ABSTRACT
The London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (abbreviated as LJS) emerged from another missionary societythe London Missionary Society-which was founded in London in 1795 and was involved in missionary activity among an extensive public and not specifically among the Jews. After a few years, when this society wished to extend its activities beyond the limits of the British Isles and expand into Africa, the need arose to recruit emissaries who could speak additional languages. The society therefore turned to the seminary for missionary training in Berlin —the Berliner Missionsschule, under the direction of Johannes Jänicke (1748-1827)—with a request for suitably qualified personnel. Jänicke sent three of his students to London in 1801, foremost among them being the converted Jew, Christian Friedrich Frey (1771-1850).2 Frey was born in Meinstockheim near Kitzingen in the duchy of Franconia. He changed his name from Joseph Samuel Levy to Christian Friedrich Frey when he was baptised as a Christian in 1798. From London, he was supposed to have been sent to the Cape of Good Hope in order to work at converting the Hottentot
tribes, but was forced to wait a few months for a boat to transport him there. Because of his difficulties in understanding the English language, Frey spent his days in the company of the Jewish community in London, and even engaged in missionary work. He was very soon convinced of the need to give this community the full missionary attention it deserved, and submitted a request to the directors of the society to allow him to remain in the city for another year. Frey had in the meantime composed a manual on practical methods for realising his plans to christianise the Jews of London, and submitted it to his superiors. The directors of the London Missionary Society granted his request, and Frey was sent for advanced study at its institution in Gosport (near Portsmouth). When he completed his studies there in May 1805 he was put in charge of missionary work among the Jews in the British capital.3
