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David Baron, ‘Longing for reconciliation’ (1855 – 1926)

David was born into a religious family in Russia. He was aware of God from an early age, aware of his need for reconciliation with his maker. When he examined his heart he found, in his own words, nothing but “blackness of darkness”. His soul was on a search and despite keeping all the laws […]

Stan Telchin, ‘Betrayed’ (1924-2012)

My parents fled from Russia to America in the early 1900s to get away from the pogroms. In 1924 I was born and I began to learn about Jewish ghetto life from early childhood. One day I was called a ‘Christ killer’. I didn’t know what that meant, but it was the hatred in the […]

Robert B. Greenberg, ‘The universal sacrifice’ (1941-2003)

I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941, into an orthodox Jewish family. My heritage is a long line of Russian rabbis and cantors on my mother’s side, and Levites on my father’s side. I attended Talmud-Torah for five years and learned Hebrew, Chumash (the five books of Moses) and the teachings of Rabbinic […]

Isaac Da Costa, ‘I realised the fulfilment of the prophecies’ (1798-1860)

Isaac was born into a prominent Sephardic Portuguese merchant family in 1798 in Amsterdam, Netherlands and he received a Jewish education. Although his father outwardly followed the Sephardic customs, he was not orthodox. Isaac was a very talented man, who knew how to relate the developments in society, politics, church, science and art to Biblical […]

Henry Pokzrywa, ‘Touched by the love of God’ (1904-2001)

I was born into an orthodox Jewish family in the city of Lodz, Poland. My father died when I was four years old so, as we were so poor, we went to live with an aunt. My mother had to work hard to raise my sister and me decently. I went to the cheder, a […]

Lisette Hutton: Peace for tired hearts

Lisette Hutton-Orscher was completely broken after the Holocaust, but she has experienced that the Lord Jesus has given her everything she needed. She knew that because of that she could understand others and help them to find peace for their tired hearts. In this testimony she would like to show the grace of God and […]

Jacob Gartenhaus, ‘I would rather die than renounce Him’ (1896-1984)

If someone had said to me in my younger days, “If you don’t become a Christian, we will kill you”, my answer would have been, “Then take my life, because I would rather die than believe in that Christ of yours.” Yet now I would rather die than renounce Him, now I know that my […]

Isaac Ostrovsky, ‘This book is ours!’

Isaac Solomon Ostrovsky was born in 1902 in Tagancha, a town not far from Kiev in Ukraine. He grew up in a traditional Jewish family, was eager to learn at school and was among the best pupils. After 1917 however, anti-Semitism had risen to gruesome proportions. He survived the pogroms, but saw, as a teenager, […]

Erich Weinmann, ‘About whom is Zachariah speaking?’ (1921-2012)

When Erich Weinmann read Zechariah 12, he questioned himself when it was that God had been incarnated among his people and when He had been pierced. The blessing of Israel My parents gave me a liberal education, but I had a devout grandmother who sincerely trusted in God and His promises. Every evening, for seventeen […]