uncertainty about something as fundamental to religion as an aſterlife. How come we can’t know for sure? I thought.


Tis question lingered, but it hardly occupied my daily thoughts. I grew up pursuing success as I saw it, including the kind of activism so important to American Jewry in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. We were out to make the world a beter place. Yet our idealism always seemed to fall short of real results. Aſter college, something happened to cause me to think about spiritual things once again.


Susan and folk rock singer Larry Norman, June 1971.


Finds!


It was a chance meeting with Larry Norman, a Christian folk rock singer in the seventies. I saw him on a street corner in Manhatan, and while I had no idea who he was, the buton he wore— Smile. God loves you—caught my interest. I stopped him right on the street and in typical New York Jewish style, began asking him questions. He invited me to a nearby coffee shop where, for the first time, I heard what is called “the Gospel.” Larry told me that Jesus was the Messiah, that


Jesus came to die for the sins of humanity, that He conquered death—and that by accepting His sacrifice I could have my sins forgiven and live for eternity with my Creator.


I decided to look into the Bible for myself. Now to me, “the Bible” meant “the Jewish Bible.” I owned one put out by the Hebrew Publishing Company (in English). I began in Genesis. Immediately, I saw that the Bible was no ordinary book, and what it revealed about God made me hungry to know more. For example, it didn’t take long to discover that God is holy.


I had never really contemplated God’s character. However, the discovery of God’s holiness led me to another revelation—I was unholy. For the first time I realized my own spiritual need.


I wondered, Could Jesus be the bridge, the way to God? Te Scriptures I was reading seemed to reveal that Jesus fit the


Jewish Voice Today 11


description of the Messiah! Te prophet Micah said he would be born in Bethlehem— Jesus’ birthplace. King David described the manner of Jesus’ death long before crucifixion was used. And Isaiah 53—which talked about an innocent person who would suffer and die for the sins of others—really clinched it. It all pointed to Jesus.


I found myself confessing to God that I believed Jesus was the Messiah who had taken the punishment for my sin, just as the prophet Isaiah had writen, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned each one to his own way and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all” (53:6). I asked God for the forgiveness He offered through Jesus, and said that I wanted to live for Him.


Tat night He changed my life forever. He gave me the assurance that His promises in the Bible are true and lasting and not based on wishful thinking. Unlike the rabbi who eight years earlier had told me that “we can only hope” that there is something beyond this present life, I now had a strong basis for my hope. It was rooted in my Messiah.


Since that day, I have had many opportunities to share that hope with other Jews around the world through my ministry with Jews for Jesus. However, I think perhaps being an American Jew has emboldened me in a unique way—maybe it’s living in a country where minority voices can be heard. Jews make up less than two percent of the U.S. population, yet we have had an impact in government, the arts, education, and industry well beyond our numbers.


In the same way, Jews who believe in Jesus are a minority among a minority people. Yet there isn’t an American Jew who hasn’t heard of Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Tat is a real encouragement to me!


Among the many hats that she wears, Susan Perlman is the first assistant to the Executive Director of Jews for Jesus and oversees the organization's multimedia outreach. An advertising copywriter and social activist, Susan moved to San Francisco to become one of Jews for Jesus' founders. She has helped to shape Jews for Jesus into the world's largest Jewish evangelism agency. She is the creator of many of the ministry's dramatic presentations and is writer and editor of numerous publications and articles.


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