Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

Eduard, Julius Anton, born in Lissa (Posen), in 1785. When still a young boy he felt drawn towards Christianity. In order to prevent this tendency developing further, his mother and stepfather, then living at Breslau, sent him away to relatives at Lissa. But in due time he embraced Christianity, and friends helped him to study theology at Berlin, and he was ordained in 1816, and laboured for many years as a faithful and beloved Pastor at Breslau. His name occurs often in the reports of the L.J.S. as one who took a great interest in the mission to the Jews, and as having also accompanied the missionaries on their journey to Poland.

Egsiabher, Debtera Gebra, a very learned Falasha convert, labouring among his brethren in Abyssinia in 1874, when Mr. J. M. Flad met some of the converts at Kassala.

Ehrlich, Herman, born at Cracow in 1837, of a family locally designated as Anshey Emeth (men of truth). He was baptized in London by Dr. Ewald in 1856. After working as a lay-helper for three years, he was appointed missionary by the London City Mission, under whom he has laboured faithfully ever since. He was one of the first organisers of Sunday services in theatres, and he founded the Hebrew Conference Hall, Old Montague Street, Whitechapel, where he is [1909] doing evangelistic work.

Eisenstein, Ferd. Gotthald Maxim, born in Berlin, 1832, died there 1852. Though only twenty years old at his death, yet he was a Ph.D. teacher in the Academy and a notable mathematician.

Eliyahu, Rabbi Mullah, of Bushire, is recorded, together with Eliyahu of Bagdad, as having been baptized at Bagdad in 1852. The father of the latter had lost his occupation among the Jewish community on account of that, and this Eliyahu afterwards accompanied Stern on his journey to Mosul and Kurdistan.

Elkana, Rabbi Paulus, of Prague. Superintendent Olarius, who wrote a preface to a Hebrew translation of the Augsburg confession prepared by Philipp Gallus in 1888, reports of the above rabbi who had been his teacher, that he was converted to the Christian faith through reading a Hebrew translation of the Gospel by St. Matthew and of the Epistle to the Romans.

Elvin, Johannes, carried on missionary work among the Jews in Hamburg in 1850, under great political difficulties.

Emin, Pasha (Edward Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer), born at Oppeln, Prussian Silesia, in 1840; killed at Kinena Station, Congo Free State, October 23, 1892. When he was only six years old his parents had him baptized in the Protestant Church at Neisse. Whether this famous explorer remained a Christian or not is uncertain, but his parents must have either embraced Christianity before or at the time of his baptism.

Eppstein, Rev. John Moses (Levi, such was his name at first), was born at Memel, in Prussia, Feb. 24, 1827, being the son of Elijah Levi and Rose, his wife (née Eppstein). Soon after his birth his father died, and he was brought up by his grandfather, Rabbi Benjamin Eppstein, who retired to Jerusalem when his grandson was nine years old, adopting him as his son, and making him take the name of Eppstein. Until he was sixteen years old Moses was taught little else than Hebrew and the Talmud. About this time several friends of his became Christians. At first the only effect on him of their conversion was to make him more bigoted; indeed, he went about with a dagger for some time in the hope of killing his cousin Lauria, a rabbi who had become a Christian. At last, through the latter, he was led to study the Prophets, and eventually the New Testament. After this his eyes began to be opened to the truth as he saw fact and figure, and type fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, who must have been the promised Messiah. The Talmud was put aside for the whole written Word of God; this he studied at the risk of being killed, the reading of even the Old Testament causing suspicion. He had therefore to resort to all sorts of contrivances to enable him to search the Scriptures. His own words tell out his feelings at this time: – "My convictions deepened daily, and I longed to openly confess the Lord Jesus; but I had not the courage to give up all for Him. All sorts of thoughts swayed my mind, and often, when my conscience troubled me, something would whisper to my troubled heart, 'When you grow up and get your property you will be free to embrace Christianity, now your wisdom is to hide your convictions.' But I was not happy, and continued praying, and the Lord heard my prayer, for I was soon compelled to take refuge with the Society's missionaries. In the house where I lived there was a small synagogue. I was the only Levite in the congregation, so that on days when the Law was read I had to read after the priest; as I was going up to the desk my sash caught, and the tracts I had in it fell out. The bystanders stepped forward to see what they were; on finding their contents, 'Apostate,' they yelled, 'with these about you, you desecrate our place of worship, and dare even to go up to read the Law!' The whole congregation began beating me, and would probably have murdered me, had it not been for one of them. As soon as I was free from my persecutors, my only safety was in flight. I went to my room, and committed myself in prayer to the Lord, and then went straight to the house of Mr. Nicolayson." After a course of instruction he was baptized, July 13, 1844, by Bishop Alexander.

After his baptism he found a situation in Cairo, in which he stayed for several years, until he felt the missionary call. His employer did his best to prevent him leaving, even to offering him a share in his business. But his mind was made up, and he entered the Protestant College at Malta, as a theological student, spending five years there. He then offered himself to the Society, and in 1854 entered the Hebrew College in Palestine Place. In 1857 he was appointed a missionary of the Society at Bagdad. The results of his work are summed up in his own words, "The mission was a great success, not from the number of baptisms, but from the large numbers to whom we preached Christ." In 1867 he commenced his great work at Smyrna, where, through his labours during eighteen years, many Jews were born again, and were baptized. In 1885 he left Smyrna. One who knew him and his work there wrote after his death, "Mr. Eppstein will ever be remembered by thousands of Jews living at Smyrna, and in the interior of Asia Minor. When his death became known many Jews said, 'He was a good man, and loved our people.' He had friends amongst the rich as well as the poor, whilst learned and unlearned looked up to him for his great learning and Talmudical knowledge."

In 1885, on the death of Dr. Stern, he was appointed head of the Society's mission in London, a post for which he was singularly fitted. He knew English, German, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Greek (both modern and classic), Latin, Syriac, Chaldee, Felachi (the Nestorian dialect of Chaldee), Persian, Italian, and Turkish. In 1893 he removed to Bristol, in charge of the "Wanderers' Home." Here his work was greatly blessed, as many as eighty-two Jews being baptized by him up to 1902. During his missionary career he baptized 262 Jews and Jewesses.

At last, in May, 1903, his call came to higher service. Shortly before his death, though suffering greatly, he said he was "the happiest man in the world," and again, "I thank God that He enabled me to lay hold of the Pearl, and to lay hold of it with both my hands." The Society suffered a great loss when Mr. Eppstein passed away to his eternal rest. As a missionary he was to the end most able and faithful, and his life and life work will ever be remembered with heartfelt gratitude to the Almighty God for all that he was able to do through a life so fully dedicated to His service, as was that of the late John Moses Eppstein.

Ewald, Rev. Dr. F. C.[12 - "Biographies of Eminent Hebrew Christians," W. T. Gidney.] In the middle of last century there was no name more familiar to the friends of Israel than that of Dr. Ferdinand Christian Ewald; and no missionary to the Jews was more highly honoured for his work's sake than this distinguished son of Abraham.

It is somewhat difficult to write a memoir of one who was too modest and retiring to say or to write much about himself: and who left but few materials from which to frame a biography, for it was his express wish that no lengthened life should be written. He felt that his record was in Heaven, and that his works would follow him. As he has been at rest for over thirty years, we think that the time has come when an account of his life should be added to that of other labourers in the same field, in which he was by no means the least conspicuous worker.

Ewald was born of Jewish parents, on September 14th, 1801, at the village of Maroldsweisach, near Bamberg, Bavaria. His parents were poor, and the education which the village offered was all they could command. Such, however, was his ability that his friends raised a fund sufficient to send him and his brother (mentioned on page 215) to a better school, where he evinced a great aptitude for languages. Later on he entered the missionary college at Basle. Whilst there he was baptized, in 1824, at the age of twenty-three, by the Rev. Dr. Von Brunn, adding the name of Christian to his patronymic. He remained at Basle for a few years longer, during which the Society paid a part of his training expenses. He subsequently graduated at the University of Erlangen. In 1829 he was accepted as a student in the Society's College, and in 1832 he entered the service of the Society. He took Lutheran orders in the same year, being ordained at Lörrach, near Basle, by the Decanus Hiltzig. These he subsequently laid aside, when he was ordained by the Bishop of London, in 1836.

In the early part of 1832, he visited his native country for the purpose of seeing his mother, his sister and her husband, who resided at Bischberg, near Bamberg, and were still of the Jewish faith. His sister told him, before he parted from her, that she believed that Jesus was the Messiah and Redeemer. His brother Dr. Paulus Ewald, had already renounced Judaism, and was Lutheran Pastor at Merkendorf, Bavaria.

Ewald's missionary career naturally falls into three periods: the first, 1832-41, spent in the Barbary States; the second, 1841-1851, in Jerusalem; and the third and last, 1851-1874, in London. His work was thus both wide in extent and lengthened in duration.

Ewald commenced his work in Africa on September 17th, 1832, by opening a mission at Algiers. The Rev. John Nicolayson, of Jerusalem, having visited that city in the spring of that year, and having met with a cordial reception, came to the conclusion that the newly-emancipated Jews (i. e., from the Moorish to the French dominion in 1830), were ripe for a missionary effort. Consequently Ewald was sent out in the autumn. His reception, however, was chilling in the extreme.

The moment he landed he was told by the Custom House authorities, when they saw the Bibles which he had brought with him for distribution, "You have chosen the worst part of the world for your good intentions; there is nothing to be done in that way here." His answer was, "This book, the Bible, has already done great things, and I trust the Lord will bless it also in this country." Discouragement crossed Ewald at every turn, for he wrote: "All those whom I met with, and to whom I stated the object of my mission, told me that there was nothing to be done here, because the people are too bad – that the Jews are the worst set of people that exist in the world – and that most of the Europeans who have come over are the outcasts of human society. I believe this to be true, but I think, because this is true, I am in my proper place; the Gospel of Christ is able to convert man, to convert even publicans to righteousness."

Ewald commenced to work amongst the Jews speaking to them and selling his Hebrew Bibles. On one day he sold as many as nineteen copies for twenty-six francs, a large sum from poor Jews; but they would not take the New Testament. He also hired a house, intending to have services there for Jews, when the French Governor-General sent him a letter forbidding him to preach. This was a great blow, virtually suspending missionary operations, and Ewald left Algiers.

His next attempt to found a mission in the Barbary States was more fortunate, and he had the honour of establishing the Society's mission in Tunis, in 1833, laying the foundation of the extensive and encouraging work now carried on by the Rev. C. F. W. Flad, the son of the Society's veteran Abyssinian missionary, Mr. J. Martin Flad.

At the time of Ewald's appointment to Tunis, which was before the days of the French occupation, the Jews were greatly oppressed by the native population. Indeed his very first experience, gained before his actual arrival, gave him an insight into the way in which this persecution was carried on. At Goletta, the port of Tunis, he met more than 300 Jewish men, women and children, who were seeing some of their friends off to Jerusalem. He says: —

"I saw a specimen of the cruel treatment the poor Jews meet with in this country. Some of those who accompanied their brethren to the Goletta sat down upon a bank, from which they could look to the ships where they embarked for Jerusalem; but soon there came a Moor with a stick in his hand, and drove them away. An old Jew, with a white beard, spoke some words to the man which I could not hear, as I was standing too far off; on this the Moor got into a passion, and smote the poor Jew repeatedly in his face. I cannot express what I felt when seeing this – 'O! that the Salvation of Israel would come out of Zion; O! that the Lord would bring back the captivity of His people; then,' and only then, 'will Jacob rejoice, and Israel be glad!' Now poor Israel is oppressed everywhere more or less."

Ewald made a very successful beginning amongst the Jews of Tunis, and found an open door in that dark and benighted country. Within three months he had sold 398 Bibles, New Testaments, and portions in Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Spanish and French, for in so many different languages had the work to be carried on.

He instituted a service on Sunday, and had much intercourse with Jews, including several rabbis, one of whom was excommunicated for visiting him. Ewald used to visit the Jewish quarter with his pockets full of tracts.

In July of 1834 Ewald visited Monastir and Susa, at both of which places he was able to proclaim the Gospel to numbers of Jews. He was back at Tunis in September, and at once resumed his intercourse with Jews. He says: – "I have from morning till night every possible opportunity for preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus our Lord to Jews and Mahometans, sometimes in my own dwelling-place – at other times in their habitations, or shops, synagogues, or in the market-place. The desire to read and to possess the Word of God is daily increasing among the remnant of Israel in this country. Even the very poor save a few shillings in order to buy the pearl of great price. Others who are even too poor to follow their example, made an agreement to pay a few pence every week. Doors have been opened for the circulation of the Scriptures along the coast and in some places in the interior."

In 1835 Ewald visited the Jews along the northern coast of Africa – Solimon, Nabal, Hammamet, Susa, Monastir, Medea, El-Djem, Sfax, Gabes, Menzel, Shara, the Island of Gerba, and Tripoli were visited, and the Gospel preached to many thousands and thousands of copies of the Bible were placed in their hands, and tens of thousands of tracts circulated. Most interesting records of this visit remain, to one of which we cannot refrain from referring. Ewald was preaching on the wild shores of Gabes, where the Jews had never so much as heard of Christ, but where the general cry was, "Give me a Bible; give me a Bible; here is the money for it!" so that he had none left for other places, at which the poor Jews cried out for the Word of God, like children perishing with hunger.

In 1836 Ewald made a visit to England for ordination, but was soon back at his work again. We cannot follow this devoted and faithful missionary in his untiring efforts for the lost sheep of Israel in Africa, and must be content with giving his own summary of his labours. On the last day of the year 1838, he wrote: —

"I have now been since 1832 on the coast of Africa. It has been my privilege to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to many thousands of the sons of Abraham during that period. To thousands I have been permitted to present the oracles of God, and tens of thousands of tracts have been put into circulation among the great mass of the Jewish population of this country. The effect produced by these various means of grace may be thus described: The greater part of the Jews know now that Christianity is not a system of idolatry, but a revelation of God built upon the Scriptures; that the precepts of the Gospel are very good and beneficial to mankind. They acknowledge, for the most part, that the only difference which exists between the Christians and the Jews is, that the former maintain the Messiah is come, and Jesus Christ is the Messiah, whilst the latter deny both, which may, however, fairly be decided by the Word of God. They perceive that true Christians are not the enemies of the Jews, but, on the contrary, their well-wishers, who provide them with the Scriptures, and pray for their real welfare. The greater part of them are now acquainted with the written Word of God, and we are able to appeal with more effect to the testimony of Scripture without being constantly told, 'These passages do not occur in our Bibles, but are a fabrication of yours, in order to make us believe that Jesus is the Messiah.'"

For three years more Ewald carried on the work, and then, owing to repeated attacks of ophthalmia, he had to return to England in 1841, after a residence of some eight years in the Barbary States.

He did not, however, long remain idle, for he was within a few months appointed to assist in the Society's Mission in Jerusalem, and he and his wife were members of the party which accompanied Dr. Alexander, the first Anglican Bishop, to the Holy City. They sailed from Portsmouth on December 7th, 1841, and reached Jerusalem on January 21st – being six weeks on the journey, which is now accomplished in nine or ten days.

For ten years Ewald laboured earnestly in the work of the conversion of the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem, being also chaplain to Bishop Alexander during that prelate's occupation of the see.

One of the most interesting incidents connected with Ewald's labours in the Holy City was the instruction and baptism of certain rabbis. Three, named respectively, Abraham, Benjamin, and Eliezer, had placed themselves under Christian instruction. A deputation from the Jews of Tiberias arrived to enquire whether the report was true, that fourteen rabbis of Jerusalem had embraced Christianity. The Jews of Jerusalem, very much exasperated on that account, did all in their power to avoid coming in contact with the missionaries, and removed all the books which they had previously received through the mission, in order that they might not be suspected.

Shortly afterwards two of the rabbis, Eliezer and Benjamin, known henceforth as Christian Lazarus Lauria and John Benjamin Goldberg, were baptized with two other enquirers, Isaac Paul Hirsch and Simon Peter Fränkel. The Rev. John Nicolayson, the head of the Society's mission, referring to the event, wrote: "It is not a small thing, that the apparently impenetrable phalanx of rabbinism at Jerusalem has thus actually been broken into; and two Jerusalem rabbis been incorporated into the restored Hebrew Christian Church on Mount Zion. How sore the Jews felt on this occasion you can easily conceive. They were, in fact, after all, taken by surprise, and felt sadly disappointed in having to yield up at last any lingering hope they might have had of their return."

Of the third rabbi, Abraham, Mr. Ewald said: "There was, indeed, something which marred my joy on that occasion, which was the absence of rabbi Abraham. For years had he been the faithful companion of rabbi Eliezer and rabbi Benjamin; he had the same convictions, but he could not leave his wife; the struggles between natural affection and spiritual blessings were too hard for him, and he returned." Ewald witnessed other interesting missionary events at Jerusalem, which had a great bearing upon the subsequent history of the Society; namely, the baptism of John Moses Eppstein, and the ordination of Messrs. Tartakover, A. J. Behrens, Sternchuss, Murray Vicars, and Henry Aaron Stern.

During the early part of his sojourn there, Ewald had the great misfortune to lose his wife, who died on January 16th, 1844. He brought his motherless children to London, but returned to Jerusalem in 1846, just after his second marriage. In the same year he published a "Journal of Missionary Labours in the City of Jerusalem, during the years 1842-4," which are exceedingly interesting reading, even after this lapse of time.

It is striking to note that at that time the Jewish population of Jerusalem was only 6,000, out of a total of 18,000; whereas the Jewish population now [1909] numbers 60,000, out of a total of 80,000.

Ewald was compelled to leave the East, owing to ill-health, in 1851, when he became the Society's senior missionary in London. He at once made his way into the hearts and homes of many Jews, and founded, in November, 1853, an institution for poor enquiring Jews, called "The Wanderers' Home." Such was its success that within five years 303 Jews and Jewesses had availed themselves of its benefits, no less than 150 being baptized; 76 entered the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, and six went to the Society's College. In 1858, owing to lack of financial support, the Home was closed. It was, however, re-opened in 1860, and has, under Dr. Ewald's and successive management, been the means of influencing large numbers of Jews in a Christian direction.

Ewald's reports of his work are full of encouraging missionary facts. He was in labours "most abundant," both for the Society and the "Wanderers' Home." For nineteen years he was at the head of affairs, and at least forty Jewish families in London were brought through his means to faith in Christ. He was one of the ablest missionaries who ever served the Society.

In 1858 Ewald thus wrote of the work: "Certainly, mighty changes have taken place amongst those Jews to whom the missionary has not been debarred an access. If you go into their houses, you find on their table the Bible, the Old and New Testament, just as you see it on the table of Christians, and I have seen the authorized version of the Bible not only in private houses, but in the synagogue. When you converse with intelligent Jews, you soon observe that they have read the New Testament, and other Christian books and that they know what the fundamental doctrines of Christianity are, namely: the fall of man; the redemption of mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ; the atonement; the Deity of Christ; the doctrine of the Trinity, &c.; and they know also that every true Christian believes these doctrines. Then, much of the animosity towards converts has been gradually removed, by the number of Jews who have embraced Christianity. You cannot meet with many Jewish families who do not count among their relatives some converts. I have myself heard Jews defending their friends, not for having embraced Christianity, but from the alleged imputation of having embraced it through impure motives. The more Christianity gains ground in the Jewish community, the more will friendly feelings arise towards those of their number who conscientiously look upon the Lord Jesus as the Christ. Amongst fifty thousand Jews in England we reckon three thousand converts. In London alone there are eleven ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ who are converted Jews, preaching the Word of Life to perishing sinners, whose ministry the Lord owns by granting them many souls for their hire. These thousands of converts are as a salt in the earth, and through their instrumentality a work is carried on silently and quietly in this country. They have all acquaintances and friends, to whom they speak occasionally of the Lord Jesus; and thus true religion is spread among the Jews."

When, in 1870, Dr. Ewald, owing to increasing years, retired from the mission, he could thankfully look back upon a successful career, whether passed in North Africa, Palestine, or London. During his residence in the metropolis hundreds of Jews were baptized, out of some thousands instructed by him.

Dr. Ewald died at Gipsy Hill, London, on August 9th, 1874, at the age of 73 years.

Ewald published in 1856 a German translation of "Abodah Zarah" (Idolatrous Worship), the name of one of the treatises of the Mishnah, of the Tosefta, and of the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmud, for which his University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. A distinction which he valued still more highly was the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, which honour was conferred upon him by the Patron of the Society, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in consideration of, as the diploma stated, his proficiency in the study of divinity, of Hebrew and Oriental languages and literature; and also of his missionary labours and eminent services in the promotion of Christianity amongst the Jews.

The then Bishop of Carlisle (Dr. Montagu Villiers) described Dr. Ewald as a "missionary genius," a description fully deserved for his ability and devotion to the work to which he gave his life.

Ewald, Dr. Paulus, a brother of the preceding, also embraced Christianity. He was lecturer at the University of Erlangen, and later became Pastor of Pappenreuth, Bavaria. He published a translation of the Talmud tract, "Pirke Aboth" (The Ethics of the Fathers), in 1825.

Ezekiel, Hakim David, a physician and famous Talmudist at Bagdad, and son of a rich Jew, was baptized there in 1850, and subsequently laboured as a colporteur in the mission.

Falk, Max, Hungarian statesman and journalist, born at Budapest in 1828, became a Christian as a student at the University. He displayed great talent as a writer and politician. In 1866 he was appointed as instructor of Hungarian to the Empress Elizabeth. The next year he became editor-in-chief to the "Pester Lloyd," raising that paper to a high level of excellence. In 1869 he was elected a member of the Hungarian House of Representatives. The Emperor of Austria has decorated him with the Komthur Cross of the Order of St. Stephen.

Fanta, Kendy, together with Beru and I. Jasu, were indefatigable in proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to their brethren during the captivity of the missionaries in Abyssinia.

Faro, Aharon Gabai Rodriguez, a rich Portuguese Jew living in Holland in the seventeenth century, was converted through reading Ragstatt de Weile's tract, "de Heerlykheyd Jesu Christi," and having heard of an attempt that was made by a Jewish teacher to murder the author, he decided to be baptized by him. Ragstatt himself mentioned the case in the sermon which he preached on the occasion on Ps. ii. 6.

Fauber, of Gran, a highly respected Jew in Pesth, was baptized in 1847.