Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
was not to be despised, and I attended the Gospel meetings at spare
times with a kind of double feeling. I began to read the New Testament,
and 'faith came by hearing' before two years (1873) expired after my
being under the sound of the Gospel. I knew that I was a sinner,
according to Psalm li. I learned the meaning of Ezekiel xxxiii. 13. I
found the true Messiah of Isaiah liii., and understood that Christ died
_for me_. I 'believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved' (Acts xvi.
31). Since 1882 I have been enabled, like Saul of Tarsus, to cry, 'Lord
what wilt Thou have me to do?' (Acts ix. 6)."
BARON, Rev. David, was likewise for many years in the Mildmay Mission
and companion to Barnett in his travels. He is the founder of the
Mission under the title, "Hebrew Christian Testimony for Israel." He is
known as a good expositor of Scripture and is author of several books
relating to the Jews.
BARTHOLDY, Jacob Levi Salomo, was uncle on the mother's side to Felix
Mendelssohn born, in Berlin, 1779, died in Rome, 1826. He became a
member of the Protestant Church in 1805, and through his influence the
whole Mendelssohn family became Christians. He served as an officer in
the Prussian army, and in 1815 he was appointed consul-general in Rome.
He wrote treatises on modern Greek, a description of the Terolese war,
and "Traits from the life of Cardinal Consalvi." The Berlin Museum
possesses his collection of antiquities, comprising Etruscan vases,
bronzes, ivories, majolicas, etc., which are now displayed in the
National Gallery.
BASEVI, George Joshua, architect, followed the example of his
brother-in-law Isaac Disraeli, in leaving the synagogue in 1817. But it
must be stated that no writer expressly asserts that either of the two
were received into the Church by baptism. This is known, that Basevi
while inspecting the bell-tower of Ely Cathedral fell and was killed
instantly, and then received Christian burial in the chapel at the east
end of the Cathedral.
BASSIN, Eliezer, born about 1840 in the government of Moghilev, Russia.
In 1869 he went to Constantinople, and then after experiencing God's
wonderful dealings with him (so graphically described by Miss Stern in
her book "Eliezer") he made a public confession of his faith in Christ.
He was afterwards a student of the L.J.S. Training College at Palestine
Place, and was sent out as a missionary to Jassy, Roumania, by the same
Society. Later he laboured for some years in Edinburgh, under a Scotch
Society. He was the author of a work entitled, "The Modern Hebrew and
the Hebrew Christian," London, 1882, which contains an autobiography,
relating his experience after deserting from the Russian army, and
information about the Hasidim, especially the sect "Habad." Also "A
Finger-post to the Way of Salvation," 1882. In 1881 he published a
pamphlet entitled "Eintracht" (Harmony), in which he pleaded the cause of
the Jews against the Anti-Semitic agitation in Germany.
BECHAR, J., baptized at Constantinople in 1873, studied at St.
Chrischona, Basel, and was appointed later as City Missionary in
Neuchâtel.
BEHRENS, A. J., convert, student and missionary of L.J.S, was pioneer
Missionary in Safed in the forties of the 18th century and at Jassy in
1850.
BEHRENS, Rev. A. D., son of the former, esteemed of the L.J.S., whom the
writer learned to know and love in 1873 at Breslau, was appointed to the
charge of the Mission at Vienna in 1875. A daughter married the convert
Glück, a physician of high standing in Bucharest. Thus father and child
have made known God's truth in their respective spheres.
BEHRENS, S. J., another Jewish convert, was for twenty years accountant
and collector of the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, an
exemplary Christian, and well beloved by all who came in contact with
him. His life made a salutary impression upon his rich brothers in
Hamburg, who, although they yet remained members of the synagogue,
granted his wife a liberal pension for life.
BELLSON, Rev. R., born in the neighbourhood of Cassel, Germany, in 1805.
L.J.S. missionary from 1831, successor of Pauli in Berlin, 1844. He was
an excellent scholar and was much respected by the cultured Jews. In the
very first year of his activity there, he had the privilege of leading
twenty Jewish souls to the Saviour. One of his converts was the Rev. A.
D. Hefter, another Kappelin. He wrote in "Dibre Emeth," "Blätter für
Israel's Gegenwart und Zukunft."
BELMONTE, E., banker in New York, connected with Rothschild, joined the
Protestant Church, whilst a number of the same family joined the Roman
Church at different times. (See "Jewish Encyclopædia.")
BELMONTE, Hannah, a near relation of Da Costa, and later his wife,
became a Christian in 1822.
BENARY, Franz Ferdinand, born at Cassel in 1805, baptized between
1824-27. He became Professor of Theology in 1831, lectured in Berlin on
Oriental languages and exegesis, published the Old Indian Art poem,
"Naloduza" in 1830, a treatise under the title, "De Leviratu," Hebr.
1835.
BENARY, Karl Albert Agathan, a brother of the former, likewise became a
convert, was teacher at the Gymnasium in Berlin, wrote largely on
Classics, died in 1860.
BENASON, A., after his conversion wrote several Christian hymns. (See
"Saat auf Hoffnung, 1881.")
BENDER, Carl Theodor, born at Berlin in 1818, studied law, and was
baptized in 1837 by Pastor Jonas of the Nikolai Kirche there.
BENDERMAN, Edward, born in Berlin in 1811, son of a banker, embraced
Christianity about 1832. He became a celebrated artist and professor of
art in the Dresden Academy. Some of his pictures are: Boaz and Ruth, The
Jews in Babylon (Ps. cxxxvii.), Jeremiah amidst the ruins of Jerusalem,
The wandering of the Jews into captivity to Babylon, in the Natural
Gallery in Berlin. These pictures exhibit profound religious feeling on
the part of the artist, and sympathy with his Jewish brethren.
BENDIX, Paul, Dr., was born at Rummelsberg in Prussia, Aug. 29, 1823. He
was early sent to a Christian school, where he was often moved to tears
when hearing of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the age of
seventeen he went to Danzig for rabbinical study, and afterwards to the
Berlin University, where he gained the diploma of Ph.D. in 1850.
Subsequently he became rabbi, and worked at Berent and Grandenz. He
disapproved of many of the old Jewish customs, but his congregation
refused to allow the introduction of any reforms. The wardens of the
synagogue at Grandenz, where he officiated from 1854 to 1858, wrote of
him in a testimonial: "The sermons of Dr. Bendix were instructive and
edifying, and owing to his splendid delivery and great oratorical power
they never failed to make a deep impression on his hearers." While at
Grandenz he made the acquaintance of a Christian clergyman, through whom
he was led to study the New Testament. The reading of this deeply
affected him. Later on he went to live in the house of a converted Jew,
which caused many of his hearers to warn him not to hold intercourse
with him on Christianity. But he was now seeking for truth and peace,
and though he avoided conversation, he could not help noticing the
upright and serious life of his landlord, who closed his place of
business on the Lord's Day, held family worship morning and evening, and
took a keen interest in home and foreign missions. All this made an
impression on him, and made him say: "This man, surely, possesses the
peace I am seeking. He asked me one day what took the place of
sacrifices since the Temple was destroyed, what were the essential
contents of the Jewish Prayer Book. I could only say to myself, Where is
the atonement for sin? I began to read the Old Testament with a
terrified conscience, and soon I found that my religious system was
built on the sand." At last he felt that he must give up his position as
rabbi, and he retired, not without much opposition, to Berlin, where he
spent his whole time in the closest study of the Word of God. He became
convinced at last that the old covenant was merely a preparation for the
new one (Jer. xxxi. 31-34). One difficulty was the word "virgin" in Isa.
vii. 14, but when he saw that it was always used in opposition to
married women, he at once accepted Christ as his Saviour, and was
baptized with his wife and children in 1860, in St. Matthew's Church,
Berlin. With a recommendation from Queen Elizabeth of Prussia he came
over to England, and from 1883 worked in connexion with the L.J.S. in
London. He died March 5, 1901, deeply regretted by both Jews and
Christians.
BENFEY, Theodor, born at Nöster, near Göthingen, January 28, 1809,
became a convert to Christianity in 1848, died in 1881, at Göthingen. He
was author of numerous linguistic works on the Sanscrit, Bengali,
Hindustani, Persian, Egyptian, and Semitic languages. His two works in
English must be mentioned here: "A Practical Grammar of the Sanscrit
Language" (Berlin 1863, London 1868), and "A Sanscrit-English
Dictionary" (London 1868). He established a periodical, "Orient and
Occident," in 1862.
BENJAMIN, Selig, a native of Bunzlau, Bohemia, and surgeon by profession
about the middle of last century. Embraced Roman Catholicism, but found
no peace, so he relapsed into Judaism, but remained in the same
condition, wandering about to find satisfaction for his restless soul,
until he came to Weikersheim in Würtemberg, and attended the services of
the court preacher Kern, when he was converted. Whereupon he went to the
synagogue and publicly confessed his evangelical faith before the
congregation.
BENJAMIN, a Dutch Jewish convert. The story of his conversion is a
remarkable one and deserves a place here. Pauli and his assistant Bloch
visited once a Kabbalistic Jew on a very stormy night. The Jewish
neighbours, when hearing of their visit, watched for them outside the
house. They followed them on their way home, and when passing a bridge,
some called out, "Make an end of him (Pauli); throw him into the
water." Whereupon Benjamin, who accompanied his visitors, cried, "Away
with you!" and pushed the assailants aside. "He is a good man. He helped
me to keep the Sabbath properly." They then went away abashed. Benjamin
was afterwards baptized with his whole family in the presence of 3,000
Jews. This was the first entire family which Pauli baptized at
Amsterdam.
BENJAMIN, a Jewish convert in India, baptized by the Rev. ---- Laseron
in 1849.
BENNI, a Jew who first heard the Gospel from Wendt and Hoff in
Königsberg, became a Christian Pastor in Petrekow, later in Radorn, and
through his faithful testimony not a few Jews decided to acknowledge
Jesus as their personal Saviour.
BENOLY, Gabriel, M.D., baptized at Salem, Bromberg, in 1869, was
afterwards for many years medical missionary of the L.J.S., and did good
work in the East End of London.
BEN OLIEL, a well-known family in Oran, North Africa, has given to the
Church three sons about the middle of the eighteenth century, baptized
by the Wesleyans in Gibraltar.
BEN OLIEL, Rev. A., was for many years missionary in Rome, and then at
Jaffa and Jerusalem. He was a true man of God, an ardent lover of his
nation, whose spiritual welfare he endeavoured to promote by word and
pen all through a long life. He died in America towards the close of
last century.
BEN OLIEL, Rev. Maxwell Mochluff, after finishing his theological
course at St. Aidan's, was ordained in 1860, and was curate in several
churches; also domestic chaplain to the Dowager Duchess of
Northumberland, 1864-66; minister of St. Patrick and St. Saviour, South
Kensington, 1878-81; missionary at W. Berkeley, California, 1889-91;
Rector of San Bernadino, Cal., 1891-93. Returning to England, he
conducted a mission to the Jews at Kilburn, by writing and lectures. As