Meet Michael Nathaniel (Ben) Attar

Love for Michelle


Michael measures success, not by what he has accomplished by what he does to enable Michelle to achieve all that God has for her to do. Michael’s primary ministry is creating the right environment and providing financial and emotional resources so that Michelle can minister—well! For example, Michael’s love and support of Michelle helped her to complete her seminary degree while working full-time. Michael and Michelle have been active servants in only two churches. The first for 12 years and their current home church for 25 years where Michelle has been on Staff for over 20 years.

Love for Israel

Michael is a “Sabra”- a Jew born in Israel and an Israeli citizen. Michael is also a “Sephardic” Jew whose family originated from Spain.

Michael’s family name is “Ben Attar.” “Ben” means “son of” and “Attar” means “sweet essence” like the sweet essence of a rose.” He was given his name “Michael” in honor of his grandfather (on his father’s side) “Meekhael Ben Attar” who was a Rabbi in Morocco (North Africa). His grandfather’s entire family was one week away from immigrating to Israel when he died of a stroke. After a period of mourning, the “Ben Attar” family all immigrated from Morocco to Israel. Meekhael’s youngest son, Marc, joined the IDF, where he married, and Michael was born shortly after in the Jewish year of 5720.

Eight days after his birth, Michael’s father arranged for a Mohel (a trained Rabbi) to come to their apartment in Israel and perform his circumcision. Interestingly, the day of circumcision occurred on the “Feast of Trumpets,” which “Modern Jews” refer to as “Rosh Hashanah.” It is the beginning of Israel’s “New Year,” and is also celebrated with the sounding of Trumpets. Michael’s family immigrated from Israel to New York City at the age of three, and he grew up in a reformed Jewish home, observing the Jewish Feasts occasionally, but not faithfully.

Love for the Messiah

At the age of 19, Michael moved to Dallas with the only contact he had (a youth pastor he had been introduced to) but never met. Soon after, through his encounter with mentors from Waco, Texas (Paul J. Meyer and Gary O’Malley) Michael began to read the Bible and attend church services. He came to understand that the Bible consisted of the Old Testament—a picture book prophesying and foreshadowing a Jewish Messiah. And that during Old Testament times God’s people would come to the Tabernacle (and eventually the Temple) with a spotless, pure sacrifice onto which the sins of the individual making the sacrifice would be symbolically placed. The people met with a priest because individuals could not atone for sins and have fellowship with God directly. These sacrifices were repeatedly made to atone for sin and restore the one making the sacrifice into right fellowship with God—until the next sin. It was never-ending. Michael read about how God longed for all people to humble themselves and confess their sin and come back to Him through the required and appropriate sacrifices. And that God, throughout the Old Testament, was planning to introduce a better and final sacrifice. The Jews knew this person of promise as “Messiah.” However, whoever eventually came claiming to be the foreshadowed Messiah would have to be right one hundred percent regarding all the Old Testament prophecy. Michael was fascinated with the prophetic descriptions of where the Messiah would be born, live, how and why He would have to die. So, after reading his Bible and New Testament all day, every day, for about three weeks, Michael made a monumental decision to embrace the New Testament’s teaching concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Michael believed that Jesus (the spotless Passover Lamb), died as a substitute for his sins and rose from the dead on the third day. Michael’s eyes were finally opened to the reality that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophesies and all things Jewish. Jesus Christ was who He said He was— “God—the Messiah.” And in believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Michael became a “Hebrew Christian.”

Love for God’s Word

From the moment, Michael first opened the Bible, at the age of 19, he fell in love with God’s Word. Michael was always, reading, studying, and learning about the “things” of God. And at the age of 30, Michael was teaching the book of Hebrews (verse by verse for two years) to the “Auditorium Class” and elected to the Board of Deacons.

Love for the Trumpet

Michael must have been born with a passion for the trumpet because from the age of 11 until 17, he had a lesson every week with a teacher who became the principal trumpet player of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Michael met his wife, Michelle, in church orchestra at the age of 23 (she plays the cello). Michael continued playing the trumpet every week in church orchestra or worship band (over 20 years) until the age of 47.

Love for serving the Gentiles

Michael is well aware that his job is to BLESS the Gentiles and has served them in many roles, most notably, in a “Mental Health Ministry.” His ministry for 14 years (2005-2019), was to those who have mental illnesses and addiction issues. This ministry blossomed into a “public ministry,” and from (February 2012-July 2019) Michael and his team of volunteers ministered to the “in-patients” of a local hospital, (Carrollton Springs).

Love for the “results” of walking with God through deep personal pain

Michael is also a second-generation survivor of the Holocaust. His mother was born in Poland several days before the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 to begin their methodical process of exterminating the Jewish people. It was Adolf Hitler’s intent and desire to kill ALL Jews in the world. Why? Because if he could kill every Jew, it would prove that the God of the Bible is dead and that God’s “Chosen People” weren’t chosen at all. It would also mean that Christianity was a lie. Thankfully, Michael’s mother and her older sister were “given” to two Polish Gentile families (with piles of money) to be raised as Gentiles. These two families who “saved” them are known as “Righteous Gentiles.”

Michael was given his middle name “Nathaniel” in honor of his grandfather (on his mother’s side). “Nathanial” was a Zionist leader, who believed (like all Zionists) that the Jewish People have a right and obligation to return to their ancestral homeland-ISRAEL. “Nathaniel,” had a Ph.D. in history and ran a prosperous business. He also had an enormous book collection of first editions. Michael’s grandmother said that when the commander of a Nazi troop came into her home and saw his book collection, he was moved to tears. The Nazis took our family’s wealth and resources and then killed “Nathaniel” by shooting him in the head (1941) as his grandmother watched. His grandmother survived the duration of the war living in the “underground.” Unfortunately, the rest of Michael’s mother’s entire family perished in Poland during the Holocaust (excluding his grandmother and her two daughters). In several instances, Michael’s grandmother said that members of her family took cyanide and killed themselves rather than face the Nazi atrocities. Miraculously, Michael’s grandmother and two daughters were reunited in France after the war. Thankfully, God raised up (famed film director) Steven Spielberg who in 1994, formed the Shoah Foundation to record the “testimonies” (in video format) of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust—so that the world will “Never Forget.” Michael’s mother was one of 1,600 chosen, and her testimony of what “actually happened” during the Holocaust was memorialized forever.

Because of what the Nazis did to Michael’s family, he was indoctrinated to avoid Germans, not to do business with them and to never buy German products. And even though the German government had taken some measure of responsibility for their actions by paying Michael’s grandmother, mother (and other survivors of the Holocaust) a monthly stipend, he still hated and blamed the German people for what they did to his family.

In the spring of 2007, Michael read a book entitled, “Forgiveness...the Ultimate Miracle” by Paul J. Meyer. Michael had become a Hebrew Christian because of Paul’s ministry at the age of 19, and except for the Lord Jesus Christ, no person has impacted Michael more than Paul. So, while reading, “Forgiveness...the Ultimate Miracle,” Michael was confronted with the reality that Paul was a German and that his family had immigrated to America from Germany. As Michael reflected on Paul’s impact on his life, he was struck with God’s sense of humor. It was ironic he hated the Germans, but he loved one. Anyhow, because of Paul’s book, Michael was MOVED to finally forgive ALL Germans for what they did to his family.

In 2017, the Vice President of the “Good Mood Foundation” was Zig Ziglar’s Executive Assistant. Sensing an unction in his spirit, in the fall of 2007, Michael asked her to please send Paul J. Meyer a copy of his manuscript “My Pursuit of a Good Mood” along with a cover letter. Michael authored this manuscript several years earlier (from personal struggles) with the intent of encouraging anyone who is having the same or similar “mood struggles.” After reading Michael’s manuscript, Paul called him and offered to publish the book, write the foreword to it and provide the “Good Mood Foundation” with the “first-run” of 10,000 copies to give away. “My Pursuit of a Good Mood” is in its sixth printing and has been given away to well over 15,000 people, with over 5,000 copies distributed to the “in-patients” during the Good Mood Foundation’s “hospital ministry.” With the fourth printing, the book was updated and includes a chapter written by Michael’s wife, Michelle, to encourage spouses, loved ones and caregivers of those who are “struggling,” too.

Love for writing

Michael’s heart is to see all Christians fall deeply in love with the Jewish People, Israel, and the Jewish Messiah. So, he authored “Next Year in Jerusalem—is Now!” which takes his readers on a “journey” to the Biblical sites that can be seen on a “10 Day Introductory Tour” of Israel. Within these sites, Michael uncovers many of the stories concerning Israel and the Jewish people. Also, Michael’s love for the Trumpet fostered his passion for studying all the stories in God’s Word concerning the “Trumpet.” So, he authored “Shofars and Temple Trumpets” to share what God says concerning His Trumpet.

All three of Michael’s books can be read, printed or downloaded for FREE at www.GoodMoodFoundation.org.