Rabbi Jeffrey Forman

I was raised in a Jewish home in suburban Philadelphia. It was a Jewish neighborhood where most of my friends were Jewish. At the age of 13, after attending Hebrew school for two years, my twin brother and I had a Bar Mitzvah. That summer, my parents sent me on a two month tour of Israel with dozens of other Bar Mitzvah kids from all over the country. It was one of the most memorable summers of my life. There, my identity as a Jew was solidified forever. After that, our family remained culturally Jewish, but not very religious.

When I was about 20, my sister and mother both became believers in Yeshua. At first I thought they were crazy. I felt they had abandoned Judaism and embraced a non-Jewish religion. Soon after, they began to attend Beth Yeshua, a Messianic Jewish Congregation in Philadelphia. They finally convinced me to attend a service. It was nothing like what I had imagined it would be – no statues of Mary, no crosses, no priests with white collars. On the contrary it was quite Jewish - Jewish people singing and dancing the hora to Jewish music.
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Rebbetzin Janet Forman

I grew up in a Jewish home in Philadelphia, USA. When I was 19, I went to Israel searching for the meaning of Judaism. Three distinct things took place in Israel that intensified my search. The first is that while walking alone in the Sinai I became aware of God’s tangible presence and the truth of the Old Testament. Second, I became conscious of sin in my life and my need to receive forgiveness from God. And third, a bomb went off near me in the Tel Aviv airport, killing two people and making me acutely aware of my own mortality. When I returned from Israel I began to read the Tanakh and attend synagogue services. Yet when I prayed there was silence. At the same time I met some non-Jews who explained that the way to know God was through Jesus (Yeshua). One night I cried out to Yeshua, asking, “If You are there, prove it to me!” because I didn’t believe in Him.

As soon as I prayed I knew in my heart that I had reached God. Shortly after that I met Eliezer, a Messianic Jew who had survived the horrors of the Holocaust, yet was filled with the love of God. Through Eliezer I understood that Yeshua was in fact the Jewish Messiah. We prayed together and I surrendered my life to God and received forgiveness of my sins through Yeshua’s atoning sacrifice. I finally found that my Judaism was not fulfilled through religious traditions but in a personal relationship with my Messiah. As a Messianic Jew I feel a deep commitment to the God of Israel, the people of Israel and the Land of Israel.

Marcia Sherman

My name is Marcia and I was born into a Jewish family here in Toronto. My sister and I were raised in a home that was not religious, though we did keep some of the Jewish traditions. I would sometimes pray to God as a child but I did not have a personal relationship with Him.

I was married from 1960-1982 in which time my husband and I raised two sons. We were members of a Synagogue, though, like many other Jewish families we only attended services on the High Holidays. Our children also attended United Synagogue Day School. Though we kept some of the Jewish traditions in our home, true spirituality was missing.

Our older son David had a non-Jewish friend who frequently invited him to his church. As a result of going there, David became a believer in Jesus. That was 22 years ago.

In that same period of time, my marriage was dissolving and my mother was slowly dying of cancer. I was in a state of grieving over my failed marriage and mourning for my dying mother. Furthermore, I thought my son was closing the door on his Jewish heritage and was converting away from Judaism. It felt like I was losing a son. It was a very difficult period of time for me.
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