Testimonies

I am originally from Croatia (now living and working in Vancouver, BC) and like 90+% of Croatians I was raised Catholic. When I was a child, I loved reading the Scriptures and I remember when I would come to the part with the 10 Commandments; I would ask myself this question: “God clearly says that His set apart day is Shabbat (in Croatian = Subota), so why do we observe Sunday?” Looking back now I can say that the truth is so simple a child can understand it. This is why our Savior said that unless we enter the Kingdom of God like little children, we shall by no means enter in! It is adults that like to complicate things, the truth is however simple: Hear and obey and don’t argue with God. He is the Boss, we are not! He makes the rules!

I grew up always believing there was a God, but thought that I was too bad of a sinner for ever making it into His Kingdom. That was, until 6 years ago when He straightened me up! It was a period in my life when I was suffering from mild depression and spent much time pondering about the meaning of life. I am a scientist and at that time I was living and working in North Queensland Australia. Throughout my science career I was taught that we evolved over billions of years, from a chemical soup. If you believe in evolution then your outlook on life can be rather grim. So I thought, what is the point of life? We live, we die and are no more. Let us party, have fun while we can. And that is the kind of lifestyle I then espoused and lived, but thank God He went and sought out that which was lost! So it came to pass, that I met some Christians and one of them emailed me a link to online sermons by Calvary Chapel and I started watching one every day (rather strange for a person who in those days used to party and get drunk almost every weekend). One day, whilst watching another sermon, I recited the sinners’ prayer when the pastor gave the altar call. I meant it with all my heart. I did not know what was going to happen, but in the course of time I realized God answered! I lost all desire to party and drink and shop for clothes (my 2nd favorite “time killer” at the time). I threw away all my collection of secular music (I started finding it exceedingly abominable!). From that time on, I would spent every free minute of my time reading the Bible. I went from Genesis to Revelation (it made sense to go from the start, rather than from the Gospel of Matthew!).

When I got to the point of reading about Abraham and Moses I asked God if He had any personal message for me and if He is the One Who in times past spoke with individuals; I asked Him: “Would you speak to me, is there any message You, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have for me?”

Now at that time I still believed the lie of evolution. Then it happened that one morning, maybe a day or 2 after I asked God to speak to me, I got myself ready for work, I jumped on my bike and I forgot my water bottle that day. Where I worked back then was tropical Queensland Australia. You don’t go anywhere out there without water! As I started riding, a voice came to me and the voice said,“I want you to ride up Mt Stuart.” Mt Stuart was a mountain I used to ride up for training quite regularly. It took ~ 1 hr 30 min from where I was to get to the top of it, 50+ min of which was a slow steep and pretty much continuous incline. To ride it in the morning without water was insanity. I tried to explain this to the voice and thus replied in my mind (after all, if He is God then He knows my thoughts even before they are formed!): “I cannot go, I have no water.” He said: “You are going in My strength.” I said: “I have to go to work!” He said: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything else shall be given to you.” I said: “What is going on, am I going crazy, I am hearing voices in my head?!!!!” He said: “Remember what you prayed for!” I thought, OK, I do remember, well I guess I better go and ride up the mountain!

And so I went. I didn’t die from dehydration and when I reached the top I thought, OK, big deal, I made it, but is that all there is to it? Perhaps expecting something more (a burning bush???!!) I left my bike at the lookout and took a little walk and no more than 10 minutes later, as I came back to the lookout, I saw 2 people standing there (a couple in their 50ies). They drove up the bitumen road and were quite obviously surprised to see that someone was crazy enough to ride up the mountain on a bike so they asked me why did I do it? I thought, oh great (remembering how God hates lying lips) and said to them: Because God told me this morning to ride up this mountain! They both smiled and said: “Really, well we are Christians and we are on a road trip.” The wife then said: “I noticed you didn’t carry any water, would you like some, we have a portable fridge full of cold water in our car!” I laughed at that, as I figured out the first lesson that God taught me that day: Where He guides, He provides!

Then the lady asked: “So what do you do?” I said: “I am a medical research scientist working at James Cook University.” Then she said: “Really? We are retired medical research scientists and our son, he has a PhD in physics and through his research he concluded that evolution is a flawed theory. There is actually much scientific evidence to support the Creation account!” At this I was dumbfounded. This was the first time in my life that I ever heard a scientist claiming there is actual scientific evidence for the Genesis 1 account! Prior to that I thought that only uneducated “religious” people who never sat 1 hr in a science class could hold on to such “outdated doctrines from the dark ages” ! And God knew this. He knew I would not listen to anyone with a dissenting opinion on this topic other than a scientist as previously in my past I actually used to argue in quite an arrogant manner with people who had no science background and who claimed Genesis 1 was literal and true (so He met me exactly where I was in my point in faith). God also knew that my belief in evolution was the single biggest stumbling block in our further relationship as it meant I really did not believe His Word was true. That was a turning point in my life, I not only found out that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was real, but also, that He also speaks to nobodies like me!!! I was ASTOUNDED and then had an even bigger flame in my heart to know my Savior and my God and His rules for conduct.

The next big thing He taught me by His Ruach haKodesh was the truth about the rest of His Appointed Times. It came as a shock to me that my Savior was not born on Christmas and that Jeremiah 10 gives a rather good description of how NOT to worship God (cutting and decorating a tree!!!). God's Appointed times are all rehearsals that teach us spiritual realities; and in the same manner, He often uses physical things to teach us spiritual principles. I often pray to Him to speak to me in a way that I can understand, and He is always faithful to answer. Here is a recent example that is very dear to me, it happened this years’ Passover. The day before Passover, I put my tzit-tzit to washing (I started wearing them this year and how that came about is a story on its own (perhaps for another occasion J).

When I removed them from the washing machine I was devastated! Even though I put them in a pocket of the shirt, the tzit-tzit got out during the washing and the strings of were all intertwined in a BIG bundle! I thought, it is mission impossible! I will never be able to separate them and un-bundle them! But God spoke to me saying: “You will, only be patient and gentle.” So I got to work. 4 tzit-tzit with 8 strings each, all horribly intertwined!!! And so I started gently separating them and un-bundling them, string by string, and God kept encouraging me to be patient and gentle (I had the urge to be the opposite!! But then He reminded me that gentle is the way that He prefers dealing with us! - Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in subjection with bit and bridle, or they will not come near unto thee – Ps 32:9). I then actually started having fun in the process and thought: This is it, I am getting by the grace of God slowly disentangled from the system of Babylon (=confusion)!! And lo and behold, I succeeded to disentangle the tzit-tzit!!! And then again I heard God say, by that still small voice that I was like that bundle! But that He will straighten me out with patience and gentleness and that contrary to my own thinking, I am not mission impossible!! (I am my own worst critic, if I was to make a joke I would say that the Adversary does not have to try hard on me because I am my own worst accuser).

I was so overjoyed by this wonderful Passover message at which God also reminded me of: Because I trust concerning this, that he who has begun good work in you will accomplish that until the day of our Lord Yeshua The Messiah - Philippians 1:6

I praise God that He is and that He didn’t leave humanity without hope. Rather, He paid the redemption price which we could have never paid by ourselves, He provided The Way of Salvation, and, as a Good Shepherd, went after the lost sheep to bring us out of darkness and into His marvelous Light. From the time He first called me to ride up the mountain, and showed me the lie of evolution, all I ever wanted is to know Him for all that He is and to learn His Ways. I realized soon enough that this would be impossible without knowing the language He chose for His Word to be penned down. I got tired of reading translations and translator’s interpretation’s that go along with it. I also started learning the basics of Hebrew through other teachers, but I yearned for a structured course that was affordable to me. And this is how I got here, to the Holy Language Institute. Directed by the Ruach haKodesh, Who will give us the desires of our hearts which are according to His will! HalleluYAH!

Lucija

My shem/name is Vera Moore. I am turning 60 this year and my husband, Michael, turned 62 in Feb. We have a prison ministry coming up on 10 years this November at Farmington Correctional Center= FCC. At Farmington, Mo.

I was born again June 4th 1982. I had received Jesus when I was sixteen, but I had no teaching/discipleship, no root, and fell away. The LORD did not forget about me though, and sent people into my life to tell me again about Yeshua aka Jesus. So, in 1982, I rededicated my life to the LORD and this time it stuck. Smile. I couldn’t get enough of God’s word and couldn’t wait to get my work completed to be able to read HIS word. I had found someone who really cared about me= JESUS. Through some ups and downs, I still clung to Yeshua/Jesus, and He saw me through it all.

Around 15 years ago, the LORD impressed me to read Psalms 119 every day. My eyes were being opened to Torah even then. We were attending the normal Grace dominated sermon teaching church; and for a while that was enough. I started seeing that there were things that were required of God’s kids, so, my study deepened. Funny how the LORD shows you a concept in HIS word, and then you end up seeing it EVERYWHERE. 6-7 years ago we started not “fitting” in to the church we were attending, so we struck out to find another church… well, we didn’t fit in there either. We were starting to get a complex. Then we watched a video of a man who has since moved on to Glory—Zola Levitt. He was Jewish and believed in Jesus and what he said was making sense. So, we looked for others that believed the same way. We didn’t have TV and still don’t, but we had/have access to the internet, and much to our Joy, we found there were more who believed the same way. Then a couple of years ago our son-in-law bought us a Roku box and now the sky is the limit as far as being able to find teaching.

We found the Holy Language Tribe on HRN and that was where we saw Izzy sitting teaching the Hebrew Aleph Bet. We were and still are very elated. We tried to catch as many programs as we could but it was sporadic at best and we knew that wasn’t going to cut it if we truly wanted to learn Hebrew. We decided to order the Hebrew Aleph Bet teaching from Izzy so we could tune in at our convenience. We have found a small group about 45 miles away and we meet with them every other Sat as we hold assembly at the Prison on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays and Sundays.

As far as what we enjoy doing, well, first we love reading and studying God’s word and that is what we spend most of our time doing. I enjoy gardening and knitting as well. I enjoy seeing things grow and enjoy creating things people can wear/use. Mike enjoys reading and sharing God’s word. He also works at the prison as a correctional officer (FCC). He is looking toward the day when he can retire and pursue the Prison ministry full time.

In 2006, I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder from Lyme disease. In 5 months I went from active to housebound and could no longer work. During this severe stage of my illness, I found in my supply of books a book by a Christian doctor titled "The Bible Cure for Arthritis.” Inside this book, he quoted two verses of scripture that changed my life.

The first one was Exodus 15:26-"saying, ‘If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer." The second was James 5:14 "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."

I realized I could not even recite the Ten Commandments, much less know if I was obeying them. So I set out to memorize and learn to obey fully Yahweh's Ten Commandments (because I thought that was all there was at this time in history). I also asked my Pastor if he would anoint me (not done in our church) and he agreed to do so. In 2008, I enrolled in a 9 month Bible study which just happened to be studying Moses that year. Coincidence? I don't think so. Through that study, I realized how much Yahweh is in the details of our lives; especially our worship of Him.

Following this path to obedience so I too could be healed, I came to the 7th day Sabbath. I turned. Eleven months later, just before Passover 2011, I realized that when I received Yeshua as my Savior, I died to being a gentile and through Yeshua, I grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. I realize today that there are some who do not see it this way, and I am not wanting to raise a debate about it at all. Whatever I am, believing I was an Israelite gave birth to a desire in me to learn how to obey all of Torah I possibly could. It also gave me a desire to understand the Bible through Hebraic eyes and to learn the Holy Language of Yahweh.

By 2013, I was no longer on any medications and once again living a full and active life working full-time, riding horses and enjoying my grandchildren. I know that Yahweh healed me exactly as He promises if we obey His Way. I am loving learning His language and the ways of His People.

Susan

My name is Jennifer and it a pleasure to meet you Holy Language Tribe! I recently got connected with Holy Language Tribe through Instagram, and have enjoyed reading your teachings and commentaries on your site - awesome work, the teachings are a blessing to my life.

I have been a follower of Yeshua for about 15 years, am the mother of two sons ages 19 and 20 (of whom I am most proud) and the wife of twenty years (this October 28th) to my husband, Nathaniel.

We are blessed to worship with, and be members of Messianic Family Fellowship, here in our little lakeside village of Wolcott, NY.

For many years I owned and operated "Dancing with Grace Performing Arts Studio," teaching dance and theater arts. As a home-school Mom, I was also the Artistic Director of a learning cooperative that served more than 50 different families from our local community. Still very passionate about theater and dance, I now primarily work with churches; instructing Hebraic dance and leading worship in a variety of dance styles, including Contemporary Christian, Modern and Lyrical.

I was recently asked why I observe the "Jewish" holidays. I was not born a Jew and it has caused moderate discomfort to family and friends at times over the last 5 or so years that I no longer participate in traditional Christian observances like Christmas.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the prophesied Jewish Messiah; for many years I did not. Spending my early twenties as a soft boiled atheist, I was however, always seeking and looking for answers. As an avid student of history, I compared the world's mythologies, discovering there were some common themes. For many years I lumped Jesus of Nazareth in with all the other 'wise teachers' of the ages. This was until I read the Scriptures with different eyes - examining them in the context in which they were written. My personal discovery was that this itinerant poor preacher from the Galilee, was different. The whole book, from beginning to end, was unique in the world. The God of the Hebrews stands out among all the other gods - this 'myth' is not like the rest. 

Coming to understand the significance of the seasons and cycles, commandments and times of the Lord has added richness, depth and substance to my faith. Making the leap of faith was a difficult one for me, understanding the Hebrew roots of Christianity helped to provide me with a foundation of evidence from which to make that leap. This knowledge is not reserved for the Jews, these are the feasts of the LORD, Jesus came for everybody. Hallelujah and AMEN!

May God bless you and keep you, may He turn His face to shine upon you and give you peace my brothers and sisters in Messiah,

Jennifer

It is a good pleasure to tell my little story, and how I happened to become a follower of Yeshua. On to those days…

Actually, I was born to follow Yeshua. I should say this was from the womb—ever before it appears in time for me to be on earth.

I was raised walking in the way, in the step, which our Lord Yeshua recommended as well as taught to us in the Book of Life, through my late parents; both were following Yeshua before they even responded to their calls from Him. I learned along with my co triplet partners, my two Sisters, while we were growing up with the teachings of Yeshua and the services, devotion toward Hashem's principles, which was taught by the ministers and prophets of the Lord Hashem.

From my childhood I composed prayer songs in the presence of my Late Mother, who answered her call to the Almighty. I played all kinds of musical instruments in worship, such as drums with all my might, fasting often, and conducting prayers within and among family members. Back then, I barely read and understood the Bible in our native language, while my triplet sisters prayed Psalms with it. I was brooding with this issue, until one day… I fasted and prayed that the Lord Hashem would refine my memory to read and understand very well with our native Language, that I might follow him to the end. I asked to know His truth, sound doctrine, etc. Yahweh answered my supplication and I became on fire, even more so than my sisters.

When I graduated from High School, I made another request to Hashem. Meanwhile, I was finding it difficult to read and understand the English version of the Bible, being that I'd made up my mind to locate to other states outside of my country. My prayer request was this: Lord, cause me to know the rightful words of eternal life from Thee, from the English Version, that I may learn Your word, walking in them accordingly. And let me behold the truth of the Statutes, Ordinances, Precepts, and Judgments in the sense to share it with those who never had enough time to search the Scripture, every where I will be….

And Yeshua does it.

I made my first departure from Nigeria, my own country, to Gambia, West Africa, where I found a congregation that follows Yeshua. I join with them, worshiping for the interval of years. I also met a good teacher, like you Izzy, named Justice Paul. He is from the same country as me—Nigeria. Glory be to the Lord Elohim for this Honorable Justice Paul’s presence in Gambia during this time. Through this elder congregation, Hashem taught me a lot we all ought to know very well while following Yeshua, both challenges as well as adoration in worship in the Hebrew Language. Ever since then, I keep on following Yeshua, the Redeemer of my soul; being so very much interested to learn every thing perfectly, as far as Hebrew is concerned.

My word of exaltation to those who are called by his name, being predestined to you, by God, according to His infinite grace, made you his followers—receive it with joy and happiness, no matter the charges you might be facing - the tribe will like to hear your story too.

My first and middle name is Steven Daniel. My parents named me after 2 great Jewish men from the Bible. Both were faced with persecution by the societies they lived in solely because of their faith; and both endured to the end. I doubt my parents intended it when they named me, but I seem to also find myself living in a society that is very much against my religious beliefs. Yeshua said, "In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world."

The photo is of the four of us siblings all dressed up for a wedding and standing in birth order. I'm number 3. I grew up in the Northwestern United States in a Nondenominational Christian family. I have 2 great parents who love me and my siblings a lot. We went to church every Sunday. My Grandfather was the preacher. We prayed before every meal. We home schooled. We went to VBS summer camps. We went to youth groups. All our friends were church folks.

The first time I left the United States I was 5 years old and my family was traveling to Laos for 1 month. Laos is a Communist country. It is 66% Buddhist, 31.7% Ethnic cult, and 1.5% Christian. Christianity considered by the Lao Communist government as a renegade religion and is outlawed with the exception of the closely watched Roman Catholic Church. While in Laos my family sometimes went to the Catholic church and sometimes went to an undocumented Anglican church that met in a hotel room. Christianity was not discussed openly in public and any preaching of the Gospel was only done one-on-one behind closed doors. That was my first exposure to a world where what I believed was not acceptable.

Through my teenage years and the beginnings of college I remained a good church kid while many of my friends, who I grew up with in church, drifted away into the patterns of this world. About that time a new church movement started to catch on in the Northwest. One that was more modern and "cool" for people like my friends I grew up with. Men's retreats included activities like visiting the pub, smoking pipes and using occasional bad words: all things that were taboos to me as a kid. I started to get involved more with this "new type of church." It got me to start asking questions about things I had always just assumed the answers about without really seeking the scriptures, like if alcohol and tobacco were okay. I was beginning to reexamine the Bible to see what it actually said about these things. That was the start of what would become a very large snowball.

Somewhere on that road I started to wonder about the Sabbath. Even on Sundays we had always still done work around the house or worked on fixing the car or something like that. There was no real observance of a full day of rest. Through some things I had been reading I started to get interested a little bit in Judaism and the Hebrew language. My sister's best friend was Jewish (so I thought) so I told her I wanted to learn more about Judaism. The next time she came over to see my sister she brought for me a stack of 4 or 5 books to read at my leisure. At the time I hadn't realized that she wasn't like Jewish Jewish; she was Messianic. And her dad was a well-known Messianic teacher so naturally some of the books she gave me were written by her dad and others by other Messianic teachers. God had a perfect plan for getting my attention on the Hebrew roots of Christianity.

What I read about the Hebrew roots was just making way too much sense for me to ignore it. I was learning about the Sabbath and about Festivals and about clean and unclean, and I had discovered that Jesus and all of His disciples were Jews who remained faithful to the Torah their whole lives.

Meanwhile, I had found out that there was a free Biblical Hebrew class once a week about 5km from my house, so I started going. The teacher was my sister's best friend's dad. I started to get to know him and his family a little bit better at this point and as Passover was approaching I asked him after class one day if I could come to a Passover celebration, so he welcomed me to the Seder at his house. IT BLEW MY MIND!!! That week all the pieces really started to click for me. I grew up knowing the Gospel. I know Jesus came to die for us, but it wasn't until I understood what Passover was that I could really understand what THE PASSOVER LAMB had done for us. I had understood before that I needed Jesus in order for me to not go to Hell when I died, but now I understood that I was a slave in Egypt with no chance of freedom and there was chametz in my heart that had to be gotten rid of and that there had to be blood shed for my exodus to happen. Yeshua did all of that for me! That was a real life-changer.

I started going to the Messianic congregation. I started to take the Saturday Sabbath very seriously. And I changed my eating habits. Those were the obvious external changes, but there was also a true transformation going on in my heart too.

I started to become much more aware of the little country in the Middle East called Israel. The Psalms especially seemed to say that this land was something extraordinary. I read things like, "If I forget you Jerusalem may my right hand lose its skill" and, "Wait for the Lord and keep His way and He will exalt you to inherit the Land." I had a growing desire to come to Israel and in 2011 I came to Israel for the first time with some amazing people to help the Israeli farmers with their grape and olive harvest. For 6 weeks I saw, walked on, and worked the mountainous heartland of Israel where 80% of the stories in the Bible actually happened so many years ago. That was when I knew that Israel would be the only place in this world that I could call home.

In 2013 I was able to go Israel again to study modern Hebrew for the Summer. It was an intense ulpan program with 25 hours of class time and usually another 25 hours of homework each week. It was a priceless experience that improved my Hebrew by leaps and bounds and built friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. After 3 months in the Land I returned to the USA with a plan to make it to Jerusalem again in time for Passover the following year.

When I came back to Israel this time I came with hopes of finding a way to stay. I volunteered as a shepherd on a goat farm, I studied in yeshiva, I did more ulpan, I made more friends, and eventually I decided to study in university here. Now I am studying for my Bachelor's degree at Hebrew University. I live with Israeli roommates and I take classes like Chemistry and Physics and Calculus in Hebrew.

Israel is a country that has freedom for all religions but Judaism in general is still quite hostile toward Christianity. It has been known to happen that people preaching the Gospel on the streets have been beaten up for it. Families have disowned, and even had funerals, for relatives who started to believe in Yeshua as the Messiah and the Son of God. The idea of maintaining Jewish acceptance of the Torah and also believing in Yeshua is like the biggest abomination of a religion in the eyes of many Jews here. It's often viewed as a slick trick by the Christians in attempt convert the Jews. Some Messianic synagogues have been burned. Some known Messianic leaders have been attacked and one even received a package bomb at his house. He survived the explosion, thank God. The situation here is nothing like in North Korea, Iraq, Laos, or even Gaza, but there still is persecution here.

My name is Steven Daniel. Please continually pray for the persecuted believers around the world. And please pray for Jewish eyes to be opened to the truth of the Messiah. For them to see the Passover Lamb as I finally saw Him.

I was a Christian for my entire life. I went to church every Sunday with my family and tried my best to do what was taught. As a kid I was homeschooled and had a great childhood, playing sports (basketball was my favorite) and going on fieldtrips and the like. Despite this, I was never “free in Christ” as they say. After I started school in the seventh grade, I developed extreme social anxiety disorder and depression (officially diagnosed at fifteen). At one time I was even suicidal. Basically, I lived in the fight or flight mode of extreme anxiety all the time, and this led me to be extremely depressed, thinking that I would spend the rest of my life that way. Psychologist’s appointments did nothing, and anti-depressants just sort of made me numb, but didn’t really work to eliminate either problem.

Due to the anxiety, my stomach hurt all the time, meaning I felt sick all the time due to the nervousness, which meant basically permanent really super intense butterflies. I was also underweight. The stress caused my hair to start to fall out at the age of thirteen, which increased the nervousness. Being a fifteen/sixteen year old with the hairline of a forty year old attracted more attention to myself than I could stand. This led to more depression, and I retreated into myself more, and gave up on basketball. I can’t even count all of the tear filled nights that I begged God to set me free, to let me be normal, to take away the fear. After high school I resigned myself to the fact that I would always live in this bondage of fear and depression. I was dating my future wife and though I loved her and she loved me, our relationship struggled because of my behavior pretty much anywhere in public. Not to mention, that I sometimes took out the frustration of my predicament on her by starting fights or tuning out.

About four years ago, when I was twenty-one, my mom started studying Torah. I gave her a hard time about it, saying it wasn’t for us anymore and that, “Jesus did away with it,” basically parroting what I had been taught my whole life. Well, shortly after she celebrated her first Passover, I decided to look into what she was saying about the Torah and the Feasts. I found that it made sense and I started studying more and all of a sudden I realized my anxiety was disappearing. My depression was gone and I felt like I had finally found something I had been missing my whole life. It was amazing, my mom celebrated her first Passover, and shortly after that God delivered me, her firstborn son, from bondage—A complete miracle. Since then I have gotten married and I even have a son now; things I never thought I could be capable of due to the bondage I was in. Yeshua is the Torah made flesh and realizing that and trying to become more like Him released me from bondage (just as He said, the truth will set you free). I have a basic knowledge of Hebrew, but now I feel I am at the point that I need to really dig in and learn His language so that I can become closer to Him. Not to mention, that I want to teach my children about Yeshua and it would be nice to teach them in Hebrew. So, that is why I signed up for your class and am super excited to begin to really learn the language of my Messiah!

My name is Adi, and I started following Yeshua at the age of 17. At that time, I didn’t know Him as Yeshua, but my heart burned for Him. My family was the “Sunday” type, so I went to church my entire life. As He is always on time, He asked me to follow Him then, and I did.

Shortly after giving my life to God, I started learning Ivrit. I met a Messianic brother with the title “Rabbi,” and through him, doors in my heart were opened that I never knew. Since my conversion, I had always loved Yisrael, but after meeting this brother, I found out about the truth of grace and the truth of Torah.

As I sought on my own, I began to learn Ivrit as well. A Messianic sister sent me a Hebrew Primer book and a beginner’s prayer book dictionary. I learned to read and write with the Hebrew Primer and with Yeshua’s favor, of course.

Somehow I found Holy Language on Facebook, and for a while I longed to be able to subscribe. Finally, I was able to recently, and the first thing I learned about was Hebrew Sketches. I’ve learned the words Igeret, agaltal, velo-te’egol, and agorah so far, and that every Hebrew word has a root word that connects it to others—kind of like how we’re all connected as the Body of Messiah. Awesome, simple things.

In my free time, if I’m not eating or riding my bike, I’m either studying Hebrew or the Bible, or trying to teach myself an Israeli song. Sometimes I like to paint. I really would like to connect with you all—whatever heart the Lord touches. I personally believe it’s very important to be close as a body. Loneliness is something none of us in Messiah ought to deal with.

Shalom :)

I came to know some Hebrew words through a messianic group called Jews for Jesus. I receive a newsletter from them and years ago I bought a cd of messianic music. I heard the words Y'shua Hamashiach for the first time and I fell in love with Hebrew.

Another reason I desire to learn is this: I was born in Argentina, in the province of Mendoza, in the middle west of Argentina. My mom was adopted by an Italian lady. She was told her biological family was Jewish, but we never knew anything about them. Anyway, my mom taught us respect and love towards Jewish people and I wonder whether I could have Jewish blood. If it comes true, it would make me very proud and happy. At the moment I can't afford a DNA test to find out. Whatever the case, we share the Beautiful Mashiach.

The reasons why I want to learn Hebrew are as follows: I love the language, the pronunciation, I mean every time you hear a word there is something special. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes, but my first language is Spanish.

We are a blended family who once lived in utter darkness. We were both previously married to spouses who were alcoholics and drug abusers, but Yeshua brought us together. We have both been Torah lovers since 1998.

We have a landscaping business, and I work a lot with my husband while homeschooling four of our children. My oldest has mild autism now. My deepest desire is to take what the Father has given me and sew it into the hearts of our children.

I often try to heap too much on them, and one night Yeshua spoke to me that if I over-fertilize the seedlings, they would get burned. My zeal and desire is for our children to cling to the God of Avraham and grow up straight—for them to be the ones who endure.

I want to thank you for your ministry, which is a huge blessing in more ways than you may realize. What a blessing it is to watch and listen to the studies you are doing. I usually listen and watch on Thursday afternoons while making bread.

Shalom!

I grew up in Columbus, Indiana. We were one of those Christian families that were in church every time the doors were open. As I got into my teen years, I began feeling like there was something missing from what I was being taught. Like all of the other good Christians, I had accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior at a young age, but I knew there was something more in the Scriptures. I wanted to understand the Old Testament more. I could never understand why that part was skipped, other than what I was told: “Jesus did away with that stuff. That’s the old God.”

Through Hebrew, I finally understand what that pull was—to learn more about the Torah and the Old Testament. One day, I was looking through YouTube for a video to learn how to say the Shema in Hebrew. I stumbled across this guy, whom I now call brother, named Izzy Avraham. It turns out he not only could teach me the Shema, but he could actually teach me to read and speak Hebrew easier than I thought. I ended up telling my dad and everyone else I knew about Holy Language Institute.

When I’m not learning Hebrew, I’m working on a double major in Applied Behavioral Science and Journalism through Ashford University. I also write for a website doing reviews about geek and nerd culture. My thirteen-year-old son and I thoroughly enjoy comic books, superheroes, and science fiction. I’ve played guitar for 26 years, and I do pencil art in my spare time.

I just finished reading every word of the Torah in Hebrew. Izzy asked me to let you all know when my goal was accomplished, so here I am! This eleven-month journey has taken me from painfully sounding out each letter of Genesis 1:1 with a magnifying glass to help me differentiate the letters, to reading Deuteronomy 34:12 today fairly fluidly and understanding every word of that verse. No more magnifying glass now; in fact, I know more and more words by sight as a whole without having to sound them out.

Genesis was a great place to start because the stories dragged me through the agony of my incompetency with Hebrew. The middle books were tougher, with many words that I didn’t know—pertaining to temple services—and then Deuteronomy was a treat at the end. When I got back to the story-like narrative of it, similar to Genesis in the ease of reading, I was home free, able to read less haltingly and understand many more words. It was like a reward for struggling through the middle books!

I have a long way to go and much more to learn, but I feel so grateful to the Heavenly Father to have been able to read the exact same text that Yeshua likely did in His life on earth. It was so rewarding to see little details that translators left out, and as a result to have a fuller understanding of what the Word actually means. Thanks to Izzy’s brother and sister-in-law, David and Hannah, for the motivation to do this!

If you, too, have a goal to read some of the Scriptures in Hebrew, be encouraged. You may not see any progress for weeks or even months, but if you stick at it a little every single day—that’s the key—you will eventually reap a harvest!

Shalom in Yeshua,

Melanie

I live just outside Liverpool, UK with my husband Harry and our three boys. The youngest is seven and often asks me, “How do you say such and such in Hebrew?” It makes me have to look it up and learn it! We enjoy music—we all play an instrument, some better than others—camping, hill walking, and other outdoor adventures.

Harry and I were worship leaders in a small congregation and ran a business together before we were married. It was at that time we met a Jewish man who became a very good friend of ours for over thirty years. We celebrated his 90th birthday with him last year. He thought Harry was Jewish, a mistake many people make, including my parents.

I was brought up Catholic and thought of myself as a Christian. In my final year of school, the Gideons came and testified. That’s when I realized there was more to Christianity than religion. A year later I met Harry, a strong believer, who encouraged me to read the entire Scriptures and enlightened me to the importance of Israel and the Jewish heritage of the Gospel. Together we attended many house groups and studied Scripture using different translations for cross-referencing. That’s when I asked, who translates these, and how come there are so many variations? How do we know they got it right?

I wished then that I could read and speak Hebrew, but I knew no one who could teach me. This wish never faded—it only grew stronger. At last, two years ago, I decided I was no longer just going to think about it. I was going to do something about it, and the internet helped. Finding Holy Language, with its fantastic teaching of Yeshua and Scripture and its links to other sites, has been an inspiration. It has brought the language to life, explaining the depth of meaning in the words and revealing hidden treasures of God’s Word that were lost through the dilution of the original Christian church over time.

Discovering the Jewish roots of our faith has opened my understanding of the Gospels immensely and given me a more personal understanding of my Saviour too. The feasts and traditions followed by the Jews so faithfully have such significance—their meaning should not be lost in the Gentile church. The fellowship I attend has many strongly motivated members who love Israel and God’s people, and I would encourage others to take the opportunity to follow the Hebrew Quest course.

Thanks, Izzy, for providing such an encouraging opportunity to learn such a beautiful language.

Todah rabba,

Marie

Growing up as a child, I always loved Elohim, and my mother brought me up in the Methodist church. I had two angelic visitations at ages 9 and 11 where my mother asked me to write down my dream/visitation, and I did. Only one of them has been located since the passing of my mother, and it is profound to see words that a 9 year old child didn't know much less know how to spell.

At any rate, moving along, I was the youngest child of 3, and was always "kiddingly" told that I was "an accident". My sister was 10 years older than I and my brother was 8 years older than I. My father was a bad alcoholic. My mother later became a manic depressive in a way, and stopped going to church.

My older sister got pregnant at age 16 and my mother raised the baby for the 1st two years, at which time it sort of began an era in my life of me having to "fend for myself" if you will. Due to the problems in the family with my father being an alcoholic, the manic depression of my mother, the illegitimate child of my sister, problems with my brother as well...well, at age 13 I began to smoke cigarettes, drink, etc. Then I met a Jewish boy, and we were to be married - however, when they took me to the synagogue I refused to renounce "Jesus" at that time as my savior and the family moved away to another state, which was devastating to both of us, as I had become pregnant by the boy, but then had an abortion.

This was another area that seemed to start the upside down turning of my life. Drugs, alcohol, etc, became more prevalent, this led to tattoos, promiscuity, etc.

I know that Elohim ALWAYS had His Hand on me, and along down the line at the age of 18 I met my first husband, who is now deceased. We had a beautiful daughter, less than 2 years into the marriage, and he left me and got thrown in prison and was unfaithful to me. He also threatened the lives of me and our daughter. So, I filed for divorce, sought the help of my parents once again and tried to get my life back together.

Elohim blessed me with a wonderful job at that time in the insurance business where I climbed to the top after 10 years, to go on to open my own insurance adjusting firm that also skyrocketed. Until one day back in 2004 Elohim pulled the rug out from under me, and allowed my 6 digit yearly income, my home and possessions, amongst other things to be taken away from me. Unbeknownst to me, it was to save me so that I would not perish.

With that said, He was gracious enough to let me get out from underneath my home with the exact amount of down payment that my dear mother had given me 10 years prior and I returned it to her 100%. That was a wonderful feeling in my heart. I moved in with my mother, as my father had already passed on back in 2002.

It was now 2005 and my mother wanted to take a trip 12 hours away where she had lived when she and my father were first married, and where my brother and sister had grown up in Texas. So, off we went. This was the beginning of the most wonderful journey that Elohim took not only myself, but my mother on as well.

My mother had grown up Worldwide Church of God (with Herbert Armstrong) as a child. After Mr. Armstrong passed away, there was a lot of splitting up and splinter groups, as I'm sure you may be aware. My great grandmother was 7th day Adventist. Later on in studying our family history we have discovered many direct relatives who came over from Germany with the names Ephraim and Israel, and they were slaves in the Prague Palace, and much, much more. So there is a very high possibility that we are part of Yisrael, one of the tribes. Kind of makes sense as YAH is awakening the DNA of His Bride, yes?

After returning home from the trip, a week long trip, on an evening shortly thereafter, I was praying, and praising Elohim for not letting me perish, and asked Him to give me a new heart and renew my mind. I felt it at that very moment, and received a message from Him, that it was "now or never." I felt an overwhelming sense of His presence with me.

My life prior to this had gone so far downhill, that I didn't care if I died or not, and I could not get "high" enough off of the drugs. I even stayed awake for such a long period of days at one time on these drugs, that I saw demons.

At this point after returning from our trip, my mother and I began to study Scripture heavily, and I began searching on the internet. I felt/knew there was something missing/something that was not right in my ruach. And, I came across some people that I met through Myspace of all places back then who considered themselves "Messianics". This seemed to be the "missing link" for me if you will.

So, then we purchased a Complete Jewish Bible, and wow, did Elohim download a megaton of information if you will to me, not necessarily to my mother right there at that time, but to myself. Then I was on the floor crying/praying, "YAH, I can't do this all by myself, and I can't retain/understand all of this information that you have shown me". Just crying out for help. And help He did. Through non-stop study and prayer, He brought my mother right along side of me until her death in 2010, and blessed me with a wonderful husband 1208 miles away.

Now going back just a little bit to 2005 when I moved in with my mother after the devastation of losing my business, my six figure income, my home, etc., YAH delivered me from the drugs, NO side effects, delivered me from the alcohol, and delivered me from smoking cigarettes for 22+ years with NO side effects, NO withdrawals, NOTHING! Baruch Hashem!

I had never anticipated remarrying. I had resigned myself to the thinking that the will of YAH would be I remain single, and Y'shua was my/our Bridegroom.

I became very good friends with a woman on Myspace, who was Jewish, and believed Y'shua is Messiah, and she came for a visit with my mother and me (all prior to my 2nd marriage). She taught us a lot of things that were also "missing links", as I refer to them, with regard to the traditions on the celebrations of the festivals, different traditions of Shabbat, etc. Then she had to return home to New York. We lived in Texas.

The reason I'm telling you about this friend in New York is important. I also had two wonderful friends that I met on Myspace who live in the UK, Jewish, and elderly. At one point, the gentleman in the UK and his wife took me under their wings, as I did not have an earthly father nor a job, and he supported me for 2 months prior to me meeting my "now Ishi", Mikha'el. And again, remember, I was not ever thinking of remarrying at all! And at first I refused to accept the blessing of the financial support from these friends in the UK, but they adamantly insisted that it was a blessing from YAH and to please not push away/throw away/denounce a blessing from YAH. So, I "a little bit reluctantly" accepted.

Now, remember the other friend in New York, that I met on Myspace, Devorah is her name, she called me one night, right around this same time and told me that she had discovered a new place for fellowshipping, and it was a lot better than Myspace and there were a lot more Messianics, etc. She said it was Facebook. I exclaimed to her that I had heard about it and that I was not interested in joining it at this time, and that I had heard some bad things about it. That was in 2009.

Keep in mind that just prior to this, 2 months, I had started to receive the financial assistance from YAH through these friends of mine in the UK. And, said that they were going to begin to pray for me that YAH provide a nice "young rabbi" to marry. I chuckled and laughed, and now that I look back at it, it reminds me of Sarah in Scripture. And, I exclaimed something along the lines of, "Yeah right, I've resigned to the fact that I will never remarry."

Fast forward...One night then during these 2 months, I was at the computer, and something compelled me to investigate...Facebook. So, I went to the website and signed up. I found my friend Devorah on there, and sent her a friend request. Now mind you this was sometime in February of 2009. I then began to receive some other friend requests from some acquaintances on Myspace and accepted them, and began learning how to navigate and use Facebook. Well, then I received a friend request from a gentleman whom I did not know, named Mikha'el.

Funny thing is, he claims that he had received one from me. Neither one of us sent the other a friend request, yet we got one from one another, if that makes sense to you. Then we thought that perhaps one of our mutual friends had "suggested" a friend request for the other...However, the mystery remains unsolved.

So, this was on the Gregorian calendar, March 5, 2009, that my Ishi and I met on Facebook. Exactly 2 weeks later, he asked me if I would come under his covering and we became betrothed. He had never even seen a picture of me yet. I had seen his, but he not mine. We then began our preparations for the ceremony which took place August 10, 2009. Prior to that and prior to my mother's passing away, she and I traveled from Texas to Wisconsin to meet him and his family. We stayed for 5 days and returned to Texas, at the end of May 2009. And of course we had no physical contact whatsoever until our wedding night.

Mikha'el and I had our wedding garments made in pure linen, and we ordered our wedding rings from Yisrael, that both say Ani l'dodi v'dodi li on them.

Then in August, Mikha'el flew down to Texas, and we had already made preparations for the uhaul for all of my possessions that I had packed up over the previous 5 months, and we spent a Shabbat with my mother, and then off we were from Texas to Wisconsin. It took us 2+ days, and we didn't even have enough time to unpack our things. Praise YAH that the wedding garments were already there, and the wedding rings. We slept, as we were a bit sleep deprived from the long drive, and rose the next morning, did the Shema as usual, and began preparations for our wedding that evening. We had a Messianic rabbi who did the ceremony under a brand new Chuppah! It was a small ceremony here at the farm where we live in Wisconsin with a few friends and family.

Looking back, we can see YAH's Mighty Hand all of the way through each and every single move in the meeting/betrothal/marriage in our lives.

We are both truly grateful to Him for eternity for everything He has done and is still doing in both of our lives. We live to serve Him.

And...oh...this is the condensed version. :)

YAH bless you!

Tikvah

I first began following Yeshua a month before I turned 23 though at the time I only knew him as Jesus. My family had been saved a few years and every time that I saw them they would tell me about this great pastor that they knew. Due to a large dose of self destruction, I was humbled enough to at least give this 'intelligent Christian Pastor' a chance. I was surprised to find that people in his church weren't expected to check their brains at the door. In fact he was actually quite adamant in regards to self studying, and even though the old testament was only to point to Jesus, he still encouraged people to read it fully. He eventually lead me into a walk with Jesus and that is where it all began.

As time went on I felt that there were gaps in my walk which seemed to grow with my theological limitations. I knew that God was there and followed him the best that I could, but I knew something was missing. It was around this time that I met and married my beauty. We moved to the city of Toronto, and started to attend a church which had a bible study run by a Jewish believer. My family has its own strangely ambiguous Jewish history. WW2, a bakery fire, and my grandmother being baptized catholic to be adopted out, created a series of possibly unprovable links to a Jewish heritage. This wonderful man who led bible study was used to start a quest which led me to a very Jewish Yeshua.

The seed for learning Hebrew was planted by a typography teacher that I once studied under. We were speaking about the bible and I had made a comment about God, and a connection between what I knew as the New Testament and the Old. He calmly asked me if I had read the bible in its original Hebrew, and when I admitted that I hadn't, he suggested that I do so before we continued that particular conversation. He is Jewish and I can totally understand his aversion to hearing about Jesus, but the idea that there was something to find in the original language stuck with me.

When my wife and I were first married, I was a graphic designer. After the birth of our second daughter, I changed careers and now enjoy working as an electrician. When not wandering the city with the ladies of my life, reading, or slowly trying to learn modern Hebrew, I write in STA''M (Hebrew calligraphy). One day I would love to create a scroll of the Gospels with Acts as well as Revelation and other writings.

How I “met” the G‑D of Israel:

I was brought up in a Catholic orphanage in France, and from age five the book I was reading most was the Book of Revelation. I was blessed by my L‑RD G‑D Almighty but didn’t know it. To cut a very long story short, I have been very unfaithful to G‑D as I became involved with new age, then magic, etc. One day in Geneva (I was working for the UN) I looked on the street and there it was—a beautiful gold “thing.” It was obviously a piece of jewelry. I took it and put some posters up saying, “I found this ‘thing’; if it is yours, come and claim it from me.” No one claimed it, and it became mine. This “thing” puzzled me, and I did some research and discovered it was a Hebrew letter—the letter Chai (still with me). This started the beginning of my Jewish journey. 

I forgot all about new age, fortune telling, tarot reading, and fell in love with everything that was Jewish. I fell in love with the Name of G‑D and began to follow Judaism (though never converting because of Yeshua, His sacrifice for me on the cross). I searched the web and found I could speak Hebrew and read all my prayers in Hebrew without learning Hebrew! I found transliteration and started to write down whole siddurim and machzorim; learned by heart all my prayers in Hebrew (Sefardi pronunciation): Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, and even the Bedtime Shema. I kept all the feasts, kept Shabbat (still do), listened only to Jewish songs, read Jewish books (even got involved with Kabbalah), ate Jewish, breathed Jewish air, visited Israel and Jerusalem, read the Bible in Hebrew transliterated. However, after a while I stopped attending shul because Yeshua “was not there.” Somehow I felt He was missing.

After a while, I thought to myself: well, I can speak and read Hebrew, but I cannot understand it unless I have the transliteration. I began to know most Tehillim by heart and was singing them but only knowing the general meaning. So I decided to learn Hebrew the proper way and found you—the Holy Language! Great, I quickly purchased the whole package and started my lessons faithfully, until letter Zayin; this was in 2011, and then I stopped. I thought to myself, “This will take me ages! I want to know everything now.” I was still praying in Hebrew and had created my own full transliteration of all Jewish prayers I could find.

Then came Shir HaShirim—wow! The first time I heard this particular singer (last Pesach), an unknown Sefardi cantor, I decided: this is it! I learned the full Shir by listening to the song, but I really wanted to learn Hebrew the proper way. So I bought the full Bible from TES “Word by Word” and learned Bereshit Chapter 1 by heart in Hebrew (I can recite it perfectly and read it also) but only because I learned the transliteration. I cannot read Hebrew nor can I understand it.

So, I took the decision to return to Holy Language and learn Hebrew the proper way, as I want to read the whole Bible—Tanach and B’rit Chadashah—until Yeshua comes, and also to be able to witness to my Jewish neighbors. I live in a very kosher area of London! At the moment I am learning the whole Bible by heart in English, and I want to learn it in Hebrew; hence I came back to Holy Language.

When I am not learning or reading the Bible, I work as a medical secretary. Finally, at 54 years old, I have traveled extensively worldwide and became truly born again three years ago as I finally heeded the call of my L‑RD G‑D Yeshua. Amazing grace that saved such a wretch like me!

Blessed be our L‑RD G‑D Yeshua haMashiach! Maranatha! Amen! Even so, Bo Yeshua, bo! 

And may our L‑RD G‑D Yeshua keep you and bless you, Izzy, and your family. Thank you for enabling us to learn the Holy Language!

I was introduced to YESHUA as a child in the Occult Babylonian Roman System. I was drawn away from the corrupt anti-YESHUA system by the RUACH and was baptized.

I began studying the typical HEBREW sanctuary which points to the LAMB OF GOD who had to die for the remission of sins. This led me into wanting to deepen my understanding of the ISRAEL source HOLY WRIT.

I have been obsessed with PSALM 119 and stumbled across the Holy Language trailers for Psalm 119 and the rest is history. GOD willing, I will ruminate (sheep stomachs have seven stomachs) this PSALM thoroughly.

I have a passion for and work with real estate. My other interests are family, music and staying fit by training for Mixed Martial Arts.

I love reading and better understanding my Bible. My Sunday School teachers used material from Ray Vander Laan for a couple of years in 2011- 2012.

Ray's video series teaches about Jesus from a 1st century, Jewish perspective  and it really got me interested in learning the message of Jesus as His original disciples might have learned it.

I just returned in May from a 10 day trip to Israel.

I love the idea that Hebrew is the language of God and that with His finger He wrote on the tablets furnished to him by Moses with his finger in Hebrew. I also love the design of the language.

I attend Epworth United Methodist Church in Phenix City, Alabama.

I am married and have 3 grandchildren.

I work for Auburn University as a web developer.

The attached photo of me is  near the Dead Sea.

- Sam

I am a blessed daughter of The Most High, happily married, mother of 6 children and grandmother of 2. We live on an acreage and enjoy growing veggies and flowers in our garden and greenhouse.

I was raised in a Pentecostal church. I had a lot of questions about the "Old Testament" that I never felt were answered. About 10 years ago, when some very dear friends shared with me, my eyes/heart were opened to the TRUTH. For the first time the Bible made complete sense to me. I was so excited and happy as I learned about patterns, parallels, and actual meanings of words in their original context.

I have been able to mimic small phrases that are repeated often, but am eager to recognize/understand/speak Hebrew. Recently when sharing with others about Yeshua The Messiah it has been made SO CLEAR how essential a grasp on this Holy language is!! I am not a super quick learner but it is so interesting!! I pray every blessing on you and your house for making this accessible in a format that I can understand.

Lorraine

I have always been a follower of Yeshua, and in my early teens (13?) I remember specifically giving myself to Him at one of our counselor's retreats.

During college years, I stopped going to church, and got lost, and missed the mark a lot. In the past couple years I have really strengthened my relationship with Yeshua again, especially after re-discovering that he is our Redeemer and Creator, and rejecting much of the scientific theory I was taught in college (evolution, etc.). The website "Answers in Genesis.org" really helped open my eyes too.

I am a chemical engineer in the Paper Industry, living in FL (originally from WI). I work closely with many secular Israeli Jews, whom I love dearly. I worked with them in China a few times where our team was composed of me (follower of Christ), 2 Jews, a Muslim (from Indonesia) and 2 communists. And we all get along very well!

I have been to Jerusalem 3 times now (was recently there for the light installation last month) and have also been to Tel Aviv and Beersheba where I have other close friends. I am trying to witness to them when I can— all of them are secular. Anyway, whenever the topic of religion comes up, there is usually a comment that the English translation is far from the original and that it was a pity I could only read English (or something in those terms! haha).

So, I began a search for the deeper truth in the Bible, and I knew I had to start learning Hebrew. I bought a Stone Tanach and started searching on the website for some helping guidance. I even started watching Kurt Schneider (Discovering the Jewish Jesus) so I could put my relationship with Yeshua in more "Jewish" terms to them.

Then, one day I stumbled upon your sessions on YouTube—and I loved them. Especially hearing a Jew with a Canadian accent! haha—I actually go to Canada quite a bit for work too (North Bay, Montreal, sometimes Vancouver). There are many other famous Canadian Jews (Geddy Lee! and of course Leonard Cohen).

Anyway, some of your teachings really hit home for me—especially about how to talk to Jews (avoid terms like church and Christian—those are really powerful teachings, and totally make sense—so thank you!). Anyway, after sitting through all of your Alefbet trainings on YouTube, I finally decided to subscribe—sorry it took so long. But I really look forward to being a member. I am also learning Hebrew with some study guides. I also now go to church every Sunday at the local Methodist church—they seem to be a friend to Jews, and the pastor is great. There is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Jacksonville—maybe I will check it out some Shabbat.

Chris

My name is Kari. I am a wife, mother, homeschooler, and follower of Yeshua, lover of Judaism. I grew up in a Christian home, and started connecting to Messianic Judaism and my own family's Jewish heritage when I was in college. Shortly after I started attending a Messianic congregation full-time, I met my husband, who was raised in a Conservative Jewish home and became a follower of Yeshua in his mid-twenties. He had grown up with Judaism but no knowledge of Yeshua, and I had grown up with lots of Yeshua and no knowledge of Judaism. We have had an interesting journey meeting in the middle, and discovering what our own family's unique expression of Messiah-centered Judaism should look like.

I first learned to read Hebrew on a date with my husband during our courtship phase, with crayons on a paper tablecloth over dinner. He taught me the AlephBet song, then matched up the names of the letters with their crayon counterparts to teach me to read.

He coached me and helped me practice reading when we attended Shul together, and then he gifted me with my first Hebrew/English Tanakh during our engagement. My final year in college I took a Modern Hebrew course, though graduation requirements kept me from going on to subsequent levels. Since that time, I have greatly desired to study Biblical Hebrew, and in the meantime, an entire world of online learning has developed to make it possible!

I'm still exploring the treasure trove of resources on the HLI site, and very excited to begin my studies in earnest. I believe it will be a great asset to me in my personal journey of drawing closer to the written and Living Torah, to my efforts to teach my daughters Hebrew in our homeschool, and to my hopes of officially converting to join the peoplehood of my husband and children (which I hope to accomplish in the upcoming years). This could not have come at a better time, and I'm so very grateful it is affordable to boot!

Kari