12 | To the Jew First
began reading the New Testament and fell in love with Jesus. He
was the smartest person I had ever met. He knew how to answer
people and was nobody’s fool. What really struck me was how
Jewish He was!
I soon found myself wrestling with Jesus the Jew rather than
Jesus the Gentile, and I began to be attracted to the very
person that the Jewish people mistakenly thought had inspired
antisemitism and hatred of the Jewish people. I just could not
figure out how a Jewish person would have inspired antisemitism.
Of course He hadn’t, but like most Jewish people I really didn’t
know a lot about Jesus.
The more I read the New Testament the more I understood that
He was Jewish, celebrated the Jewish holidays, and He held
the answers I was seeking. I finally came to the point where His
words brought peace to my heart. Finally, I accepted Jesus as my
Messiah and Lord in November 1970. The first holiday I celebrated
was Thanksgiving and that was really wonderful.
Soon, I was faced with a dilemma because both Hanukkah and
Christmas were approaching. Some of my new Christian friends
thought that I would really enjoy celebrating Christmas but,
of course, I was raised in Jewish New York and we celebrated
Hanukkah almost as a protest holiday to the majority who
celebrated Christmas. I loved Jesus, but I was not yet comfortable
with the holidays usually associated with Him.
Someone pointed out to me that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah. I
think I was still trying to figure out when and how Jesus celebrated
Christmas (I was a little slow and it took me awhile to get the
point!). But I was very intrigued by His celebration of Hanukkah.
In fact, the only time Hanukkah is mentioned in the Bible is in the
New Testament. It is not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures.
After reading John chapter 10 and studying the passage, I finally
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