I was born and raised in New York. At the age of thirteen I received my Bar Mitzvah in the Orthodox tradition.

My mother emigrated with her family from Berlin to flee the Nazis. My father was the son of Jewish immigrants who came from Budapest in the early 1900s. I was born in New York City.

In the summer of 1971, I came to believe that Jesus (Yeshua) was the Messiah through the testimony of Gentile Christians who had a love for Israel and the Jewish people. It was through their prayers and sharing with me about the God of Israel that I too came to understand that Jesus was the Messiah. Initially, I didn’t understand much about my sin, but I was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jewish people and believed that God wanted me to put my faith in Him and His work on my behalf.