presence of scores of other Jewish People who were likewise acknowledging Yeshua as the King and Redeemer of “all Israel.”
At an early meeting in Beverly Hills, I felt convicted to teach our 15 Jewish participants how to worship God. Aſter the Bible study, we made a circle for prayer. I had them raise their hands, offer phrases of praise, then express their hearts of love to God. Within a few minutes of genuine spiritual worship, it seemed the roof would raise off that Beverly Hills mansion as, suddenly, God’s own presence electrified the atmosphere!
I remembered the three unsaved Jewish People present that evening who were likewise standing in our circle. I was afraid they may have been scandalized by such demonstrative worship. But I looked up to see tears streaming down all three Jewish faces as they recognized that the God who spoke to Moses on Sinai was present in that very place. All their traditional forms of Gospel resistance instantly melted away in the heat of God’s Holy Presence, the Shechinah!
As word spread across Los Angeles of a Jewish and Jewish- friendly atmosphere where Jews could encounter the Living God of Israel, first scores then hundreds of Jewish People were finding Yeshua as Savior and Lord. Tey, in turn, became strong ambassadors for the Jewish Messiah to the “all Israel” of Los Angeles.
One case in point was Esther Rosenberg. Aſter hearing the Gospel ten years earlier in Long Island from a neighbor, moving to Los Angeles, and facing multiplied family difficulties and physical hardships, she came to the point of suicide. Before downing the pills, she paused to appeal to God: “Is there any hope for me?” God spoke: “Jesus.”
Te Spirit of God wonderfully arranged our meeting that week. At our Tursday night Beverly Hills Jewish Bible study, Esther’s new faith was confirmed and her disintegrating back was completely healed as later confirmed by her physician. Soon her Jewish husband, three children, and a host of Jewish neighbors had likewise experienced salvation in Yeshua and witnessed numerous healings. Moishe, Esther’s husband, has
now gone home to Yeshua. But Esther in 2011 Los Angeles, and her daughters in Las Vegas, continue to share their immensely important witness to the Jewish communities where they live.
With hundreds of Jewish People coming to faith in Yeshua in the early 1970s, we soon discovered that many were able to abide the Gentile cultural paterns of Christian churches. But the other half were not as prepared to minimize their Jewish religious heritage. Aſter all, Paul had not condemned Jewish cultural practice in Galatians or elsewhere, but he had condemned cultural imperialism. We understood that we had neither biblical nor apostolic grounds to “gentilize” Jewish Believers.
By 1973 we felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to pioneer what we believed was the first Messianic Synagogue since the book of Acts. Tat culturally Jewish Body of Messiah served as a Spirit-filled and dynamic witness across Jewish Los Angeles. It continues today under new Spirit-filled Messianic rabbinic leadership with devotion to proclaiming the Spirit’s message of Yeshua to “all Israel.”
Raymond L. Gannon, Ph.D., is Dean of Messianic Education at The King’s University, Los Angeles.
What does “Jewish-friendly,” as Dr. Gannon mentions in his article, mean to you?
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