan Sered. Dan is a sabra (Israeli born) who came to faith in Jesus while attending university in the United States.

Tel Aviv is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world. Though Jerusalem is the official capital of Israel, Tel Aviv represents its diplomatic and commercial center. Foreign countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv. The city is situated along the Mediterranean coast and is a favorite spot for tourism and local entertainment. Its location makes for easy travel to other major cities such as Jerusalem and Haifa.

Our ministry in Israel consists of street evangelism, one on one visits, and special outreaches at national new age festivals which take place around the major Jewish holidays. Because Israelis are secure in their Jewish identity, they are less defensive when the subject of Jesus is brought up to them. But the obstacles to Gospel proclamation to Israelis are nonetheless formidable. They know almost nothing about Jesus and do not even know his correct name in Hebrew. The religious establishment is vehemently opposed to Jewish believers in Jesus and they often try to disrupt evangelistic endeavors.

Please pray that the Lord will use us for His glory as we bring the good news of the Messiah Jesus to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.