Sid Roth

Sid: My guest is another Jewish woman that is red hot for the Messiah. She’s been red for God most of her life. She was raised in an observant Jewish home in New York City. Sharon Allen does that mean you followed the festivals, you kept Shabbat, you kept kosher, what was your family life like?

Sharon: Well we kept the commandments from the Torah, Biblical commandments, but we also kept the rabbinical commandments. Those were the commandments that the rabbis added to the original 613 positive and negative commandments, to try and protect the original commandments. So they added rabbinical commandments that we followed.

Sid: Now what did Judaism mean to you growing up?

Sharon: Well for me it meant following God’s ways, and by following God’s ways we were showing our love and devotion to God. So we followed His commandments and for me Judaism was the truth. It was the only way to relate to the one true God.

Sid: Okay, you did what a nice Jewish girl should do; you married a nice Jewish man; you had a child and it did not work out too well. What happened?

Sharon: That’s right, we were married in the Orthodox tradition. Then a few years later we did get a divorce, we had to get a Jewish divorce which is called a Get. Then this Get, this Jewish divorce then enables the couple to remarry other Orthodox Jewish people, once again in an Orthodox ceremony.

Sid: So tell me you get your divorce, you decide to change locations, and you went as far west as you could go. You went to California; you got involved in the real estate business; I mean real estate is booming today, how was it back then?

Sharon: Well it was wonderful. It was in the 1970’s and everybody seemed to be getting their real estate license because there was this huge real estate boom happening. So I got my real estate license and we had moved to the Orange County area. I had brought my parents out to be with me. At the time my real estate license was in a company that was owned by a gentleman by the name of Ron Allen, who would later become my husband. When I first met Ron we got to know each other. Of course, everybody who meets me knows that I’m Jewish. Of course at the time everyone knew my Jewish ways, and my daughter and I were involved in a synagogue because when you’re an Orthodox Jewish person your life revolves around the synagogue. The only thing that my husband, he wasn’t my husband at the time, but when I first met Ron, the only thing Ron had ever told me was that he was a protestant. He never mentioned church; he never mentioned Christianity; he never mentioned the name Jesus if had I would have run in the other direction. All he ever said was that he was a protestant. Actually business was his religion at the time. He was a very successful businessman. So we started dating, and he became more and more involved in our Jewish ways. In fact, every time he would see my parents my mother would say, “Oh he’s so haymishe,” which means “He’s so comfortable to be with.” Little by little Ron became involved with our family, and with the synagogue.

Sid: So you eventually got married and you became, as you just said with the synagogue. What kind of synagogue was it?

Sharon: We were involved with Chabad of Irvine Jewish Center, Lubavitch; Orthodox.

Sid: For those that don’t know about the Lubavitch, or Chabad, tell us a little about it.

Sharon: Chabad Synagogues observe the Torah very strictly, and rabbinical law very strictly. Even those who are not raised in such a strict manner somehow or other, many of the families who maybe are not so familiar with Orthodox ways they want to join a Chabad Synagogue because it’s a way that they feel comfortable. Maybe they’re not observing all the Yiddish kite, which are Jewish lies, but by being in an Orthodox Synagogue they feel like they’re linking up to the One true God. That is why in the Chabad of today we have a modern Chabad attitude. Where we’re very open to all Jewish families in the community.

Sid: So Ron, your husband, is haymishe, but he’s not Jewish. So obviously you make plans for his conversion. How did that go?

Sharon: Well you know it was interesting because when I married Ron he actually adopted Alisa, my daughter Alisa. In the adoption papers it actually stated that he would raise Alisa Jewish. So we are living Jewish life, and it did become very obvious to everyone including Ron, that he’s ready what is called to have a Kosher conversion, which is considered an Orthodox conversion. So at this particular time it was this particular morning, and I just in a very nonchalant voice said “Well you know Ron there are basically 3 ceremonies that you’ll be doing to actually have this Kosher conversion, Orthodox conversion.” We wanted and Orthodox conversion as opposed to Reformed or Conservative conversion because when it’s an Orthodox conversion it’s excepted in all the countries and it’s especially accepted in Israel. So at the time we felt that the Kosher conversion, the Orthodox conversion, is the only way to go. So the first ceremony when a person wants to be converted to Judaism is a mikvah. They are water immersed into a mikvah, which is similar to a baptism, but the water immersion into a mikvah is for purification and identification with the Jewish people, and of course Ron was fine with that. Then the second ceremony, this is for a man who wants to be converted to Judaism. The second ceremony would be circumcision. In the case of my husband was already circumcised as a baby, and for all men who want to have an Orthodox conversion who have already been circumcised, like my husband when they were babies. What the rabbis do is they just draw a little bit of blood, and it’s symbolic. Ron was fine with that because it’s Biblical. Then the next ceremony that I explained to Ron would be that he would appear before a Bet Din, a council of rabbis, a rabbinical court. He would appear before this Bet Din, and he would renounce whatever he believed in before. Now I am not sure if this is necessary for a Reformed conversion, or a Conservative conversion, but it is very important to do this for an Orthodox conversion. In a very matter of fact way I said to my husband “Well I guess because you know you said you were Protestant I guess you’ll renounce That Man.” Because Orthodox people, we don’t say the name of Jesus, we say “That Man.” So I said to Ron, “I guess you’ll renounce That Man.” He looked at me and he said “I don’t think I can do that.” I was shocked! I said “What do you mean you can’t do that?!” I mean it was a horror for me because here we are we’re living a Jewish life, our daughter is going to Hebrew Academy. I mean there are Jewish fathers who don’t send their children to Yeshiva. Our daughter is going to Yeshiva; our home is used for Jewish outreach. In other words, when the synagogue wanted to bring in the Jewish families from the community who may not be involved in a synagogue, we would open our home. We would have different activities. One was like a flower arranging show, and we had it for the ladies. I was driving the…

Sid: Sharon, if he is not going to renounce as you say “That Man,” as I’ll say “Jesus,” so what’s going to happen with this conversion he can’t convert?

Sharon: Well I was in shock! I ran into Alisa’s room; I said “You’re not going to believe this your father says he can’t renounce ‘That Man.’” Then in a moment I had a thought I’ll just go and read my Jewish Bible. I figured it wouldn’t take long, I’d begin to read page 1, I’d read a couple…

Sid: I’ll tell you what hold that thought.