Ole Brunell

Last updated September 15, 2019

Ole Brunell, currently known as Shlomo Brunell^[1]^[2] (born 1953 in Swedish-speaking Kokkola, Finland), is a Finnish former Lutheran minister; he converted to Judaism.^[1]^[2]

Swedish language North Germanic language spoken in Sweden

Swedish is a North Germanic language spoken natively by 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden, and in parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to some extent with Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker. Written Norwegian and Danish are usually more easily understood by Swedish speakers than the spoken languages, due to the differences in tone, accent and intonation. Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It has the most speakers of the North Germanic languages. While being strongly related to its southern neighbour language German in vocabulary; the word order, grammatic system and pronunciation are vastly different.

Kokkola is a town and municipality of Finland. The town is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of 47,706 and covers an area of 2,730.80 square kilometres (1,054.37 sq mi) of which 1,286.61 km² (496.76 sq mi) is water. The population density is 33.03 inhabitants per square kilometre (85.5/sq mi). Neighbour municipalities are Halsua, Kalajoki, Kannus, Kaustinen, Kronoby, Lestijärvi, Larsmo and Toholampi.

Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland, between Norway to the north, Sweden to the northwest, and Russia to the east. The capital and largest city is Helsinki. Other major cities are Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Oulu and Turku.

Brunell was ordained as a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in 1978. He served as a pastor in both Finland and Australia. He preached and ministered in Swedish, English, and Finnish during his career as a minister.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 26 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

Eventually, he ceased to believe in the teachings of the Lutheran Church and ultimately came not to believe in Christianity at all, therefore he left the Church. He never stopped believing in God. For six years, he and his family had no formal religion.

Six years later, he, his wife, and four daughters converted to Judaism. The conversion was rejected by the Orthodox Jewish. Eventually the leaders relented and all were converted. Upon conversion, Brunell changed his first name from “Ole” to “Shlomo ben Avraham”, and his wife changed her name from “Runa” to “Ruth”. The family retained the name “Brunell” and moved to Israel, where they currently live.^[1]^[2]

Judaism The ethnic religion of the Jewish people

Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people. It is an ancient, monotheistic, Abrahamic religion with the Torah as its foundational text. It encompasses the religion, philosophy, and culture of the Jewish people. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. It encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. The Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the world.

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel. Also defined as "the act of going up"—that is, towards Jerusalem—"making Aliyah" by moving to the Land of Israel is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action, emigration from the Land of Israel, is referred to in Hebrew as yerida ("descent"). The State of Israel's Law of Return gives Jews and their descendants automatic rights regarding residency and Israeli citizenship.

Brunell wrote of his experience in a book entitled Strangers No More: One Family’s Exceptional Journey from Christianity to Judaism, ISBN 965-229-304-0 published by Gefen Publishing House in Jerusalem in 2005.^[3]

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

The Gefen Publishing House is an English language publishing firm located in Jerusalem, Israel as well as having a department in New York City. The firm publishes approximately twenty titles per year. Their publications cover a wide variety of Israeli and Jewish subjects. These subjects include the following:

Related Research Articles

Priest person authorized to lead the sacred rituals of a religion (for a minister use Q1423891)

A priest or priestess is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the priesthood, a term which also may apply to such persons collectively.

Messianic Judaism is a modern syncretic religious movement that combines Christianity—most importantly, the belief that Jesus is the Jewish messiah—with elements of Judaism and Jewish tradition. It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.

Laestadianism Pietistic Lutheran revival movement started in Lapland in the middle of the 19th century

Laestadianism, also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a pietistic Lutheran revival movement started in Lapland in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Swedish Lutheran state church administrator and temperance movement leader Lars Levi Laestadius, it is the biggest pietistic revivalist movement in the Nordic countries. It has members mainly in Finland, North America, Norway, Russia and Sweden. There are also smaller congregations in Africa, South America and Central Europe. In addition Laestadians have missionaries in 23 countries. The number of Laestadians worldwide is estimated to be between 144,000 and 219,000.

Christian−Jewish reconciliation refers to the efforts that are being made to improve understanding and acceptance between Christians and Jews. There has been significant progress in reconciliation in recent years, in particular by the Catholic Church, but also by other Christian groups.

Conversion to Judaism Religious conversion of non-Jews to become members of the Jewish religion and Jewish ethnoreligious community

Conversion to Judaism is the religious conversion of non-Jews to become members of the Jewish religion and Jewish ethnoreligious community. The procedure and requirements for conversion depend on the sponsoring denomination. A conversion in accordance with the process of a denomination is not a guarantee of recognition by another denomination. A formal conversion is also sometimes undertaken by individuals whose Jewish ancestry is questioned, even if they were raised Jewish, but may not actually be considered Jews according to traditional Jewish law.

Jewish Christian Members of the Jewish movement that later became Christianity

Early Christianity had its roots in Hellenistic Judaism and the Jewish messianism of the first century and Jewish Christians were the first Christians. Christianity started with Jewish eschatological expectations, and it developed into the veneration of a deified Jesus after his earthly ministry, his crucifixion, and the post–crucifixion experiences of his followers.

Judaizers are Christians who teach it is necessary to adopt Jewish customs and practices, especially those found in the Law of Moses, to be saved. The term is derived from the Koine Greek word Ἰουδαΐζειν (Ioudaizein), used once in the Greek New Testament, when Paul publicly challenges Peter for compelling Gentile converts to Early Christianity to "judaize". This episode is known as the incident at Antioch.

The relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism deals with the attitude of the Catholic Church towards Judaism and Jews, the attitude of Jews toward Catholicism and Catholics, and the changes in the relationship since World War II.

Shlomo Moshe Amar is the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He served as the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and the Rishon LeZion from 2003 to 2013. His opposite number in those years was Rabbi Yona Metzger, who then served as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel.

Marie-Théodor Ratisbonne, N.D.S., was a French Jewish convert to the Catholic Church, who became a priest and missionary and who later founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion. He was the brother of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, who joined him in this effort.

Conversion to Christianity is a process of religious conversion in which a previously non-Christian person converts to Christianity. Converts to Christianity typically make a vow of repentance from past sins, accept Jesus as their Savior and vow to follow his teachings as found in the New Testament.

Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture. Until the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism were Alexandria, Egypt and Antioch, the two main Greek urban settlements of the Middle East and North Africa area, both founded at the end of the fourth century BCE in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Hellenistic Judaism also existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period, where there was conflict between Hellenizers and traditionalists.

Asher Wade, born Wallace S. Wade, is an American-born international lecturer, college instructor and psychotherapist. Wade was a Methodist minister before converting to Orthodox Judaism and later becoming a rabbi.

Confirmation (Lutheran Church) Lutheran church ceremony

Confirmation in the Lutheran Church is a public profession of faith prepared for by long and careful instruction. In English, it is called "affirmation of baptism", and is a mature and public reaffirmation of the faith which "marks the completion of the congregation's program of confirmation ministry".

Paul the Apostle has been placed within Second Temple Judaism by recent scholarship since the 1970s. A main point of departure with older scholarship is the understanding of Second Temple Judaism, and the covenant with God and the role of works, as a means to either gain, or to keep the covenant.

Brunell is a surname of French origin meaning "brown one" same as Burnell (metathesis). Notable people with the surname include:

References

1 2 3 Hausman, Tamar (24 August 2001). "Crazy' Ole Becomes an Oleh". Haaretz . Retrieved 8 December 2018.
1 2 3 De La Fuente, Susan (1 March 2013). "Under His Wings". Jerusalem Post . Retrieved 8 December 2018.
↑ Jenny Hazan, review of "Strangers No More". Jerusalem Post , 19 November 2005. Quoted by Gefen Publishing House, Strangers No More Book Details

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[haaretz-1] 1 2 3 Hausman, Tamar (24 August 2001). "Crazy' Ole Becomes an Oleh". Haaretz . Retrieved 8 December 2018.

[jpost-2] 1 2 3 De La Fuente, Susan (1 March 2013). "Under His Wings". Jerusalem Post . Retrieved 8 December 2018.

[3] Jenny Hazan, review of "Strangers No More". Jerusalem Post , 19 November 2005. Quoted by Gefen Publishing House, Strangers No More Book Details