Thank you, Rabbi, for your comment.

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Sep 17, 2014 at 02:51

Shalom, Rabbi

It's good to see a Jew, like you, getting out there and proclaiming what he believes. I wish that somehow, the good things of Judaism were out in the "marketplace" of free discourse; because Judaism has so much to offer. Let me ennumerate some of those things, off the top of my head:

1. The Jewish people truly DID hear directly from God, as a people (on the Mount, when Torah was given) -- something no other religion can claim. It is not based on the testimony of one or even a group of individuals, but on a tradition of the shared experience of millions. That's something to crow about to Muslims and Pagans; but the Christians, of course, share that same experience.

2. The PRACTICE of the Jewish religion, when done from a sincere heart, is not just ritual: It is the working out of a relationship with God, in the same way that a husband going to work and faithfully returning at night to his wife and family is the outworking of a marriage relationship.

3. My experience with Judaism has been primarily with the Conservative branch. I spent a year in a conversion program there, vs. some 18 years as a Catholic, perhaps 20 years with "Born Again" churches and many, many years in nondenominational home fellowships. In all that exposure to Christianity, I have never seen the devotion to the study and discussion of the Bible that I saw among those Jews.

I have never converted to Judaism, because my rabbi did not think I had a sufficiently Jewish Weltanschaung, or "world view". I accept his verdict.

Concerning the New Testament, I believe every word of it. Why shouldn't I? Jesus was as Jewish as you. He even ate and drank with Pharisees, which was quite a feat in those days. I get along well with the rabbis I've come to know; there's no reason I should not get along with you. I wish you the best.

Shalom shalom :-)

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