The Jewish lawyer whom Kayla Moore, wife of failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, bragged about knowing is actually a practicing Christian.
The eyebrow-raising remark led to several publications investigating, then misidentifying, the attorney. But she revealed to AL.com Thursday his real identity: Martin Wishnatsky.
« We read where we were against Jews — even calling us Nazis, » Kayla Moore wrote in an email to AL.com. « We have a Jewish lawyer working for us in our firm — Martin Wishnatsky. (Roy Moore) hired him while Chief Justice, then I hired him at the Foundation. »
Wishnatsky did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment Friday morning. But he told AL.com that he attended a Hebrew school at a conservative synagogue and had a bar mitzvah — but he considered his family not to be very religious.
« My background is 100% Jewish, » he told AL.com. « My grandparents immigrated from Eastern Europe, and came through Ellis Island. My parents were born in Brooklyn during World War I. There were no manifestations of faith; we were Jewish, that’s why we went to synagogue and not a church. It was just an ethnic characteristic. »
In his 30s, he became a practicing Christian.
« I had an experience of the reality of God at 33, » Wishnatsky said. « I’m a Messianic Jew… That’s the term they use for a Jewish person who has accepted Christ. »
He told AL.com he became a Mormon first, then later became an evangelical Protestant Christian.
Wishnatsky said he attends Centerpoint Fellowship Church in Prattville, Alabama.
When asked by AL.com on whether he identifies himself as a Jew or a Christian, he said he’s both.
« You’re a Jewish person that’s accepted Christ. Jesus was a Jew. Most Jews are not religious. That’s how I grew up. There are the Orthodox who are very serious about Judaism, » he said. « It’s about whether you think God is real, and whether you’re accountable to him. It’s whether you take God seriously. It took me quite a few years to take God seriously. »
