Judith, Martyred Missionary of Russia

A True Story

Nikita I. Saloff-Astakhoff

• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781787204980
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

First published in 1941, this is the incredible, true life story of a young Russian woman whose ministry ended in tragic death.
"Exchanging silent glances, the murderers turned around and left the gruesome scene in the barn. Her quietness and undisturbed peace, her final prayer for their forgiveness, had astounded their cruel, hardened hearts and closed their lips. Staring at the ground, they left without dropping a word...."
Judith Weinberg, born of wealthy Russian Jewish parents in the early 1900's, had embraced a faith that cost her everything—family, fiancé, home and friends. And in the end, it cost Judith her life—cruelly snuffed out by the deadly swords of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution.
Judith by N. I. Saloff-Astakhoff is the incredible, true story of her life of sacrifice and service among the Russian people. It was the author's privilege to have observed much of Judith's life and Christian witness...and to have witnessed her untimely end.
This book is dedicated to the men and women who discovered joyous new life through Judith Weinberg's ministry, and others who will reap the rewards indirectly in years to come.

IV — PERSECUTED FOR CHRIST’S SAKE

“Enmity of the Parents—Vow of the Mother to Kill Her Daughter—Driven out from Home—Trusting the Lord”

THE HYSTERICAL weeping of the mother lasted for a whole hour. The two younger girls had been sent to bed by the father. Solomon was still there, sitting with bowed head.

“With worry and tears we shall not be able to better the case,” said Mr. Weinberg finally to his wife, after she became more calm. “Something has to be done. We three here are those who love Judith more than anybody else, and we all realize how perilous this step is that Judith has taken tonight; perilous for her, and unspeakably hard for us. But perhaps we can still save her with united efforts. I think it would be good if you would tell us calmly everything from the very beginning, Solomon. Lately you have been more with Judith than we, for we entrusted our daughter fully to you.”

“Yes, that is right. Tell us all, Solomon,” added Mrs. Weinberg.

Solomon had become his own self again, and he told the parents what he knew of Judith of late. He told them that Judith had been occupied very much with religious questions and that she had confided her thoughts to him. However, he had seen nothing wrong or dangerous in it; on the contrary, he had shared many of her thoughts and ideas. Tonight they had decided to satisfy her long desire and his curiosity by getting acquainted with some of the other religions around them. He said that his curiosity had been stirred through a deceiver from another city and his posters in which he invited the Jews to his meetings. And so it had been agreed to go to this Christian gathering.

After a short pause, Solomon continued: “And there in that meeting occurred something entirely unexpected. I would never have even dreamed of such an outcome. This evangelist proved to his hearers that ‘Yeshua’ had been indeed the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world. To strengthen his words, he quoted all the time our Jewish prophets, who speak about the coming of the Messiah. I watched Judith and noticed soon how attentively she was listening, drinking in every word. I tried repeatedly to get her out of the place but yielded each time to her petition to wait a little longer. I felt disgusted, and it pained me to look at her. I myself did not believe in God, but being a Jew I hated to see Judith to be so interested in the talk of this man, whose only aim seemed to be to accuse the Jews for crucifying ‘Yeshua.’

“When the speaker finished his talk, he asked all present to bow their knees in prayer. And all did, with the exception of some Jews who remained evidently for curiosity’s sake, for the majority of our Jews left the place after the close of the speech. I, too, arose, ready to leave, but Judith succeeded again in persuading me to stay.

“We were sitting in the back seat. Suddenly Judith dropped down on her knees after the prayer of one of the men, and she commenced to pray like those people did. All the Jews in front of us turned around and looked at us. I was stunned and did not know what to do. My heart was filled with grief. I was ashamed to lift up my eyes and to look at the Jewish friends. I felt disgraced and humiliated to the limit.

“After I came to myself somewhat, I lifted her up from her knees and, pulling her after me, I almost ran out of this horrible place. This is all I know and all that I can tell you about her. I am at a loss what to do now. The great love to Judith is struggling in me against that other feeling which has been called forth through the occurrence of the evening. I cannot give myself a clear account of what is going on in my breast. Until today I was not a believer in God and I was far from being a religious man, and therefore it is strange that I have the feeling that Judith has offended my deepest and most sacred feelings. This seems to indicate that there is a God and that the Jews are the only nation in the world who have the true religion given them by God. Judith has now become a conscious apostate from God and the religion of her fathers. She has at once thrown away everything and has trodden it under her feet.

“What shall I do? She is engaged to me, and our wedding is to be in the nearest future. It is impossible for me to show myself with her after this in our society, for a number of our Jews witnessed her hysterical prayer as she asked ‘Yeshua’ to convert our whole Jewish nation. And they saw me there together with her....She is lost for me....Lost forever....We cannot love each other any longer; and even more—we cannot be even friends after this....Oh! How could this happen?...Judith, my dear Judith!” moaned Solomon, holding his head with both hands.

Judith’s parents had been listening silently, crushed with their grief. The face of the father manifested a terrific inner struggle. The mother was crying. They both understood the feelings of the young man and they sympathized with him, for they suffered greatly in behalf of their daughter. As soon as Solomon finished, Mr. Weinberg arose, took the youth by his arms, and led him to his wife.

“You know, Solomon, that our hearts have been attached to you like unto our own son. We have loved you with all our heart and still love you. We know that you have fully returned this love. Now we have lost her who has united us so closely and whom we all have loved so passionately. We always hoped that she was going to bring us untold joy and honor in our life—and now she has brought such unspeakable grief and disgrace upon us that we do not know how to bear it or how to undo it.

“When she was sitting here an hour ago telling us that she had become a Christian, I felt something in me of which I could not give an account. If it had not been for you, Rachel, I do not know what I would have done to my child, although I do not know yet what to begin and what to do with her, I will not despair. Judith has surprised us from her earliest childhood with her quick mind and her deep questions, which were much too serious for her age. Besides, she has always been very impressive. Perchance we shall yet have the joy of bringing her back to the faith of her fathers. We three have now to make efforts and use all possible ways and means to influence her. For the first few days I think it will be best to leave her alone and to give her time to think over what she has done. I doubt that we would accomplish much with her through severity. I feel very sorry for my action tonight. In this respect, our nation has much to improve. But who can help it? It’s our temperament! Let us try to reach our aim through love, through exhortation, and solicitation. We can, if necessary, invite our honorable rabbi to have a talk with her. And then it is left to be seen what to do further,” finished Weinberg.

“Yes, you are right, David,” agreed his wife, “We must do all we can to save our child, our beloved Judith. You, Solomon, will help us, won’t you? You have an influence over her, for I know how affectionately our Judith loves you.”

“Indeed I will,” said the young man, having gained courage and hope again. “Please forgive my temper and my quick judgment. Perhaps my Judith is not lost for me yet, after all. Whatever depends on me will be done gladly for her.”

It was about three o’clock in the morning when Solomon finally reached home. The remaining hours of the night were spent sleeplessly by him as well as the Weinbergs. Judith’s conversion and her acceptance of Christianity was an unexpected blow for them. At the same time there was in the other part of the house another conversation quite different from the one in the parlor, one that was totally unknown in the home of the Weinbergs, a discourse not between men, but of a young girl with her God. When her father ordered her out of the room, Judith felt crushed with pain. She was used to being loved by everybody since she could remember and she had never been treated harshly. Now she felt for the first time in her life that she had lost this love. She saw that she was hated by those who were the nearest and dearest to her heart.

Judith loved her parents and Solomon with an unusually tender love, such as one very seldom finds. It was a pure, unselfish, genuine love and attachment. For several years she had known and loved Solomon. He was very dear to her. He had always been attentive, tender-hearted, and considerate. She knew that he loved her dearly. And now they had driven her from their presence.

The loving, always considerate father had looked frightful and threatening as he stood before her all trembling with anger. If mother had not kept him back, he would surely have killed her right there on the spot. At this recollection, the girl’s heart was pierced anew with an unknown, indescribable pain. She felt suddenly helpless and lonely in this world. There was nobody on earth to whom she could go now with her almost unbearable grief. There was not a soul to whom she could run and on whose heart she could cry out the sorrow of her young heart. Mother, Father, Solomon, her dear sisters, and her nation, had cast her out for the Lord’s sake. She realized that all bonds of love were now severed. She felt like one thrown into the raging waves of the sea from the deck of a ship, not having firm ground under her feet and no shore being in sight.

For a long time her subdued sobs filled the room. This was the first real grief in Judith’s life. After the first crying spell was over, she arose from the bed on which she had fallen prostrate when she entered her room with the shock of being driven from the presence of her dear ones. Now she sat down on the chair near the window. It was a quiet night. The moon was shining peacefully. The bright stars twinkled and sparkled like diamonds. The girl’s eyes, tired and swollen from weeping, were fixed upon the beautiful picture of the starry winter sky. Lost in contemplation, she sat motionless for a while.

“Thou are great and glorious in Thy creation, oh, my God!” uttered Judith in a subdued voice. She had become quieter, and a sweet peace began to fill her heart. Sitting there in the loneliness of the night, her whole life passed before her. She thought of the time when she was a little child, as she and her parents still lived in the West, in the part of the country that had been taken away from Russia through the war. She remembered the question that had troubled her for quite a while after her father had told her and her sisters the story of the past of her nation. These tales of her father had roused her childish mind and had awakened in her the desire to know more about God.

She recalled also that memorable discussion of her grandfather with his guests which she had chanced to overhear. And her discourse with her grandfather afterward came very vividly into her mind.

One picture of her childhood after the other had passed quickly before her eyes: Their flight from home in the beginning of the war; their traveling from the front to the city of G——; her first meeting with Solomon; and the following happy time of their love and engagement. It all seemed to her like a picture on the screen.

“That was a sweet dream, which has changed into cruel reality,” pondered Judith. “But what now? What has this reality in store for me? The dream is over. The picture of my life has changed entirely. Praise be to my Savior that He has led me out of this dream, for it is much better to awaken here on earth and to leave here with a real life than to open the eyes when entering eternity to meet there the tragic consequences of a spiritual sleep here on earth.”

With her quick and alert mind, Judith considered all that was for and against her decision. She did not try to deceive herself with illusions of an easy life ahead. Lately she had been reading the Jewish Bible frequently. During these studies she was strongly impressed with the fact that all prophets, all true servants of God, had suffered much persecution, and not a few had met a martyr’s death. And even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had died the most cruel death, being crucified.

“If you want to follow Him and be His hand-maiden and disciple, then the same is awaiting you, Judith,” she told herself. ‘The first step is made. I suppose the whole city knows it already. Tomorrow all our people will wag their heads at me and point at me with their fingers....But should I go back?...Oh, save me from such a thought, my Redeemer,” pleaded the girl.

She arose and knelt down at the feet of her precious Savior and Lord and there in sweet fellowship and communion she forgot herself and her troubles.

“Thou knowest, my Lord, that from my early days I have longed and searched for Thee. In Thy great love and mercy Thou hast revealed Thyself to me tonight through Thy Word and the Holy Spirit. Thou hast washed and cleansed my heart with Thy precious blood. Now, Thou knowest that all have forsaken me for Thy sake. All my own whom I love dearly are hating me without cause and are driving me away from their presence. I have no friends here on earth, no one who will advise and help me in the struggle. I am alone, all alone. Thou knowest that I am only a weak girl and that I do not know Thy ways yet. Do not leave nor forsake me, O Lord. Do not let me err from Thy truth in my ignorance and weakness. Thou knowest what will happen to me in my future life. I do not know it. Help me, therefore, my dear Lord, in all circumstances of life, especially when I grow weak and weary and have no strength to withstand the temptations.”

For a long time, her childlike, fervent prayer went up from her cozy room lighted by the silvery light of the moon. In the quietness of the night, Judith talked to her Savior as if He were visible at her side. She did not doubt it that He was there indeed, very close to her that very minute, and a great, deep peace came into her heart while she was praying simply and believingly.

“I am ready and willing to follow Thee everywhere. Thy will be done in my life from today and forever, my Lord and my God,” was Judith’s promise as she finished her talk with her Lord and Savior.

As she arose from her knees, her face, on which the moonlight fell, was radiant from inner joy and peace. Resting in her Redeemer, she soon forgot herself in a sound, healthful sleep. He to whom she had turned in prayer for help and strength sent His light-bearing angel to protect her and to guide and assist her on her way to the heavenly, eternal home.

Hard days commenced for Judith, days of trials, temptations, and persecutions from every side. Her parents and Solomon made great efforts to turn her away from the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They pleaded with her, invited her to go with them to theaters, dances, and other places of amusements, but she remained firm. She had turned her back on all things she used to enjoy very much, for she had found something far better. She considered it a sin against God, being His child, to go to the theater or to spend an evening in a dancing hall. She told them when they urged her to go, “There is no place for me where the Lord Jesus is excluded. I can be only ...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• AUTHOR’S NOTE:
• I - HAPPY DAYS OF CHILDHOOD
• II - REFUGEES
• III - SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND
• IV - PERSECUTED FOR CHRIST’S SAKE
• V - DEDICATED TO THE LORD
• VI - THE YOUTHFUL MARTYR
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER