ALEXEYEV, ALEXANDER

ALEXEYEV, ALEXANDER (1820–after 1886), apostate and Christian propagandist. He was born Wolf Nachlas into a ḥasidic family in Nezarinetz, Podolia, and became a Christian after his impressment into the Russian army. During his army service Alexeyev was made a noncommissioned officer for his zeal in persuading Jewish child conscripts to convert to Christianity. Later he became paralyzed and was discharged. Alexeyev was subsequently appointed to attend the saratov blood libel case (1853) as an expert. He wrote a pamphlet entitled "Do Jews Use Christian Blood for Religious Purposes?" (1886), which boldly defends the Jews against this particular accusation. Other writings, however, aimed at winning Jewish converts, attacked the Talmud and the rabbis in crude terms which made an impact at the time. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.A. Venegerov, Kritichesko-Biograficheskiy Slovar, 1 (1889), 375–6; S.L. Zitron, Meshumodim (Yid., 1921), 91.