Elieser Bassin (1840–1898) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

convert to Christianity, and an author and proponent of

British Israelism British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a pseudo-historical belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. With roots in the ...

Life

Born in 1840 to a wealthy Russian Jewish family in

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

(present day

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

) Elieser later converted to Christianity in 1869 and became a missionary and member of the "London Jewish Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews". He later moved and settled in Britain and through the literature of

Edward Hine Edward Hine (10 February 1825 – 15 October 1891) was an influential proponent of British Israelism in the 1870s and 1880s, drawing on the earlier work of Richard Brothers (1794) and John Wilson (1840). Hine went so far as to conclude, "It is an ...

became a proponent of British Israelism. In 1885 Bassin was appointed as the first director of the "Scottish Home Mission to the Jews" in Edinburgh, a position he held until his death in 1898. Bassin's daughter was folklorist and musician Rose Ethel Bassin.

British Israelism

Elieser is credited as the first Jewish convert to

. In 1884 he delivered a lecture entitled "God's Dealings With His Chosen People Israel" to a crowd of British Israelites in

Portobello, Edinburgh Portobello is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth, between the suburbs of Joppa, Edinburgh, Joppa and Craigentinny. Although historically it ...

."The British and the Jews—Are They Brethren?", Portobello Advertiser (Edinburgh, 13 Dec. 1884). In his book ''British and Jewish Fraternity'' Eleiser equated Britain with the Israelite tribe of

Ephraim Ephraim (; , in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath, as well as the adopted son of his biological grandfather Jacob, making him the progenitor of the Tribe of Ephrai ...

Works

* ''The modern Hebrew, and the Hebrew Christian'' (1882) * ''British and Jewish Fraternity'' (1884) * ''Lost Ten Tribes: Anglo-Israel by a Jew'' (1884) * ''A finger-post to the way of salvation. An exposition from the Bible and Rabbinical books'' (1887) * ''The Passover, as celebrated now by the Jews, compared with that celebrated by Christ and His disciples'' (1889)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassin, Elieser British Israelism 1840 births 1898 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Converts to Christianity from Judaism