Between Two Worlds
E-newsletter
Former Hebrew Christian finds road to Judaism
"I fell in love with Judaism, I absolutely fell in love with it," said David Mark,* who recently left a decades-worth of life as a Hebrew Christian to convert to Judaism. "Judaism was my life. It was what I breathed. Everything that was important to me revolved around it."
Mark's story is not that unusual. As a young boy growing up in Cecil County, his parents converted from southern Baptists to Hebrew Christians. Drawn in by a local Bible study group, his mother began to celebrate Jewish holidays and rituals.
Sybil from Hagerstown
E-newsletter
How a small-town Jew discovered the power of Jews for Judaism
By Maayan Jaffe
Special to Jews for Judaism
Sybil Schiffman is a counselor and the head of her synagogue's adult education division in the small town of Hagerstown, Maryland. A Jewish community of 108 families makes up her religious social network.A few months ago, Schiffman attended a professional conference in a nearby city. When she noticed one of the vendors had a Hebrew text open on his desk, she approached him.
"Are you Jewish?" she asked.
"Let me ask you a question," he responded. "Did you know the Jewish Bible doesn't have Isaiah 53?"
Schiffman was aghast.