Adolph Saphir


Rev Dr Aaron Adolph Saphir DD was a Hungarian Jew who converted to Christianity and became a Jewish Presbyterian missionary.

Life

He was born in eastern Budapest on 26 September 1831, the son of Israel Saphir, a Jewish merchant and brother of the poet, Moritz Gottlieb Saphir. Adolph's mother was Henrietta Bondij.
In 1843, his family converted to Christianity through the Jewish mission of the Free Church of Scotland. In the autumn of 1843 his father sent him to train as a Christian minister for the Free Church of Scotland at New College, Edinburgh. This proved impractical due to his age and lack of English. He attended a Gymnasium in Berlin from 1844 to 1848 much improving his English. From 1848 he studied at Glasgow University graduating MA in 1854.
Saphir travelled to Edinburgh with Rabbi Duncan and Alfred Edersheim. He then studied at the Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1854, Saphir was appointed a missionary to the Jews. He worked briefly in Hamburg before moving to England where he served in South Shields, at St Mark's in Greenwich's South Street, and Notting Hill. Saphir became a minister of the Presbyterian Church of England, and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the University of Glasgow in 1878.
He died of Angina pectoris on 3 April 1891.

Publications

Adolph Saphir's siblings were also involved in the Hebrew Christian movement and missionary activities: Philipp, whose letters and diaries Adolph edited, ran a mission school in Budapest; Johanna taught at the school and later married Charles Andrew Schönberger, co-founder of the Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel; and Maria Dorothea married the noted Hebrew Christian preacher Carl Schwartz. In 1854 Adolph married Sarah Owen from Dublin. They had one daughter who died young; Sarah died four days before Adolph.