Judah Monis
Encyclopedia
Judah Monis was North America
's first college instructor of the Hebrew language
, teaching at Harvard College
from 1722 to 1760, and authored the first Hebrew textbook published in North America. Monis was also the first Jew to receive a college degree in the American colonies. His conversion to Christianity
made him a figure of some controversy to both Jews and Christians.
converso
s in Italy
or the Barbary States, and was educated at Jewish academies in Livorno
, Italy and Amsterdam
. Monis read for Jewish congregations in Jamaica
and New York, and in roughly 1715, opened a small store in New York City
, where he also began a second career teaching Hebrew to Jews and Christians, as well as a pastime of conducting discussions of theological
topics, such as Kabbalah
and the Holy Trinity with leading Christian authorities. On February 28 of the following year, Monis was declared a freeman of the city. Around 1720, he left the established Jewish community of New York and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts
, where very few Jews lived at the time.
in Cambridge Monis received his M.A.
in 1720, marking the first time a Jew had received a college degree in the American colonies and to receive an Honorary degree. As part of his graduation, Monis wrote a Hebrew grammar, entitled A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, and in 1720 submitted a handwritten copy to the Harvard Corporation for its "judicious perusal."
In accord with the general assumption that a scholar should be able to study the Bible
in its original languages, all upperclassmen at Harvard were required to study Hebrew. A similar policy was to be instituted at Yale
by Ezra Stiles
a few years later. This was regarded as a difficult and unpleasant course, one reason for this being that there was no textbook available. On April 30, 1722, the corporation voted "That Mr. Judah Monis be approved instructor of the Hebrew Language," the first such position in America. He was also granted a salary of 50 pounds a year for two years. However, at that time, Harvard required all faculty to be professing Christians, and so Monis, the descendant of converso
s, converted
to Christianity a month before beginning his Harvard career. He was baptized in private in Harvard's College Hall and later in public. After the second baptism, Monis gave a speech in which he proved that Jesus Christ was the Messiah
.
on Saturdays. Both Church and Harvard records frequently refer to Monis as "the converted Jew", "the converted rabbi
", and "the Christianized Jew".
In 1723, Harvard stated that it was "greatly pleased with [Monis'] assiduity and faithfulness to his instruction", and raised his salary to 80 pounds per year, but in 1724, transferred the responsibility for undergraduate Hebrew teaching to other tutors, with Monis responsible only for teaching graduate students and the tutors. He married Abigail Marret in First church, Cambridge on January 18, 1724. Marret was the daughter of a Cambridge hardware store owner, and Monis had met her several years previously while Monis worked there.
Monis continued to use his handwritten grammar manual, but the unavailability of any Hebrew type
for printing press
es required that each student copy the entire text by hand, an unpopular job which took up to a month. Monis finally persuaded Harvard to import Hebrew type from London
, and in 1735, with a loan from Harvard, Bostonian Jonas Green published a thousand copies of the textbook, the first Hebrew textbook printed in North America. Monis sold the books himself out of his Cambridge home, and it was a required text for all Harvard students for the ensuing 25 years. The American Jewish Historical Society
possesses two copies of the printed books, as well as one of the handwritten copies.
in Northborough, Massachusetts
, under a tombstone bearing the image of a grafted
tree to symbolize his conversion, with an inscription reading in part:
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
's first college instructor of the Hebrew language
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, teaching at Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
from 1722 to 1760, and authored the first Hebrew textbook published in North America. Monis was also the first Jew to receive a college degree in the American colonies. His conversion to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
made him a figure of some controversy to both Jews and Christians.
Early life
Monis was born into a family of former PortuguesePortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
converso
Converso
A converso and its feminine form conversa was a Jew or Muslim—or a descendant of Jews or Muslims—who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. Mass conversions once took place under significant government pressure...
s in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
or the Barbary States, and was educated at Jewish academies in Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, Italy and Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. Monis read for Jewish congregations in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and New York, and in roughly 1715, opened a small store in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he also began a second career teaching Hebrew to Jews and Christians, as well as a pastime of conducting discussions of theological
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
topics, such as Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
and the Holy Trinity with leading Christian authorities. On February 28 of the following year, Monis was declared a freeman of the city. Around 1720, he left the established Jewish community of New York and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, where very few Jews lived at the time.
At Harvard
At Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in Cambridge Monis received his M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1720, marking the first time a Jew had received a college degree in the American colonies and to receive an Honorary degree. As part of his graduation, Monis wrote a Hebrew grammar, entitled A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, and in 1720 submitted a handwritten copy to the Harvard Corporation for its "judicious perusal."
In accord with the general assumption that a scholar should be able to study the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in its original languages, all upperclassmen at Harvard were required to study Hebrew. A similar policy was to be instituted at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
by Ezra Stiles
Ezra Stiles
Ezra Stiles was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian and author. He was president of Yale College .-Early life:...
a few years later. This was regarded as a difficult and unpleasant course, one reason for this being that there was no textbook available. On April 30, 1722, the corporation voted "That Mr. Judah Monis be approved instructor of the Hebrew Language," the first such position in America. He was also granted a salary of 50 pounds a year for two years. However, at that time, Harvard required all faculty to be professing Christians, and so Monis, the descendant of converso
Converso
A converso and its feminine form conversa was a Jew or Muslim—or a descendant of Jews or Muslims—who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. Mass conversions once took place under significant government pressure...
s, converted
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
to Christianity a month before beginning his Harvard career. He was baptized in private in Harvard's College Hall and later in public. After the second baptism, Monis gave a speech in which he proved that Jesus Christ was the Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
.
Career and controversies
This conversion was widely criticized by both the Jewish and Christian communities; Jews expressed anger and sorrow, while Christians questioned Monis' sincerity. Monis wrote three books defending the religious reasons behind his conversion, but Cambridge First Church records speculate disapprovingly on his secret observance of the Jewish SabbathShabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
on Saturdays. Both Church and Harvard records frequently refer to Monis as "the converted Jew", "the converted rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
", and "the Christianized Jew".
In 1723, Harvard stated that it was "greatly pleased with [Monis'] assiduity and faithfulness to his instruction", and raised his salary to 80 pounds per year, but in 1724, transferred the responsibility for undergraduate Hebrew teaching to other tutors, with Monis responsible only for teaching graduate students and the tutors. He married Abigail Marret in First church, Cambridge on January 18, 1724. Marret was the daughter of a Cambridge hardware store owner, and Monis had met her several years previously while Monis worked there.
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
for printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
es required that each student copy the entire text by hand, an unpopular job which took up to a month. Monis finally persuaded Harvard to import Hebrew type from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and in 1735, with a loan from Harvard, Bostonian Jonas Green published a thousand copies of the textbook, the first Hebrew textbook printed in North America. Monis sold the books himself out of his Cambridge home, and it was a required text for all Harvard students for the ensuing 25 years. The American Jewish Historical Society
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American...
possesses two copies of the printed books, as well as one of the handwritten copies.
Late life
Monis' duties at Harvard continued to diminish, until by 1760 he was teaching only one class per week, at which point he retired, citing his declining health. His wife Abigail had also died that same year before his retirement. He died four years later in Cambridge and is buried in a churchyardChurchyard
A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....
in Northborough, Massachusetts
Northborough, Massachusetts
Northborough is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The official spelling of the town's name is "Northborough", but the shorter spelling "Northboro" is also used...
, under a tombstone bearing the image of a grafted
Grafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
tree to symbolize his conversion, with an inscription reading in part:
- "A native branch of JacobJacobJacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
see. - Which once from off its olive brook
- Regrafted, from the living tree."