Tzvi_Nassi
C. W. H. Pauli
Convert to Anglicanism from Judaism
Zebi Nasi Hirsch Prinz (Hebrew Tzvi Nassi) in German Heinrich Prinz, and later Rev. Christian William Henry Pauli (11 August 1800, in Breslau – 4 May 1877, in Amsterdam) was a convert to Christianity, missionary for the London Jewish mission, and Hebrew grammarian.[1][2]
He was born as the youngest of six children, and orphaned at 14.[3] Although he is referred to as "Rabbi Tzvi Nassi" in some Messianic Jewish reprints of his proof of the Trinity from the Zohar, there is no indication that he was ever a rabbi. At the age of 21 he published in German, under the name Heinrich Prinz Sermons for pious Israelites.[4] He was converted by L. A. Petri.[5]
In England as Rev. Christian William Henry Pauli he became a missionary for the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews of Joseph Frey, first in Berlin, then at Amsterdam.[6] In 1839 as C. W. H. Pauli he published Analecta Hebraica, a Hebrew grammar.[7] While many have attempted to discredit the claim that Pauli was a lecturer in Hebrew at Oxford University, research demonstrates that he was.[8]
In 1844 as Rev. Christiaan Wilhelm Hirsch Pauli he moved to the Netherlands, Zion's Chapel where he worked for 30 years.[9][10][11] In 1844 he reported on an outrage committed on the Jews at Weesp, near Amsterdam.[12][13]