Michael Solomon Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem

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Michael Alexander (bishop)

• Michael Solomon Alexander (1 May 1799 – 23 November 1845) was the first Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem.

Life

He was the second son and one of five children born to Alexander Wolff.[1] His ancestors may have come to Prussia from England,[2] or may have been in Schönlanke for many generations [3] His education in the Talmud began when he was seven years old, and from age sixteen to twenty, he was a teacher in his community of both Talmud and the German language.[4] He emigrated to England in about 1820, and became a private tutor for a Jewish family in Colchester. Then he became rabbi at Norwich. Here he came into contact with William Marsh, a stalwart of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (now known as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People or CMJ).

Attempting to flee Christian influences, he accepted the post of teacher and shochet at Plymouth. He taught Hebrew to the Rev. Benjamin Golding of Stonehouse church. In 1825, he converted to Christianity.

Soon afterwards, he and his wife, Deborah Levy, went to live in Dublin, where he taught Hebrew and was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church in 1827. This was followed by working with CMJ, firstly in Danzig between 1827 and 1830, and then in London between 1831 and 1841.

He was professor of Hebrew at King's College London from 1832 until 1841 and helped Dr. Alexander McCaul of the CMJ to revise the Mission's translation of the New Testament into Hebrew in 1835 and to translate the Book of Common Prayer into Hebrew.

He had nine daughters & 2 sons

>#  Sarah Jane Isabella Wolff

1. Fanny Vincent Steele
   
2. Deborah Rebecca Marsh
   
3. Anna
   
4. Elizabeth
   
5. Mary Anne
   
6. Louisa
   
7. Salome
   
8. Emilie
   
9. Michael Robert Richard Hawtrey
   
10. Alexander Benjamin
    

He died in Bilbeis, Egypt while returning to England. He was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, Jerusalem. He was succeeded by Bishop Samuel Gobat.