Much like Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5), Caleb the Canaanite (Numbers 32), Ruth the Moabite (Book of Ruth) and Rahab the Canaanite (Joshua 2), I am a gentile believer in Hashem. By virtue of my personal belief and faith in the same LORD, I consider myself a child of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I began studying the Tanakh as soon as I could read at around six years old. Suffice it to say, very quickly I acquired a healthy reverential fear of God that has served me extremely well until the present day. This was well-balanced by my equally sincere belief in the hesed (lovingkindness) of the LORD, as I read about His interactions with mankind throughout history as recorded in the Tanakh, which I regard as the Word of God (cf. Psalm 119, Isaiah 55:9-11, etc.)

Growing up, our family had many Jewish friends, including my mother’s maid of honor and several other bridesmaids and their families. In addition, I have had extensive social interaction with many other Jewish families over the years, including, and especially, my beautiful Jewish wife, Julie (Navah) Fenton and her dear family. Due to my interest in Judaism, I visited the Spertus College of Judaica in Chicago on a number of occasions in the mid-1980’s, including attending a series of interfaith dialogues, which featured presentations by Cantor Abraham Lubin, Professor Mayer Gruber, Ph.D., Rabbi Herbert Bronstein and Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Ph.D. A few years later, I obtained a master’s degree in theology that included two years of biblical Hebrew and three years of biblical Greek. This has allowed me to dive even deeper into the Masoretic text from which the Tanakh is translated, as well as into the Jewish Septuagint (LXX), the Greek version of the Tanakh, translated from the Hebrew by Jewish scribes.

Most significantly, however, are the hundreds of conversations that I have had with Jews from a wide spectrum of beliefs: Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, Reformed, unaffiliated, non-practicing, New Age, Buddhist (JewBu/BuJew), etc. and everything in between. These experiences have led me to call on Jews of all kinds to rediscover the Tanakh, read it, study it and embrace it as the Word of God, addressed directly to them, individually and personally. Doesn’t it make sense that God’s Word should take precedence over the opinions of those who differ widely among themselves? Ultimately, each of us is responsible and accountable to the LORD, for our own personal opinions, faith and beliefs, no matter where they originated. In the end there will be only two categories of human beings: Those who say to God “Your will be done,” and those to whom God says “Your will be done.” My hope and prayer for you is that, as a result of your own personal study of God’s Word, you will submit yourself in repentance and faith to the LORD as He reveals Himself to you.