First of all, thanks @pinkdagger for asking this question (one I never dreamed I would see in all places TCS).
You see for about the past year I have been grappling with my religious belief. I am Jewish, my parents lived through the holocaust in eastern europe. My grandfather was observant - my parents not except for the high days like Passover and Yom Kippur.
I have always been very spiritual not religious. There are events that happened in my life that I cannot attribute to mere coincidence - I have the distinct and overwhelming feeling of a higher power being involved at certain times - key moments if you will.
As a boy, I flunked out of Hebrew school after 2 years. That meant no bar-mitzvah, which I was totally relieved about due to severe anxiety over public speaking. Not being able to understand Hebrew makes it impossible in my eyes to practice Judaism as even the most reformed congregations still cite prayers and sing in Hebrew. I can say the words from memory - but if I don`t know the meaning then what`s the point?
About 6 years ago my life took a drastic downward spiral. Lost my job in the recession, my mother passed away, and the strain lead to divorce a few years later. I found myself seeking some comfort from the pain and circumstance I was going through. This lead me to look toward religion. What struck me from listening to Christian sermons was that they would often tell stories or quote passages from the Old Testament. I knew Jesus was Jewish but somehow I always had this notion that Christianity and Judaism were separate and distinctly different. It`s not the case though. So this year I became fascinated by finding out more about my Jewish roots through Christianity. My understanding now is that I accept Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) as the Messiah. This belief is bolstered mainly by the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel and the life of the Apostle Paul. This belief is referred to as Messianic Judaism. There are a few of these congregations but none close by so I mostly follow along by podcasts and other media.
Most people get very upset or cannot understand how we consider ourselves Jewish yet follow Jesus. They think you must be Jewish or Christian - one cannot be both. But that is the same dichotomy I lived with before I came to my understanding that the coming of the Messiah is just a continuation in the unfolding story of the Bible. If the Jewish leaders accepted Jesus when he was alive then it would be natural to follow his teachings as a Jew today. But that could never happen as Isaiah foretold that he would be despised by his people (those that followed the leaders anyway).
It`s a fascinating topic... many books and debates continue to go on about it.
You see for about the past year I have been grappling with my religious belief. I am Jewish, my parents lived through the holocaust in eastern europe. My grandfather was observant - my parents not except for the high days like Passover and Yom Kippur.
I have always been very spiritual not religious. There are events that happened in my life that I cannot attribute to mere coincidence - I have the distinct and overwhelming feeling of a higher power being involved at certain times - key moments if you will.
As a boy, I flunked out of Hebrew school after 2 years. That meant no bar-mitzvah, which I was totally relieved about due to severe anxiety over public speaking. Not being able to understand Hebrew makes it impossible in my eyes to practice Judaism as even the most reformed congregations still cite prayers and sing in Hebrew. I can say the words from memory - but if I don`t know the meaning then what`s the point?
About 6 years ago my life took a drastic downward spiral. Lost my job in the recession, my mother passed away, and the strain lead to divorce a few years later. I found myself seeking some comfort from the pain and circumstance I was going through. This lead me to look toward religion. What struck me from listening to Christian sermons was that they would often tell stories or quote passages from the Old Testament. I knew Jesus was Jewish but somehow I always had this notion that Christianity and Judaism were separate and distinctly different. It`s not the case though. So this year I became fascinated by finding out more about my Jewish roots through Christianity. My understanding now is that I accept Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) as the Messiah. This belief is bolstered mainly by the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel and the life of the Apostle Paul. This belief is referred to as Messianic Judaism. There are a few of these congregations but none close by so I mostly follow along by podcasts and other media.
Most people get very upset or cannot understand how we consider ourselves Jewish yet follow Jesus. They think you must be Jewish or Christian - one cannot be both. But that is the same dichotomy I lived with before I came to my understanding that the coming of the Messiah is just a continuation in the unfolding story of the Bible. If the Jewish leaders accepted Jesus when he was alive then it would be natural to follow his teachings as a Jew today. But that could never happen as Isaiah foretold that he would be despised by his people (those that followed the leaders anyway).
It`s a fascinating topic... many books and debates continue to go on about it.
