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Henry Aaron Stern ( Unterreichenbach, near
Gelnhausen Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one ...
, 11 April 1820 – Hackney, 13 May 1885) was an Anglican missionary and captive in Abyssinia. He was the youngest son of Aaron Stern, a
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and his wife Hannah, was born in the Duchy of
Hessen-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...
. His parents moved to Frankfurt during his childhood, and he went to school there. His father destined him for the medical profession but, at his son's special request, sent him to Hamburg when he was seventeen years old to be trained as a merchant. In 1839 Stern was offered a good appointment in London, but the firm failed, and he found himself unsuccessful in obtaining employment. While in London he was taken to the Palestine Place chapel, where, through the influence of Dr. McCaul, he converted to Christianity and was baptised on 15 March 1840. He was then placed in the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, where he learned the trade of a printer. In August 1842 he was admitted into the Hebrew College of the London Jews' Society, with the ultimate intention of becoming a missionary to the Jews. Stern was first sent by the London Jews' Society to Jerusalem, where he was ordained as a deacon on 14 July 1844 by the first Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem,
Michael Solomon Alexander Michael Solomon Alexander (1 May 1799 – 23 November 1845) was the first Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem. Life He was the second son and one of five children born to Alexander Wolff. His ancestors may have come to Prussia from England, or ma ...
in St. James's Chapel at Jerusalem, then travelling onwards to
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. In 1849, during a visit to England, he was ordained an
Anglican priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
in the
Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also appl ...
at Whitehall on 23 December 1849 by the
bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. Stern returned to Baghdad in the following June, and stayed there for three more years before being transferred to Istanbul (1853–1859). The London Jews' Society then directed Stern to travel to Ethiopia to preach to the
Beta Israel The Beta Israel ( he, בֵּיתֶא יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Bēteʾ Yīsrāʾēl''; gez, ቤተ እስራኤል, , modern ''Bēte 'Isrā'ēl'', EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "House of Israel" or "Community of Israel"), also known as Ethiopian Jews ...
Jews, arriving on March 10, 1860.Don Seeman ''One People, One Blood: Ethiopian-Israelis and the Return to Judaism'' Page 47 2010 "Henry Aaron Stern arrived in Ethiopia on March 10, 1860." On his return from Ethiopia he was founder of the Hebrew Christian Prayer Union of London, 1882, later included into Carl Schwartz' Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain.
Tewodros II of Ethiopia , spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"'' , alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.) Tewodros II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, baptized as Gebre Kidan; 1818 – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiop ...
initially welcomed Stern, and Stern fixed his headquarters at Gondar. Following various slights by Lord John Russell of the
British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
and others the Ethiopian emperor's attitude to the British changed. Stern was summoned to appear before the emperor at Gondar in October 1863 where Stern was beaten and imprisoned together with a Mr. Rosenthal, his LJS assistant. By the time they were transferred to prison at Amba Magdala, in November 1864, they were joined by the British consul, Charles Cameron, and other Europeans. Stern's situation was made more difficult by the fact that the emperor was made aware of uncomplimentary material in Stern's book – including having stated that the emperor's mother was a vendor of
kosso ''Hagenia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant with the sole species ''Hagenia abyssinica'', native to the high-elevation Afromontane regions of central and eastern Africa. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East A ...
– in ''Wanderings among the Falashas in Abyssinia: together with a description of the Country and its various Inhabitants'' 1862. All this led to the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia. He lived to see the light of day again.


Works

* ''Dawnings of Light in the East: with Biblical, Historical, and Statistical Notices of Persons and Places in Persia, Coordistan, and Mesopotamia'' 1854 * ''Journal of a Missionary Journey into
Arabia Felix Arabia Felix (literally: Fertile/Happy Arabia; also Ancient Greek: Εὐδαίμων Ἀραβία, ''Eudaemon Arabia'') was the Latin name previously used by geographers to describe South Arabia, or what is now Yemen. Etymology The term Arabi ...
'' 1858 * ''Wanderings among the Falashas in Abyssinia: together with a description of the Country and its various Inhabitants'' 1862 * ''The Captive Missionary: being an Account of the Country and People of Abyssinia - Embracing a narrative of King Theodore's life, and his Treatment of Political and Religious Missions.'' 1868


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Henry Aaron 1820 births 1885 deaths 19th-century German Jews Anglican missionaries in Ethiopia Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism Hebrew Christian movement German Anglican missionaries German expatriates in Ethiopia