Julia Fisher talks to Maala Thomas in her home in Netanya, situated just north of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast in Israel. Maala works in a school where she is a counsellor. She is married to Evan, and he is the pastor of a Messianic congregation in Netanya. However, Maala is not Jewish. Her parents are Finnish and she was brought up in New Zealand. In this programme we are going to learn what it’s like being married to an Israeli Jew and living in Israel – having to adopt another’s culture. Maala starts by explaining a little more about her early days. Our aim is to build bridges… To build bridges of understanding and support, in a spirit of reconciliation, between believers (both Jewish and Arab) in the Holy Land (Israel and the Palestinian Areas) and Christians worldwide. olivetreefund.org beit-asaph.org.il