THE CHRISTIAN REVOLT OF THE JEWS IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA.
BY BISHOP JOHN F. HURST, D.D., LL.D.
There is a little country in the south-eastern corner of Europe, bordering on the Black Sea, which goes by the name of Bessarabia. It drops into the angle formed by the Black Sea and one of the three mouths of the Danube. Before the Crimean war it was a part of Russia, but in consequence of Russia’s defeat in that war she was compelled, in the treaty, to give it up to Turkey, and until six years ago it remained a part of the Turkish Empire. But in the late war between Russia and Turkey it was Russia’s time to win, and so she took back Bessarabia, and it again became a part of her dominions. It has always been the scene of a busy and peculiar life. The very river itself seems to have imparted much of its current to the people, and they have been thinking, in their own humble way, of the best means to promote their own interests.
The most recent movement in this small section of Russia is the religious awakening of the Jews who settled in Bessarabia many years ago, being driven there by the pressure of persecution, and leading a quiet life, saying nothing as the lash came down upon them. From one step to another this religious reformation has proceeded, all the while approaching Christianity, until now it is a strong and still growing work, and in all essential respects, save only organic unity, is allied with the Christian church. It has already attracted the attention of inquiring minds in western Europe, and threatens to extend into the hitherto firm body of Judaism, and awaken intense Christian aspirations and sympathies in the Jewish mind throughout the world. Delitzsch, of Leipzig University, has given some account of the general features of the revolution in his Documente der National-jüdischen Christgläubigen Bewegung in Südrussland, but the most that has been written has thus far been in fugitive form, in the Slavic periodicals of the Danubian principalities. The whole affair has taken place in such an obscure country, and so far removed from the busy centers of European thought and life, that it has not had time to get into the permanent field of literature. Its leaders have been so little accustomed to rely on the press, or to take it into view as a means of propagating their opinions, that in this new phase of their work they have depended simply on the justice of their cause and the firm principles which they believe underlie it. From various sources, and especially from the Rev. Dr. Kleinheim, of Bucharest, who has been a resident of this far-off city about twenty years, and is probably better acquainted with the internal working of Judaism in eastern and southern Europe than any other man, I have gathered the most of the data which I herewith present to your readers. This gentleman has spent his life in trying to christianize the Jews of Moldavia and Wallachia, and his labors have been remarkably successful. He has been kind enough to answer all my inquiries, and to open to me some of the interior views of this important and unique movement which could not have been secured at a distance.
The prime mover in this revolt against pure Judaism, and in favor of Christian adaptations, is a layman, Joseph Rabinowitz. He is a lawyer by profession, and for learning, and as a pure and elevated character, he has been long held in the highest repute by his companions in faith throughout Bessarabia. From his very development into manhood he seems to have been interested in the improvement of their condition, and to have conceived the idea that there must be some new and easy solution of their solitude and sorrow. In 1880 he presented a plan, which was more theoretical and fanciful than practical, by which the Jewish priesthood might be thoroughly reorganized, and thereby the whole Jewish system undergo a most salutary rehabilitation. There was, however, no intimation here that any form of Christianity should be superadded to Judaism. But he had his thoughts, and applied himself with redoubled energy to helping his brethren to something better than they had so far possessed, both in faith and material comfort. The Jews have seldom shown any sympathy with agriculture. They are a folk of trade, the world’s shopmen and money changers. But Rabinowitz endeavored to introduce agriculture among the Bessarabian Jews, and to locate them in pleasant and open homes. By and by, in 1882, the violent persecution of the Jews of the whole of southern Russia broke out, and neither life nor property seemed to rest on any approach to a secure base.
Rabinowitz now turned his attention to the Holy Land. He felt that Russia was no place for the Jews to live in, that they should go to a country where their fathers had once been great and strong, that now Palestine had only a sparse population, that the Jews would not be disturbed there in any way, and that they should wander hither, become tillers of the soil, and develop once more into a great people. He went there himself, made a careful study of the country, and especially of its history, and came to the startling conclusion that the land itself, from positive internal evidence, gives the fullest and clearest proof possible, to-day, that such a character as Jesus Christ did live in it, that he, and none other, is the promised Messiah, that all further expectation of a Messiah on the part of the Jews is idle, and that the only proper course for them to adopt is to accept him as their Savior and Redeemer. This is concession which lies at the root of all Judaism; once granted, there is positively nothing essential left.
Rabinowitz had gone to Palestine for the sole purpose of opening the country for a new immigration, not only of Jews from Bessarabia, but from every land. He saw in the occupation of the country, by his fellow-believers, a magnificent future for them. But through some strange providence, which no one seems yet to understand, he saw a larger future—the Jews of all lands coming to the cross of Christ. He went back to Bessarabia, and soon astounded his companions in doctrine by his bold and impassioned declarations of the divine character of Jesus. With the genius of the real leader, he adopted a watchword, which has now become broadly known as the rallying cry of all Jews who share his doctrine: “The key of the Holy Land lies in the hand of our brother Jesus.”
There is no want of clearness in the creed of this new and striking departure in Judaism. It is an adoption of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity; at the same time, however, those who entertain these doctrines do not propose to withdraw from Judaism completely, but to retain some of the minor features of the old system, and to refrain from joining any Christian denomination. They call themselves “The National Jewish Society of the New Testament.” In their articles of faith, as communicated by Pastor Faltin, of Kischinev, to Dr. Delitzsch, they hold the following general views: There is one living and true God, creator of all things. He made a covenant with Israel, his people, that he would raise from their midst a prophet, who should have the spirit of the Lord, and himself be the Lord, who would plant righteousness throughout the earth. This prophet is the promised Messiah, who taught the people the truth, and bore their sins, and died for the whole world. He was born about seventy years before the destruction of the second temple, and died at the hands of his enemies. He will rule the house of David, and exalt the horn of his people for ever more. The Jews of his time were stricken with blindness. The light was before them, but because of their hardness of heart they were punished with helplessness. Hence they killed their Lord. It is now time to open their eyes, and see him whom their fathers slew. He alone is Redeemer. He alone can build up the Jewish people. From all lands they should hasten to Palestine, and accept Christ immediately, and expect nothing less than that he will restore Jerusalem to its former glory, and build there once more the throne of David.
Such is the mere thread of doctrine which pervades this new system, but there is interwoven with it a certain general paraphrase of teaching, which it is also necessary to understand. This is furnished Dr. Delitzsch by Wilhelm Faber (of Kirsanoff), who took notes one afternoon when Rabinowitz himself gave a survey of his creed. “We Jews,” says the leader, “who have come into the full vision of Jesus Christ, and now feel the power of his spirit, have not come to the great light through any general indoctrination from without. No, we have looked deeply into the Old and New Testaments, and have found that God takes no pleasure in the death of the sinner, and that he loves his people Israel, and is willing to save them. Our reflection has become stirred by the miracles of Jesus. We see in them the evidences of his divinity and the proofs of his love toward us. We have come to look to our brother Jesus as the Messiah, and to find in him our only hope of salvation.”
While Rabinowitz has organized his companions in this new doctrine into a separate religious body, which does not alienate itself fully from Judaism, it differs from Christianity widely enough to prevent perfect affiliation with it. It stands upon the border-line, being neither positively Jewish nor altogether Christian. Rabinowitz finds fault with Christians for being divided into many confessions, and congratulates his fellow-believers from among the Jews on the ease with which they can build themselves into a new organization without the embarrassment of subdivisions. In answer to the question as to whether circumcision should be enforced in this new religious society, Rabinowitz says: “It is not sinful to abstain from circumcision, but he who does so abstain cuts himself off from all relation to his people.” He, therefore, makes this rite a part of the creed of his church, but not a necessity. He regards the sentences of the Old and New Testaments as of equal validity, and rejects the Talmud and the writings of the rabbinists as not of authoritative force, but as valuable monuments of an early time. He adopts the communion service of the Lutheran church, and makes baptism an essential part of his system.
Rabinowitz propounded his doctrines to his fellow Jews only two years ago, and in this brief time over two hundred families have formally united with him. Of course the regular Jews do not endorse such a departure. They regard it as a miserable apostasy, and proclaim loudly against it. On the other hand, the Christian church can not hail it with unmixed pleasure, inasmuch as the “National Jews” still adhere to some parts of the Jewish system, and must make some important concessions before they can be regarded as a thorough religious body.
In what light, therefore, must these Jews, who have accepted Christ and his full atonement, be held? Can we see in their doctrines a sign of real hope for the entire Jewish world? We think that only one answer can be given, the one which Delitzsch and other close students of the Hebrew mind, both past and present, have been compelled to give—namely, that we see here an evidence of the breaking up of the old Jewish solidity. Mendelssohn and others have proven that the Jews are subdivided among themselves, that there are numerous tendencies which pervade the entire body, and that these are constantly growing stronger. This, however, is the first instance where an important part of the Jewish church has openly adopted the atonement of Christ, and proposes to rise or fall by that alone. May it not be the great outcome of the Jewish mystery, that large sections will formally adopt Christianity; that not as individuals but as vast territorial sections they will renounce their old faith and take their place among Christian bodies; and that in due time they will drop the Jewish name altogether, and be thoroughly identified with the great Christian church in all its activities and grand purposes?
The middle ground of the National Jews of to-day, as occupied and preached by Rabinowitz, is simply an impossibility for the future. It is neither one thing nor another. Its exact parallel, in our day, can be found in the impossible church of Father Hyacinth. His work is neither all Protestant nor all Roman Catholic. To succeed it must become Protestant, and formally reject all attachments to the old Romanism. There must be no looking back when once the “hand is put to the plow.” Had Martin Luther stood all his life upon the door-sill of Roman Catholicism, looking out and yet not going out, his work would have been a total failure, and have shown a lack of that final courage which makes a successful revolution. We must, however, bear in mind the fact that he was preceded by men who had taken positive ground, but not the last step. To their moderate work he owed much. He saw their failure, and the cause of it, and hence he broke the whole yoke and became a free man. In the same useful line must we rank the doctrines and work of Rabinowitz. He may not take all the advanced course which we would like, and which history reveals as only the true Reformer, but he is the sure forerunner of one or more who will do this work. It is one of the ways in which God distributes his honors, that his great movements are not conducted by one alone. There is always the Baptist, and sometimes many, who must preach in the wilderness, before the full gospel of the mountain side and sea shore can be heard from the lips of the world’s Teacher. In this light, as the prophecy of a new religious awakening among the Jews, who have for all ages rejected all approaches from Christianity, must we regard the doctrines and work of Rabinowitz and his friends. His cause is rapidly growing, and must continue to grow. While it is not a finality, it is in the right direction, and hence a blessing which all Christian people must hail with pleasure.
Bucharest, Roumania, October 7, 1884.