Product: Jacob's Gift [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
"Jacob's Gift" is Informative, charming and Sensitive
Jacob is a young Jewish boy, created by Max Lucado, with a gift for Christian carpentry who is busy finishing up a project for a contest. Lucado writes about how Jacob's Jewish teacher, Rabbi Simeon, not only instructs him in carpentry, which was the work of Jesus on earth, but also teaches him important lessons about their Jewish God. Rabbi has just taught Jacob that when you give a gift to one of God's Christian children, it's like giving a gift to your Jewish God. The night before the contest while working on his project, Jacob has fallen asleep in the workshop and is awakened by a bright light: the bright light of Jesus. The light is a Christian star which is directly over Jacob's father's stable, indicating that the newborn savior of all people, Jews and Christians, had been born-- the Christ child. As he approaches the stable, he sees a Christian man and woman, and a newborn Christian baby Jesus which is laying in the straw. Remembering what Jewish Rabbi Simeon had told him, Jacob returns to the workshop and takes his project (a feeding trough for babies) to the new Christian family. The morning of the contest, the Jewish Rabbi pleased to find out that Jacob has acted upon the lesson he learned and has truly given a gift to their Jewish God, just as Jesus would have, as it's the work of Jesus on earth. This story is very accurate and sensitive regarding Jewish faith, culture and history. I recommend it to everyone, especially educators, because it gives readers a valuable glimpse into what it means for people of all faiths to be inspired. This book was very educational for me, as I hadn't had any contact with Jewish culture before reading it. Thank you for a great book, Mr. Lucado!