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

Rabbi Gershom Baraza: How a Christian Spanish Missionary Became an Orthodox Rabbi

May 2, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Rabbi Gershom Baraza was a Christian missionary who learned Chinese to proselytize, lived in a missionary headquarters in London, and was on track to become a leader in his fundamentalist church. Today he is an Orthodox rabbi and the spiritual leader of the Brighton Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne, Australia. His journey from one pole to the other was not a sudden conversion but a slow, methodical unraveling driven by a single question he could not let go: if Christianity is the truth, why don't Jews convert?

The "Jewish Problem" and the Burden of Proof

Baraza grew up in a fundamentalist Adventist family in Spain, a group that stressed they alone had "the truth." He was all in—volunteering 80 hours a month to street proselytizing, eventually moving to London to become a full-time missionary. The turning point came when his mother announced she was leaving Christianity to explore Judaism. To prove her wrong, Baraza began researching what he called "the Jewish problem": why Jews never accepted Jesus.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 Timestamped Navigation Outline
  • 2 (00:00) **Introduction: From Christian Missionary to Orthodox Rabbi** - The episode opens with the striking contrast: a former Christian missionary who now serves as an Orthodox rabbi, and the host sets up the central question of how this transformation happened.
  • 3 (01:17) **Childhood in Spain: A Fundamentalist Christian Upbringing** - Rabbi Gershom describes growing up in the Canary Islands as a third-generation member of a fundamentalist evangelical Adventist group that took the Bible literally.
  • 4 (06:47) **Learning Chinese for Missionary Work** - Rabbi Gershom explains how he began learning Mandarin Chinese specifically to proselytize to Chinese people, a decision that would shape his entire trajectory.
  • 5 (11:59) **Moving to London: The Missionary House and First Contact with Jews** - At age 20, he moved to London to become a full-time missionary at the European headquarters, living among 500 other fundamentalist Christians.
  • 6 (20:18) **The Research Begins: Why Are the Jews Wrong?** - Rabbi Gershom describes starting his investigation from a biased Christian position, reading anti-Jewish missionary literature designed to convert Jews.
  • 7 (30:12) **The Turning Point: Listening to the Jewish Side** - Rabbi Gershom realized he was being unfair by only asking why Jews are wrong without ever hearing the Jewish defense.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

How does a Christian missionary, fully devoted to spreading his faith across the world, end up becoming an Orthodox Jewish rabbi?
Meet Rabbi Gershom Baraza, who grew up in Spain and went all in on his mission, even learning Chinese to teach Christianity. But along the way, something didn’t sit right. What began as small questions turned into a relentless search for truth, forcing him to reevaluate everything he believed. His journey is a powerful reminder of what it means to truly seek the emes, no matter where it leads.

More from Rabbi GershomPhone: https://keyphone.tech/?utm_source=ll&utm_medium=ll_podcast&utm_campaign=llHechsher: https://www.koshercertification.cn/en/pages/our-rabbisShul: https://www.brightonshule.org.au/about-usYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@israelthebible


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✬ IN MEMORY OF ✬
This episode is in memory of:
• Miriam Sarah bas Yaakov Moshe
• Shimon Dovid ben Yaakov Shloima

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Lchaim.

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