Moishe Rosen

Martin "Moishe" Rosen (April 12, 1932 – May 19, 2010) was an American minister and the founder and former executive director of Jews for Jesus, a Christian missionary organization that focuses on evangelism to Jews.

Biography Rosen was born in Kansas City, Missouri, Rosen describes him as irreligious and viewing religion as a "racket".

Rosen married Ceil Starr on August 18, 1950, and they became Christians in 1953. After graduating from Northeastern Bible College, Rosen made a commitment to be a missionary to Jews. He was ordained as a Conservative Baptist (now Venture Church Network) minister in 1957. He led Hebrew Christian congregations and worked for 17 years for the American Board of Missions to the Jews (ABMJ), In 1973, he left the employment of ABMJ to incorporate Jews for Jesus as a separate mission. In 1986, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon.

He stepped down from his position as Jews for Jesus' executive director in 1996, and continued to be employed as a staff missionary, remaining one of fifteen board members until his death in May 2010. In 1997, the Conservative Baptist Association named him a "Hero of the Faith". He died on May 19, 2010, of prostate cancer in San Francisco, California.

Philosophy In a 1972 New York Times interview, Rosen explained his religious philosophy: "Don't call us converted Jews.... We are not something other than Jewish. I was born a Jew and I will die a Jew—but I am a Jew who believes in Jesus!"

Publications Rosen wrote numerous books, including: Sayings of Chairman Moishe (1972) Jews for Jesus (1974) Share the New Life with a Jew (1976) Christ in the Passover (1977) Y'shua: the Jewish way to say Jesus (1982) Overture to Armageddon (1991) The Universe is Broken: Who on Earth Can Fix It? (1991) Demystifying Personal Evangelism (1992) Witnessing to Jews (1998) Christ in the Passover (2006) [revised and expanded]