Colthof, Jaap; (2016) From juvenile criminal to Jewish scholar: the nineteenth-century Protestant mission among Amsterdam Jews which culminated in a murder attempt on a clergyman. Jewish Historical Studies , 48 pp. 138-157. 10.14324/111.444.jhs.2016v48.029.

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Abstract

This article concerns the assassination attempt by Samuel Abraham Hirsch on a minister, Carl Schwartz, a converted Jew, on 1 August 1858. Hirsch, a member of the Orthodox Jewish establishment in Amsterdam, was fifteen years old. The incident, which took place in the Scottish Mission Church in Amsterdam, was motivated by growing resentment among Amsterdam Jews against the missionary endeavours of the Free Church of Scotland and sympathizing members of the Dutch Reformed orthodoxy. A remarkable fact is that the attempted assassination of a clergyman by a Jew during a church service had no repercussions, whereas a similar event in Eastern Europe might have incited a violent response. This episode can best be appreciated against the historical background of the position of the Jewish community in the Netherlands from the seventeenth century onwards. The present study, furthermore, sheds light on the role of the House of Orange regarding the request for royal recognition of an initiative to convert Jews. Schwartz was injured in the incident, but resumed work after two months. Hirsch was sentenced to twelve years in a correctional institution, and was pardoned after four. Eventually, he moved to London, where he grew into an erudite scholar. He published numerous scientific papers and served for years as the secretary of the London branch of Hovevei Zion (“those who love Zion”).

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