While in Israel Ive been asked about 30 times whether I wanted to convert to Judaism. My persistent answer has always been a resolute no. So I ask myself why do they ask this to me and not to just every tourist that comes to their country. To be sure theres good reason to ask me, I show a lot of interest in Judaism and share most of their beliefs. So the obvious question becomes “why not?”.
There was this time I was sitting at a family’s house and they asked me the question again, it was an open dialogue no pressure but just a desire to understand what was going on inside of me. So I explained I dont want to convert for two reasons, one, and this is the biggest reason, my belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah is not acceptable within Judaism, a great teacher maybe, but definitely not Messiah, and two, Im content being non-Jewish, I say “if G’d wanted me to be Jewish I would be born Jewish”. But again number 1 is the decisive one.
Still my interest or even love for Judaism continues, theres this attraction that pulls me, and I know Im contributing to it. I dont want it, I considered stopping for a while with all the studying in Jewish texts and just buy myself a set of Christian books:) I mean its quite logical when you read about 10 Jewish books to 1 Christian book you’ll find yourself being pursuaded or at least acclimated to the former.
So what is it that attracts me…
It certainly is their Torah and especially their tradition, its so rich and provides such a good framework for life, such a framework I miss in Christianity. Not only that but it seems to be the religion of my Rabbi, He seems to fit in so well, His words and life belong in that religion. Obviously the Sages z”l think not, and who am I to say who fits into their tradition, but really when His words are removed from under the layers that have been build on it by various church traditions they show this great Rabbi who has so much compassion for the children of Israel and is zo zealous to make them return to Hashem. Obviously He’s more than a great Rabbi and this is the dividing point; to claim that He is the awaited Messiah.
I asked the family what their thoughts were about me, where I would be in 5 years, and they respectfully responded they didnt know, but thought one of the two (i.e. Torah and Yeshua) had to give in, and seeing that I felt so attracted to Judaism and believed nearly all of it, as opposed to Christianity (at least in many ways), they saw a good chance of me converting.
Are they right? I dont think so, and certainly hope not.
One thing I must say is that I think I start to understand more how the early believers vanished, I mean the believers that were observing the Torah, if their situation is comparable to some degree to mine, its not hard to imagine how they vanished into the Church or the Synagogue.
To be continued…
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