I just finished reading Called to Controversy - The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus.
I must admit that I had not planned to read the book at all since I thought I already knew everything about Moishe Rosen and more than I wanted to know about Jews for Jesus.
I also have tried very hard for the last six months to bury most of my memories of Jews for Jesus. I had decided to keep some doors to that group open, but just slightly through contact with just a few people associated with that organization.
I had come to the conclusion that I like being Jewish. My family is Jewish. I love being Jewish and seeking God as a Jew.
What changed my mind about reading the Called to Controversy book was my daughter Annabelle's Amazon Kindle Reader. Our family was away for this past weekend in the mountains, and I realized I wanted to read before going to bed, but I had not brought a book to our vacation home.
Available electronically:
Annabelle showed me how to use her Kindle and I started browsing the Kindle Bookstore. Wow, what a wonderful invention the Kindle is!
(Moishe would have loved having one by the way...he loved gadgets, I know...)
I discovered that having a Kindle is like being inside the best library or bookstore and being able to browse while laying down on a couch or bed. How cool is that!?
Anyway,
I discovered that I could read a sample of the book about Moishe's life for free, and felt that I might as well since it would be good bedtime reading.
The "sample" turned out to be quite long and complete. I learned things about Moishe's early life that I never had heard about before. I was intrigued. I wanted to read more. The next morning, I clicked on "Buy This Book" and kept reading.
Now some background about my relationship with Moishe:
Unlike some readers, I actually know many of the people Ruth Rosen talks about in Moishe's biography. I've been inside of Moishe's house and have been inside of Jews for Jesus Headquarters many, many times. I took Ceil Rosen (Moishe's wife) ice skating several times and I recall helping his grandchildren ice skate too. Moishe gave my husband Dan, and I, a beautiful Mezzuzah case to put on our doorpost of our home when we moved to Colorado over twenty years ago. When my son, Joel, was born, Moishe gave me a coin that said, "For This Child I Prayed." To celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, Moishe officiated when we renewed our wedding vows under a traditional Jewish wedding Chuppah.
Moishe also spent hours talking on the phone, emailing, and chatting with me online in 2003. As time passed, we did not communicate as frequently, but once in awhile he looked at videos of my children and praised their skating. I have ate meals with Moishe. And yes, he did touch and affect my life.
Some background on my relationship with Moishe's daughter Lyn and son-in-law Alan:
Shortly before my mother passed away in January of 2011, Moishe's daughter, Lyn, and his son-in-law, Alan, took the time to see me when I was visiting my mother in the Chicago area just before my mom died. It was December 26, 2010. We went to Panera bread and must have been together for at least two to three hours. Lyn brought her daughter Bethany's wedding album and shared it with me.
After they dropped me off at my mom's hospital room, I reflected on that encounter. Lyn's love of God radiated out of her, and also, I felt that some part of Moishe lived on through her. Alan also shared a love and concern for me and cared about what I was going through because of my mom's illness. I was so, so moved. Moishe had died only about six months before.
I also remember Lyn mentioning that the biography on her dad was almost ready to be published. There was excitement in her voice as she talked about the book.
Background on my relationship with Moishe's daughter Ruth:
About a year before I met with Lyn and Alan, Moishe's other daughter and the author of Called to Controversy, Ruth Rosen, had "unfriended me" on Facebook.
Sometimes I don't notice when I'm "unfriended," since I have so many "friends" on Facebook, but I noticed that I was no longer Ruth's friend on Facebook almost right away because Ruth had been posting updates on Moishe's health. All of a sudden, there were no updates coming through my Facebook newsfeed.
I was genuinely interested in what was going on and asked Ruth if the "unfriending" could be undone, but Ruth explained that she really did not know me well enough to keep me linked to her as a Facebook friend during the time her father was dying. I eventually accepted being unfriended.
Then, about four months ago, Ruth wrote to me again and told me she'd started a public page on Facebook and I could interact with her there if I wished. I wrote her back and told her that I had come to the conclusion that I didn't want to hear about what people in Jews for Jesus were doing every time I opened Facebook. In fact, I had taken the time to Unsubscribe most Jews for Jesus people from my Facebook newsfeed for that reason. I told her I decided that I could never be part of Jews for Jesus again, but if I saw her or someone else that was part of that ministry, I could possibly hug them and move on just as Jacob and Esau did when they reunited and reconciled.
I did not think I would ever read her book, but I did not say that in my email. Ruth wrote me a nice note back.
Now for my review of Called to Controversy - The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus:
I give it 3.75 Stars
Most people who have been a part of Jews for Jesus know the stories that are told in Ruth's book, but there were some stories I had not heard or don't remember hearing and have now heard again from another point of view.
Moishe Rosen's childhood and teen years were fun to read about. I thought it was "so cool" that he met Ceil when she was only 14 years old. I loved looking at a photos of Ceil and Moishe at 15.
I didn't know that Moishe stopped his occasional shoplifting to please Ceil. I didn't know that he lied about his age (when he was only 16) to spend the summer in the National Guard and beat up his commanding officer when his Jewishness was attacked.
I didn't know that Moishe worked for Gart Brothers Sporting Goods. I could imagine him selling sporting goods. It was fun to see a photo of Moishe and Ceil as a young married couple too.
Reading about their conversion to Christianity made me very uncomfortable.
They immediately started going to church and dived right into the Christian world. It was not easy for them to tell their immediate families, and I was sad to hear that Ceil's adoptive family cut off all ties.
I never knew that Moishe had a real experience of feeling called by God to Jewish missions. He felt God had called him just as Paul the Apostle had been called.
The middle section of the book tells about Moishe's life after he left Denver to become a minister with the ABMJ (American Board of Missions to the Jews). That section of the book is NOT an easy read and is so very boring in my opinion. It seemed as if every single person who Moishe met and worked with was listed and mentioned. That section of the book was not only boring, but it seemed that Moishe was bored and discouraged during that time.
I vaguely recall hearing that Moishe and Ceil had lost a baby, a son, during that period. The book gives more details of that loss. For a year after the stillborn baby died, Moishe only went through motions and the book says that his connection to God was gone during that time.
It was fun to read about Lyn and Ruth as babies, tots, young kids, and then teens. I found out that Ruth almost didn't make it when she was a newborn baby. I found out that Moishe wondered how he was going to pay Lyn's hospital bill.
It sounded like Ceil kept a wonderful home and I could picture the family having a wonderful time together at dinner. I was impressed that Moishe took the time to make sure a store owner apologized to Lyn and a friend for falsely accusing the girls of shoplifting, but still got everyone home in time for dinner.
The last part of Called to Controversy is the best. Maybe it is only the best for me since I know and knew so many of the people mentioned and was "there" when some of the things mentioned actually happened.
The early days of Jews for Jesus were exciting ones because the group started because hippies thought "Jesus was cool." Moishe decided to minister to those hippies and "those hippies" were excited to serve God with Moishe and do radical things. In 1977, I read a book called Jews for Jesus that Moishe wrote and was convinced after reading it that I wanted to join that "cool" scene. Although I know that story well, it was fun to read it again in Ruth's book.
As Ruth discussed the 1970s to the 1980s and 1990s, I knew more and more of the people she mentioned in the book.
I found myself especially teary-eyed when I read how Moishe helped Sally Klein-O'Connor start Improbable People ministries and paid for her first album. I remember being "there" when that happened.
Then, I broke down completely when I read how Moishe wished he could have been "there" or done something for someone he had once been close to who had been involved with Jews for Jesus whose child died of a heart condition. I know who Ruth was talking about, and I never knew that Moishe cared at all for that family. It broke my heart that they never could reconcile.
Reading about when Moishe gave up his position as Executive Director was also interesting. Moishe had shown me some of his online ministry tactics in 2003 and I even knew the person that was mentioned as helping him with that.
The end of the book also had me in tears as I read of Moishe's failing health and discovery that he had terminal cancer. Reading about how his family was around him in his last days made me feel that I, and others who knew him, got to be there too. I feel so privileged to personally know the members of his family and also some of the other people that were there for his family when he died.
I give this book 3.75 stars (not 4 or 5) because, the middle section of the book is just so boring and is such a tedious read. I can't believe anyone could really read that section without skipping to the end, but my Kindle made that hard to do.
I am glad I read Called to Controversy- The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus because I know that Moishe Rosen touched many, many lives, including mine. Some people were touched in a positive way; others were not, but this story needed to be recorded somehow and somewhere.
Further Reading:
- My Memories of Moishe Rosen - By Jo Ann Schneider Farris, May, 2010
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