Raised as an Orthodox Jew...Then he MET the Messiah!

Well, coming from an Orthodox background, my father learned Zohar, and he was a heavy Orthodox. With all of the religious practice of your family, there was something missing, I guess you would say, which was a personal relationship? But there's just like one thing that doesn't fit in their box, and that is that Jesus is the Messiah. The Mount of the Beatitudes, Capernaum, and the Sea of Galilee. That's where we are today, and we have an amazing story. Isaac, can you please take me to the moment where you knew that Jesus was the Messiah and the way? Well, coming from an Orthodox background, I remember back in 2014, Detroit, Michigan, watching, sitting down, watching Rabbi Schneider with my mother, getting ready for my Bar Mitzvah, realizing that Yeshua is the Messiah. Wow, that's amazing. So, coming from an Orthodox family, one of the most common comments that we get is, if you're Orthodox, and your family's Orthodox, you'd never fall for this stuff. Right. But it wasn't just you. It was your mother as well. Correct. Can you take me back to your upbringing, and what was your Orthodox life like? It was beautiful Shabbats, candle lightings, homemade challah bread, Manassas, Virginia, and Hebrew school. I went to Benjamin Berman Hebrew Academy. It's in D.C. My father learned Zohar, and he was a heavy Orthodox, and I had my peyot and everything. I was Orthodox, but looking back, I don't really know what that truly means, but my connection with Yeshua, I've come to realize what that means. Wow. Okay, so, with all of the religious practice of your family, there was something missing, I guess you would say, which was a personal relationship with God? A personal relationship with Elohim Yisrael. In that moment, I knew that I am Jewish, but He needed to bring me back to the faith. He needed to bring me back to the true meaning of what it meant, not just doing the routines, but actually having belief and having submission to the Son and the Father. You mentioned earlier that you were part of the Chabad sect of Judaism. Yes. What do you remember from that, and what did you and your family take from that? I remember always being in Hebrew school, always being in the synagogue, doing all the high holidays together. It was a community that felt like they were always together and would stick by you, but there's just one thing that doesn't fit in their box, and that is that Jesus is the Messiah. They don't believe that. One thing that I know about Chabad, we've had some of our most wonderful conversations with Chabad Jews, because we have a lot in common, but they also believe in a dying and rising Messiah. Right. And if that's something that's only Christian, where do they get it from? We have that in common with Chabad, but like you said, they don't agree on who we see as the Messiah. Did you ever go off and do things of the world? Did you ever feel like you wanted to have that part of your life and experience that as a youth? Definitely. As an 18-year-old boy running after the world, wanting to know what parties were like, wanting to know what staying out late and disobeying your parents, just to see what it's like. Because my whole younger life, I was raised and I stuck by everything, but once I had that freedom and that test, I feel as though it's like 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus takes me to Israel and He makes me have to go through the fight of faith on my own, and no one around me but me and the Spirit to guide me. Whether it's being in the IDF, whether it's working a life, whether it's being in the bombastic society of Israel where it's always go, go, go, go, go. Being able to stop and realize where I'm at and what my belief is and why I'm here and always come back. Whenever I come back, it's always to Yeshua. It's always my belief with Him and the reason and the calling. So many believers I've come across here in Israel feeling as though I'm alone, feeling as though I'm like a black sheep who's Jewish, believing in Jesus. I'm afraid that people are going to persecute me because of it, but I came here and I've met so many people with a story that is very similar and it's beautiful. There are a lot of black sheep roaming around here. Seriously, seriously. We think we're the only ones, but there's not only tens of thousands here. There's also the ones that don't make themselves known to the public, that they're believers. But that's changing, and with people like you that are sharing your testimony, it's helping that happen. So thank you for this. Of course, anything to help. Yeah, what's been some of the hardest parts? You mentioned feeling like a black sheep. Do you have an experience that you went through that was very difficult as a believer in Jesus, a Jewish believer in Jesus? I think it was kind of during my schooling years in Israel. There was a lot of picking on me going on. Because of your faith? Because of my faith. I knew where I was from. I knew I was an Orthodox at a time, but coming to the belief of Yeshua and being in schools here. And sometimes kids can be brutal. We can be brutal at 13 years old, but it's innocence. We'll just say exactly what it is right in the face. And I remember sometimes walking down the street and people just not wanting to hang out with me because of my belief or maybe talking about me behind my back and having others not hang out with me because of my belief. And then me realizing maybe I need to denounce my faith. Maybe this isn't correct. But I stood strong and I stick with Yeshua to the day. Wow, you had this struggle. You had the struggle of wanting to fit in while Jesus is asking you to step out of the world. Exactly. Yeah, that's a tough thing to carry, especially as a kid. And that's why I think this story is so miraculous because you can have these big lightning bolt moments in your life where it's like one day you're this and the next day you're that. And it's like, go, go, go. I'm a believer. But when a teenager puts their faith in Yeshua and walks strong and in the midst of their doubt, they continue to walk forward. And that in and of itself is just amazing. What has been the biggest change you've seen in your life because of your faith? Not because of your works or deeds or mitzvot practices, but as a result of your faith. I think that it has to do with just the day to day getting up and knowing that I can push on. And it's not too hard as it seems. It's 100% because of Yeshua. Like work ethic, you know, not leaving certain things, paying attention to detail. It always reflects to me with certain Bible verses my mother would say. And it just has reminisced with me and it's something I take with me throughout the day. If it's, you know, just making sure I want to get like at work, get the job done, get the orders out on time. It's because I have that connection with Yeshua. And I know that, you know, I want to serve man as if I was serving Yeshua. That's beautiful. That's really beautiful. Because, you know, Yeshua speaks about that in the New Testament where, you know, He would be the servant. He came to serve, not to be served. Isn't it supposed to be, it says something like the strongest among stuff needs to be the servant. Yeah, so if you want to be first, you must be last and a servant to all. That's right. Exactly. And you have that heart now. That's a massive change. Did you ever struggle with, well, you know what, maybe Orthodox Judaism is the way and I'm misled. You still struggle with that? Whether it's me thinking about having a family, whether it's me thinking about, you know, when I'm just at work talking with my brethren and they tell me, you know, come with me to here and there. And I don't feel too pulled to it because I don't want there to be an altercation between us. And, you know, an unsettling moment where there's an argument or something. I try to stay away from that. But I know that sticking to my belief in kind of what my mom taught me is my ultimate goal. And I can't let go of that because she's put so much hard work and sweat and tears and prayer. She says that she gave me back to Yeshua. She said, before you were my son, you were of Yeshua. That's beautiful. I want to always remember following Yeshua and everything that comes along with that. But also, you know, stay, stick to the roots and certain things that come with the Orthodox side. And it's amazing talking with you, talking with other people and realizing that connection, that it's not separate. It very much can be one. And I've seen many people living that out, as Rabbi Schneider is. And to me, that was just amazing. Seeing a rabbi believe in Yeshua, having his tallit, having his titzit, having his pilot, and talking with everybody with such precision and knowing just it's back to Yeshua. It always comes back. That's right. I asked Rabbi Schneider when I met with him, why do you do these things? Why do you express yourself outwardly this way? He said, because I feel this is the ultimate expression of Jewish identity. And that was his expression. He didn't say, this is how I get to God. He said, this is the ultimate expression of Jewish identity. And I thought, that's beautiful. That's, I guess, his best way that he can... That's his way, yeah. Yeah, he understands that doesn't get him reconciled to God and get his sins forgiven by wearing the kippah and shaving and then having the pilot and the titzit. He knows that doesn't get him reconciled. But that's the way he loves to express his Jewishness. And we actually have Rabbi Schneider's video interview here on the channel. After you're finished with this, because there's more good stuff here, you can go watch that. And a shout out to Rabbi Schneider. So Isaac, how do you express your faith today? I think it's just living my life day by day, waking up, doing my shema, doing my modani. And when I do come across brothers and sisters, my fellow Israelis or Americans, and they talk to me about certain things that are important. Yeah. Somehow, I don't know how, because I don't know the Bible verses that well. Yeah. But somehow the Spirit just leads me to talk with them about Yeshua and connect it. And it's just something that brings a smile to my face and it warms my heart. And it's honestly, that's my goal. I'm not chasing after anything but living out my faith. That's beautiful. I love it when like one of Jesus's primary messages towards the end of his ministry was basically tell the world about me. And if you are doing that, that already shows that the Spirit of God lives in you because it's counter-cultural here to do that. And you're doing it here. So that's a wonderful testimony. Yeah. So Isaac, there are Jewish people that are watching this. And they may be skeptical, they may be curious. What would you tell those people? I would just say continue to fight the good fight of faith. Push on, seek Him and you shall find Him. Praise Him in advance, even through the hard times. Be able to look past that and realize that there are good times coming and this too shall pass. I love that. It reminds me of Habakkuk 3. Amen. And you've experienced that. You've had some hard times. And you've come through them because you continue to walk forward. It doesn't mean everything is easy once you put your faith in Yeshua. And you've shown that. You've shown it hasn't been easy. But He leads you and keeps strengthening you as you go. Of course, He will not let a hair on any head of the believers be touched. Yeah. He's truly there for us. Yeah, I love that. So thank you for sharing your testimony with us today. And I was blessed by it. It's just so beautiful to be here in the region where Jesus did most of His ministry. Amen. That's why I love it here. It's so cool. So if you like this kind of content, give the video a thumbs up. Subscribe to So Be It and leave your comments down in the comment section below. And if you'd like to say something nice to Isaac, I'm sure he'll be watching out for that. So thank you. God bless you. And thank you, Isaac. Thank you, brother, for having me. For blessing us with your testimony. Of course.