{"id":454097,"date":"2022-07-15T15:40:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T15:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/?p=454097"},"modified":"2024-12-03T15:09:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T12:09:36","slug":"from-rose-bowl-to-rashi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/454097\/","title":{"rendered":"From Rose Bowl to Rashi"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I stood on the steps of the mikvah<\/em>, for a moment I contemplated the life-changing event that was before me.\u00a0 I knew that in a few short moments, after emerging from the mikvah,<\/em> I would be a new person, a Jew, having a new soul, and a new destiny in life.\u00a0 I wondered what my wife was feeling at that moment.\u00a0 Wow, have we traveled on an arduous spiritual journey together!\u00a0 Working to travel from evangelical Christianity to Orthodox Judaism, we would soon reap our reward, after ten years of intense study.\u00a0 This, after being committed Christians, raising our six children in the church environment and serving as youth pastors.\u00a0 But our ever-increasing list of questions and discontent with the answers given forced us to seriously question what we believed.\u00a0 Being individuals with an intense thirst for truth and seeking intimacy with Hashem, slowly, slowly we began to see that Judaism held the answers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The adrenaline I felt running into “the Horseshoe” for The Ohio State University Buckeyes for the first time was akin to immersing in the mikvah<\/em> for the first time.\u00a0 Running out onto the field, with over 100,000 fans in the stadium, brought exhilaration, fear, awe, and a sense of accomplishment, the same feelings I felt standing on the steps of the mikvah<\/em> awaiting the moment I would say the brachah<\/em> and immerse.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0(image above, taken in Columbus, Ohio with Rabbis Lazer Brody and David Reckles)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yosef is the Hebrew name for Calvin Murray, an American retired football player who was a star college player for the legendary Ohio State Buckeyes under Coach Woody Hayes and who went on to play with the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles and the United States Football League (USFL) for the Arizona Wranglers and the Denver Gold.\u00a0 The Murrays tell the beautiful story of their spiritual journey from being youth leaders in a Christian church to choosing Torah and Judaism.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from their book, From Rose Bowl to Rashi, A Unique Journey to Orthodox Judaism<\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/u>:<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Having come from a high school, college and professional football career gave me the discipline to learn to pray as a Jew and take on the myriad of mitzvot that govern your daily life.\u00a0 The constant study, practice, and repetitive actions all laid the foundation for the conversion process and for leading a successful Jewish life.\u00a0 Conversion to Judaism impacts all areas of your life \u2013 what you eat, what you wear, your worldview, how you conduct your family life, and a number of other details of living.\u00a0 Learning to pray as a Jew requires intense concentration and focus, as do many of the disciplines I acquired as an athlete.\u00a0 Conversion is not for the timid or faint of heart; it requires the fortitude to withstand rejection and the strength to stay the course.\u00a0 One of the rabbis of the Beis Din told us, \u201cIt\u2019s a marathon, not a race.\u201d\u00a0 Truly, it is not an easy path, but we cannot imagine living our lives any other way.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I was fortunate enough to have played for the legendary Woody Hayes, who ran a tight ship.\u00a0 I felt like the practices were pure torture, but the end result was being a better man. Little did I know then that the very disciplines Hayes instilled in me, and the moral values he taught me, would be crucial in my spiritual \"\"journey to Judaism some 35 years later.\u00a0 I\u2019ve scored touchdowns on the football field and the biggest touchdown spiritually.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was married to Emunah (then Jeri) in 1992, and then began our adventure, of raising six kids, of being youth pastors in a church, and spending our lives mentoring young people.\u00a0 We were committed to raising our five sons and daughter with the foundation of the Bible and relationship with G-d.\u00a0 However, 12 years into our marriage, we got a taste of Judaism through a Messianic congregation.\u00a0 This introduction to Shabbos and the Festivals sparked our interest to dig deeper.\u00a0 After eventually being terminated from our youth pastor positions for being \u201ctoo Jewish,\u201d we studied Judaism in our home. We eventually ended up at a local Chabad, where we spent two years continuing our studies. We finally decided to convert, which we did with the Beis Din of Detroit in 2013.\u00a0 We had a beautiful chuppah and celebration with our new community.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our conversion occurred on the 18th<\/sup> day of Adar, an auspicious date on the Jewish calendar.\u00a0 Adar is the month associated with increased joy and happiness.\u00a0 Eighteen is the value of the Hebrew letters chet and yud, which together spell the word chai or life.\u00a0 Eighteen is considered the luckiest number.\u00a0 We are not at all surprised that Hashem chose this date for our life-changing experience of becoming Jewish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We have been fortunate to move into a warm and accepting Jewish community, where there are many learning and growth opportunities.\u00a0 We have been nurtured and loved, both by the community and numerous rabbis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

With several trips to Israel over the past three years, our interest in Aliyah grew exponentially.\u00a0 We felt this, too, was part of our journey \u2013 and baruch Hashem, we eventually came to live in the Holy Land.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emuna Murray made aliyah in 2016, with Yosef soon to follow.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I stood on the steps of the mikvah, for a moment I contemplated the life-changing event that was before me.\u00a0 I knew that in a few short moments, after emerging from the mikvah, I would be a new person, a Jew, having a new soul, and a new destiny in life.\u00a0 I wondered what … Continue reading “From Rose Bowl to Rashi”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62109,"featured_media":4885321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[83793],"tags":[21156,51592,44978],"author_post":[16096],"new_serie":[],"class_list":["post-454097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teshuva-stories","tag-missionaries","tag-righteous-convert","tag-tovia-singer","author_post-emunah-and-yosef-murray"],"acf":{"intro_text":"

Read the beautiful story of the Murray's spiritual journey from being youth leaders in a Christian church to choosing Torah and Judaism. Read of their challenges, joys, and eventual fulfillment in becoming their true selves. [At end is a video clip interview with Rabbi Tovia Singer.]<\/p>\n","breslev_id":"29468","post_views_count":"3107","updatetime":"01\/01\/0001","special_content_in_the_post":"none","meta_title":"From Rose Bowl to Rashi","meta_description":"Read the beautiful story of the Murray's spiritual journey from being youth leaders in a Christian church to choosing Torah and Judaism. Read of their challenges, joys, and eventual fulfillment in becoming their true selves. [At end is a video clip interview with Rabbi Tovia Singer.]","paragraph_first":"Being individuals with an intense thirst for truth and intimacy with Hashem, we began to see that Judaism held the answers.","paragraph_second":"","landing_form":false,"youtube":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454097"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4885328,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454097\/revisions\/4885328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4885321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454097"},{"taxonomy":"author_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author_post?post=454097"},{"taxonomy":"new_serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_serie?post=454097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}