Aaron Bernstein - Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

Rosenthal, David Augustus, German physician and author, born at Neisse, Silesia, 1812; died at Breslau, 1575. In 1851 he embraced Roman Catholicism and set about to improve the tone of the Catholic press and the condition of the Catholics of Silesia. In 1862 he edited the poetical works of the Roman Catholic mystic, Angelus Silesius, better known as Johan Scheffler. Between 1869 and 1872, he published his "Convertetenbilder aus dem neinzehnten Jahrhundert" (4 vols., Schaffhausen), or biographical sketches of Jews and Protestants who had embraced the Roman Catholic faith during the nineteenth century. This was arranged according to countries. A supplement of the entire work is found in the last volume. The "Convertetenbilder," which went through several editions, is a very important contribution to the history of the Church in the nineteenth century, and supplements de le Roi's work, "Geschichte der Evangelischen Juden Mission," which treats only of the Jews who have joined the Protestant Church.

Santangel (Sancto Angelos) Luis (Azorias) De, a convert and learned jurist of Calatayad, Spain, died before 1459. He was converted by the sermons of Vincent Ferrer (probably in 1412, when that missionary was most active) and was made magistrate of the capital of Aragon. One of his grandsons took part in the discovery of America by lending 17,000 ducats towards the expenses without interest.

Sixtus Sinensis, born at Sienna in 1520; died in 1569. After embracing Christianity he joined the Franciscan Order. By the order of Paul IV., Sixtus and another convert travelled about the Papal States preaching in the synagogues. He was more favourable to the Zohar than to the Talmud. Besides homilies and mathematical writings, Sixtus was the author of the "Bibliotheca Sancta" (Venice, 1566), a Latin work in eight books, treating of the divisions and authority of the Bible. It contains an alphabetical index and an alphabetical list of the rabbinical interpreters of the Bible.

Ugolino Blaisio, an Italian Jewish convert, born about 1700. He is known for his "Thesaurus Antiquitatum" (34 vols., Venice, 1744-69). In this work he reprinted most of the seventeenth century treatises on Jewish antiquities by Bochart, Bonfrère, Buxtrof, Carpzov, Cellarius, Clavering, Deyling, Goodwin, Hottinger, Huet, Lowth, Opitz, Pfeiffer, Prideaux, Reland, Rhenferd, Saubertius, Selden, Sigonius, Spencer, Trigland, Van Til, Wagenseil, and Witsius, besides some from fresh contributors, and translating much himself from the "Midrashim." He also himself translated the treatises Menahoth, and Zebahim (vol. xxi.) Pesahim, Shekalim, Yoma, Succa, Rosh-Hashanah, Tamid, Megilah, Hagigah, Bezah, Moed Katon, Ma'aseroth, Maaser Sheni, Hallah, Orlah, and Bikkurim (vols, xvii. – xix.), besides a part of Maimonides' "Yad-Hazakah," and of Abraham Portaleone's "Shilte ha Gibborim."

Veil, Ludwig Karl de, a native of Metz, whose father and grandfather were rabbis, the latter an author of Hebrew books, embraced the Roman Catholic faith at the age of 17, when he was a teacher of Hebrew in 1655. It is said that Louis XIII., King of France, compelled him to be baptized in Compiègne. At all events, the King and the Queen were his sponsors. He is also called Compiègne, after the town. He became afterwards ordinary Royal professor of Oriental languages in the Sorbonne, Paris. Wagenseil, who made his acquaintance in Paris, praises him for his modesty as well as for his learning and talents. Ludwig de Veil translated the first eight tracts of the "Yad-Hazakah" of Maimonides into Latin, adding notes thereto (Paris, 1662-78); also "Sefer Hakorbanoth," with Abrabanel's introduction to Leviticus (London, 1683). A separate edition of this introduction appeared under the title "Hakdamat Abravenl El Sefer Wayikra" (Amsterdam, 1701).

Veit, Johann Emanuel was born in Ruthenplan, in Bohemia, in 1789, died in Vienna in 1876. He was the son of a rich Jew named Benedict (Boruch). He studied medicine and philosophy first at Prague and then in Vienna, in which city he became professor and director in the Veterinary College in 1819. In the newspaper "Bohemia," he was reported to have given the reason for his conversion in these words: – "I went through the Old Testament, and now I must look into the New." And to Döllinger he once said, "Judaism is the vestibule to the Hall Christianity, and I wanted to pass from the one to the other." Here are some remarks which he made occasionally in letters to friends with reference to his spiritual development and his coming to Christ. Thus he wrote: – "The time past, the near as well as the remote, lies behind me like a series of dissolving views. I am not in the state to give chronological data, I know only that it is a good while ago that a decided direction to the positive belief took me without my exertion." A deeper view is given to us in the following letter: – "You do not know the miserable history of my life, neither the ways by which the Divine Mercy has conducted me, nor the unutterable distress incumbent upon me. Nobody did know me, myself the least, but the Lord has helped me wonderfully. What can the world judge of a poor, contrite old student, full of sinfulness, craving only God's love, who has finally prostrated himself, in great anxiety of heart, at the feet of Jesus, the Crucified, crying, 'O Lord, do not cast away from Thee the poor dog which licks Thy feet, although it stretches still its nostrils to the hideous savours of this world.'" Having such a confession before us, we forbear to search after other influences which may have worked upon his soul. A true Israelite, with the humility of the woman of Samaria, he found in Jesus Christ the peace with God which neither Judaism, the modernised as little as the rabbinical, nor the philosophical systems could give him. Of course, he desired to confess his belief in Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Redeemer by baptism, and this he did on May 4th, 1816, in the Church of St. Carl, Vienna. Eventually Veit was appointed as Cathedral preacher at St. Stephen's and his fervent eloquence drew large crowds to hear him, and many on bended knees cried out for pardon of secret sins. When in 1840 the Damascus blood accusation affair took place, Veit stood up in the pulpit before the whole congregation, lifted up a crucifix, and swore solemnly that this oft repeated accusation had no foundation whatever in fact.

Wolken of Ratisbon, a convert to Roman Catholicism in the second half of the fifteenth century. In contrast to Veit, he was an accuser of his former co-religionists. Whether this arose from personal spite or from superstition does not matter. His memory is only here preserved as a warning to others.

Wolowski, a Polish family in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, directly descended from Osias Tebuat Shor, gave to the Roman Catholic Church several members, viz. , a Jewess named Hayya Wolowski (she had an excellent knowledge of the "Zohar"), Nathan ben Elisha (Michael Wolowski) and his brother Solomon (Lucas Francis Levi Wolowski). They were all influenced in favour of Christianity by the Frankist movement. Some descendants of this family are still living in Galicia.

The subject under the above title requires a special paragraph, because it manifests to us the zeal which English Christians in the Middle Ages displayed with regard to the conversion of the Jews, and that their effects were richly blessed.

In an article in the "Hebrew Christian Witness," 1875, by Christopher Chattoc, of Haye House, Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire, entitled "Traces of Early Anglo-Hebrew Christians from Authentic Sources," he says: – "All our best historians allege that, at the expulsion of the Jews from this country in 1290, about fifteen thousand were expelled. If we compare this number with the approximate amount of the then population, it is something considerable, and if we take the present population of the country and compare the number of converted and unconverted Jews at the present time, the relative proportion of converted Jews in 1290 would be at least – say, five hundred. This cannot by any means be considered an excessive estimate for men, women and children, as the conqueror is said to have brought over Jews in great numbers, and they were much favoured by the three first Norman kings. The 'Domus Conversorum,' or home for converts, was established in 1232 (by order of Henry III.), a private one in 1213 in London, and one even much earlier still in Oxford." He then gives a list of three long pages full of names of clergy and others, in which he traces Jewish names anglicized, and refers to quite a number of historical works. This cannot for want of space be reproduced here. I will only mention that Dr. M. Margoliouth said that there were three Kings in Great Britain by the name of Solomon. But the article by Rabbi Michael Adler, in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," may be given in abridged form. "The 'Domus Conversorum' was situated in Chancery Lane and had a Chapel attached to the buildings. 4 4 The house was taken from a Jew named Herberton. A similar institution, on a much more modest scale, having been commenced by the clergy in 1213. A chaplain was appointed to instruct the converts and a warden to attend to their temporal affairs. Each male inmate received 1½d., equal to about 2s. 6d. of the present currency, and each female 1d. During the fifty years that elapsed from the time of the founding of the 'Domus' until the year of the great expulsion, about a hundred Jews in all (?) participated in the benefits of the institution, a small proportion out of the 1,600 Jews in England. All the expenses of the 'Domus' were borne by the royal treasury, while some of the bishops left bequests to augment its funds. In addition to these sources of income, a small poll-tax, called 'the chevage,' was levied upon all Jews, above the age of twelve, to support their converted brethren. The treasury grant amounted annually to £202 0s. 4d. (in present currency about £4,000). At times this contribution was not forthcoming, and the 'converts' were reduced to sore straits of poverty. In 1271 the King addressed a letter to the Mayor of London, and to the Warden of the 'Domus' complaining of numerous irregularities in the management of the house; and it was not till the year of 1280, under the custos of John de St. Denis, that definite regulations for the control of the institution were drafted. The records of the 'Domus' end at the year 1608. As late as the year 1717 a London converted Jew petitioned King George I. for a grant from the funds of the 'Domus.'"