New research confirms a quiet spiritual awakening as many cry out to the Lord amid crisis.



We have noticed a sharp uptick in interest on our Hebrew language channels and websites here at ONE FOR ISRAEL, but now an academic study has confirmed it: Israelis have been turning to God in significant numbers during this terrible war.

New research from psychologists at Hebrew University has shown that half of those surveyed had changed their approach to spirituality since October 7, 2023. While some had turned away from God in grief and disillusionment, the vast majority reported an increase in interest and engagement with spiritual matters, turning to God to find meaning and comfort.

Yaakov Greenwald, Prof. Mario Mikulincer, and Prof. Ariel Knafo-Noam surveyed 1,200 students to learn how the war precipitated by the Oct. 7 massacre has impacted spirituality and religion among young adults.

The study found that astonishingly, half of all the respondents reported a change in their attitudes to faith, with a quarter saying they had become “more religious” and a third saying they had become more spiritual.

The researchers explained, “Reminders of mortality may lead people to seek existential security through cultural values or spiritual beliefs,” adding that, “war heightens death awareness on a daily basis—through rocket attacks, media coverage of casualties, and military service—which can drive people either toward or away from religion depending on what their community values most.”1

The phenomenon was seen the night before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It’s traditional for Israelis to visit the Western Wall at night, asking for forgiveness from God in the lead-up to the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. There were so many coming to pray that they had to close the entrance because there was no more room!

The study, “Widespread religious and spiritual change due to war: A terror management perspective,” which was published in The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, reflected that:

“Direct exposure to war events—such as being injured, losing a loved one, or living under rocket fire—was linked to increases in both religiosity and spirituality. This suggests that the more directly individuals are touched by war, the more likely they are to re-examine and reshape their belief systems.”

In addition to finding that a huge proportion were turning to God, the study found that personal proximity to conflict and suffering had a major impact on responses, whether it was deepening an existing faith, starting to turn to God and spiritual things for the first time, or even going in the opposite direction. About one in four students became more religious, while one in three became more spiritual, according to The Jerusalem Post.2

It’s not uncommon to see people turning to God in times of crisis, but with the war going on for two full years and so many impacted by death, trauma, and loss, it might not be surprising to learn of this increase in interest.

Following the first heavy Iranian attack and the miraculous preservation of Israeli lives, many instinctively reached for the Bible, a phenomenon made evident in Google searches the next morning. Reminders of our mortality, especially over a prolonged period, prompt us to consider the meaning of life and death.

At ONE FOR ISRAEL, we have received a huge number of messages from seekers exploring faith and have seen many come to faith during the war. We have mailed out hundreds of copies of the New Testament, and one in five have asked to stay in touch with us, some of whom have already put their faith in Yeshua.

As an injured soldier recently told us, the IDF has seen more people who believe in God serving than usual since October 7, 2023. Though not a believer himself, Oren has found their faith inspiring. “It’s like a boost of hope,” he said, explaining that it gave him something to expect and look forward to. Though he and many others like him began the war as atheists, he admitted that he had found himself thinking on a more spiritual level during the war.

“In my toughest times doing the injury, during the incident, I believed in some spiritual force out there. You can’t say in words, but I believe that each one of the soldiers in combat, they are following something — following something bigger than us.”

With the biggest call-up in Israel’s history, hundreds of thousands of young Israelis have had to step up to serve in the IDF in places like Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, not knowing whether or not they’ll return. Everyone back on the Homefront has been diving for cover, in and out of bomb shelters as rockets rain down from every side, and there’s been little chance of avoiding the wall-to-wall media coverage. Staring death in the face stirs existential anxiety — a big motivating factor for the mass turning to God we have seen in Israel. As horrible as these two years have been, we hope and pray that many, both in Israel and in Gaza, will find eternal life as they search for answers and meaning.

“Ultimately, the study underscores that war is not just a political or military event—it is also an existential one. It reshapes not only landscapes and communities, but also the deeply personal beliefs that guide human lives,” The Jerusalem Post reported, saying that it was a “human drive to make sense of life in the shadow of death.”

Pray with us that those who fear death would find life in all its fullness as they search for the ultimate truth.

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