Israeli singer, musician, producer and songwriter Sarah Liberman was born in northern Israel.
Sarah said when she was a child, a Messianic Jewish believing family moved in next door to them and they began hearing praise and worship coming from the neighbor’s house every afternoon at about the same time.
Her mother went to investigate and discovered that they were having a Bible study. Having experienced the presence of God and His Holy Spirit in her room as a child, her mother said she experienced that same presence in her neighbor’s home that day. Not long after, Sarah’s mother gave her heart to the Lord.
This became a problem, Sarah explains, because her father was raised in a traditional Orthodox Jewish home and rejected his wife’s new beliefs. He was moved, however, to examine other religions and to study the Bible. When he realized that Yeshua was the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, he, too, accepted the Lord.
Sarah explains that there were very few Israeli believers when she was growing up. She accepted Yeshua as her Lord and Savior as a young girl but rededicated herself as a teenager, knowing she would now be different from the kids around her.
“I wanted to know the truth of the Bible in a tangible way. I developed a hunger for God, and for His word,” Sarah said during our interview. “I wanted the truth of the Bible to be manifested in my life.”
Sarah learned about God from standing before Him in regular times of worship. This led to her eventually writing worship songs, touring, recording and holding music concerts. All that she has accomplished, she said, is because of God at work, transforming her life. She describes herself as one who has devoted her life to the blessing of God’s heart and lifting Him up, as well as making a place for others to meet Him in worship.
Sarah’s worship style can best be described as passionate, birthed out of her intimate relationship with God, and intended to inspire believers of all ages to pursue the heart of God in a deeper way.
Her songs are based on scriptures and mostly contain the words of the Bible directly.
“I believe the word of God is powerful and using it in our songs means we are memorizing and internalizing the word of God as we worship,” she said.
She regularly leads worship with a team of other Israeli believers at congregations and conferences across Israel and abroad, traveling around the world, bringing the unique sound and heritage of Israeli worship to the nations through her songs.
Although Sarah’s current project “The Invitation,” is directed toward the Arab community, her first album “Lefanecha” (I Am Before You) was specifically a Hebrew worship album, “capturing both the pioneering vision and the essence of her revelatory sound,” she said, something that aligns her worship team with the biblical principles of worship in Heaven.
“The album captures the sound of corporate Israeli worship, as well as my personal worship times, using both Western and Middle Eastern instruments and sounds.” She describes the album as being the first of a three-stage “worship journey” which Sarah takes her listeners on, allowing them to access God’s presence, to encounter Him and to be transformed.
Sarah’s second album from “The worship journey” series is called “Lev Tahor” (A Pure Heart). Its ten tracks include modern sounds and those that reflect the heritage of ancient tabernacle sounds from the land of Israel. The theme of this album is purification and sanctification but it also captures the joy of knowing God in a deeper way.
The third CD from the Worship Journey series, “God of Miracles,” continues the transition of mixing modern and ancient sounds, composed of songs that declare the power of God to fight our battles, heal us and bring about victory in our lives.
Sarah describes her current project – “The Invitation” – as being birthed out of her personal suffering from an untreatable ear injury a few years ago. What she describes as “a difficult season of physical suffering” led her to ask God what was on His heart for her, to which she felt He answered: “The people of the Middle East.”
Sarah wondered: “What did I have that could bless the people that God wanted to bless and realized that we could create Arabic versions of the worship songs we currently have.”
She also realized that her biblical namesake, Sarah, was instrumental in the banishment of Ishmael and Hagar from Abraham’s tent. She became aware of her own heart and how it “ached for the prodigals of the sons of Ishmael to come back to the table, back to the family tent to share meals and be a part of God’s Kingdom family,” she said. This is what birthed the vision for the album, “The Invitation.”
Sarah describes it as “a heart cry to reach out to the Arabic-speaking world as a mother in Israel, with the call for Ishmael to ‘come back home, back to the Father’s house, back to the table where God wants us.’”
The songs were recorded in Arabic with young local Arab musicians and musicians from other Arab countries.
A new album and videos are also now being released in Farsi, working with musicians and singers who come from Iran.
In addition to the music projects, Sarah creates original material for bible studies. The intent is to help people in the Middle East to use worship to learn the word of God. The songs are based on the Word translated into Arabic and Farsi. The Invitation music videos and Bible study materials are being released in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, and English.
Sarah uses her musical talents to reach the heart of God, both for herself and for others.
Despite having what many may call a “blessed life,” the journey was not always easy for Sarah. She had a talent for music from a young age and was given opportunities to record her music in a studio. Unfortunately, Sarah was subjected to sexual abuse which took place in a studio.
Sarah explained that this went on for several years. Then, when it was finally revealed, “it was a big thing,” she said.
Sarah’s response to the situation was to shut herself off entirely from making music, even to the point of having the piano removed from her home. She was unable to forgive her attacker and even closed herself from others. “I was on the defensive all of the time. I felt isolated and lonely and for a long time, repressed it all,” she said.
During the years following the abuse, Sarah studied Communication Arts at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, earned an MBA from the University of Manchester and had a successful career in high-tech.
But only after counseling, prayer and the help of a “deliverance” ministry was Sarah finally able to overcome the trauma.
“The first step in the healing process was to forgive that person,” she said, but said she was not able to.
“Not only could I not feel it, but I couldn’t even form the words in my mouth… until I realized that I, myself, needed forgiveness.”
She said that she couldn’t forgive in her own power, but asked God to give her His forgiveness for her abuser.
When she was able to forgive him, she said, she felt an immediate, significant change and freedom in her heart, describing the effect as “something supernatural.”
Sarah said all of her projects emanate from a place of heartfelt seeking after the Lord.
In addition to her successful career and raising a family, she is now writing a book about worship and living the life that God designed.
Click here to visit Sarah’s website.