Man's journey of faith leads to book

Growing up in a family of Hungarian Jewish refugees, Imre Weinstein knew what it was like to live between two cultures.

"Many times I had to run home (from school) not to get beat up," the Warrenville resident recalled of his childhood in Syracuse, N.Y., in the late 1950s and early '60s.

Imrie, or Emory in the Americanized pronunciation, became a Messianic Jew -- a born again Jew who believes in Jesus -- in his mid-20s. His faith gave him a sense of belonging for the first time, but he never forgot that feeling of not fitting in.

So he was attracted to Abraham of the Bible, the ancestor of the Jews and considered the father of faith by Christians.

Abraham (then called Abram) was living with his prosperous family in Ur of the Chaldees, in what is modern-day Iraq, when God told him to leave and go to the land that he would show him. So Abram left a pagan culture that practiced human sacrifice to seek a better country.

But what was Abraham's life like before God called him, Weinstein wondered.

Combining research into the history and culture of the time with a love for literature, Weinstein penned his own answer in "Abraham: The Man, The Myth, The Legend."

The work of historical fiction dramatizes Abraham's romance with his wife (and half-sister) Sarah, his adventurous rescue of his kidnapped father from the dreaded Temple of Ur and discovery of the one true God.

Published in fall 2006, the book has not received much publicity, but has gotten a good reception from those who have read it, Weinstein said.

Cynthia Rosati, a friend of Weinstein, said she already wishes there was a sequel.

"It grabs your attention and holds you there to the very end," she said.

The book was part of Weinstein's own journey of faith to the places God would lead him. He says he was an atheistic or agnostic Jew when he traveled west in his mid-20s on a search to find meaning and purpose.

At campsite after campsite, he heard people talking about Jesus until Weinstein came to his own personal faith in Christ as the Messiah that had been promised the Jews.

Excited about his discovery of the connection between Judaism and Christianity, he went home wearing a Jewish star of David with a cross. He recalled that Jewish cousins from New York City were visiting his family.

"You mean, we waited 2,000 years for you to tell us this," he recalled one of them saying sarcastically.

"It didn't go over great."

Weinstein moved to Chicago to attend Moody Bible Institute, where he earned a degree in communications and worked part-time with Moody radio.

Married and with three of his five children born by the time he graduated, Weinstein went to work for Mars, the candy and food products firm in Chicago.

But after 12½ years with the company, Weinstein was tired of the commute and wanted work that was more fulfilling. He took an early retirement and signed on as a medical caseworker with World Relief helping refugees settle in DuPage County.

"It's very difficult, stressful and satisfying," he said.

Weinstein said the refugees now coming from Myanmar (formerly Burma) and African countries have an even bigger adjustment than his family did when they fled the Hungarian Revolution in 1957.

"They might as well have landed on Mars," he said.

His work with refugees brings back memories of his own childhood when his parents would call him away from play to decipher a letter or bill they didn't understand.

"The parents depend on the children in short order because the children in several weeks are picking up English in school," he said.

Now a single father of four grown daughters and a teen-age son still at home, Weinstein said his busy life as a caseworker doesn't leave him time for writing. But he doesn't rule out another book.

"If I ever have time again at my disposal, it wouldn't be as high a mountain to consider or as insurmountable as the idea initially was," he said.

The book is available at amazon.com, www.Lighthouse-Publications.com or by calling Weinstein after 7 p.m. at (630) 393-4118.