THE WINNING OF ELIJAH DAVID SAMUEL
A Bene Israelite---- Jewish Hindu, of India
_ . . . Tr „ By Miss E. Hall Zenana Training Home, Poonah, India
W E were sitting one morning—Soon- derbai and I—on the veranda in front of our bungalow, discussing some business in connection with the work, when the postman arrived and handed her a letter from a well-known Indian Christian in Bombay. He wrote to ask if we could take the wife and four children of a Bene Israel ite man into our Home, support, educate and train them for future service. It was not very long since the war had commenced, our funds, never very high, were lower than usual then, and many around us were speaking of the need for retrenchment in every direction and we ourselves had been feeling that perhaps it would be unwise to take any new girls into our Home. It looked foolish on the face of it to enter tain the idea of supporting an entire fam ily, and yet what ought we to do? There was much in the case that interested us, and presently Soonderbai said quietly: “They are Israelites—God’s ancient peo ple—wouldn’t it be wonderful to win them for Jesus? Perhaps that is what God means —perhaps He will give us this great privi lege!" i There is quite a large community of Bene Israel people both in Bombay and Poona—a people not easy to reach and from whom very few have been won for
Christ—for the opposition to the Gospel is strong and persecution bitter. They have a large handsome synagogue in Poona, and every Saturday you may see a throng of white-robed worshippers passing into it. If ~we tried to teach these people of Christ, their true Messiah and Saviour, we must be willing to face the consequences. We talked matters over, and prayed that our Father would show us His will, and after a time it seemed wise to offer a home to the three elder girls only, and then to wait and see how things developed. Not long after this, when arrangements had been made, the family one day turned up on our compound—Elijah David Sam uel, his wife Seemwabai, four girls—Mir iam, Elizabeth, Diamond and Flora—and the one boy Leon. They had come to see their children duly installed in the school and to make the acquaintance of those who would have the care of them. The father had been a veterinary surgeon, and had some little knowledge of medicine per- hapT and not a little confidence in his own ability! We were not a little amused at the strict and careful injunctions he gave us as to the care of his offspring, and I at least was a little alarmed at the extent of his conversational powers. I thought he would never leave off talking.
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs