Zhava
So what can I tell you? I've always been a nice Jewish girl! I never messed with drugs, got straight A's in school and always did what my mother told me. I even would have been a doctor if I hadn't fainted at the sight of blood!
What am I doing then, believing that Yeshua (Jesus' name in Hebrew) is the Jewish Messiah? I cannot remember a time when God was not part of my life. My father died when I was three years old, and when I was a little girl, my mom used to tell me that when it rained, it was my father in heaven watering God's garden, and when it thundered it was my father fixing God's car. I always felt warm towards God, because I knew my father took good care of him.
I was born and raised in Argentina, where over 90% of the population is Catholic and where anti-Semitism is often rampant. The Jewish population in Argentina is quite large. In fact, Buenos Aires has approximately 300,000 Jewish people (those are the ones who answered the census - there could possibly be around 500,000 all together). In fact, it is the city with the seventh largest Jewish population in the world.
My father had been one of the founders of the local synagogue in Quilmes, the suburb of Buenos Aires where we lived, and we were active members of the local Jewish community center. If there was one thing I knew, it's that there were two kinds of people in the world - us and them. Us were the Jews, and them was everybody else. I remember asking my mother one time what the difference was between a Catholic and a Christian. "It's all the same thing," she answered. That was good enough for me. End of curiosity.
My family moved to the United States when I was nine years old. It took me a while to learn the language and customs of this new country, but by the time I was a teenager, I had become quite acculturated to life in North America.
Once I became a North American teenager, I turned my attention to more challenging things. One of my passions had always been astronomy. I would gaze at the stars and learn about them and be totally awed by the design of the universe. I wanted to know the One who created these wonders.
One day, I came across a book called The Greatest Book Ever Written, which was the story of the Old Testament. This book captured my imagination - I read about my ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others, speaking with God as if He were right there with them; and better yet, He spoke with them! I wanted a relationship with God like my ancestors enjoyed.
I checked out a Bible from the library and began reading the Old Testament (the kosher part) - although I didn't tell any of my teenage friends lest they think I was weird!
The more I read the Bible and learned about God, the more I wanted to know Him. I began to follow the Old Testament laws so he would be pleased with me: I ate only kosher foods, stopped going to Friday night football games, and tried my best to keep all the commandments I could.
As I continued to read the Bible, I came across verses about a promised Messiah. Now I knew a bit about the Messiah already from my Jewish upbringing. You see, I had wanted a puppy for years, and my mom would always tell me I could have my puppy "when the Messiah comes." So I really looked forward to His coming! When I read about the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures, my curiosity was piqued.
The picture was sketchy, but it slowly became frightfully clear. This Messiah that I was reading about in my own Jewish Bible sounded like you-know-who! I didn't know much about Jesus, but I did know that I wasn't supposed to believe in Him.
I began trying to find other explanations for prophecies like Micah 5:2, which describes an Eternal One who would be born in Bethlehem; or Daniel 9, that pinpoints the time of Messiah's first coming; also Isaiah 53, which spoke of Messiah's life and his sacrifice for sin:
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." (verse 5)
As I tried to explain away these and many other prophecies, I found that I could not. I realized that if the Bible was true, then Jesus had to be the Jewish Messiah!
I felt guilty simply having these thoughts! What if Jesus wasn't the Messiah? Then I would be committing idolatry! But what if He was? I would be denying God by not believing! I had to be totally sure, so I kept on studying and searching and trying to prove it wasn't so. After two years of struggling, I found myself drawn closer and closer to Jesus.
I knew then that if Jesus was the Messiah, I would have to live my life totally for him! Like a good Argentine Jewish girl, I imagined that would mean becoming a nun! How in the world would I tell that to my mother?!
Just at that time, I "happened" to meet a group of Christian kids in my high school who had been especially trained to be sensitive in telling Jewish people about Yeshua. I couldn't believe there were others like me - I thought I was the only person in the universe who believed like this! These kids told me I didn't necessarily have to become a nun - that it was OK to be Jewish and believe in Jesus. A few weeks later, after a lot more thought, I gave my life to Him.
I got home late that night, woke up my mother, and triumphantly announced, "Mom! I'm a Christian!!!" She told me to go to bed, I'd feel better in the morning. I felt great the next morning, but it wasn't exactly what my mother expected. She felt she had done a poor job in raising me - she hoped it was just a phase - she said I couldn't go to church or Bible study - she said my grandfather would turn over in his grave - she said she would only believe when the rabbi did. Well, at least there was a ray of hope!
The next day, I went to my rabbi to tell him the good news. He listened patiently to my expert information, and when I was all done, told me, "Goldale, Goldale [that's Yiddish for Zhava], how could you possibly think you know enough about your own Jewish roots to turn your back on your faith like this?"
I heard what he said. When I entered college, I majored in Hebrew and Judaic Studies. I learned modern, Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew, and Aramaic. I also earned a Masters degree in Jewish Studies from Fuller Seminary.
Some people think that a Jewish person who believes in Jesus is no longer a Jew. But what could possibly be more Jewish than believing in the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua?
