Ezra Stiles (1727-1795), seventh president of Yale University and Christian student of rabbinic kabbalah, is an inspiration and an example of colonial Christian life. Ezra was the son of Rev. Isaac Stiles and Kezia Taylor Stiles. Kezia died from complications related to his birth. His father Isaac was a devout and talented poet, writer, and New England Saint. Ezra learned under his father until enrollment at Yale at 15. His freshman class consisted of himself and 12 others.
Stiles graduated from Yale at 20 and ordained at 23. Stiles was married to Elizabeth Hubbard, they had 8 children. According to the custom of New England Saints, Stiles was educated in Hebrew and learned scripture in that language. His wife and children were also competent Hebraists. The family culture was one of dedicated learning and prayer. Members of the family practiced the custom of reading through the bible in the original Hebrew and Greek each year. He bragged of his daughter Keziah (named for his mother) that in four years she had read all of scripture through five times. Ezra Stiles spent almost the last 20 years of his life as president of Yale University. His inaugural speech at the collage was delivered completely in Hebrew. He explained the history of God’s people from the time of Ezra and the men of the Great Assembly until the establishment of what he called Yeshivat Yalesi. For Ezra Stiles, the Christian universities of Colonial America were yeshivot. Usually the word “yeshivah” is reserved for a Jewish academy of rabbinic learning, but for Stiles and those in the tradition of the New England Saints there was no true separation between Judaism and Christianity apart from the identity of Christ.
Ezra Stiles had been inspired by the writings of Rabbi Judah Monis who had been a professor of Hebrew at Harvard for almost 40 years. As a young man he had been ordained as a rabbi by one of the great sages of his day, student of kabbalah, and follower of Christ who had found community among colonial Saints. This taste of rabbinic wisdom inspired Stiles to connect with the small but growing number of rabbis in the New England area. He regularly attended services at Newport’s Touro Synagogue, still in use today. The Touro Synagogue president and Sephardic Jewish philanthropist Aaron Lopez addressed Ezra Stiles in a letter as “Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivat Yalensi.” The two men were good friends and Rev. Ezra Stiles sat in a place of distinction when attending holiday services with the Jewish community, which he did quite regularly. He was also sure to attend any time a visiting rabbi was in town. Although offered well paying positions working for various denominations, Ezrah Stiles chose to remain within his family tradition and led a Congregationalist community where he informed his teachings with rabbinic and kabbalistic insight. Ezra Stiles was the first to have a copy of the Zohar shipped to the new world. He sent a letter to his friend Benjamin Franklin, who was living in England and two years later the Jewish work of kabbalah arrived in the American Colonies. The desired text had been in the possession of an English Baptist who was willing to part with it for the right price. While the book has long since disappeared from the library at Yale, it is known that it was absolutely littered by the notes of Ezra Stiles who constantly returned to it.