You may have heard Israel Cohen's story before, but not like this! In this week's episode of Our Hope Podcast 🎙, we interviewed this Navy veteran who is also one of our longest-serving staff members! Listen to his touching and humorous story of faith now!

Welcome to Our Hope

or production of Chosen

People Ministries.

What did John the Baptist,

Peter, and Paul have in common?

Besides being

historical figures

in the New Testament,

they were all Jewish

followers of Jesus.

Israel Cohen discovered

these men are Jewish

when he secretly read

the New Testament—

a book his Rabbi told him

never to read. On

today's episode,

we're interviewing Israel,

who is one of our longest

serving staff members.

He began his work with Chosen

People Ministries in 1978,

serving in New York, New

Jersey and Florida,

and he now serves in the

Metropolitan Philadelphia area

with his wife, Judy. Israel,

also known as Uncle Izzy

to us here at Chosen People,

grew up

aware of the distinction

between Jews and Christians.

Like most Jewish people,

he felt that being a Jew meant

that he couldn't

believe in Jesus.

It was only when

he joined the Navy

that he discovered

the truth for himself.

And now, I introduce the host

of Our Hope Podcast,

Abe Vazquez!

Uncle Izzy, welcome to Our Hope!

I'm glad to be here!

It's a blessing.

This is wonderful.

Great, so glad you were

able to join us.

You know every time

we have a new guest

I love to ask this question.

So since you travel

a lot, I want to know

what is your favorite food,

but your favorite food

from New York?

In New York or in Philly,

or in this area,

a nice pastrami sandwich.

Oh

yeah, got to have it

on Rye with Gulden's

has to be Gulden's

mustard, you know, deli mustard

can't have none of that

French's, forget that.

And a nice piece of New York

Cheesecake, the best!

There you go, there you go.

It won't help my diet

but it'll be delicious

and nutritious.

That is awesome.

So tell me about

you grew up in Philadelphia

is that correct?

I grew up in Philadelphia

until high school age,

but I went to synagogue

in Philadelphia

with my parents most- sometimes,

but I had my Bar Mitzvah

in Philadelphia.

And we were,

you know,

not liberal liberal.

We kept Kosher and all that.

My grandmother was alive

and she wanted us

to go to synagogue.

But I had my Bar Mitzvah

in Philadelphia and

at about the age of high school

I went to elementary-

I went to what we

used to call Junior

High School in Philadelphia.

I went to what is now

called Cherry Hill, NJ

which is just across the river

from

Philadelphia, across

the Delaware River

and we were basically

the first Jewish family

in in the Cherry Hill area.

It's now very Jewish,

didn't even have

a synagogue there,

and they have a big synagogue.

A lot of Philadelphia

people moved over to Jersey.

So I grew up,

really, if you want to know

the truth, lets face it

I was in a dysfunctional

Jewish family.

It's amazing that that

Jesus found me.

It's absolutely amazing,

but that was, you know, I did

I didn't hang out

with the Gentiles too much,

you know.

My father was

concerned about that.

So set the stage

for me a little bit what

what was growing up there

like, what was your

environment like?

You know, what was it like

being the only Jewish family

in that area?

In Cherry Hill, I hung out

with a lot of Gentiles

in school.

Actually, as I lived there

for a little while,

some more Jewish

people moved here, okay.

And when I was in

school, being Cohen,

you know,

they gravitated towards me.

This was back

we're talking about the '57

couple years ago, you know,

and they gravitated.

We all went to,

went to bandstand together,

you know, with Dick Clark

and and we did things together.

We didn't hang out

with the Gentile kids.

There was a few more, but

shortly after I joined,

went to high school.

I really got involved

with ham radio with

I had a school teacher,

a shop teacher that

was a ham radio guy

and he was teaching

a class in high school

at lunchtime of morse code.

So I wanted to

join the morse code.

So most of Jewish people kids

didn't join the radio club.

Maybe that's

because it was the

'ham' radio club.

I don't know

it wasn't kosher? I don't know.

I thought it was good.

But anyway, so I

I was in that so

I didn't hang out

with a lot of Jewish kids,

but my entire time

I was in high school

I was on the ham

radio all the time.

At least a short way,

and doing this morse code.

And so that was basically my

my entire high school career,

I didn't study too well,

I just didn't-

I thought I was going

to be a ham radio

guy, copying

morse code the rest of my

life. I was in for a surprise.

So that radio, that

that was like your

your Instagram

or your Tick Tock

you were just

kind of addicted to it.

Israel:Exactly, we don't have it

we didn't have

any of this stuff

like Instagram and Tick Tock

and and Facebook

and all, you know

we had none of that stuff.

I thought that the ham

radio be able to talk to people

all the way

around the other side

of the world, like Australia.

Mostly during an English class

and my teacher said,

"What's the matter?"

Well, I was up all night,

I was I was talking

to someone in Australia with

my ham radio.

That is awesome.

That is so cool to hear.

So tell me what happened

after high school?

At what point did you encounter

possibly joining Navy?

What led you there?

That's good, good point.

First of all,

in high school,

my father wanted me

to make sure I took the

the college prep courses and

I didn't like it at all.

I wasn't as a matter of fact

I was in the marching band

and I had to quit

the marching band.

Of course, the

calculus classes

were taught

at the same time that the band

would rehearse and I

I was very disappointed

about that. Very disappointed.

What

what did you play in band?

I played the

baritone horn.

Hey!

Oh, it was great.

Boom boom boom boom

boom boom anyway it was

great, I loved it.

And we played at these marches

and stuff.

But I had to quit.

I was very disappointed.

My father wanted me

to go to college.

So he made me take,

he got to get some friends

that had connections

with the West Point.

These- I forgot their-

The Air Force Academy,

I think it might have been.

And then he made

me take the test

for entrance into the

into the Air Force Academy.

I felt like I was number number-

lowest number

you can get.

I was the last one.

So I never got into college.

I didn't- Now, a nice

Jewish boy like me

didn't get into college

that this is like

as we say in Yiddish

It's it's called a 'shanda'.

It's a terrible thing,

So yeah, so my father said,

"So what are you going

to do with your life?

What are you going to do?"

And I thought

maybe I'd be a ham

radio guy

the rest of my life but

I would have been drafted.

In 1960 I graduated

from high school

in the lowest

form of my class.

But in 9th- when I graduated,

if I didn't go to college,

you're in the army.

I I was nice and healthy

and I was a good guy

so I would have been right in.

So in my senior year of

high school I applied

to join the Navy and

I got accepted on a Friday

in June of 1960.

Friday

I was in high school

graduating, but on Monday

I was flying to Great

Lakes Illinois to boot camp

for the United States

Navy.

And the marching and screaming,

and I will never forget this.

This was so- there were two thin

that were incredible

in the Navy. One,

was

I get off the bus

at the Great Lakes Illinois

and I'm walking along and he say

"Run, run, run, Cohen!

Run!" I said,

"Sir, I don't run."

"We don't teach the

teach the Jewish boys

any different

than the Gentiles.

We treat you the same! Get your-

And he used some language

that we might not want

to have on a podcast, you know

what I'm saying. And

then the second

thing that happened

is lining up in boot camp.

They were going to

shave our heads

and all that stuff.

And lining up

and he looks at me,

and he says, "Cohen,

you didn't shave." I said,

"Oh, I didn't shave."

"So get in here and shave!"

And I

I never really shaved

up until that point

I was a late bloomer.

And I came out with blood

all over my clothes and stuff.

He said, "Cohen, I didn't ask yo

to commit hari kari.

Stop that!" The blood all, it wa

terrible.

So that was my experience

in the Navy.

Of course, I didn't

know how to swim.

I forgot, if you join the Navy

you better know

how to swim.

And so they pushed

me off in this big

15 foot high tower into

the pool and

I learned how to swim,

no doubt about that.

And I know when you

were in the Navy

you had an experience

where they they handed out

different types of Bibles

or things like that.

What was that situation?

That was incredible.

When you come into

come in there was this big hall

400 people,

they were all naked.

You had your head shaved

and now it's time

to get your uniform,

so they give you a sea bag

and you walk down the line

and as you walk down the line

they give you

your own uniforms.

At the end of the line,

back then, this was 1960 now,

they said, "Catholic,

Protestant, or Jewish?"

I said, "Okay, I'm Jewish."

And they

put a Bible in your seabag.

I don't know what you do

with the Bible.

You know,

I thought it was

a good luck charm.

Or maybe

it was a rabbit's foot,

or be like my grandmother's

chicken soup!

Everytime I was sick, if I was t

I was coughing and sneezing.

My grandmother said, "Take some,

have some chicken

soup, it will help you."

And so, well I have a Bible.

I said, "Will it help me?"

They said, "Couldn't hurt!"

You know, it couldn't hurt!

So I said, "Okay."

And I put in my bag.

I'll put it in my pocket

and maybe the bullet

will hit my Bible.

So I had my Bible.

But growing up Jewish,

we never really read the Bible.

I knew the stories.

You know about

Abraham and about the Purim,

and then Mordecai and

Esther,

but I never read the Bible.

Wow, so I mean you've

never read the Bible

so at this point in your life,

what would you say

your relationship with God

was like?

Oh, I didn't even

know there was a God.

I wasn't-

I had no relationship

with God. When I was,

I was in synagogue until

my Bar Mitzvah.

When I had my Bar Mitzvah

I thought maybe I'll be a

Rabbi. I was up there

on the beamer and I was

I was saying the prayers,

I memorized them

of course.

I was saying the

prayer, the reading

from the Torah and stuff.

And my father said-

I said, "Okay,

I want to keep going

to Hebrew school

and become a rabbi."

"Nah, you don't want to do that

get a regular job."

So he didn't want to pay

for Hebrew school anymore.

Basically,

when it comes to

religious background,

when it comes to belief

in God, I had nothing.

I was, it was just

I'm a nice guy. I'm a ham

radio guy had all

my ham radio buddies.

I talked to people

all over the world.

You know it was a

Listen now,

I was listening to shortwave,

I heard

people talking about Jesus

while I was growing up.

I was always (thinking),

oh these poor Gentiles.

But I listened

anyway, for a little while, you

know, but it wasn't for me.

You know, my Rabbi told me,

"Never believe in Jesus."

And that was when I was Bar Mitz

after the Bar Mitzvah

he said, "And never read

the New Testament.

Jesus is a Gentile God

and the New

Testament Gentile book."

You can't read that stuff.

So fast forward then,

what is your next encounter

hearing about Jesus that then

led to the rest of your story?

Yeah, that's the story.

Well, what happened

was after boot camp

I wound up

in Morocco,

Morocco, North Africa.

I was in North Africa

in Morocco, in the Navy

and little did I know

that they had a Bible study

group on the base.

And these guys were praying

for the salvation

of the only Jewish guy

that was on the base.

They were claiming

my salvation.

Now I was getting drunk

every night and I was

smoking cigarettes.

I figured, you know,

I got to be a real

sailor. Real sailors drink

whiskey and beer,

and they smoke cigarettes,

and I'm coughing

like crazy and getting-

And then one night

one of those fellows

from that Bible

study came to me

when I was kind of

sober on one night.

He said, "You're Jewish, yes?"

I said, "Oh yes, I'm Jewish."

He says, "You have a Bible?"

I said, "Yeah, they gave me a Bi

when I joined the Navy."

"Oh okay, can you get your Bible

I got my Bible.

I said, "Here it is."

(He said) "Let me see your Bible

Turns to the Bible,

Isaiah, Chapter 53.

I had no idea what

that was. He said, read this.

I read Isaiah 53.

That is-

I couldn't believe it

bcause I was

pre-evangelized

with shortwave and

the people across the street

when I was living in

Philadelphia were saying,

Jesus died for your sins,

I read this and said,

"They made a mistake,

they said Catholic,

Protestant or Jewish.

I think they gave me

the New Testament

and I'm not

supposed to read the New Testame

It sounds like Jesus."

And says, "That it is true,

that's your Messiah."

Wait a minute.

That's crazy, what's my Messiah

doing in my Bible?

I said, "It has got to be

the New Testament."

He looks over and says,

"No look,

Hebrew publishing company."

Oh, Hebrew

publishing company. Wait a minut

what's Jesus doing in my Bible?

And he said, "He's your Messiah.

I said, "Oh really?" He said, "Y

And he then shared with me

about Jesus, but

he wanted me to read

the New Testament.

I was really a little scared

about that. He said,

"Let's read something in the

New Testament."

And I said, "No,

I can't my Rabbi told

me never to read the

New Testament."

What he did was,

he said, "Look."

He looked over here

and he looked around

and he said, where's your Rabbi?

At least 3000 miles

away in Philadelphia.

"I won't tell your Rabbi

that you read

the New Testament if

you don't tell him."

I was scared.

I really was scared.

I thought lightning

was going to hit me.

I thought for sure

it was going to take place

in Rome with a bunch of popes

and be the most Gentile

book I ever could read it

And then I started reading

(he said) "let's turn over here

try this." And the first thing

I read in the New Testament

ever,

May 16, 1961,

I read, "There was a

man of the Pharisees name

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews."

I said, "What's the

ruler of the Jews

doing in the New Testament?"

He said, "He's Jewish.

It's a Jewish book!

Read the rest of it."

And I read the whole third

chapter of John.

I read, first time in my life,

nice Jewish boy,

never heard it before, John 3:16

"For God so loved the world

that He gave

His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believes in Him

should not perish

but have eternal life."

That's your Messiah.

We'll be right back.

Shalom, my name is Nicole Vacca

and I'm one of the co-producers

of Our Hope podcast.

We created Our Hope

to be a window into

the Messianic community,

a place where we can discuss

Israel and the Bible

and a resource for people

who want to share their faith

more effectively

and compassionately

with the Jewish community.

If you are interested

in supporting what we do,

you can donate to Chosen

People Ministries

at chosenpeople.com/donate.

at chosenpeople.com/donate.

You can also support us

by sharing this podcast

on social media with

your friends and family

or by writing a review

on Apple Podcasts.

We are so grateful

for your support

and we hope you enjoy

the rest of this episode.

Well, he shared with me,

he did kind of the Romans road,

you know

he went through some verses

from the book of Romans,

but actually today

we can do

the Isaiah Trail entire gospel

from the Jewish scriptures

from the Old Testament.

I don't like to call it

the Old Testament

I like to call it the

former Covenant.

We use the word Tanakh

that's an acrostic

for the Old Testament.

So yeah,

that was- and that night

he did say this to me,

he said, "Are you enjoying

your life?"

I said, "No,

actually I'm making

pretend."

I thought

this was a Gentle thing,

getting drunk, going

with the women and smoking,

smoking cigarettes,

getting drunk.

I said it's a Gentile thing

I'll just make pretend

like I enjoy it.

He said, "If you believe in

Jeesus, you don't have to

make pretend anymore

and you have a relationship

with God and He

forgives all your sins."

The relationship was right

and it's through

the finished work of Jesus.

And I thought the cross was

such a Gentile thing.

It was really an execution,

form of execution

at the time,

I found out.

So he said would you like to

pray and receive the Messiah,

believe the Bible.

He showed me

a verse that said, "Believe

in the Lord Jesus Christ."

I thought Jesus Christ

was a Gentile word,

it's really Yeshua the Messiah,

it's really Jewish.

The most Jewish guy around,

He's born of a Virgin, He's

He's born Jewish,

seed of David, etc.

He said, "Why don't you pray

with me and believe in Jesus?"

And I said, "Well,

let me think." He gave me

his New Testament

and he marked up some verses

and put markers in there

and he said, "Well

you pray about it

and read this."

So I went to bed,

well, I was in a drill

hole in a barracks row

and it was like three

o'clock in the morning

and you can't turn the lights

on at three

o'clock in the morning.

I'd be in major trouble.

So I took a blanket

and I put it over my head

and there was a light-

I was on the top bunk

and there was a light up there

and I put the light on it

under the covers.

And I went,

I'm supposed to believe in Jesus

Let's see I was supposed to pray

to Jesus, so I prayed.

Baruch ata Adonai eloheinu

melech ha'olam

I mean I don't know

if that's the right way.

I was praying like

in synagogue with

the Hebrew.

I said, "Listen, Jesus

I want to believe in You

I want to believe that

You died for my sins."

I went to bed.

I woke up in the morning,

I was a crazy man.

I knew he told me one thing

very important

he said, "If you believe in

Jesus will be saved."

Not sure what that meant

but I knew that

I wouldn't have to live

that way any longer

and I don't have to make pretend

any longer.

And

I ran from one end

of the barracks to

the other, "I'm saved,

I'm saved! I'm saved!"

And the guy came out-

the guys that

were doing the Bible study,

they came out

they pulled me in

they said, "What did you say?" "

I told Jesus I believe in Him."

"Hey guys, come here

Israel believes in

Jesus! Come on

put your hands

let's pray with him!"

And they put their hands on me

they prayed for me

that I would

grow and I would

learn more about the Lord.

And and it was embarrassing,

I said maybe I made a mistake

these guys are really

praying up a storm.

So then they said, "We're going

to go to Bible study."

Bible study.

What's that, what do you mean

Bible study?

"Oh no,

"we got to read the word

you got to grow."

And I said,

"Well, I'm going to a movie

in the

in the base they

have a good

a good movie at the theater.

Look I don't need Bible study."

And so the guy said, "Hey guys,

let's go to the movie

with Israel, and have

Bible study afterwards."

They did a good thing

that was incredible!

And we had Bible

study afterwards.

And let's face it,

the rest is basically history.

Yeah, yeah,

so it's such a beautiful story

because I would say that

the moment that it all clicked

for you, connected with

you was underneath

the covers by yourself.

Having that moment of

just kind of going to

your traditional

Jewish prayers,

but then realizing

you know what

I can talk to this person.

Let me just say

this to this person, you know,

and that I think it shows

the change that happened

almost instantly

and that kind of

just set the pace

for the rest of that story.

I mean, that's just so awesome.

So, tell me really quick,

I mean you read Isaiah 53,

you were shocked

because you thought

you were already

reading the New Testament

and then eventually you get

to the New Testament.

So what was what surprised you

the most when you started

reading the New Testament?

What surprised me

the most was that

all these-

all these writers,

and all these-

was so Jewish, and they always

refer back to the

the Old Testament

the Jewish scriptures.

Everything about

the New Testament

was so Jewish.

I realized at that point

that many Gentiles

didn't know what

that didn't understand,

that they

they thought that the

it's all not Jewish,

but it's so the one thing

that surprised me so much

is that how Jewish it is.

And then I read

a very interesting book

in the New Testament, Hebrews.

Come on, give me a break.

And you read that

and it refers back

everything that I

I learned

about in Hebrew school

or growing up and that

it was right there

and it's all fulfilled

in the Messiah in

Jesus the Messiah.

Yeshua the Messiah.

I'm so excited about it

and that was 60 years ago.

Wow, 60 years. So

tell me about those 60 years.

How how did your life change

in these 60 years?

I'm sure you're as you know

the young man that you are

that you're still learning.

I'm still growing still

learning.

Well, what happened was this.

The truth of the matter is

I was supposed to go

to Bible College in '64,

Moody Bible Institute.

And while

I was away from the Navy

and I was at home

with my parents in

Cherry Hill, NJ,

and I wasn't exactly

walking with the Lord

and God was chasing me.

By the way, if you ever plan on

walking away from the

Lord or backsliding

and and you memorize

a lot of scripture in advance,

don't do that because you

memorize scripture

the Lord's

not going to let you

He's not going to let go of you.

I had all the scriptures

memorized.

I was under such conviction

and I was having major trouble.

My

my father sent me

to a Jewish doctor.

He said we got to

something's

wrong with Israel

he's got problems and the doctor

wanted me to see psychiatrist.

I told the Jewish

doctor I believe

Jesus. My boss,

my father got me a job

and with a friend of his

and my boss said, "Look,

you got to stop

talking about

Jesus in our office,

we're Jewish."

You know here I was back

slidden down the drain

and I'm talking about

Jesus to everybody.

You know, my father

and my boss, both Jewish guys

they figured out

what my problem was.

If I meet a nice Jewish girl

I'll forget about Jesus.

Well, he said to call up

this blind date.

This is girl.

So I called her up.

We went out once, twice.

The third time

I told her I believe in Jesus

(She said) "Take me home.

I don't want to talk

to you anymore."

But then she called me, "You're

a nice guy,

but can you forget about Jesus?

Well, I told her

I would forget about Him-

I couldn't do it.

I couldn't forget about Jesus.

Yeah and we got married in '64.

And I wasn't walking

with the Lord, but in 1972

I was driving down the road,

I was a salesman, outside

salesman for electronics.

I was under such conviction.

I just knew I had to get it

back together with Jesus.

I had to walk with the Lord.

So I pulled the car over to

the side of the road

and and

I wiped the tears off my eyes.

I was crying.

And I said, "Jesus,

if you're really the Messiah,

and I'm really saved,

I want to Bible right now."

I had thrown all

my Bibles in the garbage

'cause my wife wouldn't,

my my fiance

at that time I wouldn't marry me

unless I threw my

Bibles in the garbage.

So I did it.

That was terrible.

I was parked in front

of Christian bookstore.

I said wait a minute.

Oh, you want me to buy a Bible?

OK, that was good.

I didn't know I was there!

So I walked in

and I told the woman

back at the counter.

I need a Bible.

I haven't read the Bible

for a few years and she said oka

and she wanted to give me

one of these big Bibles. I said,

"No, no, you don't understand

my wife

doesn't know I'm

reading the Bible.

And so she gave me

this little Bible.

This is the Bible.

She comes out from

the back of the counter

when she heard my story.

She puts her hands

on my shoulder

and she prayed for me.

She prayed for my salvation,

my wife,

she prayed that I'd go back

to Bible College

that I'd be a witness

to my Jewish people

and I'd grow in the Lord.

Everything she prayed for-

I wish I could find her

I can't find her. Everything

she prayed for came true!

Wow.

And I went there

I wrote

in the front of the Bible

when I when I wrote that:

Back with Jesus this day,

September 20th, 1970.

Finally, I said to Judy, it's

now the summer of '72.

I said, "Judy,

I got to go to church!"

(Judy) "Mother! He lied to us.

He's believing in Jesus.

He's reading

the Bible, He's going to church.

I'm getting a divorce!"

"No, no, no.

No divorces."

My unsaved Jewish mother-in-law

told her don't get a divorce.

She saved our marriage.

It was incredible

and that was the summer of '72

and I go to church now.

In October 1st, 1972,

I went to church,

but she went to go roller

skating with these guys, but

they weren't going

roller skating anymore.

They got together with Jesus

and they were going to church

Sunday night, so she said,

"Well, can I come with you?"

She went to another church

in Philadelphia, and

after the service,

she prayed to receive Jesus

with a friend of mine.

He was a ham

radio friend by the way.

He was walking with

the Lord, incredible guy

and he prayed with Judy.

Judy came home,

she was home before me

and I got home, I said,

"Judy, you're home."

(Judy) "You better sit down

Israel

I got saved tonight."

(Israel) "You got saved?"

"Yeah, I

I told Jesus I love Him.

I believe in Jesus."

"Hello Pastor?"

I called the pastor of

the church.

The pastor of that church

that we were going

I was going to at the time

was Donald Goodheart.

Can you imagine, Pastor Goodhear

And I said to him, "You can take

"Judy off."

We were claiming

her salvation every Wednesday

night prayer meeting.

On the list –

Judy Cohen.

And then I said you can take

her off the list, pray for

growth. Two weeks later,

Judy was baptized

at the Burholme Baptist

Church in Philadelphia

in front of the mural

of the River Jordan.

So then December

of 72 is now saved –

October November, December –

she's saved about three months

and a missionary came to

the church.

This missionary was

from this mission.

Ruth Wardell, I remember

she's since gone on to be

with the Lord. She brought a

young Jewish girl

to give a testimony

and afterwards

Pastor Goodheart said,

"I'd like you to meet

our Jewish believers

Israel and Judy!"

And so this young girl

that came with them,

her name was Kitty,

Kitty Simon. Kitty said,

"You know who Joe

Finkelstein is?

You know, Finkelstein?"

"Who's he?" "You don't know

what's going on in

West Philadelphia?"

Remember, it's 1972,

kind of about the middle

of the Jesus movement

and and the wood stock

and all that stuff.

And,

and Jews were getting saved.

It was revival amongst

young Jewish kids!

So she said, "Oh, you don't know

And she invited us

to their Bible study

that he had. And Judy

and I went to the Bible study.

So wow they were teaching

from the book of Jacob.

Book of Jacob. Where is that?

You know you,

we call it James,

but it's really Jacob.

OK, I'm learning,

I'm learning all

kinds of new stuff.

So went to the Bible study

one time,

I said, "Joe, can we come back?"

"Oh yeah, you can come back."

Three months later,

we left the Baptist Church

and we moved to Philadelphia

Right where Joe Finkelstein live

and we started a

messianic congregation.

It's now it's called Beth

Yeshua, the House of Jesus

Wow.

In 1978 I came with

Chosen People Ministries and I

was in Philadelphia

and then I moved

to North Jersey.

And then I was in,

short period in California.

But I was blessed 22

years in Florida.

And now we're back

in the Metropolitan

New York Area serving the Lord

with Chosen People Ministries.

I've been with the ministry

since 1978.

Uncle Izzy that is amazing.

It's such a beautiful story

and just to kind of land

the plane. Is there

any advice that you would give

a young Jewish believer,

a new Jewish believer,

who is afraid to tell others

about their faith?

That's a very good point.

Yeah, that's, that's very good.

Someone once said this,

this is really important,

Preach

the gospel always, always

share the gospel

and if necessary, use words.

In other words,

live your life in such a way,

I made sure that I

whenever I meet anyone

that you would get,

I realize that I am Jewish.

I might not be Hassidic

or Orthodox and the legalistic,

but I'm Jewish and

we need

to help them to understand

that our faith

is a Jewish faith.

One time going through

the new Covenant,

the New Testament understand

seeing that you could

understand clearly

that this is a Jewish faith.

Uncle Izzy, thank you so much

and we're so glad

to hear your story

in a different format

'cause we didn't

get the full story

in your testimony video

that's on ifoundshalom.com

so it's great to hear

some of all these

other mini stories

that have led to

where you are today.

And we continue to pray for you

and we continue to just

thank God for you and your wife

and what you've done

for this ministry

and for the lives of

so many across the country.

So thank you for

joining us today.

You're welcome, my pleasure.

“But He was pierced

through for our transgressions,

He was crushed

for our iniquities;

The chastening for our

well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging

we are healed."

This Messianic prophecy

in the Old Testament

has paved the way for many

Jewish people to

find their Messiah.

The New Testament

is a continuation

and completion to the full

story of salvation

which God had planned

from the very beginning.

As a Jewish believer

in the Messiah, Israel's

faith is now complete!

For those of us

who follow Messiah,

we can lovingly show our Jewish

friends and family

the Messianic prophecies

in the Old Testament,

and when the time is right,

invite them to read the rest

of this redemption story.

Thank you for listening

to this week's

episode of Our Hope.

This episode was

brought to you by:

Dr. Mitch Glaser,

Israel Cohen,

Nicole Vaca, Grace

Swee, Kieran Bautista,

and Neal Surasky.

I'm Abe Vazquez. Until next time

Thanks for

listening to Our Hope.

If you like our show

and want to know more,

check out ourhopepodcast.com

or chosenpeople.com.