Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
friends around her. In 1841 she took a house at Leutsheim, where she
instructed children in knitting. This school became later an asylum for
poor children. This was four years after enlarged to admit a branch for
the education of teachers. Six years later, in 1851, she hired a small
castle in Nonnenwier, with garden and woods, from Baron Bücklin, because
she had already eighty nurses under her instruction and supervision.
This institution prospered and became well known, so that her example
was followed in different parts of Germany and other countries. After 25
years labour there were 300 Nonnenwier sisters in Germany and abroad,
and 260 nurses for children. She became known in Germany as Mutter
Jolberg, and rightly so, for indeed she was a mother in Israel.
JOSEF, an artist, was baptized in Stockholm, 1832, through the preaching
of the L.J.S. missionary Moritz.
JOSEPH, H. S., was precentor in the synagogue at Bedford, where he heard
the Gospel. In 1829 he resigned his office and went to Norwich, where he
was baptized by the Rev. Samuel Titlow. He wrote afterwards: "Reasons
for Renouncing Judaism and Embracing Christianity," Norwich, 1830. He
studied theology and was ordained in 1836 as minister or curate of St.
Simon's Chapel, Liverpool. With the permission of the Bishop of Chester
he established a Hebrew service. It may be mentioned, too, that on the
day of his ordination in Liverpool, six Jewish souls were baptized by
the Rev. H. Stewart, viz., Theodor Bernstein, and Joshua George Lazarus
with his wife and three children, and twelve others that year. In 1837
Joseph became connected with L.J.S., from whom he received a grant. He
was the first, as far as we know, to open a home for enquirers, of which
he had the charge for many years.
JOSEPHSON, Cornelius, was Flad's companion in the Gospel in Abyssinia.
JOSEPHSON, Karl and Ludwig, two brothers, who were converted in
Westphalia in the first half of the nineteenth century, and have given
to the Church in Germany quite a number of theologians and pastors.
JOSEPHSON, Van Reis, born at Stockholm in 1818, became a Christian
whilst at school. He then studied at the University of Upsala, and
graduated in 1842. Then he applied himself entirely to music, and became
Director of Music at the University. His compositions were popular in
the north, such as: "Vart land," "Rings Drapa," "Islossning." His church
compositions have made him famous, e.g., his "Kyrie," and his "Quando
Corpus."
JOSHUA, was colporteur in Syria and in Asia Minor about 1860.
JULIUS, Henrietta, sister of the physician Nicol Heinrich Julius,
attended the Church of Dr. Routenberg in Hamburg, which caused her to
embrace Christianity, and was baptized in 1820. Her brother became a
Romanist, but lived with her in harmony. She wrote a German biography of
Elizabeth Fry.
KAHN, David Isaac, a physician at Uhlefeld, called afterwards
"Christfreund," received Christian literature from the Mission at Halle,
and this alone was the cause of his and his whole family embracing
Christianity at Cadolzburg in 1739. The eldest son who still hesitated,
was baptized afterwards.
KAHN, Rev. J., L.J.S. convert, graduated at Cambridge. After being
curate in various parishes and then Vicar of Bishopstone, Sussex, he
became Vicar of St. Stephen's, Holloway, in 1884.
KALKAR, Christian Andreas Herman, born November 27th, 1802, at
Stockholm, died at Gladsaxe, February 3rd, 1886. He received his early
education from his father, who was a rabbi and a member of the
consistorium, and at the schools of Copenhagen, where, in 1818, he
became a student of law. In 1823 he embraced the evangelical faith and
studied theology, passing his examination in 1826. After being teacher
at Oldensee, from 1827 to 1841, he travelled in Spain, and was appointed
minister at Gladsaxe and Herloi in 1844. Among Kalkar's many works may
be mentioned--"Evangelische Missionsgeschichte," 1857; "Geschichte der
Römisch-Katholischen Mission," 1862 (German translation, Erlangen,
1869); "Geschichte der Christlichen Mission unter den Heiden," 1877
(German translation, Gütersloh, 1879); "Die Mission unter den Juden,"
1868 (German translation, Hamburg, 1869); "Israel og Kerken,"
Copenhagen, 1881. From 1871 to 1880 Kalkar was editor of the "Theologisk
Tidskrift."
KALORIA, Rev. John B., a native of Jerusalem when he for the first time
heard the Gospel from the L.J.S. missionaries. After his conversion he
studied at Basel, and was then sent out to Uruguay as pastor and teacher
in a German Colony there. About 1887, he assisted Mr. Eppstein in
London, and then went to the United States, where he became engaged in
Ministerial work, contributing valuable articles to the Jewish
Missionary periodical at New York, "The People, the Land and the Book."
KAMERAS, Rev. Nathanael, missionary in Vienna, of the British Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. The following is an
abridged extract from his autobiography:--
"On the road leading from Russian Lithuania to Russian Poland there
stands a large and lonely inn. It was there that I first saw the light
of day in the year 1862. A clay-floored entrance divides the rooms of
this extensive house into two rows; on one side are the rooms for the
strangers, who lodge here over night, the large tap-room, and the small
rooms belonging to my parents; on the other, a one-windowed chamber,
where our teacher slept, and the hall, a pretty large room, set apart
for prayer and study. It contained long narrow tables and forms, an
ornamented cupboard on the eastern side, in which the Thora-rollen (law
scrolls) were kept, a prayer-desk with a seven-branched brass candelabra
and a hanging lamp. The male members of our family, and Jews from the
neighbouring villages, assembled there for Divine Service, to which the
women listened in an adjoining room. There, too, our teacher instructed
my four brothers and myself in the Hebrew language, and in the Talmud.
As soon as I was five years of age, my parents, wrapping me up in a
Tallith (prayer-mantle), solemnly brought me in there, in order that I
might receive the necessary instruction; so that from that moment I
devoted myself exclusively to study. Every other occupation, every other
employment, every recreation, game, or fun of childhood, all that makes
the heart light and the body strong, was banished from my life. I felt
like a bird imprisoned in a cage, and debarred the free movement of its
limbs; outside, was the world in all its beauty, where numbers of joyous
creatures were flying about in the full enjoyment of their individual
freedom, whilst I, powerless, clung to the bars. Before my eyes lay a
landscape, rich in rural splendour; as far as I could see, village after
village, surrounded by fruit-laden trees, presented a most cheerful
aspect, and from the window I could watch the Christian children at
their play, enjoying the fresh air of freedom in the flowering fields
and sprouting meadows. Amidst the songs of birds, the rustling of leaves
and the roar of the forest, I caught the sound of happy human voices,
whilst I, chained to my books all day and until late at night, was
forced to pore over marriage contracts and divorces and other similar
things, which would have been better kept from my childish reason. 'Oh,
if I were only that poor farm-servant coming home from the fields with
the tired horses, or that ragged boy driving his cows home!' Thus I
sighed. But all my longings and wishings were useless; I had to go over
the same tiresome road that all the Jewish children of orthodox parents
must labour through. The master behind me, drove me on with a volume in
one hand and the rod in the other; my father drove me, my relations
drove me, and thus, without rest or quiet, I was hurried through all
those voluminous works that are of no value for practical existence
whatever, so that the years of my childhood passed by, joyless and
unenjoyed.
"This Jewish elementary school, called Cheder, seemed to me just like a
prison, and the teacher, who bore the title of Melamed, I looked upon as
a jailer, so that when the news reached me of my parents' resolve to
send me to a Yeschiva, I welcomed it with the same joy with which a
convict welcomes his acquittal after long and hard imprisonment.
"It was not difficult to find a suitable Talmud school for me. The
son-in-law of our district Rabbi was Rosh-Yeshiva (professor at a Talmud
college) in a town where an uncle of mine lived. Thither my parents sent
me shortly after I had been confirmed (Bar mitzvah), that is to say,
when I had completed my thirteenth year. There, in his private lodgings,
I visited Rabbi Schimele Wolf, for so the Talmud lecturer was called,
and begged him to accept me as a pupil. At first he received me very
coldly, and with dignity that involuntarily pointed to the importance of
his position, but after I had delivered the recommendations I brought
from his father-in-law, and had told him that his family doctor was my
uncle, the stern look in his coal-black, thoughtful eyes, that shone
like two glowing specks out of his pale face, fringed by a black beard,
relaxed, and with extreme friendliness, he dispensed with the usual
examination on entrance, and ordered his servant to lead me to the
Yeshiva, and assign me a place there. We were still at a considerable
distance from our destination when a great noise of human voices broke
on my ear, and when at last I entered the hall, in which the Yeshiva was
held, I was quite stunned by the terrific noise that was being made
there. More than a hundred boys, youths of about thirteen to twenty
years of age, were assembled, each one screaming and moving about in
unrestrained restlessness. Some of them were sitting round long, narrow
tables, continually swaying the upper part of their bodies backwards
and forwards or from side to side. Others were standing in front of
small portable desks, leaning over them or swaying to and fro with them,
or going round and round them. Each boy had a ponderous volume open
before him, from which he chose a passage, that he quoted at the top of
his voice. One roared like a lion, 'Omar Rabbi Akiwa (Rabbi Akiwa said)
sa......id, sa......id ..Ra......bbi...A......ki......wa..., oi Mamuni
(Oh Mammy) Rabbi, oi Tatutim, (Oh Daddy) Akiwa, oi Ribene schel olam (Oh
Lord of the World) said; said Rabbi Akiwa; what did Rabbi Akiwa say? A
...ki....wa...sa......id...,' and so on for hours. Another sang very
daintily, imitating the voice of the chanter in sad and joyful melodies,
such as had remained in his memory from the various festivals, or he
composed something at will, with the following words; 'According to the
doctrine of Samai it is permitted to eat an egg that has been laid on a
holiday on that same day, whereas according to the doctrine of Hillel,
it is forbidden.' My arrival attracted their attention and had a
subduing effect; there was a lull. Suddenly a voice cried: 'The
Massgiach (overseer) is coming.' This was uttered in the same sing-song
manner, as though the boy were studying some sentence out of the Talmud.
It was repeated by a second, then a third and a fourth in the same
manner, and was the signal for them all of one accord to begin their
lamentations and singing afresh, with increased vigour, endeavouring to
drown each other's voices. It is in this way that these pale boys and
youths prepare for the 'Schir' (lecture), which lasts from two to four
o'clock in the afternoon, taking place daily, and being carried out in
the following manner:--The scholars stood round in a semi-circle at the
feet of the Rabbi, who sat on an elevated chair at a desk. Charging one
pupil to read a certain passage out of the Talmud, he desired another to
read the commentaries to it, and again a third to read and explain the