Paulus Stephanus Cassel

His father was a sculptor, and his brother David was a well-known rabbi in Berlin and docent at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums (College for the Study of Judaism).

Cassel studied at the Gymnasium of Glogau and Schweidnitz and at the University of Berlin, where he followed with special interest the lectures of the historian Leopold von Ranke.

At the same time (1867), Cassel was assigned to the pastorate of the Christuskirche in Berlin, with over a thousand sittings, erected from 1863 to 1864 by the Society on Königgrätzer Straße (renamed as Stresemannstraße, now in Kreuzberg's part of the Friedrichstadt quarter).

I always had an attentive audience, and the poorer people in both large and small towns heard the Word with gladness - nay, even with enthusiasm.

In a pamphlet published a short time before his death, he complained of the inconsiderate treatment he had received at the hands of his Christian friends (Erstes Sendschreiben an Freunde in Deutschland und England über die Christuskirche in Berlin und ihr Martyrium durch die London Society, 1891).

In his Emancipation und Mission Cassel endeavored to show that the Jews would obtain permanent relief from persecution not by civil enfranchisement, but through evangelization.

De le Roi, the historian of Christian propaganda among the Jews, says that Cassel was animated by "a very decided Jewish spirit."

He stated his views on missionary work among them in the pamphlet entitled Wie ich über Judenmission denke, 1886; see also Nathanael.

From 1875 to 1889, he edited the weekly Sunem, ein Berliner Wochenblatt für christliches Leben und Wissen (16 vols.).

Of especial interest is his translation (with notes) of the reply to Chisdai ben Isaac of Joseph, king of the Khazars (pp.

According to the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, When the anti-Semites began to show themselves, Cassel remembered his origin, and opposed the leaders, Stöcker, Wagner, and others with great decision and manliness.

We have to judge this apostasy very differently from that of many others in former and present times, as he did not forsake his old creed for any worldly reason, or to get honors and position, but rather because he followed a mystical line of thought.

It is collated in a fragmentary manner, though rich in erudite notes"[2] Sabbathliche Erinnerungen was also published before Cassel's conversion — the first part anonymously, the second (signed "S. C." in the preface) being put forth for the benefit of indigent veterans of 1813–1815 German Liberation Wars.

In 1865 he wrote Das Buch der Richter und Ruth for Johann Peter Lange's Theologisch-Homiletisches Bibelwerk.

In 1878, appeared Das Buch Esther: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Morgenlandes; aus dem Hebräischen übersetzt, historisch und theologisch erläutert, section 1, with an appendix, a translation of the Second Targum.