Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
should arise; since there was no supreme religious tribunal in existence
to whom the case might be referred; the rabbis having declared that in
such an event a circular letter stating the question should be addressed
by the enquirer to all Jewish theologians.
"These reasons were too weighty to encourage an appeal to the royal
'Ministerium,' although my opponents anticipated a favourable decision
from this event for themselves, notwithstanding their unholy aim.
"They, however, preferred to accuse me anew as having transgressed my
religion, namely, by having taught in my schools that in case of
necessity the Jews were permitted to break the laws relating to the
Sabbath in order to relieve a fellow-man.
"I was cited and heard, and having confessed the truth of the charge,
the royal 'Ministerium' resolved on my penal removal to the school at
Main-Stockheim.
"This severe penalty could not have been inflicted, if the rabbis had
not represented that Jews were not permitted to violate the Sabbatical
laws in order to relieve a fellow-man.
"I was therefore obliged to leave a town where so many persons and
objects were dear to me, and where I had enjoyed that rare happiness of
teachers--to instruct the children of my former pupils. I was forced to
leave two pretty little gardens which I had gradually raised on desert
spots, and the trees which I had planted at the birth of each of my
children.
"I departed; my wife and children followed me weeping, and the tears of
many others comforted me.
"In November, 1837, I arrived in the village of Main-Stockheim, the
place of destination, as the appointed Jewish teacher of religion. The
Jewish community belonged to the orthodox or pious class. I was shewn to
three small rooms as my residence, and their gloomy appearance was
little calculated to cheer my mind.
"I observed that this dwelling could not accommodate myself and family;
and begged the Jewish School-Community (Schulgemeinde) to grant me other
rooms, or else to enlarge these; but it was in vain. I was obliged to
convert the lobby into a dormitory for my children. The little rooms,
owing to their disproportionate loftiness, were cold and uncomfortable,
and so damp that we had thick ice within, near the windows. My wife and
some of my children fell sick; and I felt myself obliged, and in duty
bound, to petition the royal land-tribunal for the enlargement of my
dwelling, and my petition was shortly granted.
"But the Jewish Warden appealed to a higher tribunal, the Government;
and when the former decision was confirmed, they appealed to the
Ministerium. Much time was thus lost, and I obtained at last an
additional room and a cellar.
"My salary was so small that I had to live partly on my own means; and
yet the Jewish School-Community withheld from me part of the amount of
firewood granted me by law. Out of love of peace, I offered to
relinquish part of the withheld quantity of wood, if they would but
give the rest, so as to obviate the necessity of complaining to the
Government; but I was forced to complain.
"The suit passed again all the various Courts as before, and was decided
in my favour; the lawful quantity of wood was to be given me, and for
that which had been unjustly withheld I was to be indemnified. Although
I had declined to accept the indemnification granted me by law--a
refusal very cheerfully accepted by my rich community--yet they did not
neglect to avenge themselves upon me on the grounds of piety; being
aware that this was the likeliest way to compass their end. I was
accused of the following sins, which I had actually committed.
"1. That I had not only permitted my female scholars to come to the
synagogue on Saturdays, but had commanded them to do so, in order to
attend to the religious instructions which I there imparted.
"2. That I had cut my beard in Omer.[24]
"3. That, on one occasion, being called up to the reading of the Torah,
I had appeared with gloves on.
"4. That I kept a Christian servant.
"5. That on the anniversaries of my parents' death, I did not lead the
synagogue service: and,
"6. That, although I would not allow my wife to use the 'dipping bath'
(Tauchbad), I would persist in giving her my arm.
[24] The period between the Passover and the Feast of Weeks.
"They stated that they could no longer suffer a man among them who was
so immoral, so irreligious, and who excited so much scandal; and since
no Christian court could decide on these Jewish sins, it was requested
that the chief rabbi should be heard, and that I should be discharged. I
replied: and respecting the last two points on which most stress seemed
to be laid, I observed first, that it had been my father's dying request
that I should neither fast nor lead the synagogue service on the
anniversaries of my parents' death, as the custom had originated in a
superstition; and, secondly, that according to a medical testimonial
which I laid before the court, my sick wife had been prohibited from
using the 'dipping bath;' but the decision of the chief rabbi was, that
as I had confessed my wife neglected the bath, while, at the time, it
was proved that she had taken my arm in walking, I was worthy of death
according to Levit. xx. 18, and must be discharged from my office
forthwith. I protested against this barbarous decision, and prayed to
submit it to another Rabbinat. My petition was granted, but the rabbi of
the district, Mr. L. B. Bamberger, of Würzburg, declared that he fully
agreed with the chief rabbi, and added that my wife also was worthy of
death.
"In consequence, I was discharged, lost the salary yet due to me, though
the Government had approved of my official labours, and I was adjudged
as having forfeited even my claim upon the States Institution for the
Relief of Orphans and Widows of German School Teachers, as well as my
right to the 133 florins which I had already paid into that Institution.
With this bitter experience, and provided with most satisfactory
testimonials from my immediate superiors, I left my native country, and
went with my wife and children to the free town of Frankfort, where I
enjoyed perfect peace in the capacity of a private tutor. From this
brief sketch it will sufficiently appear that the rabbinical Jewish
religion leads to and justifies the most revolting injustice and
cruelty, a reproach which cannot be brought against Christianity."
STERN, Joseph Paul, a native of Hungary, where he had been a teacher and
then a merchant, came to Jerusalem in 1851, at the age of thirty-five.
Becoming ill he was admitted on application to the L.J.S. hospital,
where, one may say, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was truly
converted, and was baptized on Good Friday of that year. Henceforth he
devoted his life to preach the grace of God as manifested in Christ
Jesus, to his brethren in season and out of season. He was only a
Scripture reader, but few could resist his entreaties to accept
salvation through Christ, and the Jews feared him as well as respected
him, for he often rewarded them good for evil. In 1860 he visited his
relatives in Hungary, when he preached Christ to them, and escaped being
poisoned. In 1872, when the Rev. A. Bernstein visited him in his
sickness and administered the Holy Communion to him, he asked to be
dressed in his best clothes, for he expected to go to the marriage of
the Lamb. But he lingered yet for a while and died in 1873, uttering
with his last breath--"Christ is all."
STERN, Maximilian Christian Heinrich, was baptized by Dr. Poper at
Frankfurt, in 1846, when two of his brothers became Christian preachers
in America. He was then fifty-two years old. His family followed his
example two years later. In 1856 he published "Die Jüdische
Zeitrechnung." He died in 1861. (See "Jewish Missionary Intelligence,"
1846, page 123).
STERNCHUSS, Rev. P. H., after a course of preparation in the L.J.S.
Missionary Training College, was sent, together with A. J. Behrens, to
open a mission at Safed in 1843, where they held a daily service and
tried to have intercourse with the fanatical Jews, but were boycotted by
them. In 1844, they were both ordained in Jerusalem, and Sternchuss
accompanied Stern to Bagdad, whence he itinerated to Mesopotamia,
visiting Hillah and Ezekiel's tomb twice, he also visited Persia. The
trying climate, the galling reproaches and persecutions, and the
hardships which those early missionaries in the East endured, soon told
upon Sternchuss, so that he had to resign on account of ill-health in
1850, but continued still for a short time to labour for the Society in
the West of England.
TARTAKOVER, Rev. E. M. Very little information can be obtained about
this servant of Christ, but that little is most interesting, inasmuch as
it embraces a reflective comment on a long period of Church history in
which Palestine and the Jewish residents there had no Hebrew Christian
minister of the Gospel. On October 30th, 1842, Tartakover was ordained
in Jerusalem by Bishop Alexander. Such an event as the ordination of a
Jewish convert had not been witnessed in the Holy City since Apostolic
times.
TOMORY, Rev. A., after finishing his theological studies at Edinburgh,
was appointed by the Free Church of Scotland as a missionary at Pesth in
1853. In 1864 he was transferred to Constantinople, where he carried on
a most faithful and fruitful work, both evangelistic and educational,
during the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage, and left a worthy
memorial in the home for enquiring Jews which he founded at Galata.
TREMELLIUS, John Immanuel, was born at Ferrara in 1510; and died at
Sedan, October 9th, 1580. He was educated at the University of Padua,
and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church about 1540, through the
influence of Cardinal Pole, but embraced Protestantism in the following
year, and went to Strasburg to teach Hebrew. Owing to the wars of the
Reformation in Germany, he was compelled to seek refuge in England,
where he resided at Lambeth Palace with Archbishop Cranmer in 1547. In
1549 he succeeded Paul Fagius as Regius Professor of Hebrew at
Cambridge. On the death of Edward VI. he revisited Germany, and, after
some vicissitudes, became Professor of the Old Testament at Heidelberg
in 1561. He ultimately found a home in the College of Sedan, where he
died. His chief literary work was a Latin translation of the Bible from
the Hebrew and Syriac. The five parts relating to the Old Testament were
published at Frankfurt between 1575 and 1579; in London in 1580, and in
numerous later editions. Tremellius also translated into Hebrew Calvin's
Catechism (Paris, 1551), and wrote a Chaldaic and Syriac grammar (Paris,
1569).
TURCKHEIM, Rev. Ernest Julius, had been, at the age of twenty-one,
master of a Jewish school at West Hartlepool, where he gave great
satisfaction to the parents of the children, so that they wished him to
become their minister. In order that he should be able conscientiously
to discharge his duties, Turckheim applied himself to a diligent study
of the Old Testament. This in itself made him more serious than he had
been before. Meeting with Mr. J. Alexander, then agent of the British
and Foreign Bible Society at the Crystal Palace, he received from him a
New Testament, and through reading it earnestly he became convinced of
the truth of Christianity, and was baptized in 1873. He then studied at
the London College of Divinity, and was ordained at York in 1875-6 to
the curacy of St. Thomas there. In 1878 he was curate of All Saints',
Derby. In 1879 he became curate of All Souls', Langham Place, London. In
1882 he was appointed to the living of Hale Magna, in Lincolnshire,
where he did good work until his death in 1907.
Speaking at the L.J.S. anniversary meeting in 1893, he said:--"A Jew by