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 Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) was a convert to Christianity, missionary for the London Jewish mission, and Hebrew grammarian. He was born as the youngest of six children, and orphaned at 14. 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''. He was converted by L. A. Petri. 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 Joseph Samuel Christian Frederick Frey (born Joseph Levi; 1771–1850) was a missionary to Jews. In 1809 he founded the London Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews after disagreements with the London Missionary Society The London ...

, first in Berlin, then at Amsterdam. In 1839 as C. W. H. Pauli he published ''Analecta Hebraica'', a Hebrew grammar. While many have attempted to discredit the claim that Pauli was a lecturer in Hebrew at Oxford University, research demonstrates that he was. In 1844 as Rev. Christiaan Wilhelm Hirsch Pauli he moved to the Netherlands, Zion's Chapel where he worked for 30 years. In 1844 he reported on an outrage committed on the Jews at Weesp, near Amsterdam.

Works

* 1824 Heinrich Prinz ''Predigten für fromme Israeliten zur Erbauung und zur wahren Aufklärung in Sachen Gottes.'' in Jahrbücher der Theologie und theologischer Nachrichten, Volume 2 Friedrich Heinrich Christian Schwarz * 1839 Christian William Henry Pauli ''Analecta Hebraica'' Oxford 1839 * 1871 ''The Chaldee Paraphrase on the Prophet Isaiah'' of Jonathan ben Uzziel translated by C.W.H. Pauli. - Targum Isaiah. * 1863 ''The Great Mystery, or How can Three be One'' (London, 1863) - an endeavour to prove the doctrine of the Trinity from the

Zohar The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...

, in which he made further critical comments against

Gesenius Gesenius is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Justus Gesenius (1601–1673), German theologian *Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist ...

including that he had misunderstood the grammar and perpetuated a hoax concerning the

pluralis excellentiae The ''pluralis excellentiae'' is the name given by early grammarians of Hebrew, such as Wilhelm Gesenius, to a perceived anomaly in the grammatical number and syntax in Hebrew. In some cases it bears some similarity to the ' or "royal plural". How ...

Elohim ''Elohim'' (: ), the plural of (), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it usually takes a singular verb and refers to a single deity, particularly (but not always) the God of Israel. At other times ...

."which some modern grammarians, who possess more of the so- called philosophical than of the real knowledge of the Oriental languages, call a pluralis excellentiae."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pauli, C. W. H 1800 births 1877 deaths 19th-century German Jews German Hebraists British Hebraists Grammarians of Hebrew Hebrew Christian movement Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism German male non-fiction writers Writers from Wrocław