Post by Ben Avraham on Oct 18, 2014 18:11:11 GMT -8
Shalom to all, My name is Rabbi Jacob Ben Avraham, I have this site in my address book and I wrote a few articles many years ago, somehow, your info got lost, but I found it again. A lot has happened since then.
I was ordained as Messianic rabbi in 2005 in Miami Florida at Shema Israel Messianic Jewish Theological Institute/Yeshiva after about 6 years of "distance" study. I direct a Sephardic (Spanish) language
/Parsha study in our synagogue in Houston, Texas. We are growing, not much, not too many at once, I would rather have a few that want to really learn than a lot that just come for the food and for "curiosity" When I was born, I was adopted into a Lutheran family (imagine that!) but my parents were loving and raised me to love God and respect His Word. My biological parents were a mystery to me and because of NY state law, adoption records were (and still are) sealed. BUT...one day, I walked into a Messianic synagogue, and right away, had the sensation that "I belonged here" (this was back in 1997) and I am still here, serving as associate rabbi.
I told the rabbi that I was just visiting, that I was raised by a Lutheran family, went to a Baptist University, and somehow, think "I belong here" He told me, "Hey, maybe you're of Jewish descent and you don't know it" So, I decided to investigate my "biological" roots, that was through "Family Tree DNA" and lo and behold, the result came back from my paternal side, ancestry from Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Russia and many had the marker "Ashkenazi" and from mom's side "Turkish-Armenian" A person contacted me and told me that she could find my biological parents, "free" and that she Did! She found them!! Mom and dad are still alive! in their 90s, but they have dementia and are not part of reality any more, but I still love them, I don't think that even Abba knew of his Jewish past, I found out I have an older brother and an older sister,
They didn't even know I existed, my birth was part of mom and dad's secret, but they accept me,
They told me Mom's people came from Smyrna, Turkey, the city where Yochanan visited and established the first Messianic congregation in Asia. Dad's people from East Europe, and grandma (on pop's side) from the UK who came to America in 1588.
So, I took a conscious decision to return to the roots of the faith, to claim Messianic Judaism as my faith and follow
and Yeshua, I think if pop was still thinking rationally he would say "Oi, what have you done?" Since then, I have published my first eBook on Amazon called "God Tales" it consists of ten biblically based fiction short stories about people from the past and even present time and the situations they encounter and how it affects their faith in God, I would like to put some of the stories on this web site if I am allowed,
I would like to contribute to the Parashiot and other
based articles, I am happy to be back, Happy Simchat
and looking forward to Hanukkah.Rabbi Jacob Ben Avraham (my writer/author name)
, I know ... 
)
C
