Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ. Bernstein Aaron

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СКАЧАТЬ 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.

      ADDENDA.

      Converts in the "Domus Conversorum" in London

      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 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.'"

      In accordance with the method pursued in this work, I give an alphabetical list of the converts mentioned by name, in the above article, as converts in the house: —

      Arthur Antoc, 1663.

      Aseti Briasti and his wife, Perota, of France, in the 14th century.

      Belager, a rabbi of Oxford, entered the house in 1281.

      Claricia, a Jewess from Exeter, resided there in 1353.

      Elizabeth, described as the daughter of Rabbi Moses, Episcopus Judæorum, joined the converts in 1339. She remained in the house for seventeen years.

      Edward of Westminster lived there from 1461 to 1503.

      Edward Scales, from 1503 to 1527.

      Elizabeth Ferdinando, admitted in 1603.

      Elizabeth Baptista, from 1504 to 1532.

      Elizabeth Portugale, from 1492 to 1538.

      Fortunati Massa, admitted in 1581.

      Henry of Stratford, 1416-41.

      John of Castile, admitted in 1366.

      John de Sancta Maria of Spain, 1371-1405.

      John Durdragt of Dordrecht, Holland, 1425-55.

      John Fernando of Spain, 1487-1503.

      Katherine Wheteley, admitted in 1532.

      Mary Crook, admitted in 1532.

      Martin, son of Henry of Woodstock, 1413-1468, the longest period of residence.

      Nathaniel Menda, from the Barbary States, 1578-1608. He was baptized in London by John Foxe, the author of "The Book of Martyrs."

      Philip СКАЧАТЬ