PERSONAL DIMENSIONS A Jew - Penina Taylor

HHaammooddiiaa Januar y 8 , 201428

P E R S O N A L D I M E N S I O N S

‘A JewNo Matter What!’BY DOVID MARGOLIN

IInnyyaann MMaaggaazz iinnee 7 Shevat 5774 29

The shocked rabbi turned

to a sobbing Penina and

asked her a simple question:

“Well, what do you believe?”

Penina looked up at the rabbi. “I

don’t know what I believe anymore!

Just please don’t kick us

out of the synagogue!” she pleaded.

Rabbi Elchanan Lisbon had just learned

that his newest congregants,

the Taylor family — Paul, Penina,

and their four children

— were Messianic Jews who had moved into his

Orthodox Baltimore neighborhood

to spread their message.

“Then the rabbi told me the most important thing

anyone ever said to me on my Jewish journey,”

recalled Mrs. Taylor in an interview with Hamodia.

“He said, ‘You are a Jew no matter what!’”

After living seventeen years as a Christian, most of them

spent proselytizing to others, Penina Taylor and her family

were beginning their long journey home.


PENINA TAYLOR was bornto a nonobservant Jewishfamily in Lakewood, NewJersey, in 1967. While herfather’s family had been

somewhat integrated into the Jewishcommunity, having been involved atsome point in the local Young Israelbefore ultimately joining aConservative temple, her mother wasraised in a totally secular home.

“My maternal grandmother felt thatin America it was necessary to pretendthat they weren’t Jewish at all, and thatwas the end of that. So my mom wasraised with nothing, and even thoughmy dad was raised with some Judaism,he didn’t bring anything Jewish into thehome after he married my mom.

“While I was growing up, Judaism tome meant an explanation of why wehave big noses, why we talk with ourhands, and why we like Chinese food.That’s it. It had no relevance to my lifeexcept that it was a part of me, like myarm or leg is.”

By the time she was four, Penina’sparents had divorced. She would see herfather only once during the next fifteenyears.

“When I was in fourth grade, mypaternal grandparents felt that it wasimportant for my sister and me to havesome kind of Jewish identity, so theyarranged for us to attend BezalelHebrew Day School in Lakewood. Mymother was a single mom with two kidsand not observant, but the communitytook in these two little girls, and thatwas amazing.

“Still, nothing really stuck. The firstday of school I learned about this coolthing called Shabbos and I ran home totell my mom about it, and sheresponded, ‘Don’t tell me how to runmy life!’

“What I did at home was not goodenough for school, and what I did atschool wasn’t good for home, so Iquickly learned to separate the two.When we left New Jersey after fifthgrade and moved to Florida, that was

the end of my Jewish education.”

A New PathIn South Miami, Penina was

maltreated by a trusted family friend,which caused her to fall in with a badcrowd at school and engage indangerous, addictive behaviors. Shealso began to ask questions. “I wasdepressed, and began to wonder: Ifthere is no meaning, if life is just sopainful, then what’s the point?”

When she was about to turn sixteenat the beginning of eleventh grade, aclassmate came over to her and toldher, “You know, what you need is arelationship with G-d. I stopped andthought — and said, ‘You’re right.’ Somy classmate introduced me to G-d,and of course to the Christian messiahbecause this girl was a born-againChristian.”

When a friend told Penina that hehad stopped using harmful substancesbecause he was a born-again Christian,Penina asked her mother what that

At my son Aaron’s wedding (L-R:) The chassan; my husband, Pinchas; my

father, Shaya; my sons Daniel and Yoshiahu; my son-in-law, Meir Anolick;

and my grandson, Michael.


meant. “My mom told me to stay awayfrom those people because they wouldbrainwash me, so I did.”

The built-in Jewish defenses againstChristian proselytizing had kicked in,but it was difficult for Penina to keepresisting when there was no engagingalternative. When her classmateintroduced her to the concept of havinga conversation with G-d, Penina wantedin. “When you believe strongly enoughin anything, it empowers you to makechanges in your life. So I immediatelydropped my harmful habits and got awhole new crowd of friends.

“My mom was watching all this takeplace, and she was amazed because shehad been seeing me slip away. So whenI started sharing my newfound faithwith her, ‘as all good Christians do,’ shethought, ‘If something can be having sucha positive effect on my daughter’s life, itmust be the truth.’ That’s how I broughtmy mom and my sister to Christianityas well.”

After graduating from Miami SunsetHigh School, Penina attended a smallevangelical college in Miami where shereceived certification in somethingcalled “Evangelism Explosion,” aeuphemism for missionary work. Ataround the same time, she met PaulTaylor, the brother of a friend she hadmade at church. Paul was a graduate ofMoody Bible Institute in Chicago(which today has a special program toinstruct students in how to missionizeJews).

“Paul and I were beginning to talkmarriage. Although I didn’t know myfather and was angry at him for leavingme, I had always had this dream thatmy father should walk me down theaisle when I got married.”

She asked her mother for permissionto invite her father to come visit them inMiami, to which her mother agreed.

“So he came down to visit us inMiami, and while he was visiting us hegot to know my mom again, and heasked her to remarry him. She wantedto remarry him, but she told him, ‘I’m aborn-again Christian and you’re a

secular Jew — that’s not going towork.’”

But Penina, who had been trained topersuade, felt she was up to thechallenge. Over the next few weeks shegradually convinced her father toaccept Christianity, and her parentsremarried fifteen years after they haddivorced.

Penina’s dream that her father wouldwalk her down the aisle became areality, and she and Paul were marriedin 1986.

Shabbos Candles and OtherJewish Rituals

Paul was enlisted in the Air Force,and the newlywed couple moved toEngland, where he was then stationed.

“In England I was praying andsuddenly got this strong feeling that G-d was telling me to light Shabboscandles. I went to my husband and toldhim about this feeling, and because wewere believers in talking to G-d, he saidthat if this is what I felt G-d was tellingme to do, then I should do it.”

The following Friday Penina pulledout her grandmother’s candlesticks andset them up. Penina knew she couldfind the brachah in the front cover of theubiquitous Maxwell House PassoverHaggadah that she had kept from herchildhood, and so she began to lightShabbos candles.

Paul and Penina were truth-seekers,determined to pursue what was rightand true, not what was popular.

Soon Paul read in the Bible that Jewswere not permitted to eat pork andshellfish — forever. As the Taylorsidentified with a strain of Christianitythat believed in the literal word of theBible, if it said forever, then it applied toPenina and her growing family as well.“Although that was a little harder, Ivalued my relationship with G-d andgave those up.”

When Penina read in the Christianbible about the concept of coveringyour head, she went to their pastor toask for an explanation. He explainedthat he thought it meant Jewish women

“In England

I was praying

and suddenly

got this strong

feeling that G-d

was telling me

to light Shabbos

candles. I went

to my husband

and told him

about this

feeling, and ... he

said that if this

is what I felt

G-d was telling

me to do, then I

should do it.”

had to cover their hair when theyprayed. Because Penina had becomeaccustomed to “speaking” to G-d many times a day, she began towear a scarf around her shoulders,using it to cover her hair whenever sheraised her head heavenward.

“So here I was, lighting Shabboscandles, not eating pork and shellfish,covering my hair, and believing in theChristian messiah! I began to feel a sortof restlessness because my Jewishneshamah was starting to speak to me.”

Discovering Messianic‘Judaism’

While Penina was living in England,her parents discovered something calledMessianic “Judaism” — Jews and non-Jews gathering together to performJewish rituals yet believing in the“messiah.” When Penina’s fathershared his discovery with her, shethought it could be the perfect answerto her recent Jewish rumblings.

The Taylors were soon transferredback to the United States and moved toBowie, Maryland, where Penina’sparents had moved by then, andtogether they began to attend a smallMessianic congregation in Maryland.

“Eventually my parents and wethought, ‘Why don’t we start our owncongregation?’ The problem wasthat we didn’t really knowanything about Judaism. So Iwent to a Jewish bookstore inSilver Spring and bought abook called How to Run aTraditional Jewish Householdand read the whole thing.After that I bought a KitzurShulchan Aruch, then ArtScrollbooks. We became Torah-observant Messianic Jews.

“I was dressing modestly, my sonsand husband were wearing yarmulkesand tzitzis, and we would go outproselytizing, handing out pamphlets. Iremember one guy once screaming atus, ‘You’re finishing what Hitlerstarted!’ I was shocked. We were just

trying to reach out with love; we reallybelieved in what we were doing.

“Yes, the Messianic movement wasstarted through deception, but some ofthe people who are actively doing thatwork, like we were, are oftentimes goodpeople who mean well — who, ofcourse, also happen to be trying to stealour souls.”

All the Way to BaltimoreAt a congregation-related event in

2000, a woman approached Peninaand told her that she was selling herhome in the Orthodox Jewish ParkHeights neighborhood of Baltimore andbelieved that G-d wanted Penina andher husband to buy it. The woman, aMessianic “Jew,” offered very appealingterms and promised to make it as easyas possible for them.

“Who better to convert OrthodoxJews than people who look and act likeOrthodox Jews?” Penina said. “Welooked at the house, fell in love with it,and made arrangements to buy it.”

Immediately the Taylors realizedthey had a problem. Shabbos wascoming, and their Messianiccongregation was not within walkingdistance. If they got into their car anddrove on Shabbos, their Orthodoxneighbors would never listen to

anything they had to say. The rabbi who owned the

Jewish bookstore that Peninahad visited, Rabbi ElchononLisbon, was also the rabbi ofthe nearby Chabad of ParkHeights. And so the Taylors

decided they would go thereon Shabbos and attendmidweek Bible study groups attheir Messianic congregation.

“Our first Shabbos there,everyone was really incredible. Theywere showing me how to follow alongin the siddur and where they were up toin the Torah reading.”

On the other side of the mechitzah,Paul, the newcomer wearing ayarmulke and tallis and davening from a


Rabbi Elchonon

Lisbon

“I remember

one guy once

screaming at us,

‘You’re finishing

what Hitler

started!’ I was

shocked. We

were just trying

to reach out

with love; we

really believed

in what we

were doing.”


siddur, was offered an aliyah. “In Messianic congregations around

the world there are non-Jews who arenot only learning how to act and looklike Jews, they are learning how tomake the brachos for an aliyah and howto lein. They visit Orthodox shuls andget counted in minyanim, and no one isthe wiser. They are lying aboutthemselves and committing a crimeagainst the Jewish people. My husbandis a man of integrity, and he told themright away that he wasn’t Jewish.”

A few weeks later Paul told Peninathat he felt they had to inform the rabbiabout their beliefs. “He said that hedidn’t want the rabbi to feel webetrayed him, so we needed to let himknow,” Penina explained. Beginning of the End

Rabbi Lisbon arrived at the Taylorhome that evening, and Paulimmediately began to explain to him

what he and Penina believed.“Well, you don’t believe this

anymore, do you?” the rabbiinterjected.

“Well, yeah, we do,” replied Paul.In the moment before the shock

registered on the rabbi’s face, Peninabegan to cry.

“I started seeing my whole worldimplode around me. We’d just boughtthis house, so we couldn’t move; I washomeschooling my children, and I’djust started to feel a part of thecommunity even though I had thissecret. If the rabbi kicked us out of theshul, who were my kids going to playwith? We would be totally isolated.”

That is when Rabbi Lisbon said thecatalytic words: “You are a Jew nomatter what, even though what youbelieve is not Judaism. Let me be clear— it’s not Judaism, it’s not kosher, andit’s not okay, but you are a Jewish

“I started seeing my

whole world implode

around me. We’d just

bought this house, so

we couldn’t move;

I was homeschooling

my children, and I’d

just started to feel a

part of the community

even though I had

this secret.”

Our old house in Baltimore on West Strathmore.


woman who is responsible before G-d tofulfill the mitzvos that G-d has given tothe Jewish people. Therefore, I willallow you and the children to come toshul.”

The one condition he set was thatPenina would have to speak to MarkPowers, then the director of Jews forJudaism in Baltimore. Penina learnedthat many of the verses missionariesused to prove their claims weren’t aboutChristianity; they weren’t evenMessianic passages in the Bible but hadbeen mistranslated to serve themissionaries’ purpose.

“If these core beliefs that I’ve had forseventeen years are based on lies, thenwhat else do I believe that’s based on alie?” Penina asked herself.

StruggleWhile Penina was slowly beginning

to lose her faith in Christianity, herhusband held strong, and the twobegan to argue. “You have tounderstand,” she said, “my husbandhad been born and raised this way, andhe was a true believer. He had noquestions.”

When Penina finally gave up herbelief in the Christian “messiah” andreturned to Judaism, she began to teachher children, ages six, eight, ten, andtwelve, the Jewish approach as well.

“I had been a homeschooling momfor eight years and knew that the bestway to get children to believe insomething was not to push it downtheir throats. I let them come toembrace Judaism slowly and withlove.”

Penina also began to talk to herparents. Each time she showed adisproof to her father, he wouldresearch it on his own, but he couldnever find a valid Christian response.

Paul and Penina’s relationship wascontinuing to slide, but as theycontinued to study and attend classestogether at Etz Chaim, an outreachcenter in Baltimore, Paul’s views beganto change. Four and a half years afterPenina’s return, Paul converted to

Judaism. Now Pinchas Moshe, he andPenina were married under a chuppahat Etz Chaim.

The Taylors TodayToday, the Taylor family lives in

Eretz Yisrael and Penina travels theworld telling her story and lecturing atschools and shuls, as well as at AishHaTorah conferences and Rabbi YomTov Glaser’s “Possible You” seminars.She wrote a book about her story,Coming Full Circle, and now directsShomrei Emet, an internationalorganization that seeks to enrich Jewishlife and battle missionary claims.

“I want to devote the rest of my lifeto helping inspire Jewish people tohave a relevant and meaningfulrelationship with Hashem within thecontext of Judaism, so that when theyseek spiritual fulfillment, they do nothave to look elsewhere to find it,” shestated.

Living in a free country, there is notmuch we can do legally in America to

“We have in

mind that it’s

only people

from broken

backgrounds

who will fall

into this. Not

true... We need

to teach our

children to be

able to say in

confidence, ‘No!’”

Pinchas Taylor davens

on the plane during the

family’s trip to Eretz Yisrael

to make aliyah.


battle the influences of Christianmissionaries, except to educateourselves and our children.

“We have a generation of kids whoare at risk,” Penina said, “even if theydon’t look like they’re at risk, becausemany of them have not been given aJudaism that is deep and meaningful,and they’re looking for spiritualfulfillment.”

In September 2013, a $3-millionMessianic missionary center opened itsdoors in the heart of Flatbush,specifically to target Orthodox Jews andelderly Russian Jews living in thatBrooklyn neighborhood. It is a threatthat Penina said should not beunderestimated.

“Missionaries have also become a lot

more clever; they can blend in betterand use different tactics. When thereare programs that simply allow youngpeople to hear stories such as mine,where they can ask questions andwhere I can explain to them thatJudaism does have the answers, thatcan go a long way toward reinforcingtheir faith. Now when they come acrosssomething from those whose goal is tosnatch their souls, they’ll have thestrength and resolve to say, ‘I don’tknow how to answer what you’resaying, but I know it’s not the truth.’”

Penina said that contrary to whatmany believe, it is impossible to tellwho may be at risk of being drawn inby missionary lies.

“We have in mind that it’s only

people from broken backgrounds whowill fall into this. Not true.” Peninafeels that the best defense againstpredatory missionary influences is tomake sure the Judaism a child isexposed to is engaging and positive,something that he will hold onto withlove for the rest of his life.

“We need to teach our children to beable to say in confidence, ‘No! I’mhappy being a Jew because I knowJudaism is the truth — and what you’repushing is not the truth.’” II

Penina Taylor is a world-renowned speaker and

lecturer. She will be in the United States during

the month of March and is available for speaking

engagements. She can be contacted at

[email protected].

(L-R:) Yoshiahu, Aaron,

and Daniel Taylor.

PERSONAL DIMENSIONS A Jew - Penina Taylor

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