Saturday People, Sunday People: Israel through the Eyes of a Christian Sojourner

Saturday People, Sunday People (Encounter) is a unique portrait of Israel as seen through the eyes of a Christian who went for a visit and stayed for more than six years. Fascinated by a land that has become an abstraction centering on international conflicts of epic proportions, Hudson Institute Adjunct Fellow Lela Gilbert arrived in Israel on a personal pilgrimage in 2006—in the midst of a raging war. What she found was a vibrant country, enlivened by warm-hearted, lively people of great intelligence and decency. Gilbert also reports her encounters with Jews exiled from Muslim countries since 1948—and notes how Christian communities today in the Arab Middle East face similar threats.

Gilbert, a free-lance writer and editor who has authored or co-authored more than sixty published books, tells the story of the real Israel and of real Israelis—ordinary and extraordinary—and the energetic rhythm of their lives, even during times of tragedy and terror. Her work includes Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians (co-authored, Thomas Nelson, 2013), Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion (co-authored, Oxford University Press, 2008), and Baroness Cox: Eyewitness to a Broken World (Lion-Hudson, 2007). She is a contributor to numerous news publications including the Jerusalem Post, Weekly Standard, Jewish World Review, and National Review.