Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to their brethren during the
captivity of the missionaries in Abyssinia.
FARO, Aharon Gabai Rodriguez, a rich Portuguese Jew living in Holland in
the seventeenth century, was converted through reading Ragstatt de
Weile's tract, "de Heerlykheyd Jesu Christi," and having heard of an
attempt that was made by a Jewish teacher to murder the author, he
decided to be baptized by him. Ragstatt himself mentioned the case in
the sermon which he preached on the occasion on Ps. ii. 6.
FAUBER, of Gran, a highly respected Jew in Pesth, was baptized in 1847.
FAY, I. L., was won for Christ in 1820 by the L.J.S. missionary L. D.
Mark, who laboured at Offenbach. Fay studied theology and became Pastor
in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.
FELS, Christian Leberecht, born in 1640, became eventually Rabbi in
Prague. After embracing Christianity at Cöthen, he returned to Prague
and claimed his patrimony, but the Government authorities refused to
sanction it unless he became a Roman Catholic. So he had to seek his
livelihood by teaching Hebrew and rabbinics in various schools and
Universities. To convince his brethren of the truth of Christianity, he
wrote in German a treatise under the title "Hodegus Judæorum" (Frankfort
and Leipzig, 1703), in which he, besides the Scriptures, adduces proofs
from the Targums and the Talmud in favour of Christianity. He published
a Latin Hebrew Grammar under the title "Brevis et perspicua via ad
linguam sanctam" (Sunderhausen, 1696). Also "Brevis et perspicua via ad
accentionem," 1700. No less than 52 Jews were influenced by him to
accept the Gospel. He held a Professorship at Wittenberg, but on account
of war he had to leave, and went to Verden and Lubeck, where he gave
lessons. He died in the faith at Hamburg in 1719.
FERDINAND, Philip: "Hebrew teacher; born in Poland about 1555; died at
Leyden, Holland, 1598. After an adventurous career on the Continent,
during which he became first a Roman Catholic and afterward a
Protestant, he went to Oxford University, and later removed to the
University of Cambridge, where he was matriculated Dec. 16th 1596. He
claimed a pension from the 'Domus Conversorum,' which was paid Feb. 3rd,
1598, and receipted for by him in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. The same
year he was attracted to Leyden by Joseph Scaliger, who obtained a
professorship for him. Scaliger himself acknowledges having learned much
from Ferdinand, in the short time he was at Leyden. Ferdinand's only
publication was a translation of the six hundred and thirteen
commandments as collected by Abraham ben 'Kattani' in the Bomberg Bible
(Cambridge 1597.)
"The following is a list of his writings: 'Dictionary of National
Biography'; Wood, 'Athenæ Oxnienses,' ed. Bliss, i. 677; Cooper, 'Athenæ
Cantabrigienses,' ii. 239; Scaliger, 'Epistolæ,' pp. 208, 594, Leyden,
1627; 'Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society,' Eng. i.
27."--_Jewish Encyclopædia._
FINKELSTEIN, Rev. A. M., had a school for Jewish children in
Philadelphia in 1885.
FINKELSTEIN, Rev. Samuel, a convert from Russia, emigrated to Australia
and became pastor of a German church at Melbourne, where he also founded
a mission to the Jews in 1868.
FLEGEL, Petrus, a convert, was Professor of Hebrew at the University of
Strassburg in 1564. More is not known of him.
FLEISCHALKER, Rev. J. C, was educated at St. Chrischona College, near
Basle. He laboured for a time as L.J.S. missionary in Jerusalem, where
he was ordained by Bishop Gobat. In 1868 he became pastor of St.
George's Episcopal Chapel, New York. He was a true servant of God.
FORTUNATUS, Wilhelm, a physician, became a convert to Christianity
through the simple reading of the New Testament, and was baptized in
Baden in 1639, (Wolff, Bibliotheca Hebraica 1, p. 564).
FOULD, Achille, French Statesman and Minister of Finance under two
Napoleons, born in Paris in 1800 died in 1867. In the Jewish
Encyclopædia, it is stated that he married into a Protestant family, and
his children were educated in that faith, but he never formally abjured
Judaism, though he was buried with the rites of the Protestant Church.
But de le Roi states that in his ripe age, with full convictions, he
joined the Reformed Church, of which he had always been a true member.
The two statements are easily reconciled. He was a regular attendant at
that Church for many years, but was only baptized in his old age. (See
"Jewish Intelligence," 1868, p. 13.)
FRANCO, Rabbi Solomon, baptized in London in 1670. Wolff in Bib. Heb.
1678 records the fact that he took Ps. lxxxv. 11 as his motto, "Truth
shall spring out of the earth," and tried to convince the Jews that the
earthly promises to Israel have a higher spiritual meaning in their
being realized in Christ Jesus.
FRANCO, Abraham and Jacob, Portuguese Jews, who had once the first city
houses in London. Their posterity have all become Christians, according
to Peixotto.
FRANK, Rev. Arnold, born in Hungary, baptized in 1877 at Hamburg,
studied theology at Belfast, was appointed missionary at Altona in 1884,
where he [1909] still labours faithfully with tokens of divine blessing.
He is the author of a pamphlet entitled "The Jewish Problem and its
Solution" (Belfast, 1883).
FRANKEL, Dr. B., has written his own history entitled, "Das Bekenntniss
des Proselyten, das Unglück der Juden und ihre Emanzipation in
Deutschland" (Elberfeld, 1841).
FRANKEL, Rev. E. B., was first a missionary of the British Society, and
then entered the service of the L.J.S., and laboured successfully at
Jerusalem until 1869, where he had the privilege of baptizing his own
brother. From Jerusalem he was transferred to Damascus, where he
laboured for some years both as a missionary and chaplain to the English
community, holding evening classes and meeting the Jews at the book
depôt; the latter was once set on fire. Then he went to Tunis, and
together with his son-in-law, the Rev. E. H. Archer-Shepherd, laboured
faithfully till he retired to Bournemouth, where he died in the Lord.
FRANKEL, Dr. Ivan, Medical Councillor in Berlin, became, as a convert, a
great friend of the Jewish mission, and attended the Missionary
Conference in 1870.
FRANKHEIM, a convert in Breslau, wrote two books: 1, "Doctrine of
Cohesion" (Breslau, 1835), 2, "Popular Astronomy" (_ib._, 1827 and
1829).
FRAUENSTADT, Christian Martin Julius, German student of philosophy, born
at Boyanawo, Posen, 1813; died at Berlin, 1879. He was educated at the
house of his uncle at Neisse, and embraced Christianity in 1833. He
wrote, "Studien und Kritiken zur Theologie und Philosophie," Berlin,
1840; "Ueber das Wahre Verhältniss der Vernunft zur Offenbahrung,"
Darmstadt, 1898; "Aesthetische Fragen," Dessau, 1853; "Die Natur
wissenschaft in Ihren Einfluss auf Poesie, Religion, Moral, und
Philosophie," _ib._, 1885; "Der Materialismus, seine Wahrheit und sein
Irrthum," _ib._, 1856; "Briefe über die Natürliche Religion," _ib._,
1858; "Lichtstrahlen aus Immanuel Kants Werken," _ib._, 1872. He also
wrote much about Schopenhauer's philosophy, whose works he edited in six
volumes.
FRESHMAN, Rev. Jacob, was the son of a Hungarian Rabbi, who settled in
Quebec, Canada, in 1855. His father officiated in the synagogue there
for three years, and after becoming convinced of the truth of
Christianity together with his wife, four sons and three daughters, were
all baptized by the Rev. J. Elliot, then President of the Montreal
Methodist Conference. Freshman, senior, was soon appointed as a Pastor
among the Germans in the province, and laboured in this office for nine
years. On account of his ability and learning, the degree of D.D. was
conferred upon him. Several Jews were also brought to a knowledge of the
truth through his ministry. He died through an accident in 1875. His son
Jacob was an equally able and zealous man, established a mission to the
Jews in New York City under the name, "Hebrew Christian Work." By his
popular lectures to Christians on Jewish subjects, and by his earnest
addresses to Jews, he won the hearts of both, and glorious results
followed his ministry. Many of the converts became themselves ministers
of the Gospel. Having built a church especially for this work, he
retired from the mission to carry on private ministerial work.
FREY, Rev. (Joseph Samuel) Christian Friedrich, born at Stockheim, near
Wurzburg, in 1771. His father was an assistant rabbi, in good
circumstances, and a distinguished opponent of Christianity, owing to
his wife's brother having become a Christian. The children were early
prejudiced against Christianity by their home teacher, who read to them
the story about Jesus as given in the "Toldoth Yeshu." At the age of
eighteen Frey became a teacher and a precentor in small congregations.
In the course of his wanderings he met a Christian merchant, who induced
him to enquire into Christianity, and this happened repeatedly with
others. He then learned the trade of shoemaking, and was finally
converted in 1798, at Prenzlan, when his master, a worldly man,
dismissed him on account of attending prayer meetings frequently.
Encouraged by Christian friends he went to Berlin, and applied to Pastor
Janicke for admission into his missionary training school in 1800. From
there he went to London. Then, after holding meetings with Jews in Bury
Street, Spitalfields, he wrote a most touching appeal to the Committee
of the L.J.S. (or rather to those earnest Christian men who formed
themselves later into a Committee) in 1801, and thus he gave the first
impulse to the establishment of the London Society for Promoting
Christianity amongst the Jews in 1809. (See "Our Missions," p. 19).
Of Frey's converts at that time an excellent one was Erasmus H. Simon,
who after his baptism studied theology at Edinburgh, and went with
Thelwall to Amsterdam, in 1820, to work in that city amongst the Jews,
as he knew the Dutch language. In 1816 Frey went to America, where he
assisted in the reconstruction of the already existing American Society
for Evangelizing the Jews, under the title of "The Society for
Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews in New York," under which he
laboured for some time.
Frey is the author of a long and learned dialogue, entitled "Joseph and
Benjamin;" also of a Hebrew Dictionary.
FRIEDBERG, Emil Albert von, born in Kanitz, 1837, studied law in Berlin
and Heidelberg, became eventually Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at
Leipzig in 1869, and was ennobled in Wittenberg. His published works on
Church law are too numerous to mention here. (See de le Roi, vol. ii.
230, 231).
FRIEDBERG, Heinrich, born in Friedland, 1813, also a great lawyer,
became, after holding important offices of state, Minister of Justice in
Prussia, and received from the Emperor Frederick the Order of the Black
Eagle.
FRIEDBERG, Eduard, also born in Friedland, in 1827, and evidently a
relative or a brother of the preceding was baptized by Pastor Ideler.
FRIEDENTHAL, Karl Rudolf, embraced Christianity together with his
parents and the whole family. In 1838 the family bought an estate near
Neu Silesia, where they did much in the diffusion and strengthening of
evangelical life in the midst of a Roman Catholic population.
Friedenthal was born in Breslau, 1827, studied law, held offices under
the Government, and then retired to the family estate, devoting his time
to good works. He published a pamphlet in 1864, entitled "Solus
Republicæ Supremæ," in which he strongly advocated the organization of
charity to the poor. He was elected a member of the Reichsrath. During
the Franco-German war he volunteered for the purpose of nursing the
wounded. He died in 1890. A near relative, Major A. D. Friedenthal,
likewise became an evangelical Christian.