Jonathan Bernis - A Jewish Man Sees Jesus
Jonathan Bernis: Welcome to Jewish Voice. I'm Jonathan Bernis. Today, we're honored to have a dear friend, rabbi Greg Hershberg. He's a remarkable person whose journey of faith and dedication has been nothing short of miraculous. Greg was born in the vibrant Bronx and raised in an orthodox Jewish community. And in a profound moment on mount tabor in Israel, during his honeymoon in Israel, changed everything when he encountered a vision of the Messiah. Rabbi Greg Hershberg, welcome, my friend. We should have music in the background just, it's so great to see you.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: It's even better to see you.
Jonathan Bernis: You know, we've been friends a long time.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I connected with you right away because you know Messianic Judaism could be very strange. It could be like granola, fruit, flakes and nuts.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: And there's so many different branches. But I know you were kosher because you explained to them, "It's not us and them. It's us". And that's what I felt. I just feel unified with the body. I don't feel there should be any division if we all believe in Yeshua. So, the minute I heard you said it, I was like, "I like this guy".
Jonathan Bernis: We have such a similar story too and I want to talk about that today. So, you're born in the Bronx. Now, I don't, I introduced it as the vibrant Bronx. I never heard that before. That was in the tele...
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: It's actually because New York city has five boroughs. And for whatever reason, most of the Jews that immigrated through Ellis island ended up in the Bronx. It was called the Jewish world in the '70s. 80% of all the people who lived in the Bronx were Jewish.
Jonathan Bernis: That's amazing.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yeah, it truly is.
Jonathan Bernis: It's like a shtetl.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: It's... Yeah.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: But what happened is, in the '70s, the Jewish people start to become professionals and affluent, and they became doctors, and lawyers, and engineers. So, they moved out of the Bronx and went to the burbs. Because, you know, the burbs have the better houses, and they have the better schools, and on and on. My father was poor. I don't know how I was born into the only house, Jewish household, where they were poverty stricken. But we stayed in the projects. So, I was one of the only Jews in the projects left. So, when I went to Hebrew school, it was kind of rough because the neighborhood wasn't Jewish anymore. And me and a couple of kids went to this little, broken-down, orthodox synagogue. And in actuality I was thrown, you know, rocks were thrown at me.
Jonathan Bernis: You were orthodox...
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Orthodox.
Jonathan Bernis: Which means you're wearing the kippah? You're very visibly Jewish, right?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yeah. Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And you experienced antisemitism?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yes, I really did. In the Bronx, I was called every name in the book. Horrible things were said to me, horrible, as a young man. I felt that it was part and parcel to be antisemitic if you weren't Jewish. I felt hated by many. And to be honest with you, I didn't wanna be Jewish anymore.
Jonathan Bernis: Did they mention the name of Christ? Was there a connection to Christianity in all this?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: They let me know in so many ways that I killed Jesus. Deicide. We killed God and that's why we're cursed.
Jonathan Bernis: So, they did, they yelled at you saying those things as they were throwing stones at you?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yeah. It was just part of my life. That's just the way it was. I heard racial slurs, ethnic slurs about being Jewish all the time. And so, with a name like Hershberg, you know, you can't get away with it. So, I stopped introducing myself with my last name.
Jonathan Bernis: And the yarmulke and whatever else.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: And walking to the synagogue on Saturday, you know, the guys are playing ball and I'm walking to the synagogue 20 blocks.
Jonathan Bernis: You're accused of being a Christ killer. What's your impression of Jesus?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: My impression, we never spoke in my house or in any of my extended family. He was never mentioned. He was kind of like a non-issue. Never disrespected. I didn't know anything about him. The best I could tell you, if you ask me, "Who is Jesus"? I would tell you, "The head of the Catholic church". Because in New York city in the boroughs.
Jonathan Bernis: Son of Mr. and Mrs. Christ.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: One Vatican lane.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yeah. There's no protestantism. There's Jew and Catholic. Back then in the '70s, there's no Hinduism. There's no Buddhism. It's Jew or Catholic. And we were definitely different, I mean, in so many ways. We're worshiping om Saturday. They're worshiping on Sunday. You know, we're having the bagel. They're having the biscuit. We're having the brisket. They're having the pork loin. Their Christmas and Easter. It's so divided, but I was okay with that. I had, you know, friends, and, you know, we knew we were different, but we didn't talk about religion. But I was under the impression that if we killed their leader, I can't see them being interested in us at all.
Jonathan Bernis: Now, at some point, as you're getting older, you're thinking, "I don't really wanna be Jewish. I don't wanna go through this".
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I didn't wanna be Jewish after my bar mitzvah.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah, same here.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: It's sad. I sat in an orthodox synagogue. My mom sat behind the curtain. My rabbi was no game show host. I'm not blaming him, but it wasn't touchy-feely, you know. It was very austere. The service was over four hours. It was all in Hebrew. It just wasn't fun at all.
Jonathan Bernis: And what about God? Did you believe in God? What...
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I made a lot of deals with God. "Let me make this basket". I played a lot of basketball. "Let me make this basket and, you know, we'll be tight," kind of thing. I didn't know anything about a personal relationship. I definitely would not know him as abba, father. And it's sad. I just thought he was out there waiting for me to do something wrong, and I would set zapped and I would deserve it. I was kind of afraid of God, but not in a good way. Not in fearful reverence.
Jonathan Bernis: Right.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: More of like, "Stay away".
Jonathan Bernis: So, you go through Hebrew school. All of this training. You have your bar mitzvah. You're reading from the Torah. You're a man, right, age 13. But you don't wanna be Jewish. You know, you don't want stones thrown at you, etcetera. What happens then? Talk about the next phase of your life.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I felt that my bar mitzvah, you know, it was a long half hour portion, the longest of the year. I had it memorized, and I had to memorize the trope. And I felt like I'd paid my penance to Judaism, and I wanted to have a personal Exodus from the orthodox community.
Jonathan Bernis: Sure.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: And so, I did what my mom asked of me. So, we started to go more to synagogue on Yom Kippur, on Rosh Hashanah, the holy days, and slowly but surely, I became more secular.
Jonathan Bernis: It's like Christmas and Easter for the Christians.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: It's exactly the same.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. Exactly.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: And I just slowly became very secular and very humanistic, and pursued education and pursued, you know, making a good living. That was my plan.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. But you ended up going to Israel. And before you went, anything that happened that was drawing you closer to God or causing you to ask questions about, "What am I here for"? Or, "What's gonna happen after you die"?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: You know, I never thought about, "What am I here for"? I knew what I was here for, to have fun, to have a good time. When I was a little boy. "Eat, drink, for tomorrow you die". Because I saw people dying and I believed you didn't have tomorrow. I lived that way. I lived in the fast lane. Some people say, "You don't have tomorrow. Live everyday like it's your last 'cause one day it's gonna be". I believe that. With all my heart, I believe that. So, when I was a little boy, even at five years old, people would ask me, "What do you wanna be when you grow up"? And I always answer the same thing, "Happy".
Jonathan Bernis: So, what brings you to Israel?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Well, you can totally relate to this. You know, Jews can believe in anything except Jesus, right? You could become a Buddhist. And it doesn't matter, right?
Jonathan Bernis: Right.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: You know, so we are people of the book. We were God's first born. We're like orphans looking for our Heavenly Father. We just don't know we're looking for him. So, we searched everywhere because it's ingrained in us eternal life. It's in our DNA.
Jonathan Bernis: It is.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: So, I was looking, so, I got involved with Eastern thought, transcendental meditation, ethereal energies. I found my little cult leader who was enamored with. He was Jewish. He was a chiropractor. I was working out a lot of the time. I was into martial arts. He was a master. And so, this guy had total control of me, total. From my mid-20s, I met my wife, my Bernadette. She was my girlfriend at the time. And he said, "You have to go to Israel on your honeymoon". And I'm thinking, "No way am I going to Israel on my honeymoon".
Jonathan Bernis: Well, Israel is gonna change everything. But we have to take a short break. This is such a powerful testimony, and I know you want to hear more, but we need to slip away for just a moment. Jewish Voice is reaching out to share the gospel, and rabbi Greg will help you to share your faith with your Jewish friend, neighbor, coworker, maybe a family member. They're in your life for a purpose, not by accident. We have some great resources to share with you including a book from rabbi Greg. So, listen carefully and we'll be right back.
Jonathan Bernis: We could not do the work we do or bring you testimonies like this without your support. It's so appreciated. So, thank you for all you do to support Jewish Voice. Rabbi Greg, you're going to Israel for your honeymoon, and something changes that year. Something happens that's unexpected. Tell us about it.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yeah. I didn't wanna go to Israel at all. My wife and i, Bernadette, we were dating. We were going to the Caribbean every three months. I was doing well financially. She was a swimsuit model at the time and we're living very external. We're living very hedonistically in a sense. And I just didn't put hedonism and Israel together. I just thought I'll have more rocks thrown at me. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking Jamaica. And so, this guy had such a strong pull. It was, he said, "No. I think you have to go". And, you know, you wonder. He was definitely a cult leader, and he wasn't a believer. God used Balaam's donkey. He could use my karate teacher, right? I mean, God can do anything. God's God. So, yeah. We were on the el al flight leaving from JFK in New York and we land in Israel. And we started to go right away on another flight to el al. And el al airlines and down to Eilat. And if you've been there, it's in the Sinai peninsula. It's gorgeous. It's on the Red Sea. Beautiful hotels. I'm loving Eilat a lot 'cause it's a total party. We're water skiing. I'm scuba diving in Egypt. We're going out at night dancing and partying. I'm like, "This isn't so, you know, Israel is not so bad after all. I'm loving it". But then our time in Eilat was over and we went to Jerusalem, and I hated it, hated it. I didn't know anything about spiritual warfare, but I felt it. I felt it breathing down my neck. And when you've got an Armenian quarter, and a Christian quarter, and a muslim quarter, and a Jewish quarter, how could it be so divided? When I went to Spain, there were Spanish people. In Greece, there were Greek people. I just thought it would be all Jewish people.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: In my ignorance, I didn't know.
Jonathan Bernis: That's an interesting response. You're not a believer and you feel the warfare.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I felt it.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: It was blatant. It was obvious. You'd have to be dead not to feel it. So, we were there for about seven, eight days. Still had a good time. Still managed to party and go to some good restaurants. And the last day before we were going to Greece, I said, "Bernadette, let's go up north". She said, "Why"? I said, "I've read about this place. I'd like to check it out". You know, and something really amazing happened there. I mean, Jesus, I called him, "This Jesus". Forgive me. But at the time, this Jesus transfigures. And Moses and Elijah, those were my guys. You know, Moses, there are, right? Moses and Elijah shows up. I wanna...
Jonathan Bernis: They're our guys.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I wanna go check it out. So, it was the last day. Why were we gonna go to Greece? I was convinced Israel was gonna be horrific. So, give me a week in Greece. And so, we went up there and we're looking for the transfiguration mountain. This is 1989. And a lot of Jewish people were hitchhiking especially soldiers. So, we picked them up. I said, "Do you know where the transfiguration mountain is"? They didn't speak English. Little did I know, the biblical name is tabor. Mount tabor. The biblical name for what transpired there was transfigure. So, nobody knew where it was. So, this one guy is hitchhiking, and I said, "Where are you going"? He said, "I'm going to tabor". I said, "Okay, we got nothing better to do. We were jump bumping around". So, I drove him there, dropped him off. Looked to my left and there was a mountain. And I don't how to explain this, but then again, I don't know how to explain a lot of things about God. I just try to follow his lead, you know. I'm just a guy. He is the God. I felt like somebody was on top of the mountain with a fishing rod and they cast it, and the hook went into my heart. And I could not prevent myself from going up. Bernadette was screaming and she's a tough Bronx chick. She was screaming, because I was driving so recklessly up tabor. Something was pulling me. I had to get up there and I don't know why.
Jonathan Bernis: You could just feel it. It just grabbed hold of you.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: It was...
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Again, it was blatant. Nothing was gonna stop me. Wild horses couldn't keep me away from getting up to that mountain.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: And I did, and I opened up the car door and I ran out. I never closed the car door. I ran out and I saw this basilica, this covering, and I ran to the covering. Just on top of the mountain, there was a plaque. And the plaque said, "The basilica to the transfiguration". And I heard a voice. I can't guarantee it was an audible voice. But I definitely heard it in my heart, and it said, "Come away with me and pray". And I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know how to pray. I knew wrote prayers from my Jewish upbringing. I didn't know how to talk to God. So, the best I could do is, I went to a quiet spot. I stood. I closed my eyes. I emptied myself so I can raise my consciousness. And it was almost like I was doing a sun posture, if you will. And then it happened.
Jonathan Bernis: No witnessing? No, no...
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: No.
Jonathan Bernis: Nothing? No, Bible reading?
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I think I was so far gone that I needed something. And God's infinite mercy and grace, I needed something more than just have somebody share the gospel with me from the book of Romans. I needed something big. And so, I tell people I went into a trance. And obviously, some mainline Christians and believers have a problem with that 'cause they think trance, they think cult. But in actuality, the Bible says in acts 10:10 that Peter went into a trance. And in acts 22:17 it says Paul went into a trance. Those are heavy hitters. Trance is when you're thrown out of your mind. It was radical. When I met him, this Eastern sky opened up. He came down. His face shone like the sun. His clothes was a white as light. He pressed himself up against me. And the first thing he said was, "I love you". Now, I got a lot of love from my mom. My mom was a very loving person, very, incredibly gentle, beautiful spirit. I had aunts. I had three sisters that loved me dearly. I had a wife with me that loved me dearly. I never felt love like I felt in that moment. It's inexplicable.
Jonathan Bernis: It's incredible.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: It was otherworldly. It was otherworldly. I was in a wrapped condition. It was something I've never felt, something I never felt since. I have four children that love me. It was something more intense.
Jonathan Bernis: I wanna move on 'cause we just have a little bit of time left. Quickly, you've been through, we had a parallel health crisis...
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: And we're alive today by the grace of God.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: Just talk about that 'cause it really parallels. We've been on the phone with each other encouraging each other. But talk about that.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I was with Bernadette in Saint Louis, and I collapsed. I was rushed to the hospital. They said I had a blood staph infection. I said, "Okay". I thought after my doctor said 20% of people die from blood staph. "What do we do"? I was admitted. I was given some strong antibiotics, lincomycin, my renal shut down, so now I'm in kidney failure along with the blood staph, and I have stents. I have a disease. I have a vascular disease, so I have all these stents in my body. And they said, "Listen, we're worried because this blood staph likes to seat itself in the stents". I was like, "What do we do"? He said, "We gotta rush you to emory. We had to do surgery. You gotta get in a local hospital". I was rushed there. I was riding in pain. Long story short. They said they're gonna have to open me up. They don't know what's going on. And I said to the doctor, who I knew for ten years now, an exceptional surgery, I said, "Dr. Dobesh, should I say, 'goodbye,' to my children"? Just tongue in cheek. He said, "Yes". And I'm very close to my kids. I'm not good at anything. I'm not gifted. I have no talents. But I lost my dad when I was young, and I loved my dad, so I said, "I'm going to be a good father. That's where I'm gonna spend my time. That's gonna be my hobby". And I'm close with my kids. They love me. I love them. And one by one, I had to pull them him. I talked to 'em. And I had to say to my oldest, "Jeremy, it doesn't look good. I have a very small chance to live. I love you. You've never hurt me. I've always felt 10 feet tall when I was with you. Best days of my life". And he said, "Dad, I want you to know upfront if you don't make it, I'm not gonna go to your funeral 'cause I can't believe that you're not gonna be in my life". And the next three went the same way. My second son said, "Dad, you're everybody's rabbi, but you're my rabbi". He said, "Tell me, what am I supposed to do without my rabbi"? My daughter said, "You're my best friend. How am I supposed to go on"? It was awful. As great as that moment was in transfiguration mount, it was horrible, horrific painful, tortured. I went through this 12-and-a-half-hour surgery. Lost all my blood. The surgeon who was fairly agnostic who I've been witnessing to for ten years, he said he looked up at the screen and he expected me to be flatlined, and he said I wasn't flatlined. And I said, "Dr. Dobesh, how do you explain that? There was no gas in the car, how was it driving? There's no blood in my system, how am I living"? He said, "It's a phenomenon". I said, "That's called a miracle".
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: We throw that term around. When there's medical intervention, that's not a miracle, that's a blessing. There's only 250 miracles in the Bible.
Jonathan Bernis: You know, in my case, very, very similar. The surgeon told my wife, told my friend, 'cause I was in Dallas, "You need to call his spouse. He's not gonna make it". Which is so horrible, horrible. And then, I did pull through, miraculously, and then they found a liver for me in four days. And I remember this, the surgeon coming in and saying, "We found a liver for you, will you accept it"? And I said, "Is that a", I said, "Is that a miracle"? He said, "It's highly unusual. Four days in a system that takes six months. Yeah. Was absolutely mir...", miracle after miracle. My doctor told me that I had a 10% chance of surviving at the ten-month Mark. He told me, "Only one in ten make it to where you have". I said, "Is that a miracle"? And he said, "It's highly unusual". And then, I said, "Is it a miracle"? He said, "Yes, it's a miracle". We're miracle survivors, my friend.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: And, you know, they say I'm a miracle. I'd rather not have gone through that. But during that time, I struggled. I'm a man of faith. That's all I got going for me. But around day 47 in the hospital, I was struggling so much it was my 65th birthday. And again, I'm embarrassed to tell you, but I told my wife, "If you love me, take the pillow. I'm done, bern".
Jonathan Bernis: This is such a powerful testimony, and I know you want to hear more but we need to slip away for just a moment. Jewish Voice is reaching out to share the gospel and rabbi Greg will help you to share your faith with your Jewish friend, neighbor, coworker, maybe a family member. They're in your life for a purpose, not by accident. We have some great resources to share with you including a book from rabbi Greg. So, listen carefully and we'll be right back.
Jonathan Bernis: We always take time in the program to pray for our viewers, to pray for you, for your family, for your loved ones. And we've had so many prayer requests this week. God is listening. God hears and he answers. Rabbi Greg, would you lead us in prayer? And I think there may be people watching that haven't yet had that mount tabor experience.
Rabbi Greg Hershberg: I know it's a common belief in Christianity that at the end of your life, you're really gonna hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant," or "Flee from me. I never know you". But that parallels the Jewish thinking, and the Jewish mindset. In the book of Daniel, it says, "At the end of your life you'll drink from the cup of salvation or the cup of judgement. How do you know"? My mother used to say, "My son, if your good outweighs your bad, then you're gonna go to heaven". How does one know if their good outweighs their bad? Your trials will never exceed your transgressions. The problem isn't Judaism, but the answer isn't Judaism. The problem is sin and the answer is Yeshua. And he's not the God of Christianity. He didn't come to start a new religion. He came to finish an old one. It says, "As many received him". I want you to know that if you receive Yeshua as your Lord and Savior, you're all the more Jewish. It doesn't take away from your Judaism. Jesus wasn't Jewish. He is and still is. So, I wanna pray. "Father, please, do what you do that we can't do. All we can do is lift Yeshua up, but you draw man because you have to get the glory. Draw your people. Please, Father God, they're my Jewish brethren, they mean well, but they don't see it. You have to unveil their eyes. I'm asking you to do this in your infinite mercy. Show them who their Messiah is. Show them Yeshua. Let them see it like I saw it. And I ask these things in his name and his name only. Amen".
Jonathan Bernis: Rabbi Greg, thank you for joining us today and for sharing your story with our audience. We invite you to go deeper and find meaningful ways to support and bless Israel and the Jewish people by visiting jewishvoice.tv, jewishvoice.tv. There, you'll discover resources to grow in your faith and opportunities to make a positive impact. And you can send prayer requests to us on the site, and we will pray for each prayer you send us. Remember, the greatest news you can give any Jewish person is the good news of their Messiah, "Yeshua". And that's true for all people. "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life". As we close our program, I wanna remind you to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6 says, "To pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love thee". Thank you. And until next time, this is Jonathan Bernis saying shalom and God bless you.