Paulus Stephanus Cassel

Paulus Stephanus Cassel (born Selig Cassel) (February 27, 1821 — December 23, 1892) was a German Jewish convert to Christianity, writer, orator, and missionary to Jews.

Biography

Cassel was born in Gross-Glogau, Silesia. His father was a sculptor, and his brother David was a well-known rabbi in Berlin and docent at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums (University for the Study of Judaism). Cassel studied at the Gymnasia of Glogau and Schweidnitz and at the University of Berlin, where he followed with special interest the lectures of the historian Leopold von Ranke. In 1849 he edited in Erfurt "Die Constitutionelle Zeitung", and in 1850-56 "Die Erfurter Zeitung", in a royalist spirit. He later received a doctor of divinity degree from Vienna.

According to his own statement, his Christian friends, and especially his study of the history of Israel, led him to Christianity. He was baptized on May 28, 1855 in Büßleben, near Erfurt, receiving the name "Paulus Stephanus." In later years he celebrated May 28 as his "second birthday". He became librarian of the Royal Library and secretary of the Academy in Erfurt in the following year. He remained in Erfurt till 1859. King Frederick William IV bestowed the title of professor on Cassel in recognition of his loyal labors. In 1860 he removed to Berlin, where he was a teacher at a gymnasium for a short time, and occupied himself with literary work. He was briefly editor of the official "Deutsche Reform". He delivered public lectures, which drew increasingly large audiences, both Jews and Gentiles. These lectures made him known throughout Berlin and the country.

In 1866-67 Cassel was a Conservative member of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies ("Landtag"). He became a prominent member of the Conservative Party.

In 1867 Cassel was appointed missionary by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews, a position which he retained till March 1891. At the same time (1867) Cassel was assigned to the pastorate of the Christuskirche in Berlin, with over a thousand sittings, erected by the Society in Wilhelmstrasse in 1864. He remained in service there for twenty-four years.

He traveled and lectured widely, as this excerpt from a published letter shows ("Thoughts on the Jewish Mission", 1887):

Invitations came to give lectures in places at a distance. A dear friend of mine shewed me in 1860 a map of Germany, on which he marked all the towns in which I have lectured. Since then I have delivered over a thousand original lectures in Berlin and elsewhere. God's hand has guided me everywhere. My journeys have extended from Amsterdam to Buda-Pesth. I always had an attentive audience, and the poorer people in both large and small towns heard the Word with gladness - nay, even with enthusiasm.

He baptized 262 Jews in Christuskirche, among them doctors, authors, merchants.

In a pamphlet published a short time before his death, he complained of the inconsiderate treatment he had received at the hands of his Christian friends ("Sendschreiben an Freunde in Deutschland und England über die Christuskirche in Berlin und Ihr Martyrium Durch die London Society," Berlin, 1891). H.L. Strack states that it is not clear what induced Cassel to join the Christian Church, though he contends that Cassel's reasons were obviously not mercenary. (See Herzog-Hauck, "Real-Encyc." iii. 744). Cassel combated anti-Semitism with considerable warmth (in "Wider Heinrich von Treitschke für die Juden", Berlin, 1880; "Die Antisemiten und die Evangelische Kirche", 2d ed., Berlin, 1881; "Ahasverus, die Sage vom Ewigen Juden mit einem Kritischen Protest Wider", Ed. von Hartmann und Adolf Stöcker, Berlin, 1885; also "Der Judengott und Richard Wagner, eine Antwort an die Bayreuther Blätter"). He wrote and spoke against Adolf Stöcker and Richard Wagner and other expressions of Protestant anti-Semitism during a period of its resurgence.

In his "Emancipation und Mission" Cassel endeavored to show that the Jews would obtain permanent relief from persecution not by civil enfranchisement, but through evangelization. In later years, however, he frankly receded from this view. De le Roi, the historian of Christian propaganda among the Jews, says that Cassel was animated by "a very decided Jewish spirit." In 1860 Cassel published a "History of the Jewish People Since the Destruction of Jerusalem", issued in Berlin by the Gesellschaft zur Beförderung des Christenthums Unter den Juden. He exerted himself in the interest of proselytism among Jews. He stated his views on missionary work among them in a pamphlet: "Wie Ich über Judenmission Denke," Berlin, 1886; see also "Nathanael," edited by H.L. Strack, 1897. From 1875 to 1889 he edited "Sunem, ein Berliner Wochenblatt für Christliches Leben und Wissen" (16 vols.). "Hallelujah, Einhundert und Acht und Achtzig Geistliche Lieder" is a collection of hymns reprinted from this journal. In 1847 Cassel wrote an earnest though somewhat fantastic study of Hungarian archaeology, "Magyarische Alterthümer", which long remained of value. Of especial interest is his translation (with notes) of the reply to Chisdai ben Isaac of Joseph, king of the Khazars (pp. 183 et seq.).

Cassel died at Friedenau near Berlin, his last words being, "Wo ist denn das Himmelreich?" He was buried at the Old Jerusalem Cemetery. According to the "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums",

When the anti-Semites began to show themselves, Cassel remembered his origin, and opposed the leaders, Stöcker, Wagner, and others with great decision and manliness. It was this manly action that gives us some satisfaction for his desertion of the parental religion. We have to judge this apostasy very differently from that of many others in former and present times, as he did not forsake his old creed for any worldly reason, or to get honors and position, but rather because he followed a mystical line of thought. God alone can judge the veracity and purity of his life; we dare not. 'Peace be to his ashes!'

"History of the Jews"

Cassel's only methodic work is his history of the Jews from the destruction of Jerusalem to 1847 ("Juden [Geschichte] " in Ersch and Gruber, "Encyc." ii., part 27, pp. 1-238). This scientific treatment of Jewish history he wrote before his conversion, and it is signed "Selig Cassel." Isaak Markus Jost, however, says of it: "It is one-sided and merely gives episodes out of the life of Jews in various countries. It is collated in a fragmentary manner, though rich in erudite notes" (I.M. Jost, "Geschichte des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten", Section 3, p. 365, Leipzig, 1859). "Sabbathliche Erinnerungen" was also published before Cassel's conversion — the first part anonymously, the second (signed "S. C." in the preface) being put forth for the benefit of indigent veterans of 1813-15.

Biblical studies

Cassel's Biblical studies are conservative; and it is surprising that he neglected to use the fund of rabbinical lore he undoubtedly possessed. In 1865 he wrote "Das Buch der Richter und Ruth" for Johann Peter Lange's "Theologisch-Homiletisches Bibelwerk". A second edition appeared in 1887, which was translated into English in 1872. In 1878 appeared "Das Buch Esther, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Morgenlandes, aus dem Hebräischen Uebersetzt, Historisch und Theologisch Erläutert", section 1, with an appendix, a translation of the Second Targum. The original text of the Second Targum Cassel published in "Aus Litteratur und Geschichte", Berlin and Leipzig, 1885: "Zweites Targum zum Buche Esther, im Vocalisierten Urtext mit Sachlichen und Sprachlichen Erläuterungen Herausgegeben." An English translation by Aaron Bernstein was published in Edinburgh in 1888. This English edition also gives translations of several of Cassel's essays; viz., "Mithra" (pp. 345-361), "The Winged Bulls of Persepolis" (pp. 362-377), and "Zoroaster" (pp. 378-400). Most of Cassel's other literary work partakes of the character of controversy. His larger work on "Weihnachten, Ursprünge, Bräuche und Aberglauben, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Christlichen Kirche und des Deutschen Volkes", Berlin, 1861, is a medley of ingenious but unsystematized erudition, and is pervaded by a tone of pious emotionalism.

Altogether, Cassel's versatility has secured him merely the admiration of his contemporaries. He was incapable of acquiring a position of influence in the church of his adoption. His more general works are: "Vom Wege nach Damascus, Apologetische Abhandlungen", Gotha, 1872; "Aus Guter Stunde, Betrachtungen und Erinnerungen", Gotha, 1874; "Für Ernste Stunden, Betrachtungen und Erinnerungen", 2d ed., Berlin, 1881; "Aus Literatur und Symbolik", Leipzig, 1884; "Aus Literatur und Geschichte", Berlin and Leipzig, 1885; "Vom Nil zum Ganges, Wanderungen in die Orientalische Welt", Berlin, 1880; and "Das Leben des Menschen in Gesch. und Symbol", in "G. S." (only one volume published), Berlin, 1893. Besides, Cassel wrote a large number of pamphlets on theological, ethnological, and philological subjects.

Other writings

Other publications of Cassel's are:

*"Wissenschaftliche Berichte, Unter Mitwirkung von Mitgliedern der Erfurter Akademie"
*"Magyarische Altertumer", 1848
*"Von Warschau bis Olmutz", 1851
*"Denkschrift der Königlichen Akademie Gemeinnütziger Wissenschaften in Erfurt, Herausgegeben am Sekulartage Ihrer Gründung, den 19. Juli, 1854"
*"Irene, eine Sprachlich-Exegetische Skizze", Erfurt, 1855
*"Thüringische Ortsnamen", 1856-58
*"Eddische Studien", 1856
*"Rose und Nachtigall", 1860
*"Der Mittler, ein Exegetischer Versuch zu Galater iii. 19, 20"
*"Aus der Hagia Sophia, ein Akademisches Neujahrs-Programm"
*"Über Thüringische Ortsnamen, Abdruck von Wissenschaftlichen Berichten der Erfurter Akademie"
*"Dialoge über Wissenschaft und Christenthum"
*"Das 1000 jährige Reich", 1890

Essays with respect to Judaism, dating from this time, are the following:

*"Das Glaubensbekenntniss der Zenobia, Fürstin von Palmyra," in "Orient, Lit", 1841, Nos. 31 et seq.
*"Der Apostat," "ibid". 1843, Nos. 18 et seq.
*"Historische Versuche: Anmerkungen zu Benjamin von Tudela, Französische Städtenamen, Apologie," Berlin, 1847
*"Die Rabbinerversammlung des Jahres 1650, eine Historische Abhandlung," Berlin, 1845

Other writings by Cassel with reference to Judaism and the Jews are the following:

*"Die Symbolik des Blutes und der Arme Heinrich von Hartmann von der Aue", Berlin, 1882
*"Shylock, der Kaufmann von Venedig", in "Aus Literatur und Symbolik", pp. 368-386
*"Caricaturnamen" in "Literatur und Geschichte", pp. 323-347
*"Der Ewige Jude," in "G. S." i. 367-410
*"Das Zicklein aus der Jüdischen Passahliturgie," in "Aus dem Lande des Sonnenaufgangs", pp. 1-16, Berlin, 1886
*"Zur Naturgeschichte der Chuzpe," a reply to Fritz Mauthner's review of "Ahasverus", "ibid". pp. 89-100

An important treatise on medieval folklore, and the contributions made thereto by Jews, is "Mischle Sindbad, Secundus Syntipas, Edirt, Emendirt und Erklärt; Einleitung und Deutung des Buches der Sieben Weisen Meister", 3d ed., Berlin, 1891. He wrote many poems and hymns and some plays, including "Vom Könige", "Das neue Schauspiel", "Der Weiner Congress" and "Paulus at Damascus".

External links

*JewishEncyclopedia|article=Cassel, Paulus Stephanus (Selig)|author=Isidore Singer and Louis Grossman|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=237&letter=C
* [http://hadavar.org/Casseltest.html Biography] from HaDavar