What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus

What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus: A New Way of Seeing the Most Influential Rabbi in History ~ by Rabbi Evan Moffic, 2015

What would happen if you were to stop on the street and ask ten people, "Who started Christianity?"  You probably hear people give you the same quick response:  Jesus.  But those ten people would be wrong.  Jesus wasn't a Christian.  Jesus lived and died as a Jew.  Understanding the Jewishness of Jesus is the secret to knowing him better and understanding his message in the twenty-first century.
Walking through Jesus' life from birth to death, Rabbi Evan Moffic serves as a tour guide to give Christians a new way to look at familiar teachings and practices that are rooted in the Jewish faith and can illuminate our lives today.  Among the critically acclaimed highlights of this book, Rabbi Moffic gives fresh insight on how Jesus' contemporaries understood him, explores how Jesus's Jewishness shaped him, offers a compelling new perspective on the Lord's Prayer, and provides renewed appreciation for Jesus's miracles.

I've found a book that may be what I need for yesterday's conundrum about Jesus and Christianity.  This book seems to say exactly what I told my Jewish friend who insisted "Jesus was the first Christian."  Even better, the author is a Jewish rabbi.  Perfect!  So I bought it for my Kindle, along with another book by the same author.

The Happiness Prayer: Ancient Jewish Wisdom for the Best Way to Live Today ~ by Evan Moffic, 2017

What makes us happy?  It's not what you think.  Clever marketing has led us to believe in chasing happiness down a path that doesn't lead anywhere, but there is an answer.  Two thousand years ago there was a prayer, a prayer for happiness.  You can follow these ten practices in it.  The prayer has helped thousands of people.  No matter where you are in life, finding purpose is easier than you think.  Rabbi Evan Moffic knows the power of prayer.  When he was called to lead a synagogue at thirty, the prayer became his guidepost, providing him with the wisdom to lead beyond his years.  And it made him happy.  This active prayer reveals ten life-changing practices.