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RABBI LOREN'S STORY
I'd like to begin my story at the time of my great-grandparents, most of whom lived near the
city of Kiev, in the Ukraine, around 1900. At that time, life was becoming increasingly difficult
for many of the Jewish families in Russia and the Ukraine, including my own. My family left the
Ukraine and came to the United States during the first decade of the 20th century. In the
generations since we left Russia for America, my family never showed a deep faith in God or
His Word. Consequently, growing up in the Chicago area in the 1960's, I was immersed in a
culturally Jewish, but otherwise secular and materialistic worldview.
Few, if any, of my Jewish friends, family, or teachers at synagogue believed in a God who could
create the universe in six days, intervene in human history or perform miracles. The idea of
having a personal relationship with God like Abraham, Moses and David was unheard of.
The Holy Scriptures were regarded as good for teaching morals and ethics, but not to be taken
literally. Matters concerning the supernatural, such as heaven and hell, angels, demons and the
Messiah, were not acknowledged. We celebrated the holidays as a part of our Jewish tradition,
but the living God played a very little role in our day-to-day affairs. As I result, I sensed that
something was missing from the Judaism to which I was exposed, and I began investigating other
philosophies and religions. I started by reading some of the great Western philosophers, such as
Plato and Aristotle. Then I began drifting toward Eastern philosophy. I took up Transcendental
Meditation, repeating my "mantra" over and over, every morning and evening, for more than a year.
During my first year at Northwestern University in Illinois, I took a course on Medieval Philosophy.
Little did I know that the greatest minds during this thousand-year period in Western Civilization
spent most of their intellectual labors attempting to prove the existence of God! The philosophers
reasoned, "How else do we explain the evident order and design in nature? Why else do we all have
an inward sense of right and wrong? And why, throughout all cultures and societies, has there been
an intuitive awareness of God or gods?!" As I studied their powerful and persuasive arguments I
became convinced that God had to exist.
Shortly after that I began reading the Holy Scriptures for the very first time. After attending a seminar
on Biblical prophecy, I read the entire New Testament portion of the Scriptures within a week! Then I
began discovering prophecies in the Jewish Scriptures which predicted the coming Messiah, the Anointed
Ruler and Savior sent by God. I was amazed to discover that the prophets of Israel had told us that a
descendant of the tribe of Judah, from the royal family of King David, would be born in Bethlehem.
According to these prophecies, He would come before the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD,
accomplish miracles, then suffer, die, rise from the dead and yet fail to be recognized by the majority
of our people! Through the Messiah, God would also establish a New Covenant with the Jewish people
(see Jeremiah 31:31-34). To me, the evidence was overwhelming. Yeshua was the promised Messiah
of Israel who would reconcile us to God.
In coming to know the Messiah, I discovered a dimension of Jewish spirituality that I never dreamed
possible! Messiah Yeshua enabled me to develop an intimate personal connection with the God of
Israel that is still going strong twenty-five years later! When I came to believe in
Yeshua I began rediscovering my Jewish heritage. I transferred to Moody Bible Institute, changed my
major to Jewish studies, worked with Jews for Jesus for eight years and was ordained a Messianic
Rabbi by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. I married Martha Brickner, who is a fifth
generation Messianic Jew! Together, we have drawn closer to our Messiah, our God, our Land,
our Holy Scriptures, our people and our heritage. God, in His mercy, has enabled us to start
Congregation Shema Yisrael, which is about ten years old.
REBBITZIN MARTHA'S STORY
One of the arguments against the Messianic Jewish movement is based on assimilation. It goes something
like this: "We Jewish people shouldn't believe in Yeshua because the second generation of Messianic Jews
assimilate into the dominant Christian culture. They marry Christians and become part of the Church. And
if the second generation doesn't assimilate, then the third generation will certainly be lost to the Jewish
community."
Frankly, assimilation has been a problem for Jewish people in general, as well as for those who have come
to know the Messiah. But I know that assimilation is not inevitable because I am a fifth generation
Messianic Jew! For more than 120 years my Jewish family have known that Yeshua is the Messiah and passed
their Messianic faith and Jewish identity to their succeeding generations.
The Second Generation. My story begins with Julius Finestein. Julius was born into a Chasidic family
in 1859 and grew up in Zhitomir, Russia. He became a Messianic Jew around 1881. He married my
great-grandmother Esther, his second cousin, who was also from a Chasidic family. Shortly after their
marriage, Esther also became a Messianic Jew. Together, Julius and Esther brought the Good News of the
Messiah to the Jewish people in Odessa and Constantinople. They saw much opposition and persecution,
but they also helped many other Jewish people come to know Israel's Messiah. They had two sons who later
carried on the work of bringing the truth to our people - Isaac and Daniel Finestone. Julius died in 1898, and
Esther married Wolfe Kendal, another Messianic Jew. They had two children, my great-aunt Emma (who is 98
years old as of this writing), and my grandfather Fred. Esther and Wolfe moved to London where Esther
worked with a Jewish ministry for seven years. From London, the family moved to Toronto. In Toronto,
Esther served with several Jewish ministries from 1910 to 1927.
The First Generation. Although Julius and Esther were the first to believe in Messiah Yeshua,
Esther's mother, Pearl, my great-great grandmother, also welcomed Yeshua into her life in her later years
and became a Messianic Jew herself. That makes her the first generation of Messianic Jews in our family
lineage.
The Third Generation. Isaac Finestone communicated the Message about the Messiah in Toronto,
Ottawa and New Jersey. Daniel Finestone started a Messianic Jewish group in Philadelphia that continues
to this day. Fred Kendal, my grandfather, moved to the United States and started Israel's Remnant, which
was active in Detroit and Boston. It later merged with Friends of Israel. Emma Kendal married Arthur Glass,
and they became the first couple sent out by the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. They brought the
Good News about the Messiah to the Jewish people of Buenos Aires. They moved to Detroit and in the
1950's served as the spiritual leaders of the First Hebrew Christian Church.
The Fourth Generation. My uncle Daniel and aunt Beverly Kendal have brought the truth about
Israel's Messiah to the Spanish speaking peoples in Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. My uncle
Harold and aunt Grace Brickner are leading a Messianic Congregation in the Detroit area. My parents,
Avi and Leah Brickner, have brought the Message of the Messiah to the Jewish communities of Detroit,
Boston, San Francisco and Jerusalem.
The Fifth Generation. Howard and Ann Burgoyne are leading a church in Washington. Stephen
and Deborah Galiley are leading a Messianic Synagogue in New York. Susan and Irving Salzman are
bringing the Messiah to the Jewish community in Montreal. My brother, David Brickner, is the director of
Jews for Jesus, which has a worldwide impact. Ted and Priscilla Clark, and Scott and Ruth Yingling, are
bringing the Messiah to the peoples of Mexico. James and Terri Wilson are teaching the Holy Scriptures in
Arkansas.
I have only mentioned those members of the family that have gone into full-time ministry. There are many
others in my family who have served the God of Israel and the wonderful Messiah, whom He sent to save
us, in various other capacities.
Growing up Messianic. My parents took great pride in their Jewish heritage and wanted their
children to embrace their Jewish roots as well. When the children were old enough to sit still at the
table, each dinner ended with a reading from the
Bible. As each of us learned to read, each evening we were allowed to take turns reading aloud from
the Holy Scriptures. Then each night, as my parents tucked us in bed, we would end each day with a
story from the Bible and with prayer.
My growing knowledge and understanding of my heritage was a Jewishness based on the Holy Scriptures.
My parents taught me that the God of Israel should come first in my life. He was the One I should seek
to please above all else. This was the kind of Jewish woman they wanted me to be. The holidays were
an especially fun time for me, as well as a time of learning. In addition to the historical significance of
each celebration, my father would teach us how each holiday pointed us to the Messiah. For example,
at Passover we celebrated not only God's salvation of our people out of Egypt, but the greater salvation
made possible through Messiah, our Passover Lamb, who died on Passover so that God could pass over
the sins of the world. Through these
celebrations I was able to understand the most important facet of my Jewishness - the need for a personal
relationship with God. My godly parents challenged me to desire that relationship above all else in life.
However, being born in a Messianic Jewish home does not automatically make one a Messianic Jew! I had to
decide for myself whether or not I was going to follow God and the wonderful Messiah whom He sent. I
wasn't satisfied to simply accept everything my parents taught me, especially during my teenage years.
While I respected my parents and their faith, I decided I needed to do some searching on my own. I
began to seek. I found the God who cared enough to send the Messiah to bring us back into a close
relationship with Himself. I was fifteen years old when I made my own personal commitment to follow
the God of Israel.
When I made that commitment I had the assurance that my need for atonement was met and my own
personal relationship with God had begun. Suddenly, the Bible became alive as I realized that it was
much more than a bunch of facts. It was more like a love letter from God to me, as well as my guide
and way of life! I also understood that my Jewish identity was not an accident of birth, but a gift from
God to be embraced and a purpose to be fulfilled. I wanted to identify with my Jewish people the way
my parents had wanted me to all along.
I pursued a career in nursing. Becoming a Registered Nurse was certainly fulfilling, but my growing
urge to learn more about my heritage influenced me to enroll in Moody Bible Institute's Jewish and
Modern Israel Studies program. With my nursing career established, and with a nice amount of Jewish
education under my belt, one might think my parents would be happy. But they also wanted a different
kind of nachas - the kind you find under a wedding canopy! Their wishes for a good husband for me
were fulfilled when I met Loren. Like myself, he believed in Yeshua, had a love for his Jewish people
and a great appreciation for his heritage. One year later we were married under the chuppah, and for
the past twenty-two years we have given our lives to tell our Jewish people about the Messiah.
Must Messianic Jews assimilate? Even though it may be difficult to maintain a Messianic Jewish identity
and transmit it to the next generation, my 120-year-long story and I are living proof that the answer to
this question is a resounding "No!"
Loren and Martha Jacobs
P.O. Box 804
Southfield MI 48037
Phone: 248-358-3850
Email: LJacobs777@aol.com
webpage: http://www.shema.com
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