Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 14, 2015

Elias Abraham Rosenberg (c. 1810 – 1887) was an adviser to King Kalākaua of Hawaii. He had lived in San Francisco in the 1880s, working as a peddler and selling illegal lottery tickets. In 1886, he traveled to Hawaii and performed as a fortune-teller. Endearing himself to the king with favorable predictions, he received lavish gifts and was appointed as a kahuna-kilokilo (royal soothsayer), customs appraiser, and guard. Rosenberg and the king enjoyed talking and drinking together, but he was distrusted by other royal advisers and satirized in the Hawaiian press. He encouraged the king to revive the traditional Hawaiian religion, an idea that fascinated Kalākaua but angered political rivals. In 1887 Rosenberg returned to California; a month later, he was admitted to a hospital in San Francisco, where he died. In Hawaii, the 1887 Constitution—which curtailed royal power—was forced on Kalākaua. A Torah scroll presented to the king by Rosenberg was later exhibited with other royal treasures and eventually donated to Temple Emanu-El in Honolulu.