David Paul Louis Bernard Drach (6 March 1791 – January 1865) was a French Rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and Hebraist who converted to Catholicism on Holy Saturday, 1823, in the presence of Archbishop Quélen at Notre-Dame de Paris. Born in Strasbourg, he had received an elite Talmudic education — entering the first division of the Talmudic school at Edendorf at age twelve and completing its three-year course in one year — and had served the Central Jewish Consistory of Paris before his conversion. After baptism he went to Rome, where he was appointed Librarian of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide (1827), a post he held until his death. He was decorated with the Order of St. Gregory the Great, the Légion d’honneur, and the Cross of St. Sylvester. His principal works include Lettres d’un Rabbin converti aux Israélites ses frères (Paris, 1825), Deuxième lettre d’un Rabbin converti (Paris, 1827), and his magnum opus De l’Harmonie entre l’Église et la Synagogue, ou Perpétuité et Catholicité de la Religion Chrétienne, 2 vols. (Paris, 1844), which is the most extensive treatment of the ancient Synagogue‘s testimony to Catholic doctrine ever written by a converted Rabbi. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) identifies this last work as his greatest scholarly contribution. A Spanish translation of the Harmonie exists. His conversion influenced many other Jews, including the Libermann brothers — Francis Libermann being especially indebted to Drach’s counsel in founding the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1842).
The passages reproduced below are drawn exclusively from the verified digitized texts of his works held at the Internet Archive, and from the Harmonie as accessible through the Bibliothèque Saint Libère digitization. They bear on the following themes of the Adversus Judaeos tradition: the Talmud‘s falsification of ancient Jewish tradition and enmity toward Christ, the theological supersessionism of the Church over the Synagogue, the Deicide and its consequences for Israel, the condemnation of all heresy and schism by the witness of the ancient Synagogue‘s faith, the corruption of modern Rabbinism from the pure tradition, and the necessity of Israel‘s conversion to Christ. All French originals are transcribed verbatim from the primary sources indicated. English translations are provided immediately beneath each French passage; they are the translator’s own renderings of the verified French text.
I. The Thesis of the Work: The Church Substituted for a Synagogue that Strayed from God
De l’Harmonie entre l’Église et la Synagogue, Préface, Vol. I, p. VII (Paris: Paul Mellier, 1844)
[Original French:]
« Nous donnons ici le premier volume d’une série d’ouvrages que nous comptons publier, Dieu aidant, dans le but de montrer la parfaite conformité entre la doctrine de la Synagogue ancienne, encore fidèle, héritière à la fois de la révélation primitive, de l’alliance d’Abraham, de la loi du Sinaï, et la doctrine de l’Eglise que Jésus-Christ, Notre-Seigneur, lui a substituée lorsqu’elle, la Synagogue, se fut détournée de la voie du Dieu d’Israël. »
[English translation:]
“We offer here the first volume of a series of works which we intend to publish, God willing, with the purpose of showing the perfect conformity between the doctrine of the ancient Synagogue — still faithful, heir at once of the primitive revelation, of the covenant of Abraham, of the law of Sinai — and the doctrine of the Church which Jesus Christ, Our Lord, substituted for it, when the Synagogue strayed from the way of the God of Israel.”
II. Supersessionism: All Ancient Prophecy and Tradition Points to Christ and the Catholic Church
De l’Harmonie, Préface, Vol. I, pp. VII–VIII (1844)
[Original French:]
« En effet, plus nous remontons vers les sources de l’antiquité judaïque, plus nous étudions la tradition véritable, et non falsifiée, de la Synagogue, quand elle était encore l’Eglise de Dieu, plus nous nous confirmons dans la croyance que la vérité du Seigneur est invariable : Et veritas Domini manet in æternum. »
[English translation:]
“Indeed, the further we ascend toward the sources of Jewish antiquity, the more we study the true and unfalsified tradition of the Synagogue, when it was still the Church of God, the more we are confirmed in the belief that the truth of the Lord is immutable: And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.“
III. All Heresy and Schism Condemned by the Witness of the Ancient Synagogue
De l’Harmonie, Préface, Vol. I, p. VIII (1844)
[Original French:]
« Toutes les innovations religieuses qu’on a vu surgir depuis l’établissement du christianisme, parmi lesquelles nous nommerons plus spécialement le schisme grec, l’hérésie du xvie siècle et l’Arianisme qui a si longtemps troublé l’Eglise, et qui n’est plus qu’un souvenir historique, comme bientôt le sera le Protestantisme, déjà débordé et supplanté par le rationalisme et l’hégélianisme, ses impies enfants, toutes ces erreurs trouvent leur condamnation dans les articles fondamentaux de la croyance de la sœur aînée de l’Eglise chrétienne. »
[English translation:]
“All the religious innovations that have arisen since the establishment of Christianity — among which we shall name especially the Greek schism, the heresy of the sixteenth century, and Arianism, which so long troubled the Church and is now but a historical memory, as Protestantism shall soon be also, already overwhelmed and supplanted by rationalism and Hegelianism, its impious children — all these errors find their condemnation in the fundamental articles of the creed of the elder sister of the Christian Church.”
IV. The Talmud as a Flood of Nonsense That Drowns the True Tradition
Deuxième lettre d’un Rabbin converti, aux israélites ses frères, Introduction, p. 24 (Paris, 1827)
[Original French:]
« En effet, tout ce que l’église catholique enseigne se retrouve dans nos plus anciennes traditions. Le Talmud veut, à ce qu’il semble, noyer ces traditions dans un déluge de non-sens et de mensonges ; elles sont souvent défigurées par les additions, les changements et les gloses des Rabbins. »
[English translation:]
“Indeed, everything which the Catholic Church teaches is to be found in our most ancient traditions. The Talmud seems to wish to drown those traditions in a flood of nonsense and lies; they are often disfigured by the additions, the alterations, and the glosses of the Rabbis.”
V. Supersessionism: The Jew as Merely the Sketch of the Christian
Deuxième lettre, Introduction, pp. 22–23 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Nous voyons la religion donnée à nos premiers parents devenir successivement plus parfaite sous Noé, sous notre patriarche Abraham, durant la captivité d’Égypte, à Mara, sur la montagne de Sinaï, pendant le séjour de nos ancêtres dans le désert, époque où le Seigneur donna à Moïse tous les préceptes consignés dans le Pentateuque. Le christianisme fut sa dernière perfection. Le moment de sa majorité lui arriva quand le législateur divin prononça consummatum est : tout est accompli. »
« Lorsque la plénitude des temps fut arrivée, dit l’Apôtre, Dieu envoya son Fils, né d’une femme et assujetti à la loi. »
« Le juif était donc seulement l’ébauche du fidèle chrétien. »
[English translation:]
“We see the religion given to our first parents become successively more perfect under Noah, under our patriarch Abraham, during the captivity in Egypt, at Marah, on the mountain of Sinai, during the sojourn of our ancestors in the desert — the epoch at which the Lord gave Moses all the precepts recorded in the Pentateuch. Christianity was its ultimate perfection. The moment of its full age arrived when the divine Legislator pronounced consummatum est: all is accomplished.”
“‘When the fullness of the time was come,’ says the Apostle, ‘God sent his Son, born of a woman and made subject to the law.'”
“The Jew was therefore only the sketch of the faithful Christian.”
VI. Deicide: The Blood-Cry and Its Disastrous Consequences for Israel
Deuxième lettre, pp. 2–4 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Eh bien, mes frères, répétons-les à notre tour. Mais au lieu que dans la bouche de nos ancêtres elles n’étaient qu’un défi audacieux, nous les prononcerons avec un respect religieux, avec toute la confiance que nous devons à la miséricorde divine. »
« Oui, notre Dieu, notre Sauveur, que votre sang, que votre précieux sang, soit à jamais sur nous, et sur nos enfants pour effacer nos iniquités, pour ôter jusqu’à la moindre tache de nos transgressions, pour nous mériter la gloire éternelle, et pour nous faire obtenir la conversion générale d’Israël ton peuple. »
(Drach here alludes to the crowd’s cry of Matthew 27:25 — “Que son sang soit sur nous et sur nos enfants!” [“His blood be on us and on our children!”] — first characterising it as a “rash utterance” whose “disastrous effects followed immediately,” and then transforming it into a penitential prayer.)
[English translation:]
“Come then, my brethren, let us repeat those words in our turn. But whereas on the lips of our ancestors they were no more than an audacious challenge, we shall pronounce them with religious reverence, with all the confidence we owe to the divine mercy.”
“‘Yes, our God, our Saviour, may your blood, your precious blood, be for ever upon us and upon our children — to blot out our iniquities, to remove the least stain of our transgressions, to merit for us eternal glory, and to obtain for us the general conversion of Israel your people.”
[Original French, on the immediate catastrophe:]
« Quelles paroles téméraires ! Les effets désastreux qui les suivirent immédiatement, prouvèrent qu’elles furent que trop écoutées. »
[English translation:]
“What rash words! The disastrous effects which immediately followed proved that they were only too well heeded.”
VII. Israel Walking in Darkness While Offering Light to the Nations
Deuxième lettre, p. 3 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Ah ! mes frères, pourquoi faut-il que bien différents d’eux, vous marchiez vous-mêmes dans les ténèbres tandis que vous offrez aux autres nations les côtés lumineux des deux colonnes qui vous précèdent, vos prophéties et vos traditions ! »
[English translation:]
“Ah, my brethren! Why must it be that — so unlike them — you walk yourselves in darkness, whilst offering to the other nations the luminous faces of the two columns which go before you: your prophecies and your traditions!”
VIII. On the Blindness of the Modern Rabbis
Deuxième lettre, p. 1 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Si les Rabbins modernes, aveuglés par des préventions dont je m’afflige profondément, ont cherché, quoiqu’en vain, à défigurer le sens de ces prophéties, véritable programme dressé d’avance des évènements mémorables qui devaient changer la face de la terre, j’espère de la grâce de Dieu qu’ils ne résisteront pas à la foule des traditions consignées dans les livres pour lesquels ils professent le plus grand respect, traditions qui prouvent jusqu’à l’évidence que nos pères ont de tout temps entendu nos prophéties comme les entend l’Église universelle. »
[English translation:]
“If the modern Rabbis, blinded by prejudices which deeply grieve me, have sought — though in vain — to disfigure the meaning of these prophecies, that true advance programme of the memorable events which were to change the face of the earth, I trust in the grace of God that they will not be able to resist the mass of traditions recorded in the books they profess to revere most highly — traditions which prove, beyond all doubt, that our fathers have at all times understood our prophecies precisely as the universal Church understands them.”
IX. The Zeal of the Converted Rabbi Against the “Blind Guides” of His People
Deuxième lettre, p. 8 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Dévoré de zèle pour la maison du Seigneur, je poursuivrai toute ma vie les funestes doctrines de vos aveugles guides. Je vous forcerai par les preuves les plus accablantes à courir au-devant du charitable, du divin pasteur qui dans sa tendre sollicitude, est nuit et jour à la recherche de ses brebis, lesquelles, hélas ! méconnaissent sa voix. »
[English translation:]
“Consumed with zeal for the house of the Lord, I shall pursue throughout my whole life the fatal doctrines of your blind guides. I shall compel you by the most overwhelming proofs to run forward to meet the charitable, the divine Pastor who, in his tender solicitude, is night and day in search of his sheep, which, alas, do not recognize his voice.”
X. Truth Requires Giving Offence When God’s Glory Demands It
Deuxième lettre, p. 8 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Si par fois ma plume trace des vérités qui vous offensent, si je m’exprime de manière à vous choquer, ne me l’imputez pas à blâme. Nous devons aimer le prochain comme nous-mêmes, mais Dieu plus que nous-mêmes ; et tout ménagement envers le prochain, envers nous-mêmes, devient un crime, dès que la gloire de Dieu en est diminuée. »
[English translation:]
“If at times my pen traces truths which offend you, if I express myself in a manner that shocks you, do not impute it to me as a fault. We must love our neighbour as ourselves, but God more than ourselves; and any consideration for our neighbour, for ourselves, becomes a crime the moment the glory of God is thereby diminished.”
XI. The Pharisaic Pride as the Root of Rabbinism’s Apostasy
De l’Harmonie, Vol. I, Préface, pp. XIV–XV (1844)
(Drach cites the ancient tradition — universally upheld in the Synagogue in Our Lord’s time — that Psalm 109 [110], “Dixit Dominus Domino meo,” referred to the Messiah. When Our Lord asked the Pharisees why David called his descendant “My Lord,” they were silenced. He then notes:)
[Original French:]
« Ils n’auraient pas osé recourir à la cavillation d’un Rabbin moderne, Lippmann, le fameux auteur du Nitzahon, qui oppose que ce Domino meo se rapporte, non au Messie, mais à Abraham […] Les Rabbins des siècles postérieurs ont été blessés de ne pouvoir comprendre ce haut mystère, et l’orgueil pharisaïque les a portés à le nier en dépit des nombreuses traditions qui attestent l’antiquité de cette doctrine parmi nous. »
[English translation:]
“They would not have dared to resort to the quibbling of a modern Rabbi, Lippmann, the famous author of the Nizzahon, who objects that this ‘my Lord’ refers not to the Messiah but to Abraham. […] The Rabbis of later centuries were wounded by their inability to comprehend this sublime mystery, and Pharisaic pride led them to deny it, in spite of the numerous traditions attesting the antiquity of this doctrine among us.”
XII. The Falsification of the Hebrew Text Accused by the Fathers
Lettre d’un Rabbin converti (1825); cf. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) and De l’Harmonie, Préface
(Drach, in his autobiography embedded in the works, recounts the intellectual path that led to his conversion:)
“He now applied himself studiously to patristic theology and specialized in the study of the Septuagint with a view towards ascertaining the truth of the unanimous reproach of the Fathers, viz. that the Jews had falsified the Hebrew text. These studies resulted in his unquestioned belief in the Divinity and Messiahship of Jesus Christ.”
(Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, art. “David Paul Drach,” summarizing his own account)
XIII. The Conversion of Israel as the Missionary Goal of the Work
Deuxième lettre, pp. 9–10 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Suivez, je vous en conjure, l’exemple de tant d’Israélites qui reviennent à l’Eglise catholique où se perpétue la véritable religion de nos pères. Partout vous voyez de vos frères régénérés par les eaux salutaires du baptême. »
[English translation:]
“Follow, I implore you, the example of so many Israelites who return to the Catholic Church, where the true religion of our fathers is perpetuated. Everywhere you see your brethren regenerated by the saving waters of Baptism.”
[Original French:]
« Vos frères, devenus chrétiens sont disciples d’un Dieu qui tout amour ne veut vaincre qu’à force d’aimer. Bien souvent l’objet de vos persécutions, ils vous pardonnent le mal que vous leur faites, et celui que vous cherchez à leur faire. Si vous les désavouez pour vos parents, ils se plaisent dans les liens qui les unissent à vous ; si vous les maudissez, ils ne cessent de prier pour vous ; si vous les calomniez, ils couvrent vos torts du voile de la charité. »
[English translation:]
“Your brethren who have become Christians are disciples of a God who, being all love, wills to conquer only by force of loving. Often the object of your persecutions, they forgive you the harm you do them and that which you seek to do them. If you disown them as your relatives, they take pleasure in the bonds that unite them to you; if you curse them, they never cease to pray for you; if you calumniate them, they cover your faults with the veil of charity.”
XIV. The Ancient Synagogue as the Elder Sister of the Church — and Her Apostasy
De l’Harmonie, Préface, Vol. I, p. VIII (1844)
[Original French:]
« Qu’il est donc consolant pour nous autres catholiques, de savoir que la religion que nous avons le bonheur de professer a pris naissance avec le monde ! »
[English translation:]
“How consoling it is, then, for us Catholics, to know that the religion we have the happiness of professing took its birth with the world itself!”
[Original French:]
« …la sœur aînée de l’Eglise chrétienne. »
[English translation:]
“…the elder sister of the Christian Church.”
(This is Drach’s consistent designation for the ancient Synagogue in its faithful state — distinguished throughout the Harmonie from the post-Rejection Rabbinism that falsified its tradition.)
XV. On the Zionist Aspirations of the Modern Rabbis and the Return to Palestine
De l’Harmonie, Vol. I, p. 47 (1844), as cited in François Delpech, Sur les Juifs (Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 1983), p. 325
[Original French:]
« Qu’ils étaient différents de nos Juifs alsaciens, ignorants, grossiers, avides d’argent… »
[English translation:]
“How different they were from our Alsatian Jews — ignorant, coarse, greedy for money…”
(Drach contrasts the Parisian Jewish intellectual milieu with the impoverished rural communities of Alsace, in the context of explaining the worldly motivations that keep his people from the truth.)
XVI. Israel‘s Ruin as the Consequence of Rejecting the Messiah
Deuxième lettre, pp. 11–12 (1827)
[Original French:]
« Jérusalem et son temple disparaissent pour toujours, car désormais l’oblation pure s’offre en tous lieux de la terre depuis l’Orient jusqu’au couchant. De toute part les idoles tombent devant l’Evangile qui sort de Sion et le Verbe du Seigneur qui vient de Jérusalem. »
[English translation:]
“Jerusalem and her temple disappear for ever, for henceforth the pure oblation is offered in every place on earth, from the East to the West. On every side the idols fall before the Gospel that goes forth from Sion and the Word of the Lord that comes from Jerusalem.”
[Original French:]
« Eh bien, mes chers frères, l’ouvrage de Jésus-Christ. Telle fut la mission de ce Jésus qui vécut si pauvre au milieu de nous qu’il n’avait pas même où reposer sa tête, et qui mourut ignominieusement sur la croix. »
[English translation:]
“Behold, my dear brethren, the work of Jesus Christ. Such was the mission of that Jesus who lived so poor among us that he had not even where to lay his head, and who died ignominiously upon the cross.”
XVII. Prayer and Zeal for the Conversion of All Israel
Deuxième lettre, pp. 9–10 (1827)
[Original French:]
« O vous, Mère de mon Dieu, et après lui mon unique espérance, glorieuse reine du ciel et des anges, vous que l’on n’a jamais invoquée en vain, vous qui fûtes ma consolatrice et mon soutien aux jours de mes grandes tribulations, obtenez de votre divin Fils qu’Israël prête attention à ma voix, et qu’il soit touché de la grâce d’en haut. Puisse la promesse de son rappel s’accomplir bientôt. »
[English translation:]
“O you, Mother of my God, and after him my only hope, glorious Queen of heaven and of the angels, you who have never been invoked in vain, you who were my consoler and my support in the days of my great tribulations — obtain from your divine Son that Israel may hearken to my voice, and that it may be touched by the grace from above. May the promise of its recall be accomplished soon.”
Sources
All French passages are drawn from the following primary sources, verified against the digitized editions indicated. English translations are the translator’s own renderings of the verified French originals.
Primary Works of David Paul Drach:
- Lettre d’un rabbin converti aux Israélites ses frères, sur les motifs de sa conversion. Paris, 1825. Digitized by Google from Harvard University Library; Internet Archive identifier:
lettredunrabbin00dracgoog. Available at: https://archive.org/details/lettredunrabbin00dracgoog - Deuxième lettre d’un rabbin converti, aux israélites ses frères, sur les motifs de sa conversion. Les prophéties expliquées par les traditions de la synagogue. Paris, 1827. Digitized by Google; Internet Archive identifier:
bub_gb_JoHBCFwC1FEC. Full text available at: https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_JoHBCFwC1FEC/bub_gb_JoHBCFwC1FEC_djvu.txt - De l’Harmonie entre l’Église et la Synagogue, ou Perpétuité et Catholicité de la Religion Chrétienne. 2 vols. Paris: Paul Mellier / Adrien Le Clère, 1844. Digitized by Google from Oxford University Library; Internet Archive identifier:
delharmonieentr00unkngoog. Full text available at: https://archive.org/stream/delharmonieentr00unkngoog/delharmonieentr00unkngoog_djvu.txt Combined Vols. I & II (Bibliothèque Saint Libère digitization): Internet Archive identifier:DeLharmonieEntreIegliseEtLaSynagogue1844-Vol.IIi. Full text available at: http://archive.org/stream/DeLharmonieEntreIegliseEtLaSynagogue1844-Vol.IIi/488921570_djvu.txt
Secondary Sources and Reference Works:
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), art. “David Paul Drach,” by Nikolaus Scheid. Available at: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05152a.htm and Wikisource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/David_Paul_Drach
- Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), art. “Drach, David Paul.” Lists complete bibliography of Drach’s principal works. Available at: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5300-drach-david-paul
- François Delpech, “Notre Dame de Sion et les Juifs,” in Sur les Juifs (Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 1983), pp. 321–368. Cites De l’Harmonie, Vol. I, p. 47 for the Alsatian Jews passage.
- David-Paul Drach biographical notice, Judaïsme SDV: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/histoire/document/drach/drach.htm
- Wikipedia, “David Paul Drach”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Paul_Drach