Many thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled a wave of violence that was unleashed in 2003 by the US invasion.

At the time of Saddam Hussein's overthrow, about one million Christians lived in Iraq. Now a third of the Christian community has fled the country in order to escape growing violence and Muslim hostility.

"Any conflicts between Muslims and Copts, in the subway or the market, will always end up being taken in the religious context," says Refat Lakousha, a professor at Alexandria University.

As Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is celebrated, watch this wildly popular singer talk about spiritual searching, Jewish mysticism, and why "my life is not separate from my music."

Light, says the reggae-loving rocker, "is really a central theme in my music in general, in the story of Hanukkah, and in the spiritual process in general."

"Criticism of Israel indicates engagement with Israel. American Jews should be worried when their children stop criticizing Israel," says Professor Steven Cohen, a sociologist of American Jewry on the faculty at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

Read more of the Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly interviews with American Jews about Israel.

Observant Jews prepare for Passover by getting rid of everything in the house that is chametz, or leavened. We visited the Orthodox Jewish family of Ari and Shoshana Lerner to see how they were preparing.

Yavilah McCoy is one of several thousand African-American Jews. She has devoted her talent and energy to use Gospel music to try to overcome the prejudice she has experienced from other Jews. To create a better future for her children, Yavilah wants it known that Jews come in a variety of shades and colors.