Pick, Aaron, Biblical scholar, was born at Prague, where he was converted to Christianity and lectured on Hebrew at the University. He lived in England during the first half of the nineteenth century, and was the author of translations and commentaries of various books of the Bible. His works comprised a literal translation from the Hebrew of the twelve Minor Prophets (1833), of Obadiah (1834), and of the seventh chapter of Amos, with a commentary. In 1837 he produced a treatise on the Hebrew accents, and in 1845 he published, "The Bible Student's Concordance." He was besides the author of a work entitled, "The Gathering of Israel or the Patriarchal Blessing as contained in the Forty-ninth chapter of Genesis. Being the Revelation of God concerning the twelve Tribes of Israel, and their ultimate Restoration."
Pick, Abraham, a native of Senftenberg, Bohemia, was influenced by his brother Israel to examine the evidences of Christianity, and then had intercourse with a Scotch missionary, the Rev. Daniel Edward, in 1866, and at last was brought to the Lord by the Rev. Abraham Herschell, who also baptized him in 1869 at Stuttgart together with his wife. His daughter Catharine was already baptized through Edward, at Breslau in 1857. His daughters, Rosie and Philippine, were baptized at Kaiserswerth by the Scotch Free Church missionary, Van Andel, and his daughter Regina and his son Joseph were baptized at Kornthal in 1878. His daughters Charlotte and Therese were baptized in Switzerland by Pastor Bernoulli, and Elizabeth was baptized by Pastor Axenfeld in Cologne. The whole family became in various ways useful workers in the service of the Master, and in 1879 they had the joy of knowing that seven of their relatives had confessed Christ in baptism. Abraham Pick became afterwards the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society at Lemberg, where he laboured for many years in spreading the Word of God in Galicia and in the Bukowina, where he and his family were almost the only sympathizing friends of the L.J.S. missionaries.
Pick, Israel, a brother of the above, had received a strict Talmudical education. When he came to the age of discretion he began to waver between rabbinic orthodoxy and freethought, but he felt an inward call to do something great for the emancipation of his brethren and for restoring the Jewish kingdom. At first he was engaged in journalistic work at Vienna, and then he became a preacher and teacher in a synagogue at Bucharest, where he endeavoured to infuse vital religion into the congregation, but had to leave them disappointed. His enthusiasm for the temporal and spiritual welfare of his people caused him to correspond with missionaries and to lay before them a plan for the establishment of a Hebrew Christian National Church. He also addressed a letter to that effect to the Jews in Amsterdam in 1853, but received no encouragement anywhere. At last he embraced Christianity and was baptized by Daniel Edward at Breslau in 1854. On this occasion he wrote: "A Word to my People," afterwards "The Star of Jacob," "Kol nidre night," "Is there no Physician there?" In all these writings he displayed almost a prophetical spirit, speaking from the fulness of a heart inflamed with love to his people, and no less to his Saviour. This enthusiasm led him eventually in 1859 to Jerusalem, and then he was heard of no more. The probability is that he was killed somewhere in Palestine.
Pick, Joseph, after studying in Basel and in the L.J.S. College, was appointed missionary at Strassburg in 1877, and in 1888 he was transferred to Cracow. He was a gifted and an energetic man and laboured in both places under peculiar difficulties. In 1897 he visited London, and on his return died rather suddenly, his loss being deeply felt by all who knew him.
Pick, Rev. Dr. Bernard, was baptized in Berlin in 1861. Later he went to the United States, where he studied theology and was appointed to a church at Rochester, New York. He was a prolific writer. The following were from his pen: "The Mission among the Jews," in the Encyclopædia of Biblical, theological and ecclesiastical literature (New York, 1881, pp. 166-177). "The Talmud, what it is and what it knows about Jesus and His followers" (New York, 1887). "Luther as a Hymnist," 1888. "Historical Sketch of the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem," 1887.
Pieritz, G. Wildon, born at Klecko in Posen, in 1808, baptized 1835, laboured as a missionary of the L.J.S. in the forties of the nineteenth century at Jerusalem, in Damascus, and subsequently settled at Oxford, where he was engaged in teaching. He was a learned and spiritually-minded man, as his articles in the "Hebrew Christian Witness, 1874-5," testify. He was the author of "The Gospels from the Rabbinical Point of View," London and Oxford, 1873.
Pieritz, Rev. Joseph Abraham, was a missionary of the L.J.S., stationed at Bristol in 1844, and laboured amongst the Jews generally in the West of England, also in Dublin and other places. He afterwards went out to British Guiana, and became rector of the parish of St. Patrick, Berbice, where he died in 1869, aged sixty-five, as the result of a carriage accident. His funeral was taken by the Bishop, and was attended by over 2,000 persons.
Polan, Rev. Mark, was born at Wilna, a town known as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania," where a high type of Judaism prevailed and where Rabbinical learning flourished, and where also the Greek churches mostly represented a sensuous and ritualistic Christianity. At Wilna there is a flourishing trade in cereal products, and Mark's father was a corn merchant. His parents gave him a rigorous religious training. His mother could speak Hebrew well, and the boy was instructed in the Talmud and other Rabbinical writings. As an illustration of the sectarian rigour of the Jews at Wilna, it may be mentioned that a law having been passed compelling education in the Russian language, the Jews proclaimed a Fast and made provision for the private tuition of their children.
Young Polan left his native place in 1872 intending to proceed to Australia and join a relative there. A change of plan, under pressure from home, led him to linger first at Königsberg and then in London. In London he soon came in contact with missionaries. His aim, however, was not enquiry but opposition. Rumours then reached his friends that he had become a Meshummad, but careful enquiries satisfied them that their suspicions were mistaken and he was left unmolested.
But the living God was also watching and guiding. Gradually his attitude to Christianity began to change. For one thing, the absence of images in the English churches made an impression upon him. The first Christian book that he read was the "Pilgrim's Progress" in Hebrew. Then there came eager readings of Commentaries written on St. Luke, Acts, Romans and Hebrews by Dr. Biesenthal, once a rabbinical Jew; he was thus led to a careful study of the New Testament. In the Rev. Theodore Meyer the enquirer at last found a wise and loving instructor and friend. From the first, Mr. Meyer's erudition and sincerity drew forth the confidence and interest of the young Jew.