Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ. Bernstein Aaron
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ADDENDA.
Converts in the "Domus Conversorum" in London
The subject under the above title requires a special paragraph, because it manifests to us the zeal which English Christians in the Middle Ages displayed with regard to the conversion of the Jews, and that their effects were richly blessed.
In an article in the "Hebrew Christian Witness," 1875, by Christopher Chattoc, of Haye House, Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire, entitled "Traces of Early Anglo-Hebrew Christians from Authentic Sources," he says: – "All our best historians allege that, at the expulsion of the Jews from this country in 1290, about fifteen thousand were expelled. If we compare this number with the approximate amount of the then population, it is something considerable, and if we take the present population of the country and compare the number of converted and unconverted Jews at the present time, the relative proportion of converted Jews in 1290 would be at least – say, five hundred. This cannot by any means be considered an excessive estimate for men, women and children, as the conqueror is said to have brought over Jews in great numbers, and they were much favoured by the three first Norman kings. The 'Domus Conversorum,' or home for converts, was established in 1232 (by order of Henry III.), a private one in 1213 in London, and one even much earlier still in Oxford." He then gives a list of three long pages full of names of clergy and others, in which he traces Jewish names anglicized, and refers to quite a number of historical works. This cannot for want of space be reproduced here. I will only mention that Dr. M. Margoliouth said that there were three Kings in Great Britain by the name of Solomon. But the article by Rabbi Michael Adler, in the "Jewish Encyclopædia," may be given in abridged form. "The 'Domus Conversorum' was situated in Chancery Lane and had a Chapel attached to the buildings.4 A similar institution, on a much more modest scale, having been commenced by the clergy in 1213. A chaplain was appointed to instruct the converts and a warden to attend to their temporal affairs. Each male inmate received 1½d., equal to about 2s. 6d. of the present currency, and each female 1d. During the fifty years that elapsed from the time of the founding of the 'Domus' until the year of the great expulsion, about a hundred Jews in all (?) participated in the benefits of the institution, a small proportion out of the 1,600 Jews in England. All the expenses of the 'Domus' were borne by the royal treasury, while some of the bishops left bequests to augment its funds. In addition to these sources of income, a small poll-tax, called 'the chevage,' was levied upon all Jews, above the age of twelve, to support their converted brethren. The treasury grant amounted annually to £202 0s. 4d. (in present currency about £4,000). At times this contribution was not forthcoming, and the 'converts' were reduced to sore straits of poverty. In 1271 the King addressed a letter to the Mayor of London, and to the Warden of the 'Domus' complaining of numerous irregularities in the management of the house; and it was not till the year of 1280, under the custos of John de St. Denis, that definite regulations for the control of the institution were drafted. The records of the 'Domus' end at the year 1608. As late as the year 1717 a London converted Jew petitioned King George I. for a grant from the funds of the 'Domus.'"
In accordance with the method pursued in this work, I give an alphabetical list of the converts mentioned by name, in the above article, as converts in the house: —
Arthur Antoc, 1663.
Aseti Briasti and his wife, Perota, of France, in the 14th century.
Belager, a rabbi of Oxford, entered the house in 1281.
Claricia, a Jewess from Exeter, resided there in 1353.
Elizabeth, described as the daughter of Rabbi Moses, Episcopus Judæorum, joined the converts in 1339. She remained in the house for seventeen years.
Edward of Westminster lived there from 1461 to 1503.
Edward Scales, from 1503 to 1527.
Elizabeth Ferdinando, admitted in 1603.
Elizabeth Baptista, from 1504 to 1532.
Elizabeth Portugale, from 1492 to 1538.
Fortunati Massa, admitted in 1581.
Henry of Stratford, 1416-41.
John of Castile, admitted in 1366.
John de Sancta Maria of Spain, 1371-1405.
John Durdragt of Dordrecht, Holland, 1425-55.
John Fernando of Spain, 1487-1503.
Katherine Wheteley, admitted in 1532.
Mary Crook, admitted in 1532.
Martin, son of Henry of Woodstock, 1413-1468, the longest period of residence.
Nathaniel Menda, from the Barbary States, 1578-1608. He was baptized in London by John Foxe, the author of "The Book of Martyrs."
Philip Ferdinandus, a learned Polish Jew who had taught Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge and Leyden, resided and died in the 'Domus' in 1600.
Wolfgang, Jacob, from Germany, was admitted in the year after the Gunpowder Plot.
To be continued, and the next part will give accounts of Jewish Converts in the Protestant Churches since the Reformation.
PART II
CHAPTER VI.
Converts in the Protestant Churches
The Reformation ushered in the time of civil and religious liberty, of progress in every department of human activity, of thorough investigation of every branch of learning, of more sympathy with human suffering, and of more zeal among enlightened Christians for the spread of the Gospel among all the nations of the earth. The Jews, as a nation, were certainly not unaffected by it. For as the Reformation purged a great part of the Western Church from image worship, superstition, false doctrine and papal supremacy, it at the same time removed some of the obstacles in their way of entering a Christian Church. They could go into any of the Reformed Churches and find no images in them, and listen to the reading of their own Scriptures, to the singing of their own Psalms, and to sermons which were of a character to awaken and to edify them. No wonder that Jewish voluntary conversions to Christianity since the Reformation are more numerous than in all the previous Christian ages since the time of the Apostles.
In our list we properly place first the name of a Jew who came in contact with the pious Count Zinzendorf. The story is given by Professor F. Delitzsch.
Abraham, a rabbi, met the Count at Romseberg, where the latter took refuge when he was expelled from Saxony. After some conversation they got attached to each other, so that R. Abraham once invited the Count to dine with him on the Sabbath. The Count accepted the invitation as readily as it was given, and, cutting a slice from the loaf said, "Tell me, Rabbi Abraham, if your hospitality is always so ready; has it never been abused?" "Never, my lord," answered the rabbi. "I shall not be tired of giving as long as my hand has something to give. It has been my custom from my youth up; and even an apple never tastes as good as it does when I have given a half to one poorer than myself. Besides, the habit has been of great service to me." He then told him how, one Sabbath day, a rough-looking man came in and asked for alms. Not daring to touch money on the Sabbath day, he invited him to dine with the family. After the meal the man departed with a gruff word of thanks. Not long afterwards Abraham was passing through a forest, when robbers seized him and nearly killed him, and, while on his knees recommending his soul to God, another robber came up and called out, "Rabbi Abraham, do you not know me? A man who fed me when I was hungry shall not die thus." And, thrusting a piece of gold into the old man's hand, he drew his companions away with him into the forest, leaving the rabbi to pursue his journey. These two tried men became after this even greater friends than before. The Count, like Philip of old, declared unto him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rabbi Abraham became a believer, attended the services of the Moravian Brethren, but remained still unbaptized. When he at last lay on his sick bed, Leonard Dober, one of the Count's assistants, came to visit him. "Welcome, dear brother," said he, "at my last hour. You sought me for years in the Lord's name, with love and kind words; and see I have been found. My end is near; so is my salvation. Will the Lord accept one who comes to Him at the last hour, even though he approaches His Throne without the sacrament of baptism?" "Yes," said Dober, "decidedly, as surely as it is written,
The house was taken from a Jew named Herberton.