Join our Community

Support ToI and remove all ads

Learn more

English
Français
עברית

Get The Daily Edition
Account
Sign In
- Sign in
- Join our Community

Open Search form

Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
Podcasts
Community(members only)

Newsletters
Partners

Input search

English
Français
עברית

Latest Articles
Latest Alerts
Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
Podcasts
Community(members only)
Video
Newsletters
Partners
Community
- Join our community
- Sign in
- About The Times of Israel
- Advertise on The Times of Israel
- Contact us
- Download our App
  - For IOS users
  - For Android users
- Get the Daily Edition
- Follow us
- © 2026 The Times of Israel , All Rights Reserved
  
  Terms and conditions Privacy policy Your Privacy Rights

Input search

The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, December 25, 2020

Facebook
Twitter

View previous edition

View next edition

Police at a termporary roadblock in Jerusalem on September 27, 2020, during a nationwide lockdown (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Ministers okay rules of 3rd lockdown, expected to cost NIS 2.5 billion a week

Bank of Israel says economic damage of latest closure likely to be less than previous ones, due to laxer restrictions and schools staying partly open

Health care workers take coronavirus test samples of Israelis in Modi'in, December 24, 2020 (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Nearly 4,000 new virus cases diagnosed, as number of vaccinated hits 210,000

Parked airplanes at Ben Gurion Airport, August 8, 2020 (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90/File)

Chaos reported at airport, with few sent to quarantine hotels despite new rules

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media after receiving the the first vaccination against the coronavirus in Israel, at Sheba hospital in Ramat Gan, on December 19, 2020. (Flash90)

Netanyahu claims pandemic will likely be over in Israel ‘within a few weeks’

PM asserts that lockdown, combined with vaccination campaign, can make Israel the 1st country to overcome coronavirus crisis

A Maccabi Healthcare Services worker handles a test sample at a coronavirus testing site in Modiin, on December 24, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Health officials fear mutant strain spreading, as they examine dozens of tests

Israelis receive Covid-19 vaccinations, at the Mediterranean Towers assisted-living facility in Ganei Tikva, southeast of Tel Aviv, December 22, 2020. (Flash90)

Rules of Israel’s third lockdown: What you need to know

Interview

The Bible without Jesus? How two faiths can read the same text in dissonant ways

Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Brettler parse opposing interpretations Jews and Christians have of the same Bible, and make the argument that religion doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game

Gerard van Honthorst, 'Adoration of the Shepherds,' 1622. 'The Bible With and Without Jesus' looks at verses that can be interpreted to predict Jesus's birth. (Public domain)

Token with 'The Nativity,' Syria-Palestine, 6th-7th century CE, Terracotta, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Bequest of Dan Barag, Jerusalem (Courtesy Eli Posner)

Ancient souvenir was a pocket-sized lamb of Bethlehem for Christian pilgrims

By Jessica Steinberg

'Our heart desires to move ties with them to a better point'

After years of acrimony, Turkey’s Erdogan says he’d like better ties with Israel

Amid multiple reports of covert overtures between nations, some analysts see Ankara as seeking to start off relations with new, less friendly US administration on the right foot

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to his ruling party's lawmakers, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Dec. 23. 2020 (Turkish Presidency via AP, Pool)

The Church of St. Mary Magdalene was built by Russia's Alexander III and completed in 1888. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

Israel travels

Where tradition says Jesus spent his last night: Guide to Mt. of Olives churches

By Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am

A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a Clalit clinic in Jerusalem on December 24, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s vaccine dash is swamping nurses, and some officials couldn’t be happier

By Nathan Jeffay

Clalit vaccine chief says army to send in medics to help out; hopes that immunization fever will spread to Palestinian parts of Jerusalem as well

An Israeli nurse prepares a COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Jerusalem on December 23, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Israel approves using extra doses in Pfizer vials to vaccinate more people

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a Maccabi Healthcare Services vaccination center in Modiin, on December 24, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Health minister wants 24/7 vaccinations but top rabbis said to oppose on Shabbat

Why Christmas is the best day to be a Jew

Jewish Christmas is a day to do nothing at all – or maybe see a movie with 30 people in a 100-seat theater, and then go for Chinese food… with many of the same people

Saying kaddish on the National Day of Kaddish

The image of my mother always rises up before me; on this day, she was joined by my relatives whose date of death at Auschwitz is not known, including my namesake

The sound of silence

Jacob and Joseph are reunited – and avoid talking about all that has happened, which prevents the healing that real communication could have brought them (Vayigash)

They never said goodbye

When Jews started helping people in Syria who had been their sworn enemies for decades, it made me rethink my early prejudices against them

TV report: Partner to Netanyahu’s lawyer plotted to smear judges in his trial

By Raoul Wootliff

Investigative report airs footage of attorney Ariel Roth seeking funding to record family members of the justices overseeing the case making remarks against the PM

Lawyer Ariel Roth, seen in an Uvda TV documentary, December 24, 2020 (Channel 12 screenshot)

Analysis

As Santa Trump goes, will Netanyahu seek Biden rifts in place of election gifts?

Girding for a campaign without Washington’s help, PM may be enticed to demonize Biden as he once did Obama to score points; but doing so would be costly, and might not work

Then-US vice president Joe Biden, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference at the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft (L) meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Netanyahu says ‘many, many more’ Arab states to normalize ties with Israel soon

The national flags of Morocco, Israel and the United States on an El Al plane to Morocco flying a delegation to finalize a normalization deal between Jerusalem and Rabat, at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, December 22, 2020. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)

Israel and Morocco to launch direct flights in 2-3 months

File: Palestinians walk past a shop selling Christmas decorations and ornaments in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Hamas panned for effort to ‘limit interactions with Christmas’ by Gaza’s Muslims

By Aaron Boxerman

Islamic terror group in hot water after leak of plan by its Religious Affairs Ministry to prevent and discourage holiday activities

Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020 (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Coronavirus dampens Christmas joy in Bethlehem and elsewhere

By Josef Federman and JALAL HASSAN

The Christmas rush at Nahoum & Sons this year. (Isaac Nahoum/Nahoum & Sons/ via JTA)

This 118-year-old Jewish bakery in India is a hit at Christmas time

By Christabel Lobo

A man dressed as Santa Claus seen during the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Jaffa, December 6, 2020 (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Israel media review

He’s making a list, not checking it once: What the press is saying on Dec. 25

By Joshua Davidovich

Israel is zooming ahead with its plans to get everyone vaccinated, possibly helped by the fact that some are being allowed to jump the line and run over grandma

The 2020 Genesis Prize is awarded at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, December 24, 2020 (Mark Neyman/GPO)

Genesis Prize gives award to 10 Israeli firms helping combat COVID-19

By Shoshanna Solomon

Illustration: Antibodies attacking contagious virus cells (wildpixel; iStock by Getty Images)

New studies indicate immunity to virus lasts at least 6-8 months after recovery

By ToI Staff and AP

Illustrative: A Syrian surface-to-air missile explodes in the sky over southern Syria on August 31, 2020. (SANA)

Reports: Israeli airstrikes in Syria target pro-Iran weapons facilities, kill 6

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Pro-opposition group says Israel hit central province of Hama; IAF jets reportedly fly over Beirut shortly before attack

A person runs with an Israeli flag in the Reihan forest near Tal Menashe in the West Bank where Esther Horgen was found dead in suspected terror attack, Dec. 21, 2020. (Flash 90/Meir Vaknin)

Thousands march to honor Israeli woman murdered in suspected terror attack

Samaria Regional Council chairman calls on PM to announce new construction in Tal Menashe, the West Bank settlement where Esther Horgen lived

IDF troops map out the home of a Palestinian man suspected in the murder of Esther Horgen, ahead of its potential demolition, in the West Bank village of Tura, near Jenin, December 24, 2020 (IDF video screenshot)

IDF maps home of suspected killer of Esther Horgen for possible demolition

Israeli police scuffle with demonstrators during a protest over a young settler who was killed earlier this week in a car crash during a police chase after allegedly throwing stones at Palestinians, Jerusalem, December 23, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Protesters, police clash over car chase death of teen for 4th night in a row

Screen capture from video of a digital model constructed by researchers to show a huge tsunami they say likely hit Israel's Mediterranean cost thousands of years ago. (YouTube)

Tsunami swept Israel coast 10,000 years ago, may have erased signs of human life

By Stuart Winer

More Headlines

University of California Merced Professor Abbas Ghassemi. (Courtesy of UC Merced/ via JTA)

University of California professor deletes Twitter account full of anti-Semitism

By Gabriel Greschler

US Presidential adviser Jared Kushner, center, and National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat, center-right, arrive at the Royal Palace in the Moroccan capital Rabat, December 22, 2020. (Fadel Senna/AFP)

US opens ‘virtual’ diplomatic post in Western Sahara ahead of consulate

By AFP

Illustrative: A cybersecurity expert stands in front of a map of Iran as he speaks to journalists about the techniques of Iranian hacking, on September 20, 2017, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP/Kamran Jebreili)

Iran-linked hackers say they breached Israeli cyber security firm Portnox

File: An Israeli tank takes a position at the Gaza Strip border, October 27, 2018. (AP/Tsafrir Abayov)

IDF officer jailed over accidental tank fire at Gaza; troops thought drill real

By Alexander Fulbright

Graffiti calling for the murder of Jews at the entrance to the Jewish cemetery of Hoyo de Manzanares, Spain, on December 24, 2020. (José de Isasa via JTA)

European Jewish sites, including Halle memorial, vandalized in spate of attacks

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks on the second day of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

Iran cautions Trump against ‘adventurism’ after US president’s threat

By AFP

Four volleyball-playing Santa Clauses have a game on the Tel Aviv beach (Courtesy YoSee Gamzoo Letova/Tel Aviv Global & Tourism)

Served hotSanta Claus hits the beach for some Christmas volleyball

By Jessica Steinberg

Interior Ministry Aryeh Deri in an interview with the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar HaShabbat, broadcast on May 9, 2020. (Screenshot/Kikar HaShabbat)

Watchdog says Interior Ministry has ‘sewn up’ food aid criteria to suit Haredim

File: Flames are seen after an explosion at a gas terminal in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011 in El-Arish (AP Photo/Ashraf Swailem)

Explosion hits gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai, no casualties

By AP

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he holds a remote press conference to update the nation on the post-Brexit trade agreement, inside 10 Downing Street in central London on December 24, 2020. (Paul GROVER / POOL / AFP)

UK, EU reach breakthrough post-Brexit trade agreement; Johnson: The deal is done

By Raf Casert and Jill Lawless

View Edition by Date

November	December 2020					January
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

The Times of Israel

Daily Edition

Free to Your Inbox

The email is either missing or invalid.

By signing up, you agree to our terms You hereby accept The Times of Israel Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and you agree to receive the latest news & offers from The Times of Israel and its partners or ad sponsors.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
podcasts
video

terms and conditions
privacy policy
Your Privacy Rights
about us
advertise with us
Jobs at The Times of Israel
contact us

Community

Join our community
Sign in

Get the Daily Edition

Enter your email address

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Whatsapp Follow us on X Follow us on Youtube Follow us on Telegram Follow us on Threads Follow us on Bluesky

© 2026 The Times of Israel, all rights reserved

Concept, design & development by

Developed by

Powered by

Never miss breaking news on Israel

Get notifications to stay updated

You're subscribed

Register for free
and continue reading

Registering allows you to manage your newsletters and alerts and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.

Email address

Please use the following structure: example@domain.com

Or Continue with

By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.

Send me The Times of Israel Daily Edition

Register to continue

Email address

Or Continue with

Log in to continue

Email address

Something went wrong.
Please try again in a few minutes..

Sign in or Register

Email address * Password *

Incorrect password. Please try again or choose an option below.

I forgot my password / Send me a sign in link

Or Continue with

check your email

Check your email

We sent an email to you at .

It has a link that will sign you in.

Click the link in that email to complete your registration.