Judah Monis

Judah Monis was the first college instructor of the Hebrew language in North America. Descended from Portuguese New Christians who returned to Judaism, he was born in Italy and studied in yeshivas in Leghorn (Livorno) and Amsterdam. Around 1715 he left for America. In New York, he became a merchant and offered Hebrew instruction to Christians and Jews. He then moved to Boston. Appointed Harvard University’s first full-time Hebrew teacher, he publicly converted to Christianity in order to meet the university regulations, although many voiced doubts concerning his religious convictions. In addition to A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, he also wrote works defending his conversion to Christianity.