Moti Vaknin: How an Orthodox Mashgiach (Kashrut Inspector) Believed in the Jewish Messiah

I was sure that all the people to whom I told about this would be delighted and respond with love to my words. But I received death threats, rejection and hatred. My uncle told me that I no longer belong to the people of Israel.

I have a friend who completely threw me out of his life. “If I see you again, I will kill you!” Will you kill me? For what?

It was not easy for people to accept what I was saying. It was hard for me to hear my father yell at me over and over again. Eventually he told me: “Moti, I accept you the way you are, I love you, but you have to keep it to yourself. Nobody needs to know about it.”

My story began when I flew to America. I dreamed of living there. So I came to New York and found a job as a mashgiah – a kashrut inspector – in a restaurant.

Money, women, alcohol, drugs, parties… From the outside it seemed that I was living the American dream, but inside I was degraded.

One day a woman came into the restaurant and asked me about the kosher certificate for the drink she was given. I looked at her and said that he was certified by such and such a rabbi. She looked at me and just walked away.

Is this rabbi’s kashrut not good enough for her? It turned out that there is a camp of those who support this rabbi and there is another camp that supports another rabbi and there is a serious war going on between them. But I couldn’t understand why.

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but one day a guy came into the restaurant. He looked at me and said in Hebrew: “Shalom! I need to use the toilet.” I was surprised that he spoke Hebrew at all. I asked him how it happened that he spoke Hebrew. How does he know it?

And he said: “I love the people of Israel very much, I love the Israelites very much and what’s more, I would even die for Israel.” I looked at him and said: “I’m an Israeli, after I finished my military service, I went Israel as far as possible from Israel.” And he, an American living in New York, loves Israel so much that he would like to live there… It was absurd for me.

“Tell me Rory, as a Christian, shouldn’t you hate the people of Israel because we killed Yesha (Jesus)?”

He looked at me and said: “You didn’t kill Jesus. We all killed Him.”

I looked at him and said: “I have never killed anyone. I never committed a crime. I never stole. I have never done anything wrong in my life. How can you come here and tell me that I have done something evil?”

And he answered me: “Moti, we are all sinners. We are all in the same boat.”

“No, no, no, Rory, you will never convert me to Christianity. No matter how much you talk, it won’t work. And anyway, what’s the deal? You believe that this Yeshu died and rose again, just like… I don’t even know who. But the Scripture says that the only one who didn’t die and went straight to heaven was Abraham.”

He looked at me and said: “Abraham?”

I answered: “Yes, exactly Abraham!”

“Are you sure it was Abraham?”

“You think I misunderstand? I am an Israeli, I speak Hebrew, I have read the Bible in Hebrew. You can’t just come and tell me I misunderstand it!”

He took out a Bible from somewhere, started flipping through the pages, opened the Book of Judges and told me that it was Elijah.

That day I came home and said to myself that it is illogical that a non-Jewish, Christian (ugh!) comes to me and tells me about my Bible. That was the day I decided to pick up this Book and start reading it.

In short, I am sitting in this place full of people, in the “synagogue”, looking around to the left and to the right, I see guys and girls, Jews and non-Jews. Suddenly a man comes up to me, probably a rabbi, raises his hands up and says: “Yeshua, bless us! Yeshua, we want more of You!” At that moment, I did not know who Yeshua was.

I turned to the friend I was sitting next to and asked: “Hey, hey, who is Yeshua?”

“Jesus”.

How could she say it was Jesus?! I jumped up and said: “Are you crazy? You told me it was a synagogue! Why did you bring me here? Especially on Shabbat! I’m a kashrut inspector. What am I even doing here?”

I heard that there is a very famous rabbi in New York. I said to myself: “OK, I have read some prophecies from the Tanakh and now I am interested in the New Testament. I will come to him and ask him what it is all about.”

So, I came to him. It so happened that I was able to meet him, which was not so easy to do. But when he heard the words “New Testament,” he suddenly became very serious, looked at me and asked: “Who said that? Who told you about this?” I said: “I’ve read it, I’m reading… And that’s how I got to it.”

I reached for the book – I had the New Testament with me and I was going to give it to him. And he looked at him and his eyes wide open. He took the book from my hands, threw it aside and said: “Don’t you dare touch this book! Don’t even come close to it!”

From his point of view, this book brought all the evil into this world. It led to the death of Jews, pogroms, the Inquisition and the Holocaust. So I thought: “If, as a rabbi, you are so sure that you are right, why are you afraid of this book? You must be sure of what you believe.” So I continued to read the New Testament anyway, because I really wanted to know why it provokes such a strong reaction.

I opened the book and started reading it. And it was about a Jew who lived about 2,000 years ago, who really loved the land of Israel and His people. He was like living water! He didn’t look like anyone I’d previously read about in books.

On the other hand, there were these religious people, this religious institution, those who were always against Him, who tried to show Him that He was wrong. But Yeshua always rebuked them with love and showed them things they obviously hadn’t experienced before.

I returned to Israel with the intention of telling my people about the gift I received. I was sure that people would be happy for me. I felt that I could not remain silent about it, it was something inside that had to come out. I wanted to show people love. I wanted to give them an understanding of who Yeshua (Jesus) really is and what He has done in my life.

One day I was talking on the phone with my mom. She reacted as if someone had died when she realized that I believed in Yeshua. My dad was obviously listening to my conversation with her and he started yelling at me. He said: “Moti, you’ve been brainwashed. You converted to Christianity.” And he said: “I’m going to say the Kaddish prayer for you” (Kaddish is a prayer that is said when someone dies).

“Dad, I took drugs for a very long time and I drank alcohol, but I didn’t feel alive. But ever since I got to know Yeshua, I’ve left it all behind. I am still your son. I haven’t changed. I am still me.”

Finally he said: “Moti, I accept you the way you are, I love you, but you have to keep it to yourself. Nobody needs to know about it.”

What Yeshua did in my life, I can’t put it into words and I can’t keep it a secret. How can I keep this a secret?!

And I know that there are many people who hate me and curse me and they continue to hate and curse, but they also hated and rejected Yeshua. And He still gave His life as a sacrifice for them.

If everyone sacrificed something for the sake of others, even the smallest, this world would be a much better place. So I want more people to know about it, so that more people know how much it has changed my life and how much it can change their lives too.

Source: https://ieshua.org/moti-vaknin-kak-ortodoksalnyj-mashgiah-inspektor-po-kashrutu-poveril-v-evrejskogo-messiyu.htm