David Brody: Bio

My story begins in Ridgewood, New Jersey. I grew up in a "Jewish household" though neither one of my parents were very religious. As a matter of fact, my grandparents weren't either. I remember visiting them at their home in Teaneck New Jersey, but I don't recall my grandfather or grandmother mentioning anything about G-d. My family did, however, celebrate the "High Holy Days." Passover and Rosh Hashanah were annual celebrations but as far as I knew or cared at that time, it was a family get-together where we said a bunch of Hebrew prayers and did a bunch of rituals that, for me and my family, were void of any meaning or understanding. Personally, I was just waiting for dinner which came on page 34 of the Hagadah. After my parents divorced in the mid 70's, I moved to New York City with my mother and sister. I would go to temple and Hebrew School and I was a Bar-Mitzvah at age 13. But I was just going through the motions. I never had any sort of understanding of G-d and sadly Hebrew school didn't teach me anything either. All I knew was that I did these things because it was TRADITION!!!! In High School, after Confirmation, I pretty much checked my Judaism at the door. After all, I was Jewish in terms of blood and ritual and I was G-d's chosen, so what else did I need? But still, my heart was empty. I didn't know G-d on a personal level or even on a superficial level for that matter. I barely knew the Biblical history of my people and I don't suppose I cared to either.

Then came 1979. I met a sweet, beautiful girl named Lisette Bassett. We became good friends and though I had strong feelings for her I never let on. As "luck" would have it, we not only went to the same high school together, we also went to Ithaca College together. After being good friends for 7 years, I got up the nerve to tell Lisette how I felt about her and we started to date. It was 1986, senior year of college when my life changed for good. Yes, the Mets won the World Series that year when the ball went through Bill Buckner's legs and that was a great moment in my life. But that's not what I'm talking about. It was something far greater and something that will last an eternity. Lisette started to talk to me about having a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe. I remember thinking, "What are you talking about? I don't need a personal relationship with G-d, I'm Jewish." But the funny thing was Lisette seemed to know more about biblical Judaism, the Hebrew Scriptures and the meaning of our celebrations than I did! As I watched Lisette make it through college with her quiet confidence and her strong moral values I knew I wanted whatever it was she had. I was a "good" person but I swore and drank and I knew something was missing in my life. So one day I asked Lisette how she knew so much about my traditions and she told me that she had invited Jesus into her heart as her Lord and "Savior" i.e. Messiah in Hebrew; Christ in Greek. Instantly I knew I wanted nothing to do with him. Remember, I'm Jewish and Jews don't do this "Jesus thing". But G-d had a different plan for my life.

The year after college, Lisette invited me to her charismatic church in New York City, Times Square Church. I remember walking in and thinking everybody was a little weird. You know, they were raising their hands and worshipping G-d with a love and a passion like I had never seen before. Even though it was different I kept going. Something seemed to be tugging at my heart. "Why do I keep going back?" I would ask myself. I think the sermons about life and death and this personal relationship with Jesus Christ interested me on some level. But more importantly what I was hearing was this idea that you could have a personal relationship with the G-d of the Universe. This was very foreign to me. Hebrew school does not teach anything about intimacy with G-d. It's more of a detached relationship, even unattainable. But I do remember learning that G-d promised a Savior, a Messiah for those who loved Him. So where was He? Why hadn't He come yet? Is it possible that G-d has remained silent for all these millennia or has the Messiah already come? Another thought came to mind, "What did we need to be saved from?" I wondered. "Why did we need a Messiah?" What did that really mean?" I came to find out that the answer is really very simple. G-d gave us the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments. These Laws were not only given to us as a guide to right living they were also given to demonstrate how imperfect we are as humans and how much we need a Savior to keep us from sin and Sheowl i.e. hell. We, as humans have all fallen short of G-d's perfect glory. We are not perfect. We have all sinned and have broken a commandment whether we have told a lie (commandment # 9), stolen something (commandment #8) or taken the Lord's name in vain e.g. "Oh my God!" (Commandment # 3) etc...

"'If only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them.' But the people did not listen." (2 Kings 21:8-9)

We mortals are prone to do the wrong thing as is demonstrated throughout our biblical history. Thankfully, in the Hebrew Scriptures, G-d provided an atonement for His peoples' sins through yearly animal sacrifices:

"Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the LORD." (Ex 30:10)

I remember the messages I heard at church highlighted this idea that Jesus claimed to be the Promised Messiah. But words are cheap. How could He prove it? Well, Scripture as well as extra -biblical texts document numerous miracles Jesus preformed as proof. And when he died on the cross for our sins (which by the way exactly coincided with the animal sacrifices of Passover) He had over 500 witnesses to His resurrection. As I studied the Word for myself I came to see that Jesus came down from Heaven, fulfilled all of the foretold prophecies of the promised Messiah and then died an excruciating, painful death because He loved us ALL. Wow! What a powerful truth. G-d said,:

"... it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." (Lev 17:11-12) and that's why Jesus' blood had to be shed. But G-d's plan of salvation was not just for the Jews, it was for the Gentiles too:

"I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." (Isaiah 49:6) And again in Isaiah 42:6-7 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

I finally understood...all the pieces fit together. The Jews are God's people and they were chosen to receive God's Laws and to be a light to the world. They were chosen to "bring God's salvation to the ends of the earth." But here I was receiving instead of bringing. My Messiah, my biblical history, my Jewish faith was breathed in me for the very first time and I finally understood what it meant to be Jewish. So now what?

My wife and I married in June of 1988. It was a Jewish style wedding with a Rabbi and a layman from my wife's father's church. The ceremony had a Christian flavor to it as New Testament Bible verses were read as well. After the honeymoon, Lisette and I moved to Colorado Springs. Two months later, we were at a prayer meeting. It was led by a man named Lorenzo who asked me to stand and he began to recite my past history like he had known me his whole life. But Lisette and I didn't know anyone there because we had only just moved to town. He said he knew I was searching for G-d but that the answer was a personal one that I would have to find for myself. I was getting nervous (in a positive way) and I could tell that a decision point was nearing. I knew that this was it. God was asking me to give my life over to him. I prayed hard and asked him, "G-d is Jesus truly the way?" My heart was pounding and He spoke right into me. "Yes, believe and accept Him as Lord and Savior." Was I about to become a Jew who believes in Jesus? A year ago that would have been impossible. But as I thought about it, I realized: "Hey, wait a minute. Jesus was Jewish. His disciples were Jewish. The entire Old and New Testaments were written by Jews, save two NT books, and His Hebrew name is Y'shua. But If I was going to take this step of faith in Jesus, I would become "Born again". What does that mean exactly? I remember reading that "Born again" simply means your old sinful self has died away and you are "re-born" anew under the atoning blood of Jesus (Y'shua). It doesn't mean you're now perfect. You will still make mistakes but being under His blood serves as the atonement just as the animal sacrifices of long ago. It also means that you can now live with Him forever because you have believed and accepted. Well, it was there, at that prayer meeting in Colorado that....

I gave my life to Y'shua.

More important than anything else, instead of feeling "no longer Jewish" I actually felt MORE Jewish then I ever had before in my whole life and that was extremely important to me. I felt a sense of G-dly connectedness to the past and to the Jews of the bible. My blood is still Jewish blood. I'm still ethnically Jewish and I have been given an awesome gift... my promised "Jewish Messiah". I love my wife so much for never giving up on me and praying for my soul. Praise God!

As I woke up the next morning, the reality hit me. I need to tell my Mother. How would she react? How would my sister react? In short, they still ended up taking it very well which I was thankful for and though there were some rough moments in those early years, the relationship is actually quite good. I knew I would hear from them about this idea of "leaving" the Jewish people, being a "traitor", etc. But the truth is I feel more Jewish now than ever. In fact I am more supportive, loving/caring and passionate about my people than many other so-called Jews I know. (read: liberals!) My children all have Hebrew names, the boys were circumcised on the 8th day, and every year we come to the city to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and other holidays with my family. My kids have an understanding of Passover's history and purpose and we pray for Israel continuously. The Menorah candles are lit every year in my home and we often get together with other Jewish believers to celebrate Shabbat as a community.

Moreover, I understand the plight of my people from Genesis onward. I understand God's love for His people. As a Jew before knowing Y'shua,I had no appreciation for what it was to be Jewish, or for preserving the "people-hood" of the Jews. But now I do. Why? Because God wants it to be so. He loves the Jews and wants them to be reconciled to himself. So called "Christians" who have come against the Jews throughout history are not Christians at all! Again, words are cheap. Anyone can say they are something but "the proof is in the pudding". Let's see you act like Jesus did with love and respect for all, never compromising the truth or righteousness. To say you are a Christian and that you love Jesus but you hate the Jews or anyone else is ANTI-Christian and wrong on so many levels. These people need to remember that Jesus was a Jew and he came to preach the good news of salvation to the Jews, His people, and then to the Gentiles. Y'Shua never held a political office, He never held a title of any kind and he never picked up a weapon to force people to follow Him. He reached out to His people in love and with mercy. His message was and is very simple: Believe, truly believe in your heart, that he is the Promised Messiah, God's son, and you too will have everlasting life. I thought, Wow what a deal!

Y'shua is the Promised, Jewish Savior of the world. It's up to each one of us to either accept or deny. Accept an invitation to have a personal relationship with the God of the Universe and spend the rest of your life with him in Eternity. Deny him and you lose everything in Eternity. Delay the decision and you run the risk of dying and being left without his assurance of Heaven. I accepted Y'Shua and my life here on earth is better than it ever was before. Are there bumps and glitches along the way? Absolutely! But I have a peace that surpasses all understanding, there's a calm in my heart and mind, and I have the knowledge that He's in control of all things. The best part of all is that I have absolute assurance that when I die I am going to be with my Maker for all eternity. It's a pretty good deal if you ask me.