SHOHREH JADDA
As a Jewish kid growing up in Tehran, Shohreh went to a Jewish school.
Every Monday and Thursday she would go to synagogue and sing songs, open
the Torah, and read from the siddur. Her father would tell stories from the
Torah and passionately recount the story of Passover.
In 1977, Shohreh moved to New York for school and a year later the
Iranian revolution started. She started to question the meaning of life as
everything seemed to fall apart in her home country. Shohreh wanted to be a
person who could make a positive difference in the world, so she started taking
self-empowerment courses. When both of Shohreh’s parents fell ill, all of what
she learned in her courses only took her so far, and she realized that there was
no way she could fix her own problems.
She started reading the Torah and realized that God was speaking to her
through it. She saw a continuous theme of a sacrifice required for sins and
remembered the stories about the Mashiach that her grandfather told. She
realized that Yeshua came to fulfill promises that God set out in the Torah.
When she was a child, Shohreh would go to the synagogue and go to the
rabbi to pray for her or send written prayers with people going to Jerusalem to
pray at the Western Wall. Now, Shohreh rejoices that she can take her cares and
concerns to Yeshua and experience the peace that comes with faith.
KAMRAN JADDA
Kamran comes from a Persian Jewish family and lived in Iran until he
was 15 years old, when he moved to the United States and never quite got
adjusted. He was homesick and depressed and worried about his parents,
friends, and family back home in Iran. Kamran didn’t have close friends or
people he could relate to and was a loner for a long time. Eventually he became
friends with the neighbors in his apartment complex. One day his neighbor
Tom asked Kamran if he wanted to learn about the Jewish Messiah. Kamran
was surprised and started reading both the Hebrew scriptures and the New
Testament. He saw that the writers of the New Testament were Jewish and
that Yeshua seemed so real. After much prayer and searching, Kamran prayed
to receive Yeshua and felt God’s presence in his life.
Kamran’s older brother and uncle were opposed to his new belief and
forbid him to associate with other believers or to read the New Testament
scriptures. Loneliness and isolation led Kamran
to “not so kosher people”— three of his best
friends were drug dealers, so his life became
about partying, drugs, and not too long after he
became a drug addict, a compulsive gambler,
and an alcoholic. At his worst moment, Kamran
describes becoming insane and incarcerated. In
those moments, Kamran remembered his faith in
Yeshua and Yeshua’s love and rededicated his life.
After this, Kamran experienced freedom from his
addictions and joy in his life again.
PIROOZ ABIR
Pirooz went to a Jewish school in Tehran,
where he learned Hebrew, English, and Farsi.
Pirooz remembers praying the Shema and openly
talking to God as a child. In his family, things were
out of sorts: his parents fought with each other,
and one evening Pirooz had a tremendous earache.
His grandmother instructed his father to bring a
lamb, have the rabbi come and say a blessing, and
then sacrifice the lamb. The family gathered, the
rabbi prayed, and the sheep was sacrificed. Immediately,
the earache went away. Pirooz remembers
distinctively that the prayers over the lamb were
for a wound, for sins. Eventually Pirooz moved to
the United States for school and flourished in his
educational and career path, becoming a software
developer. Many of his clients were Christians
and the fact that they talked about Yeshua like
they knew Him personally was offensive to him.
However, Pirooz was intrigued by their faith, and
challenged since they knew more about his Jewish
Bible than he did. So he started reading the Torah
and read Isaiah 53. Immediately he thought of the
lamb from all those years ago, and Jesus became
real to him. To not upset his family he stayed silent.
However, when his son got in a serious accident,
all Pirooz could pray was that God would
bring his son back to him whole. With each hour
his son improved. It was a miraculous healing.
Pirooz is now so full of joy that Yeshua healed his
son, he cannot remain silent anymore.
Hear these stories, and many more,
at ifoundshalom.com.
IRANIAN TESTIMONIES
JUNE 2018 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 5
Spread image: ©dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo
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