Ignatz Lichtenstein

Ignatz Lichtenstein (April 11, 1825 – October 16, 1908 ) was a Hungarian Neolog rabbi who wrote "pamphlets advocating conversion to Christianity while still officiating as a Rabbi." Though he refused to be baptized into the Christian faith his whole life, he ultimately retired from his Rabbinical post at the age of 68 in 1892 due to failing health.

Early life and rabbinic career Lichtenstein was born on April 11, 1825 in Nikolsburg in Austrian Schlesien. He served as a rabbi in the region of Tápiószele, Hungary, and by the mid 1850s he was appointed district rabbi.

In the early 1880s, he began to express his belief that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel. Speaking of his first contact with the gospel, he said: "I looked for thorns and gathered roses." Later his biography appeared in the Methodist Episcopal missionary magazine, The Gospel in All Lands, in 1894.

Lichtenstein occupies a unique place in the history of Jewish-Christian relations. His decision to remain within the Jewish community while testifying to Jesus set him apart from most contemporary converts. His writings, which sought to bridge evangelical and Jewish thought, remain influential in studies of Messianic Judaism and Hebrew Christianity.