Yechiel Zvi Lichtenstein 1831-1912
Lichtenstein was born in 1831 in Jassy, Romania. He had a Chassidic upbringing in Bessarabia with the traditional education in the cheder and yeshiva. In his later years, he became very knowledgeable in Jewish mysticism, learning which he demonstrated in his later writings. By the time he was 19 years old (1850), he acquired a New Testament and “…began to study it, together with a few friends, and in 1855 he and his friends baptized themselves in a river near Jassy, wishing in this way to lay the foundation of a Hebrew Christian Church.”
Landsman, who would later be Lichtenstein’s student in the late 1890s, said:
“He was a great Talmudic scholar, and also deeply versed in the Kabbala, the mystic literature of the Jews. He once told me himself that for a time he had been a wonder-rabbi with the Chassidim, but becoming acquainted with modern culture he had given it up and become a merchant.”
The title pages of some of his publications include the title of “Rav” before his name which was probably not just honorific.
The fact that Landsman calls him a “wonder-rabbi” says much. In any case, Lichtenstein’s days as a wandering “miracle working” rabbi were soon over; for, the Haskalah eventually caught up with him and subsequently he became a merchant. Sometime near or after 1855, he met Joseph Rabinowitz and gave him a New Testament; however, according to Landsman “at the time [Rabinowitz] did not consider it seriously.
Mr. Lichtenstein married, subsequently, a sister of Joseph [Rabinowitz], but she died a short time afterwards. Over the next decade, Lichtenstein began his literary career.
taken from Jorge Quinonez, http://www.messianicart.com/davar/articles/lichtenstein.pdf
Sheva Hochmot, 1883, (“Seven Wisdoms”) with the German subtitle, “Geography of the Talmud.”, a collection of rabbinic sayings on geography and science. Written under the name of Jechiel Zebi Herschensohn (Lichtenstein’s original Jewish surname). Download SHEVA HOHMOT.
Limudei haNeviim (“The Teachings of the Prophets”), 1868 or 1869. Limudei haNeviim tried to combine the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah and the New Testament as it presents itself as a type of Bible commentary.
Derekh haKodesh, is a briefer version of Limudei haNeviim cut off at pg. 158 (only includes the title page and introduction or forward. Thus, only the intro/forward is included.
Toledot Yeshua (“The Life of Yeshua”) L published under the pseudonym “Even Tzehar.” A response to the rabbinic polemic commonly known as Toledot Yeshu. 4) L’s Hebrew translation of Franz Delitzsch’s Yeshua veHillel, a response by Delitzsch to Jewish writers’ comments comparing Jesus to Hillel (viz. Rabbi Abraham Geiger). Download OTHER WORKS.
Download REVISED MATTHEW COMMENTARY.
Commentary on the New Testament 1830/31(?)-1912. Beur leSifre Berit HaHadashah originally published between 1891 and 1904 in multiple parts. Download Commentary.
For volumes of Edut LeIsrael, visit: http://vineofdavid.org/remnant_repository/theophilus_lucky/
Bernstein, A. Jewish Witnesses for Christ. Keren Ahvah Meschichit, Jerusalem. New edition 1999.