The speaker, raised in a Sephardic Jewish family, discovers Christianity while traveling. They learn about Jesus, study the Hebrew and New Testament scriptures, and believe Jesus is the promised Messiah. They face challenges and opposition from their community but eventually embrace Christianity and dedicate their life to spreading the message, particularly in Israel.
Here are the key facts extracted from the provided text:
1. The author was born into a Sephardic Jewish family with Babylonian Jews on their mom's side and Sephardic Jews from Spain on their dad's side.
2. The author's early exposure to Judaism was mostly through synagogue visits and studying the Old Testament as history and literature.
3. After military service, the author traveled to Southeast Asia and encountered Hindu and Buddhist literature, which sparked their interest in spirituality.
4. In Amsterdam, the author met enthusiastic believers in Jesus and began exploring the concept of a personal relationship with God, which was foreign to their Jewish upbringing.
5. The author was surprised to discover that some of these believers were familiar with passages in the Hebrew Scriptures and talked about prophecies related to the Messiah.
6. This led the author to read the New Testament and compare it to the Hebrew Scriptures, finding a match in prophecies about the Messiah and the fulfillment in Yeshua.
7. The author became convinced that Yeshua was the promised Messiah and decided to return to Israel to share this discovery with their family, friends, and fellow Jews.
8. The author's family and community reacted with skepticism and even sought psychiatric evaluation, but the author remained steadfast in their belief.
9. The author found a congregation of Jewish believers and expressed a desire to study the Bible, eventually pursuing doctoral studies in the United States.
10. The author returned to Israel with the intention of providing opportunities for Israeli believers, both Jewish and Arab, to study the Word of God in Hebrew.
These facts summarize the key points of the text without including opinions or subjective content.