Every nation, every individual and every creature has a unique view of the world, and any person who has the privilege of traveling to a strange place gets to see the world from another—someone else’s—point of view. This issue ofHadassah Magazine is all about points of view—not in the sense of diverse opinions but of different visions.

Other than taking off and landing at Ben-Gurion Airport, most visitors view Israel from the ground. But Sherri Mandell views Zion from the standpoint of a species that outnumbers Israel’s human population by 100 to 1 (page 24). Israel straddles some of the most important bird migration routes in the world, and the number of birds who either live in or fly over the Jewish state is, in more than one sense of the term, sky high.

If you stood in any other Mexican village you might see a church in the center and dozens of references or tributes to Jesus. But Bryan Schwartz went to Venta Prieta, home to a community whose forebears hung on to the threads of their Jewish ancestors and wove them back into life. His photoessay, “Tefila Sunrise,” begins on page 40.

The term “disco night” has a certain ring, but it sheds no light on what Sara K. Eisen experienced at a dance night for Orthodox women—no men allowed—in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh. Her report on how religious women get down when there are no eyes from the other gender begins on page 30.

The United Nations’s so-called Human Rights Commission has long had a peculiar view of its mandate, one that essentially classified the world’s violators into “Israel” and “other unnamed players.” Prompted by Secretary General Kofi Annan, however, the world body’s point of view may be shifting. William Korey explores Annan’s proposed reforms, beginning on page 8. Perhaps like those migrating birds, more of the world’s leaders are getting a different, and better, look at Israel.