Penina Taylor is an international Jewish inspirational and motivational speaker, life coach, and author. She became well known for the story of her spiritual journey, but now speaks on topics related to personal growth and marriage, as well as spirituality. Penina is the Executive Director of the Shomrei Emet Institute for Counter-Missionary Studies, and the founder of Torah Life Strategies. Shomrei Emet was briefly affiliated with the counter-missionary organization,

Jews for Judaism Jews for Judaism is an international organization that focuses on preventing Jews from converting to other faiths and reclaiming those who have already converted. It provides counseling services, education, and outreach programs to all Jewish den ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, during 2008. Since November 2018, Taylor has hosted a weekly podcast called "Leap of Faith" on IsraelTalkNewsRadio.com, a

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

affiliate.

Early life

Conversion to Christianity

Penina was born into a secular Jewish home in

Lakewood Township, New Jersey Lakewood Township is the most populous township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A rapidly growing community as of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 135,158 representing an increase of 41,415 (+45.5% ...

. After a traumatic childhood, Penina embraced

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

in high school, and then went on to Miami Christian College (Now Trinity University) where she obtained a Bible Certificate. In college, Penina became certified in the Evangelism Explosion (EE) program, was trained and served as a counselor with the

Billy Graham Crusade William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

several times, and was certified as a "crisis pregnancy counselor". Shortly after leaving Miami Christian College, Penina married Paul Taylor, who had attended

Moody Bible Institute Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college founded in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, US by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have i ...

, and the two of them continued to serve in lay leadership positions in a variety of churches.

Messianic Judaism

In 1991, Paul and Penina became involved in the Messianic movement, and in 1994, Paul and Penina, along with Penina's parents, started the Messianic congregation, Knesset Hashuvim, in Bowie,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. During this time, Penina began reading books about

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

, and the four leaders adopted the concept of "Torah-Observant Messianic Judaism". Penina's father, Yeshayahu Heiliczer, established the "Association of Torah-Observant Messianics", or ATOM.

From "Messianic Judaism" to Orthodox Judaism

After moving to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, in 2000, while still "Messianic Jews", Paul and Penina began to attend an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

where they were introduced by the

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

to the (then) director of

, Mark Powers. As a result of their discussion with Mark, Penina rejected all forms of Christianity, including "Messianic Judaism", and adopted

Later career

In 2009, Penina published her first book, ''Coming Full Circle: A Jewish Woman's Journey through Christianity and Back'', which narrates her spiritual journey through Evangelical Christianity, "Messianic Judaism", and, finally, Orthodox Judaism. In 2011, Penina published her second book, ''Scripture Twisting'', which examines Christian claims for the messiahship of Jesus, and the Jewish response to these claims. In addition to publishing her books, Penina lectures and teaches around the world at Jewish centers, seminaries, and

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

s, discussing her religious journey at synagogues and with youth groups, engaging in Jewish polemics against Messianic-Christian interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, and opines on the nature of the relationship between

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Evangelical Christianity Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

. More recently, Penina has been teaching on personal growth, marriage, and relationships.

References

External links

Penina Taylor.com

Thank You, Ann Coulter
- Israel National News (10/14/2007)
My Journey from Messianic Jew to True Jew
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Penina American non-fiction writers American Orthodox Jews Jewish counter-missionaries Jewish outreach Living people People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey Trinity International University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)