A Pastor’s Story of Conversion

BY JOSEPH S. SIEGEL FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE

MANSFIELD – Yaakov Parisi shared his story of his journey from Christianity to Judaism during a recent appearance at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield. The discussion was sponsored by the Chabad Lubavitch.

Parisi, 60, travels around the country to share his story with a variety of Jewish groups.

Parisi grew up in Brooklyn, and later settled in Oklahoma, where he was the pastor of a Christian church called Shalom.

At Shalom, Parisi taught his congregation to embrace the traditions of the Old Testament – something he’d been doing since 1987, when he was seeking information on Passover as co-pastor at a church in Southern California.

Parisi’s teachings at Shalom attracted nearly 100 families. However, there was some anger and hard feelings among the parishioners after he called for Friday services at sundown and removed crosses from the church. Parisi remembers the particulars of his long journey from Christianity to Judaism, including:

Driving three hours each way from his home in Oklahoma to buy kosher food in Dallas while he was a Christian.

How his wife would bring meals to him at the dining room table, where he studied Jewish literature 15 hours a day to incorporate the rituals into his Christian services.

How 500 people in the heavily Southern Baptist city in which Shalom was located came to one Passover Seder.

How he finally left Shalom and moved to Denver with little money and no friends or family for support.

After almost a decade of trying, Parisi said he realized it was futile trying to unite the Old Testament and the New Testament. It was then, he said, that he decided to move to Israel, where he obtained dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. While there, he worked as an engineer.

During that time, Parisi kept the story of his conversion a secret. His change in religious beliefs was a private matter for him.

Parisi completed his 18-month religious conversion before a Jewish court in Denver in 1998. That is where he took his Jewish name.

Parisi remains friends with the people he met in Oklahoma. They accept his conversion to Judaism, although they have stated they are comfortable following the Christian faith.

Parisi maintains that he has found a greater peace in his life now that he has embraced the Jewish religion and is happy to share his experience with listeners of all faiths. Rabbi Yossi Kivman, the leader of the Mansfield area’s Chabad Lubavitch group, noted the enormous sacrifice that Parisi and his wife, Devorah, made as they left one religion for another.

“They went to such great lengths to convert,” Kivman said. “They left everything behind.”

Parisi’s story left Kivman with an “unbelievably inspiring feeling”, adding Parisi’s life is remarkable for his having been led to Judaism through years of study instead of being raised as a Jew.