Jewish cookbook connection

News from the Peace and Reconciliation Network

Aden Friedman has travelled from being an Orthodox Jew in South Africa, to rabbinical studies in Israel, to leading Jews for Jesus in Toronto.

"I met a girl who told me she was born again," he says on a recent episode of the Lausanne Movement’s podcast God on the Move. "I didn’t know what that meant. Her father then said, ‘I follow the most famous Jew that ever lived.’ That got me to explore the New Testament – a Jewish story about a Jewish man."

Friedman found Jesus, married Cara and began the work of reaching out to Jewish people as a Christian. To honour his heritage and interact with his community, he collected traditional recipes and developed the cookbook My Yiddishe Mama which continues to be a point of connection.

Some people in his Jewish community resisted him because of his conversion. He went to Jerusalem and began a chapter for the international organization Jews for Jesus. But when "Israel didn’t want me to stay," he "reached out to someone I knew who were pastors in Toronto." Eventually he was appointed to lead Jews for Jesus Canada.

Canada has the 4th largest Jewish population outside Israel. In the current world political climate, he sees the rise of antisemitism and reminds Christians to love their Jewish neighbours.

"When was the last time you reached out to a Jewish person and asked them how they are doing? [You can] share with them that, being a Christian, you have a love and respect for the Jewish people, and you want to pray for them."→LAUSANNE.ORG