From Jesus To Judaism

FROM JESUS TO JUDAISM is Shlomoh Sherman's search for what it means to be Jewish in the context of faith. It is the story of the author's personal odyssey from Judaism to Christianity and return to Judaism. Raised in a Bronx, New York City East European Jewish immigrant neighborhood, during, and following, World War 2, as a teenager, the author was confronted by a high school classmate to investigate whether or not Jesus Christ is the Messiah promised to the Jewish People. Convinced by the Christian understanding of the "Old Testament" that Jesus came first and foremost to his Jewish brethren to save them from their sins, with the promise that any Jew accepting Jesus as his saviour will become "more Jewish" or a "completed Jew", the author is guided to an East Side Mission where he will encounter other Hebrew-Christians with whom he can fellowship.

The author remained with the Hebrew-Christian group for several years but when he realized that accepting Jesus did not, in fact, make him more Jewish but, on the contrary, caused other Jews to distance themselves from him, he renounced his belief in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and severed all ties with the Christian community. Subsequently, he began the search for an authentic association with Judaism and his own Jewish identity lasting well over a decade, and leading to an intense involvement with the People of Israel. The book details how he was lead to Jesus, why he became disillusioned with Christianity, and the factors that impelled him to ultimately become a religiously committed Jew.

FROM JESUS TO JUDAISM presents what the author believes to be a totally Jewish option to any Jew seeking a means to relate to his or her own personal Jewishness. It also attempts to explain to Christians the reasons that while the Christian faith may be appropriate for non-Jews, it is an incorrect for Jews.