Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
a good preacher and thoroughly conversant with Jewish and Christian
literature, he was gladly heard in the churches and cathedrals of
England. His writings on the Jewish subject are numerous.
BEN OLIEL, Moses, served for many years as Bible agent of the B. &
F.B.S. at Oran.
BEN ZION, Benedix (Baruch), born in Homoslaipolia in the government of
Kiev, Russia, in 1839, was led to become a Christian in a remarkable
manner. Once, when still a little boy in the Heder, he and his
fellow-pupils passed by a Russian Church when they observed the cross
and images. His companions at once repeated Deut. vii. 26, and spat on
the ground. Ben Zion did not like this behaviour, so he made figures and
a cross with his stick on the ground. This was reported to the teacher,
who locked him up and punished him severely for it. The fanaticism of
the Jews in the place was so great that Ben Zion's father lost his
position as Talmud teacher, because his boy had been reading
Mendelssohn's German translation of the Bible. At the age of 13 Ben Zion
began his wandering career, and passing a chapel in a forest, his eyes
met the image of the Madonna and Child. Without the least desire to
render homage to the figure, but only conscious that for its sake he had
already suffered, he took off his hat, knelt down, and in this posture
fell asleep, and was finally awakened by a peasant. These apparently
trifling circumstances caused him later on to think seriously of
Christianity, and to search the Scriptures. He was baptized in Berlin in
1863, then studied medicine and graduated at the University of Würzburg
in 1867. He went to England, and having entered the service of the
British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, was
sent to Roumania in 1874 as medical missionary. In 1876 he was
transferred to Odessa, where he laboured successfully for ten years.
Then he was for a short time in Constantinople, and since about 1888 he
has been living in the United States and helping in missionary work. He
is the author of "Orah Zedakah," a collection of proverbs and parables
in the style of Ecclesiasticus (Odessa, 1876); "Kol Kore el Beth Israel"
(translated from the English by Dr. Ben Zion, London, 1868); a
translation into Judæo-German of Jos. H. Ingraham's "Prince of the House
of David," under the title of "Tiferet Yisrael" (Odessa, 1883-88), and a
translation into Judæo-German of Silvio Pelier's drama, "Ester
d'Engedé," under the title "Der Falsche Cohengodel."
BERDENBACH, born at Offenbach, in 1809, brother of the great lawyer of
that name in Darmstadt, was baptized by Pastor Schultz in Berlin, in
1839.
BERGER, Rev. S. D., convert and student of the L.J.S., was afterwards
ordained to the Ministry in the Lutheran Church U.S., and was appointed
missionary to the Jews in Chicago about 1885.
BERGHEIM, M., a noble Jewish convert, was sent out by the L.J.S. in 1837
to assist the Rev. Nicolayson in his work in Jerusalem. He was
afterwards a banker and died in 1896 as churchwarden of Christ Church,
Mount Zion. The Jewish traveller, Dr. Ludwig August Frankel, who
published a book on his visit to Jerusalem in 1860 (translated into
Hebrew by M. E. Stern), says he found there 131 Jewish Christians in the
Holy City, nine of whom were of the Bergheim family.
BERGMANN, Marcus S., convert of the L.J.S., is well-known as a
missionary of the L.C.M. and translator of the Bible into Yiddish. A
second edition, with improved translation into simple Jargon, was issued
by him in 1905. In an account of his conversion he thus writes:--
"I was born in Wieruszow, on the borders of Silesia, in the year 1846.
My father (who was of the sect of Chassidim, which is the strictest sect
of the Pharisees, and a great Talmudist) died when I was about a year
old. Of my dear mother I have only a very dim recollection, as she, too,
died when I was but six years old. I had one elder brother and one
sister. My brother was established in a large way of business in Luben,
a town near Breslau, and my sister was brought up in the house of the
Chief Rabbi of Breslau, Rabbi G'dalia Titkin (who was a relative of
ours), whilst I was brought up with my uncle, Woolf Bergmann, a Chassid
like my father, in Wieruszow, under whom I studied much of the Talmudic
and Rabbinical literature.
"When I was fourteen years of age I was sent to Breslau to study under
the chief Rabbi there. I did not like it at first, as I had to change my
Chassidic dress for the German style, but I soon became accustomed to
it. After a residence of three years in Breslau I went to one of my
uncles who was a Rabbi in Frankenstein, under whom I had ample
opportunity to practise for some time. I then went back to live with my
sister in Kalisch, and applied myself more than ever to the study of the
Talmud, believing it to be the most honourable of all employment and
most conducive to the glory of God, and the best mode of making amends
for my sins, which I found clung to me even when engaged in these
religious duties.
"The word of the LORD to Abraham (Gen. xii. 1), 'Get thee out of thy
country and from thy kindred ... unto a land that I will shew thee,'
seemed at that time to be constantly ringing in my ears, and made me so
restless that I could not put my mind to anything. I obeyed that voice,
and in 1866, I left my native country and came to England. Shortly after
my arrival in London I established a small synagogue at which I
gratuitously officiated as minister for nearly two years; my sister from
time to time sending me remittances, as I required, from the portion
which I inherited of my father's property.
"It pleased the Lord at this time to lay His hand upon me, and I was
laid aside for six weeks in the German hospital. When feeling a little
better I began to look into the Hebrew Bible, which was on the shelf in
the ward. As a reader in the synagogue I knew the letter of the whole of
the Pentateuch and other portions of the Old Testament by heart.
"The portion of Scripture that made a great impression on me at the time
of my illness was Daniel ix. Several verses of this chapter (the
confession of Daniel) are repeated each Monday and Thursday by every
Jew; but the latter part of the chapter, which so plainly prophesies the
suffering of the Messiah, is never read--in fact the Rabbis pronounce a
dreadful curse upon any one who investigates the prophecy of these
seventy weeks. They say: 'Their bones shall rot who compute the end of
the time.' Remembering this anathema, it was with fear and trembling
that I read the passage about the seventy weeks, and coming to verse 26,
'Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself'--though we Jews are most
careful not to let a Hebrew book drop to the ground--I threw that Hebrew
Bible out of my hand, thinking in my ignorance that it was one of the
missionaries' Bibles. But although I threw the Bible away, I could not
throw away the words I had just read: 'Messiah shall be cut off, but not
for Himself.' These words sank deeper and deeper into my soul, and
wherever I looked I seemed to see them in flaming Hebrew characters, and
I had no rest for some time. One morning I again took up the Bible, and
without thinking or looking for any particular passage, my eyes were
arrested by these words (also in a chapter which is never read by the
Jews): 'For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the
transgression of My people was He stricken.' (Isa. liii. 8.)
"This seemed to be the answer to the question I was constantly asking
myself during this time of soul-conflict--'Messiah shall be cut off, but
not for Himself.' For whom then? Here it was plainly revealed to me.
'For the transgression of My people;' and surely I belonged to His
people, therefore Messiah was cut off for me.
"Shortly after this I left the hospital and was again among my Jewish
friends, but I could not banish from my mind these two passages.
"One morning I put on my phylacteries and tallith in order to perform
the prescribed prayers, but I could not utter a single sentence out of
the prayer book before me. One passage (Psalm cxix. 18), 'Open Thou mine
eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law,' came into my
mind, and that I repeated over and over again, and for nearly two hours
that was the cry of my soul. After laying aside the phylacteries and
tallith I left the house without tasting food, and as I walked along the
streets I prayed again in the words of the Psalmist, 'Lead me in Thy
truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation, on Thee do I
wait all the day long.' My heart was burdened with a very great load,
and yet I dared not open my mind to any one. In this state I believe the
Spirit of God led me to Palestine Place. My heart failed me when I
reached the door of the late Rev. Dr. Ewald's house.
"After several vain attempts, I ventured to knock, and was admitted to
see that venerable servant of the Lord. To him I unburdened my soul and
told him all that was in my heart. He asked me whether I was willing to
come into his Home for enquirers in order to be instructed in the truth
as it is in the Lord Jesus. I told him that was just what I needed, and
at once accepted his kindness, and I did not return to my Jewish
friends. This was just one week before the Passover.
"On the first day of the feast several Jews of my congregation, who had
discovered where I was, came and entreated me to leave the missionaries
and go back with them. As I refused to do so, they said they would soon
get me away with disgrace. They left, but only for a short time, and
when they returned they brought a policeman with them and charged me
with being a thief, and as such I was taken to the nearest police
station and locked up. Whilst in the cell I was visited by several Jews
who implored me to return to them, and said that if I promised to do so
they would not appear against me on the morrow, and I would be
liberated. I answered in the words of David, when Gad, the seer, was
sent to give him the choice of his own punishment: 'Let me fall into the
hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great, but into the hands of man
let me not fall;' and I added, 'Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbour.' They left me disappointed. But I never spent a
happier night than in that prison cell, for I felt and fully realized
that the Lord was with me, and it was there that I for the first time
knelt down and prayed to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Though up to this time I knew very little or nothing of the New
Testament, yet it seemed to me as if the Lord Jesus spoke to me in the
same manner as He did to His disciples. 'They shall put you out of the
synagogues, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service; these things will they do unto you because
they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you,
that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I have told you of
them.' 'And when they bring you unto magistrates, and powers take ye no
thought how or what thing ye shall answer, for the Holy Ghost shall
teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.' Passage after passage
seemed to come before me, as if the Lord Jesus had spoken audibly to me
to encourage me to cling close to Him and not to fear what man could do
unto me.
"The night--though sleepless--I passed joyfully and peacefully. The
morning came, which brought other Jewish visitors with food from their
table, also entreating me to return to my Jewish friends. As I refused,
they told me that they had witnesses to prove the charge against me, and
I should be put into prison for at least three months; but I felt that
the Lord Jesus was my advocate, and that He would plead my cause.
"About 10 o'clock I was taken out of the police cell and led to the