Ignatz Lichtenstein

Ignatz Lichtenstein
Ignatz Lichtenstein
Born1824
Hungary
Died(1908-10-16)October 16, 1908
OccupationRabbi of Tápiószele Hungary (1857-1892)
ChildrenEmanuel Lichtenstein, MD [1]

Ignatz Lichtenstein[2] (1824 – October 16, 1908[3]) was a Hungarian Orthodox rabbi who wrote "pamphlets advocating conversion to Christianity while still officiating as a Rabbi."[4] Though he refused to be baptized into the Christian faith his whole life,[5] he ultimately retired from his Rabbinical post at the age of 68 in 1892 due to failing health.[6] In 1888 he visited by the Scottish minister and evangelist Alexander Neil Somerville.[7] And then his biography appeared in the Methodist Episcopal missionary magazine, The Gospel in All Lands, in 1894.[6] The Jewish historian Gotthard Deutsch, an editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia, in an essay published 3 February 1916, mentions him, fallaciously, in the course of refuting a claim by the Chief Rabbi of London that no rabbi had ever become a convert to Christianity.[4] Followers of Messianic Judaism mention him as an example of a turn of the 19th century "Jewish believer in Jesus."[8] Speaking of his first contact with the gospel, he said: "I looked for thorns and gathered roses."[5]

  1. ^ Two Letters; or, What I really Wish. (Translated by Mrs. Baron) Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel. 1887
  2. ^ or Ignác in the Magyar Zsidó Lexikon (Hungarian Jewish Lexicon) from 1929, in the entry Tápiószele, also known in English as Isaac Lichtenstein and who wrote under the pen name I. Lichtenstein
  3. ^ Louis Meyer, ed. (15 January 1909). "V. Austria Hungary". The Jewish Era. 18 (1). Chicago Hebrew Mission: 20. OCLC 49314122. Retrieved 23 December 2012. Rabbi Ignatz Lichtenstein died in Budapest in his eighty-fifth year on Friday, October 16th.
  4. ^ a b Deutsch, Gotthard (2005). Scrolls: Essays on Jewish History and Literature and Kindred Subjects V1 and V2. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 118–119. ISBN 1-4179-5217-2.
  5. ^ a b Gillet, Lev (2002). Communion in the Messiah: Studies in the Relationship Between Judaism and Christianity. James Clarke & Co. p. 206. ISBN 0-227-17225-6.
  6. ^ a b Smith, Eugene R. (1894). The Gospel in All Lands. New York: Hunt & Nation. pp. 507–508.
  7. ^ Nagy-Laczkó, Balázs (3 February 2022). "'Dr. Somerville's sensational visit to Békés county' (hungarian). Hungarian original: Dr. Somerville szenzációs látogatása Békésben". Bárka (in Hungarian).
  8. ^ "The Story of Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein: From an account written over 90 years ago". The Association of Messianic Congregations.