I have not been able to find a photograph of him – if you have one please let me know – but from the style of his prose and the intelligence in his writing I sense a man who loved his Messiah, his people, and put all his thought and effort into serving them.

Prayer: Lord, my our lives also be transparent in our humble service. Forgive us our airs and graces, petty ambitions and pride, and help us to dedicate ourselves to your service. Thank you for the life and ministry of Aaron Bernstein, and the lasting legacy of his work, especially for the rich resources he has left us, “Some Jewish Witnesses for Christ”

What follows is Bernstein’s own entry about himself in SJWFC. How would you write yours?

Bernstein, Aaron, 1841-1912

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h5m8st6cep9h9fl/skalat_tomek_military_map.jpg?dl=0

Bernstein, Rev. Aaron, born in Skalat, Galicia, in 1841, received, as an only son, a good and pious early education, and was when quite young brought under the influence of the wonder Rabbi of the town, with whose grandson he learned Talmud at school. At the age of 17 he was assistant teacher in a town in Moldavia, when the Rev. W. Mayer, L.J.S. missionary at Jassy, appeared one day in the Synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews, on which occasion he received a German tract, entitled “The Righteous shall live by his Faith.” This made some impression upon him, but it passed away, as he was too young to understand it all. A few years later he went to Jassy, when he met Mr. Mayer again, who gave him a Hebrew New Testament and the “Old Paths.” These were the means under God of leading him eventually to acknowledge the Saviour.

He was baptized by Dr. Ewald, together with nine other Jews, on November 22, 1863. After being for a short time in the Operative Jewish Converts’ Institution, he went to the United States, and after a year or so of teaching in a school and privately, he entered a missionary college which was established by a German missionary, known later as Bishop Auer of Cape Palmas. He then studied Theology in the General Seminary, New York, was ordained Deacon in Philadelphia in July 1870, and appointed by Bishop Stevens as Rector of St. Paul’s, Manheim, Pa.

In June, 1871, the L.J.S. sent [120] him as missionary to Jerusalem, where he laboured only about a year and a-half, as he could not stand the climate. Subsequently he laboured in Bucharest, Paris, Liverpool, and Frankfort, but the greater part of his missionary career was in London, with the exception of an interval of three years, in which he was curate in Hertfordshire.

Bernstein had the honorary degree of M.A. conferred upon him by Columbia College, New York, in 1873, owing to his taking the Greek Prize at the Seminary in 1870, and later the Faculty of the Seminary gave him B.D. He wrote “Sefer Roshey Hatayvoth,” “Anglo-Israel Theory,” translated Professor Cassel’s “Commentary on the Book of Esther” into English, together with the “Targum Sheni” from the Original and Appendices (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1888). He published “The City of David,” “The Book and the People,” and contributed articles to the “Hebrew Christian Witness,” “The Scattered Nation,” “The Everlasting Nation,” “Jews and Christians,” “The Jewish Missionary Intelligence,” and wrote about a dozen tracts in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, and revised a new edition of the Hebrew Bible in 1895. Editor of the “Kol M’Bhasser” since 1907. Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini Tuo da honorem.

Writings

Some Jewish witnesses for Christ by A. Bernstein by Aaron Bernstein ( Book )

11 editions published between 1909 and 1999 in English and Undetermined and held by 90 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

Reasons for the credibility of the New Testament by A Bernstein ( Book )
1 edition published in 1893 in English and held by 1 WorldCat member library worldwide

The Anglo-Israel theory : examined in the light of scripture by A Bernstein ( Book )
in English and held by 1 WorldCat member library worldwide