by Anneliese Rider

Michael Rydelnik, the son of two Holocaust survivors, grew up in an observant Jewish home. When he was a freshman in high school, his mother went public with her faith in Jesus as the Messiah. All his attempts to argue her away from the Messiah backfired—it wasn’t long before he joined her in her newfound faith.

His father, a devout traditional Jew, divorced his mother and disowned Michael, certain that their faith in Jesus was the wrong choice.

“My dad said, ‘Your children will hate and kill Jews,’” Michael pauses solemnly at the memory, then continues. “I’m grateful both of my boys, adults now, not only are not like that, but my younger boy became a citizen of Israel and even served in the Israel Defense Forces.”

After high school, Michael attended Moody Bible Institute for its Jewish Studies program, where he met his wife, Eva. After graduating, he pursued more education in the form of a BA, ThM, and doctorate. After serving in Jewish ministry for 16 years, he ended up back at Moody as a professor and program head of Jewish Studies.

Now the vice president and dean of Moody’s undergraduate school, and still a professor of Jewish Studies, Michael also has his own radio program—Open Line, where he answers people’s questions about the Bible, God, and spiritual life—and has authored several books and is the co-editor and a contributor to The Moody Bible Commentary.

He’s also kind, insightful, articulate, and wise—but don’t take our word for it! Meet him yourself through these questions and answers.

What is your ideal Saturday?

Well, every Saturday I’m on the radio—so that’s my ideal Saturday! I love it. It’s the best two hours of my week.

I get up very early and prep for the radio show. I get out around noon, and my wife and I have brunch when I get home. We like to kick back on Saturday afternoons, walk the dogs, and read.

What is your lineage?

Jewish. My dad lost his first wife and five children to the Nazis in Auschwitz. He lost his parents, his grandparents, and four of his five siblings in Treblinka. My mom lost her parents, her brother, her grandparents, and all her relatives, except for one cousin.

What was it like growing up as the child of Holocaust survivors?

Some parents who survived the Holocaust never talked about the Holocaust. My parents only talked about it—it was a constant conversation in our home.

You learn not to complain about food, because if you do, you hear what it was like in concentration camp. But the really important lesson that I learned was never to tolerate even a little bit of hatred—anti-Semitism—toward the Jewish people.

That was something that my dad really embedded in me very at a very young age: always stand up to it, always resist it, never tolerate it.

Why did your dad divorce your mom and disown you when you became believers in Jesus Christ?

He equated the Nazis with Christians because they all celebrated Christmas. The Nazis went to the evangelical church of Germany (basically a Lutheran church), or the Catholic Church. Himmler and Hitler were Roman Catholics. That's why he equated Nazi anti-Semitism with Christianity.

Also, there's a long and terrible history of Christian anti-Semitism. The world was divided between “Us” and “Them” and in my dad’s mind, I had become a “Them.”

Because of my dad’s attitude of utter rejection, one of the things that became very important to me was never to see a conflict between my Jewish identity and faith in the Jewish Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).

How did you end up teaching at Moody?

I served in Jewish ministry through college and seminary, and then moved to New York with Chosen People Ministries and planted a messianic congregation on Long Island.

Just when I was really thinking, God, what would you have me do next to advance reaching Jewish people? I sensed from God that there was something else in the offing’s, and so did my wife. But we didn’t know quite what, so we prayed about it.

A week later, Dr. Goldberg [then the professor of Jewish Studies at Moody] asked if he could speak at my congregation in New York. We went to lunch afterwards, and he said, “I'm retiring in a year. I want to recommend you to teach Jewish Studies at Moody.”

We came to Chicago a year later and I started teaching in January of 1994.

You’ve had your radio program—Open Line—for a long time. What is your main goal for it? How has it helped you grow personally over the years?

I’m in my 13th year on the radio. I answer Bible questions, questions about spiritual life and spiritual growth, and questions about God. I enjoy doing it because I think so many people are looking for someone to help them read and understand the Bible. That’s what I try to do.

In terms of being a Jewish Studies professor, I think many times people come to the Scriptures with an unfortunate negative view of the Jewish people. I help them to see God’s concern for Jewish people, and build a more sensitive approach to understanding Jewish people in the Bible.

What I’ve learned is that I don’t know everything. Sometimes, people ask a question and I don’t know the answer, but I say, “I don’t know the answer, but if you listen next week, I’ll do some research this week and I’ll come up with an answer.” It’s really enhanced my understanding of Scripture.

What is your personal experience with anti-Semitism?

I live in a Jewish community. I’ve had swastikas spray painted on the garage doors of my home. The synagogue that’s one block away from my house had dynamite thrown at it. My whole house shook when the dynamite exploded.

If you are visibly Jewish, young people will come into my neighborhood will assault you. They’ll just coldcock you. It’s getting worse now, since 10/7 [the Hamas attack in Israel].

I’ve also encountered Christians who justify negative attitudes about Jewish people and the state of Israel by saying that the church has replaced Israel.

What is your goal for this conference?

Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in the last 10 years have increased dramatically, and even more since 10/7 when Hamas attacked Israel. Moody has a heritage of concern for Jewish people. We have the Jewish Studies program, and we’ve always been outspoken against anti-Semitism.

What better place to help Christians see their responsibility to show compassion, concern, and solidarity with the Jewish community than at Moody Bible Institute.

That’s what we want to do. We want to help followers of Jesus see their responsibility and give them practical ways to oppose hatred of the Jewish people.

What are some of the practical tools that you will teach?

You’ll have to come find out!

You’ve been to Israel many times with tour groups—where is your favorite place to visit there, and why?

I’ve been taking people to Israel for years. My favorite place is the Western Wall, the outer remnant of the platform where the temple stood. It’s the most sacred spot in Judaism.

It’s so meaningful to me because the Temple Mount is where the Shekhinah, the actual Presence of God, was. In Ezekiel, it talks about how it departs, but there’s also the promise in Ezekiel that when Messiah is reigning, that’s where He will reign from, and the Shekhinah will return. It’s a very sacred place.

I like going there for that, and also because it reminds me of Jewish people who are deeply seeking to know God, and I know I have the answer for them about how to know Him.

Why should American believers care about Israel in the midst of this conflict?

Followers of Jesus need to deeply care about Israel and anti-Semitism both because they worship the King of the Jews, and Jesus cares. And if they want to identify with the deep concerns of the Messiah Himself, they will be concerned about this.

At the end of the semester, I ask my class about the Holocaust, “Would the Lord Jesus be a rescuer during the Holocaust?”

Everyone’s always in one hundred percent agreement: “Of course, yes, certainly!”

But the answer is no. He would not have been a rescuer. Had he been physically present, he would have been one who needed rescue.

The next question is, “Would you stand with the Lord Jesus and protect Him and His people if you had the opportunity?”

That’s why believers need to care, because He cares. And if we care about Him and love Him, we’ll care about the ones He loves in a special way: the Jewish people.