Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ

Sachs, Marcus, was born of wealthy parents in 1812, at Inowrallan in Posen. His father sent him to an uncle to study at the Gymnasium and afterwards at the University there. During his studies he lost his faith in Judaism and became a follower of Voltaire. In 1842 he went to Edinburgh and became acquainted with the professor of theology, Dr. John Brown, who made an effort to win him for Christianity, and gave him to read the well-known book of Abbot Guenée "Lettres de quelques Juifs Portugais, Allemands et Polonais à M. Voltaire." After he returned it Dr. Brown asked him whether he would like to read a book which defended the Christian religion? and on his affirmative reply he gave him Limbroch's "Amica Collatio cum erudito Judæo." These two books removed his prejudices, and he then began to read the New Testament, and after months of enquiry, deliberation and prayer he decided to accept Christianity by faith, and was baptized by Dr. Brown, April 5th, 1843. He then studied under Dr. Chalmers, and was licensed to preach, and became tutor of Hebrew in the Seminary of the Free Church at Aberdeen. He is described as a most humble and loving Christian man by Dr. Saphir and others who knew him. He died there on September 29th, 1869, passing away with the leaves of autumn, a ripe sheaf into the garner of God.

Salkinson, Isaac Edward, was born at Wilna, and died at Vienna, June 5th, 1883. According to some, his father's name was Solomon Salkind. As a youth he set out for America with the intention of entering a rabbinical seminary there; but whilst in London he was met by agents of the L.J.S., from whom he heard the Gospel and was converted and baptized. His first appointment as a missionary to the Jews was at Edinburgh, where he became a student in the Divinity Hall. He was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church at Glasgow, in 1859. He was then a missionary of the British Society in various towns, including Pressburg, and finally settled in Vienna (1876). Salkinson translated "Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation" under the title "Sod ha-Jeshu'ah" (Altona, 1858); "Milton's Paradise Lost," under the title "Wa Yegaresh et haadam" (Vienna, 1871); Shakespeare's "Othello" and "Romeo and Juliet," under the titles "Itiel ha kushi" (ib., 1874; preface by P. Smolensky); and "Ram we-Yael" (ib., 1878); Tiedge's "Urania," under the title "Ben Koheleth" (ib., 1876, revised); and the New Testament under the title "Haberith Hahadasha." The last mentioned translation was undertaken for the British Society in 1887; it was published posthumously under the supervision of Dr. C. D. Ginsburg at Vienna in 1886.

Salvador, Yonkheer Moses, flourished at Amsterdam in the middle of the nineteenth century. One of his ancestors built the Salvador house near the Bank of England. It is said that the Salvadors were direct descendants of the Maccabees, the Saviours of Israel, hence the name Salvador, meaning Saviour. Moses Salvador was intimately acquainted with Pauli and welcomed him to his house, where they discussed the subject of Christianity. The result was that he joined the French Reformed Church, at Haarlem in 1852. For a long time after his conversion he used to give Thursday evening lectures on Christianity, which were attended by Christians and Jews.

Samany, a native of Assesso in Abyssinia, was one of Flad's early converts there. He had to undergo bitter reproaches from his mother and relations on account of his becoming a Christian, but his reply to his mother was that he loved her now better than before, and that he would take care of her. Working on his weaver's stool he at the same time used to speak to his two sisters of the "pearl of great price" that he had found, and they too became Christians. During the imprisonment of the missionaries, he attached himself to Waldemayer, who was free. After the arrival of the English expedition he went to the coast, where he and his companion Petrus were met by the Jewish traveller Halevy, who gave them some money and promised to take them to Paris. Not perceiving at once his intention, they accepted the money, but they brought it back to him the next morning, and as he refused to take it back, they threw it into the sea, although they suffered hunger at the time. Then they went to Magdala, and afterwards with Flad to Europe, and were placed in the training school at St. Chrischona, near Basle. But as Samany could not stand the climate there, Flad took him to his own house at Kornthal, and was then obliged to send him back to Abyssinia. On his return he and Agashe preached the Gospel earnestly to the Falashas. Samany continued to do so even from his sick bed. Conscious that the time of his departure had come, he asked that the coffin which he had before prepared for himself should be placed before him, then saying, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," he entered into rest.

Samson, Lewis Paul, was an English Jew by birth, the son of a Dutch "sopher" (writer of scrolls of the law and of phylacteries). When a boy he used to hear Dr. McNeile at St. Jude's, Liverpool, and in other ways came in contact with Christian influences. When he became forty years old he was asked by his children to hear them repeat a portion of Scripture which they had been taught at school. It happened to be Isaiah liii., and it proved to be the turning point in his life. Like many another Jew, he could not believe at first that it was a part of the Old Testament, but it led eventually to his baptism by a Hebrew Christian, who was one of the Society's missionaries.

His public profession of Christianity made him an object of abhorrence to his brothers and sisters, though later on they learned to respect him for his simple, unswerving faith, and some of them, it is believed, became Christians. He continued his occupation, but at the same time was an active worker in St. Jude's parish, until his appointment under the Society. He was a man of one book and that book the Bible, which he knew almost by heart. Many a Jew was struck by his intimate knowledge of the Word of God, and none ever doubted his being a true believer, however much they disliked his invariably holding up Christ before them. Many of the poor Jews, both converted and unconverted, missed him, after his death, as a friend in need, who often used to minister to their necessities out of his scanty earnings. At one time, he was known to have lived for weeks on sixpence a day, to save up the money which he had borrowed and advanced to a Jew who either could not, or would not, repay. No wonder that so many Christians learned to love and respect him as "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."

Saphir, Rev. Adolph, D.D. We learn from him the story of his conversion in one short sentence: "I, at that time, a lad in my twelfth year, was the first of our family to accept the Gospel." Mr. Wingate, who gives an account of the event, says that the Jews testified to Adolph's being born again from on high. "We heard that the Jews were saying that the Holy Ghost had fallen on Saphir's son, and that he expounded the Scripture as they had never heard it before." In the autumn of 1843, Adolph went to Dr. Duncan in Edinburgh, that he might perfect his knowledge of English, where he remained six months, and then went to Berlin, and studied at the Gymnasium from 1844 to 1848, acquiring a thorough knowledge not only of German literature, but also of German philosophy. In 1848-49, he was tutor in the family of Mr. William Brown in Aberdeen. In 1854, after finishing his theological studies, he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, and licensed as a preacher in Belfast. He then laboured as a missionary to the Jews in Hamburg for one year. Then he had the charge of a church in South Shields, and in 1861 he received a call to Greenwich, where people from various churches flocked to hear him. In 1872 a church was purchased for him at Notting Hill, where his ministry was always attended by all sorts of earnest Christians, especially his Thursday morning lectures. This was also the case wherever he went to preach. Saphir's love and devotion to his people and to the cause of missions was boundless. He died April 4, 1891, a few days after his wife. His last sermon was on the text, "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." The following are some of Saphir's works: (1) "Who is a Jew?"; (2) "Who is an Apostate?"; (3) "Expository Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews"; (4) "The Hidden Life"; (5) "Our Life Day"; (6) "Found by the Good Shepherd"; (7) "Life of Faith"; (8) "The Compassion of Jesus"; (9) "The Everlasting Nation"; (10) "Christian Perfection"; (11) "The Unity of the Scriptures"; (12) "Christ and the Scriptures"; (13) "The Lord's Prayer"; (14) "Israel's Present and Future"; and (15) "All Israel shall be Saved."

Saphir, Israel, brother of the famous satirist at Vienna, was living in Pesth in the first half of the nineteenth century, where, owing to his erudition and character, he exercised great influence upon the Jewish community, and was regarded by them as another Gamaliel. Coming in contact with the Scotch missionaries, Dr. Duncan, Mr. Wingate, Mr. Smith and Dr. Schwartz, he heard the Gospel from them, and when convinced of its truth he did not hesitate to embrace it. This is described by his son in a few words: "Through the instrumentality of the Scotch missionaries my father saw the truth as it is in Jesus, and was received into the Christian Church in 1843 at the age of sixty-three years."

Saphir, Philipp, an elder brother of Adolph, was rather inclined to worldliness, but became serious when there was an inundation in Pesth, and he had tried to save life. In 1842 Rev. Dr. Schwartz passed through Pesth on his way to Constantinople, and Philipp heard his addresses to Jews, and was impressed, becoming conscious of sin and the need of pardon. He was baptized in the Calvinistic Church of Pesth, in 1843, by Superintendent Paul Török. He wrote afterwards to Mr. Schwartz: "I was admitted into the Church of Christ. I cannot describe my feelings to you. Ah! the infinite love of God! He has given me much peace, nothing will deprive me of it. I am happy, joyful; my soul is with God. I praise Christ every hour." He then, being nineteen years of age, went to Carlsruhe to be trained as a teacher, and on his return to Pesth in 1845, at once set to work and organized a Y.M.C.A. Becoming ill, he taught poor Christian and Jewish children gratis from his sick bed "The Evangelical doctrine as he found it in the Word of God." He died September 27, 1849, whilst his father knelt by his side with two friends engaged in prayer. The daughters of Israel Saphir all became devoted Christians. One was married to Rev. Dr. Schwartz, and the other to Rev. C. A. Schönberger, both well known in the Christian Church.

Saul, Aaron, was baptized by the L.J.S. missionaries in 1812. Lewis Way took him to his Seminary. He however did not become at once a missionary, but engaged in business and held the office of Clerk in Palestine Place Chapel, and taught in the Sunday School for twenty-seven years. He devoted himself especially to the care of enquirers and to the circulation of the "Old Paths" and other missionary literature among the Jews in London. From 1841 to 1843, he laboured as missionary at Brussels, and died in London, Jews following his funeral.

Sargon, Michael, was born of Jewish parents at Cochin in 1795, and died about 1855. He was converted in 1818, through the preaching of J. Jarrett of Madras, and became the first missionary of the L.J.S. to the Jews in India. In 1820 Sargon visited his parents at Cochin, who received him kindly, and for a time the Jews there seemed to have no objection to discussing with him his new faith. A local committee was found in Madras with Sargon as the representative missionary. Madras became the centre of the Society's work in India. In 1822 Sargon had 116 Jewish children under his charge at Cochin, but in 1824 he was transferred to Bombay, where he opened, under the auspices of the L.J.S., a school exclusively for Jews. In Cochin Sargon baptized a Jew and two Jewesses in 1828. He and his brother Abraham continued their educational activity for nearly thirty-nine years after the Society had ceased to give a grant to the Bombay mission. (Report of L.J.S., 1821.)

Schapiro, B. A. M. One summer morning in the year 1890 there visited the reading room of the Hebrew Christian Mission, 17, St. Mark's Place, New York, a Hebrew lad of nineteen years, with bright eyes and curly black hair. He had just arrived there from Germany, although he was a native of Poland. The boy's keen, intelligent countenance attracted the attention of the Rev. Jacob Freshman, Superintendent of the mission, and as several Jewish men were having a lesson in English, that gentleman suggested that the young Jew should become a member of the class. The stranger knew no English, the teacher had no knowledge of Polish or Russian, consequently their conversation was carried on mainly by pantomime, and with the help of one of the scholars, who acted as interpreter. Jews are naturally fine students, grasping knowledge with avidity. The new arrival proved no exception to the rule, and so before the forenoon ended he had learned the English names of the articles of furniture in the room, the days of the week, the numerals from one to ten, and also how to write his name, "Benjamin Aaron Moses Alexander Schapiro", in English script. Long after, when he had learned to speak English with ease, we asked: "Why did your parents burden you with such a number of names?" "Because," was his answer, "they hoped and wished that I might combine in my character, when I came to manhood, the qualities of patriarch, priest, prophet and king." He was a fine Hebrew scholar, and carefully followed in a Hebrew Bible the Psalms which the other pupils read in English. We found at our next visit the new pupil awaiting our coming. His countenance glowed with pleasure, as he cordially grasped our hand and proceeded to dispose of our satchel and umbrella. That morning he read several pages in an English primer. When we went again we found that Benjamin had taken his departure, though urged by the superintendent and his kind wife, for they both had become greatly interested in him, to make their house his home for an unlimited period. His proud, ambitious spirit chafed at the thought of becoming a burden on the hands of strangers, so he started out to earn his own living, an entirely new experience in his case. Hitherto he had never been called upon to solve the three vital problems: "What to eat," "What to drink," "Wherewithal to be clothed." His brief stay at the mission proved, however, a very important epoch in this young life. The seeds of Gospel truth were sown in his heart, and afterwards quickened by the Holy Spirit, sprang up, budded, blossomed, and ultimately bore the fruitage of earnest work for the Master. Two years had elapsed since our first meeting. One evening, at the close of the service in a Hebrew Christian Church, we were cordially greeted by a young man. The native dress had been changed for American, the hair arranged in a different style, etc. So great was the transformation that at the first glance we failed to recognize our quondam pupil and friend. He then told us what had befallen him since we last met. He had, soon after leaving the mission, found employment with Mr. Benjamin Clayton, a butcher at Jamaica, L. I. Imagine, if you can, what a trial it must have been to one brought up to a strict observance of the tenets of orthodox Judaism to have to handle "Gentile" meat, especially the abhorred pork. A Christian man who dealt at the shop became interested in the young stranger, seeing him to be the possessor of talents which ought to be improved and developed. This kind friend placed him under Christian tutors.

Eventually Mr. Schapiro was converted, and publicly confessed Christ, and united with a church in Brooklyn. Soon after taking this important and decisive step he was convinced that it was his bounden duty and glorious privilege to tell the story of a Redeemer's love to his own people. Very visionary seemed the project. How could he, a youth who had not yet attained his majority, a stranger, a foreigner, a "despised" Jew, without means, with few friends, accomplish this mighty undertaking? Faith laughs at impossibilities. Enthusiasm is ever contagious. A few friends became interested, amongst others Mr. Horatio S. Stewart, the gentleman who had previously provided him with a scholarship at Pennington Seminary. The first Jewish mission work in Brooklyn was inaugurated in that part of the Twenty-sixth Ward known commonly as "Brownsville." Here a colony of Polish and Russian Jews had taken up their abode. A small hall was hired and services held on Saturday afternoon. Great was the excitement, tremendous the opposition. Jews gathered in crowds, anxious to hear what the youth might have to say concerning his apostasy from the faith of his fathers. Men thrice his age plied him with questions regarding Christianity, quibbles mostly; occasionally, perhaps, an enquirer might have been moved with a genuine desire to know the truth. The young missionary, however, was enabled to possess his soul in patience, and with quiet dignity to repel their attacks. The following incidents will serve as representative specimens of these interruptions: Once, when the missionary was giving a brief exposition of the first chapter of St. John's Gospel – "In the beginning was the Word," etc., "'Logos' as 'word' here is in the Greek synonymous with 'Memrah' in the Rabbinical writings," he remarked. A Jew sprang to his feet in a second. "You cunning Mr. Missionary!" he shouted – "trying to prove your statements from the Talmud, which you profess to disbelieve, because you cannot prove them from the Old Testament!" Quick as a flash came the rejoinder: "David, in the thirty-third Psalm, sixth verse, says: 'By the "word" of the Lord were the heavens established.'" The assailant was effectually silenced, but so angry was he at having been outwitted in public by one so much younger than himself that whenever he chanced to see the missionary approaching he would quickly cross to the other side of the street.

On another occasion a Jew said: "You know perfectly well how wrong and wicked it is for a man to desert the religion of his fathers. Why, even the Gentiles despise those who are guilty of such an act!" "What do you mean by the religion of our fathers?" was asked in return. "Why, of course, I mean the religion of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," the Jew answered. "But Abraham departed from the faith of his fathers. This 'apostasy' was imputed unto him for righteousness. You reproach me because I have departed from the religion of my fathers, which you claim to be the 'true religion.' Listen for a moment to the witness borne by Moses and the prophets concerning the religion of our fathers. Moses, our great lawgiver, says: 'Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not the good land to possess for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.' 'You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.' Isaiah the evangelist, says of our fathers: 'From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores.' 'Ah! sinful nation!' and mark the expression: 'A seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters.' In another place the same prophet says: 'Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.' Jeremiah says: 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.' The weeping prophet declares: 'All these nations are uncircumcised, and the house of Israel is uncircumcised.' Jehovah himself says to Ezekiel: 'Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. For they are impudent children and hard-hearted.' The suffering prophet again says: 'Thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; not to many people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand; surely had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto Me, for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.' Jesus the great teacher, said: 'Ye are of your father, the devil.' Now, in view of all these assertions, can you still insist upon my still adhering to the 'religion of my fathers.' You say: 'The Gentiles despise those who have departed from the religion of their ancestors.' That statement can be easily disproved from history. Jesus, Paul and the other founders of the Christian Church all apostasized from the faith of their fathers. Luther, a Roman Catholic, became the leader of the Reformation. Neander, Edersheim, Saphir and a host of other converted Jews have been indeed 'the glory of Israel, and lights to lighten the Gentiles.'"

These Saturday services were continued for more than two years. An evening school, where Jewish people, employed during the day, could receive gratuitous instruction in English, was carried on with a great degree of success. A protracted strike among the tailors, cloak-makers and operators on men's clothing, the principal industries of this settlement, reduced the people to the direst poverty; hundreds were on the verge of starvation. In this, the time of their need, Mr. Schapiro, at his own expense, opened a soup-kitchen in his rooms, himself serving the tables, and for more than two weeks scores were fed. That no offence might be given to their prejudices, the meat was "Kosher," that is, bought at a Jewish butcher's, and prepared by a Jewish cook. This kind, thoughtful treatment did much to disarm their repugnance against him as a Christian. The missionary also opened a similar mission in the Sixteenth Ward, Eastern District, where there is a Jewish population of 50,000, and for nearly a year carried on the two stations, holding a service at Brownsville on Saturday morning, and a second one in the new mission in the afternoon. Finally his committee deemed it best to confine his labours entirely to the Eastern District station, as they considered it the more hopeful field, on account of the large number of Jews in the vicinity. Meanwhile a denominational mission had been established in Brownsville. The Brooklyn Christian Mission to the Jews has from the outset been interdenominational. This work in the Eastern District was not inaugurated without opposition. The missionary and the men who assisted him in the distribution of the notices for the services and tracts were targets for the stones of crowds of Jewish boys. The older people greeted them with sneers, derision, offensive epithets, and sometimes with curses. Among the Jewish boys, Samuel – , acted as leader and instigator in the attacks. After a while he ventured into the mission, intending to create a disturbance, and, if possible, break up the services, but the story of a Saviour's love fell upon his ears, and as has many times happened in the history of missions, he who "came to mock remained to pray." Samuel was convinced, converted, and for two years has been a consistent member of a church in this city.

After seven years of mission work, owing to the combined labour of carrying on the service and collecting funds for the maintenance of the mission, his health broke down and he gave up the work.

In June, 1900, Mr. Schapiro published the first number of "The People, the Land and the Book." He had a theory that much of the variance existing between Jews and Christians had its foundation in mutual ignorance and misapprehension of their different religious beliefs. He designed to reach both parties in a spirit of love.

Mr. Schapiro for eleven years had no home, no intercourse with his own family. Having become an "apostate," he was worse than dead to them. All his overtures for reconciliation were scornfully rejected. To be cut off from all one's relatives, to have no home life, is ever a great affliction, particularly to a Jew, for the Jewish attachment and devotion to home and family are proverbial. A Jew who has embraced Christianity can sing in all sincerity, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee," for it is his veritable experience.

One day he chanced to meet a fellow-townsman, who, to his great surprise, told Mr. Schapiro of the latter's cousin, who lived in New York. Of course he lost no time in hunting up this relative. At first he was greeted with sharp, bitter reproach, for his change of faith, but when it was manifest that his love for Christ had not obliterated, but rather intensified, his love of kindred, speedy reconciliation followed. Mr. Schapiro learned that his father had lost his property, and also that his eldest son had died. Letters were exchanged, and complete reconciliation ensued.