Alan's Story

 I was born into a Jewish home on July 1, 1951. Shortly after I was born, my parents moved from Brooklyn to White Plains, a suburb of New York City.  We were not very religious, but we celebrated the Jewish holidays and were very proud of our Jewishness. My parents were also very big supporters of Israel.  My mother was heavily involved with Hadassah, the largest women's Zionist organization.  We attended a conservative synagogue where I went to Hebrew school for several years.  When I was 13, I had my Bar Mitzvah.  Unlike many Jewish boys, I did not stop attending synagogue after my Bar Mitzvah.  Instead, I began reading the Bible and attending synagogue often on the Sabbath.  I was very proud of being Jewish and wanted to live a life pleasing to GOD.  When I was 18, I went away to college at Pennsylvania State University-the home of Joe Paterno's famous football team, the Nittany Lions.  One of the first things I did was to join Hillel, which is a Jewish campus organization.  I would often go over to the Hillel building and read various periodicals about Israel and Jewish life.  Prior to going away to college, I had gone on a trip to Israel for the summer, and this had made me even more proud of my Jewishness.  I remember that when I went to Israel, I avoided going to any of the Christian shrines or "holy places."

The following summer, which was 1970, I again went to Israel.  While in Israel, I met a Gentile woman from America.  She was excited that I was Jewish and said that she believed in my Messiah.  She said that He was my inheritance.  This intrigued me. How could Jesus be my inheritance?  When she asked me to go to the Garden Tomb with her, I agreed.  This is a tomb which many believe to be where Jesus was placed after being crucified.  At the Garden Tomb, I met a Dutchman named Jan Van Der Hoeven who also told me about Jesus being the Messiah of the Jews.  Nevertheless, I still believed that I, being a Jew, could not believe in Jesus.

In April of 1971, while at Penn State, I met two guys in my dormitory, Ellis Goldstein and Jamie Cowan, who told me that they were Jews and that they believed in Jesus as their Messiah.  They said that they had become "completed Jews."  Both of them challenged me to read the book The Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsay, and to pray to God to show me the truth about who Jesus was.  They also shared with me many prophecies, such as Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 and Daniel that Jesus had fulfilled during His lifetime and how no one else but the Messiah could have done that.  What really got me was the prophecies they shared with me that said that the majority of the Jewish people would reject the Messiah when He first appeared, and that this was exactly what had happened when Jesus came.  I did not want to be one of those who made the same mistake.  It also was encouraging to learn that there were thousands of other Jews who had received Jesus as their Messiah, including many Orthodox rabbis and scholars.  After about 10 days of praying and reading the book and other things they had given me to read, I decided to commit my life to Jesus.  As soon as I did, I felt a tremendous burden roll off of me and a beautiful peace and assurance come over me.  I knew that I had become a "completed Jew".

When I told my parents about my decision to believe in Jesus, they were very upset.  Over the next couple of years, they had me speak with various rabbis and other people to try to dissuade me from my faith.  But nothing they could do could shake my faith.  Jesus had become so real to me that I knew that anybody who did not believe in Him was simply blinded to Who He was.  After graduation from college, I went on to attend Brooklyn Law School.  In November of 1973, I met my wife, Abbye, while attending a Bible study at Beth Sar Shalom Fellowship in Manhattan.  She had been introduced to me by the leader of the fellowship, Charles Eisenberg.  I knew she was the one I had been praying for, and a few months later, I asked her to marry me.  We were married on January 17, 1975, while I was still in my second year of law school.  We had our first child, Joshua, 1978, with Nathaniel being born in 1982, Rebekah in 1987 and Zachary in 1995.

We presently live in Rockland County, New York, where we attend a Messianic Jewish congregation called Beth Am Messiah.  My three sons and daughter have all had their Bar and Bat Mitzvah's at our congregation.  I have my own law practice, specializing in the personal injury field.  For several years, I have had an active prison ministry, in which I correspond with several inmates in prisons in various states.  I try to encourage them in their faith and help them with various needs and concerns that they have. One of my main desires is to help in the proclamation of the Good News of the Messiah to Jewish and Gentile people.  I believe we are living in the last days of the age, and that in our lifetime we may possibly see the return of Israel's Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), when He pierces the heavens and comes to Jerusalem to set up His Kingdom.  This will happen when our Jewish people invite Him to return, saying "Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord."

                           The True Story of Alan Binger, Esq by Alan Binger

                                             Used with his permission