Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer
Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer

R' Gavriel Glenny: Why This Pastor's Son Left The Church for Yiddishkeit

April 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

From Evangelical Pastor to Orthodox Jew: One Man's Journey Through Loss and Truth

R' Gavriel Glenny was lying in bed after a near-fatal overdose, his heart "feeling like it was going to jump out of my chest and dance a jig," when a single biblical figure came to mind: King David. After David's infant son died as punishment for his sin with Bathsheva, David got up, stopped fasting, and ate. When his servants asked why, David replied, "He can't come to me, but I can go to him." That thought—that Glenny could eventually go to his own son, who had died at age two—became the seed of a transformation that would lead him out of evangelical Christianity, through a conversion to Orthodox Judaism, and eventually to learning Gemara in a yeshiva in Beit Shemesh, Israel.

The Evangelical World and Its Dangers to Jews

Glenny grew up in an evangelical Christian home in Florida, the son of pastors who eventually led a regional denomination. He describes evangelicalism as the branch of Christianity that takes seriously the command to "go therefore and preach the gospel to all creatures"—meaning proselytization is not optional but mandatory. Christians, he says, spend billions of dollars converting others, and Jews are the primary target because of Paul's instruction to preach "to the Jew first."

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **Opening: A Near-Death Experience and the Question That Started Everything** - The episode opens with Gavriel describing a suicide attempt via drug overdose, a moment of cardiac terror, and the sudden thought of King David’s response to his own child’s death that sparked the beginning of his search.
  • 2 (01:39) **Childhood and Early Faith: Growing Up Evangelical in Iowa and Florida** - Gavriel describes his upbringing as the son of a Navy veteran turned evangelical pastor, his early exposure to missionary work, and the core Christian doctrine of proselytizing.
  • 3 (09:21) **Hypocrisy and Doubt: The Crack in the Foundation** - Gavriel recounts moving to a Christian retreat community in Florida as a teenager and witnessing blatant hypocrisy among church leaders, which led him to question the authenticity of his faith.
  • 4 (15:53) **A Life Unraveling: Car Accident, Fatherhood, and Tragic Loss** - After leaving the army and marrying, Gavriel was living a secular, reckless life until a near-fatal car accident and the sudden death of his two-year-old son, Austin, from a blood clot, plunged him into despair.
  • 5 (24:03) **The Failed Return to Christianity: Contradictions in the Bible** - In an attempt to get his life right, Gavriel enrolled in a Christian college to become a pastor, but the more he studied the Tanakh, the more he saw irreconcilable contradictions with Christian theology.
  • 6 (31:41) **The Turning Point: Discovering Rabbi Tovia Singer** - After leaving Christianity with no clear destination, Gavriel debated a Christian online who told him he “sounded like a rabbi,” leading him to discover Rabbi Tovia Singer’s YouTube channel, which confirmed all of his independent conclusions.
  • 7 (34:12) **Entering Judaism: From Reform to Chabad** - Gavriel began visiting synagogues in Bradenton, Florida, starting with Reform (alphabetically first) and Conservative, but found them lacking; he finally attended the local Chabad, where he felt he had found the truth.

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Show Notes

After losing his 2-year-old son, he fell into deep depression, addiction, and nearly lost his life. This powerful story explores grief, faith, questioning religion, and the journey from Christianity to Judaism. Today, Rabbi Gavriel Glenny lives in Israel studying Torah all day... but here's the truth why he left a life of being a pastor to become a Yid.


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_____________________________________


✬ IN MEMORY OF ✬


This episode is in memory of:

• Miram Sarah bas Yaakov Moshe

• Shimon Dovid ben Yaakov Shloima


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Lchaim.

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