Menasseh Ben Israel

1604 (age 53)

Portugal

Although his Thesourou dos Dinim (1645-1647) was a guide to Jewish law for newly arrived Portuguese Marranos, practically all of the books published by Manasseh ben Israel had the educated non-Jewish reader in mind. He wrote a series of theological works in Latin (1635-1642); the monumental Conciliador in Spanish (1632-1651); Piedra gloriosa (1655), with biblical engravings by Rembrandt, who also painted and etched Manasseh’s portrait; and, apart from other books, an unpublished sequel to Josephus’ Antiquities. It was the first volume of his Conciliador, an attempt to harmonize apparently conflicting passages of scripture, that chiefly impressed the wider world. For many Christians, Manasseh ben Israel was the outstanding Jewish savant of the age: Sweden’s learned Queen Christina and the Swiss Hebraist, Johannes Buxtorf II, were among those who corresponded with him; Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of England’s Charles I, visited his synagogue to hear him preach. Fame did not lessen Manasseh’s awareness of Jewish communities elsewhere threatened with extinction. In 1644 he heard a statement made under oath by Antonio de Montezinos, a Marrano adventurer, relating his encounter with “Hevrews” in Ecuador who still maintained biblical practices and could recite the Shema (the Jewish credo). This new discovery of Israel’s Ten Lost Tribes made a great impression on Manasseh ben Israel, for whom it had theological — perhaps even messianic — significance. By 1649, he was attaching further importance to the tale as “New Christians” were hounded in Portugal and Cossack massacres drove Ashkenazim westward from Poland. If there were persecuted Jews in need of a refuge, there was also a land, England, now governed by Bible-loving Puritans, where no Jewish community had existed since 1290. Quoting biblical prophecies about the dispersion and ingathering of Israel, Manasseh published The Hope of Israel (1650), an overtly messianic tract in Latin and Spanish which he dedicated to England’s Parliament. Thanks to the author’s broad hint that no Christian millennium could take place without a Jewish return to England (Angleterre, signifying “the end of the earth"), this book appealed especially to the predominant English religious movements of the time, while the general argument promoted English sympathy for homeless Jews. Oliver Cromwell’s Latin secretary, John Milton, arranged for an English translation to be printed and it achieved the status of a best-seller, running to three consecutive editions. Though impressed by Manasseh’s arguments and well-disposed toward victims of Catholic persecution, Cromwell had the very practical advantages of Jewish resettlement in mind, at a time when the Dutch and English were bitter commercial rivals. Manasseh ben Israel headed a small delegation that arrived in London (Septmeber 1655) and submitted Humble Addresses to the Lord Protector in behalf of the Jewish Nation, restating the prophetic theme, as well as a petition for the “free exercise of our own Religion.” Knowing that city merchants and Puritan divines had come out: in opposition, the Council of State showed no enthusiasm for the admission of Jews who, it was rumored, aimed to buy Saint Paul’s Cathedral and turn it into a synagogue! The Whitehall Confer- encesummoned by Cromwell met several times (December 4-18) but proved no more helpful, apart from reaching one notable conclusion: that there was no legal impediment to a Jewish community, since the expulsion of 1290 had been a royal (not a parliamentary) decree. While hoping and waiting for a successful end to these negotiation's, Manasseh published his Vindiciae Judaeorum (1656), a trenchant reply to the anti-Semitic bigotry of William Prynne. It was a sudden threat to a few dozen Marranos living in London that decided the issue. Facing arrest and expropriation as “Spanish Catholic” aliens, these merchants begged for Manasseh ben Israel’s signature on a petition of their own to Cromwell (March 24, 1656), acknowledging that they were in fact “Hebrews" and requesting permission to worship and bury their dead accordingly. Three months later. Council of State granted the merchants’ request, although someone hacked the minuted decision out of the Council’s order book after the death of Cromwell. This tacit arrangement suited the ex-Marranos perfectly, but it was a crushing blow to Manasseh ben Israel, who had expected far more of Cromwell. Convinced that his great mission had failed he returned to the Netherlands a broken man and died there shortly afterward.

Menasseh Ben Israel Edit Profile

scholars

Background

The son of Portuguese Marranos who had escaped from the Inquisition, he was baptized Manocl Dias Soeiro in Madeira, but renamed after his parents reached Holland.

Education

Manasseh (or Menassch, as he spelt his name) showed early promise as a writer and preacher; he studied under Rabbi Isaac Uzziel, whom he succeeded as rabbi ot the Neveh Shalom congregation at the age of eighteen.

Career

Although his Thesourou dos Dinim (1645-1647) was a guide to Jewish law for newly arrived Portuguese Marranos, practically all of the books published by Manasseh ben Israel had the educated non-Jewish reader in mind. He wrote a series of theological works in Latin (1635-1642); the monumental Conciliador in Spanish (1632-1651); Piedra gloriosa (1655), with biblical engravings by Rembrandt, who also painted and etched Manasseh’s portrait; and, apart from other books, an unpublished sequel to Josephus’ Antiquities. It was the first volume of his Conciliador, an attempt to harmonize apparently conflicting passages of scripture, that chiefly impressed the wider world. For many Christians, Manasseh ben Israel was the outstanding Jewish savant of the age: Sweden’s learned Queen Christina and the Swiss Hebraist, Johannes Buxtorf II, were among those who corresponded with him; Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of England’s Charles I, visited his synagogue to hear him preach.

Fame did not lessen Manasseh’s awareness of Jewish communities elsewhere threatened with extinction. In 1644 he heard a statement made under oath by Antonio de Montezinos, a Marrano adventurer, relating his encounter with “Hevrews” in Ecuador who still maintained biblical practices and could recite the Shema (the Jewish credo). This new discovery of Israel’s Ten Lost Tribes made a great impression on Manasseh ben Israel, for whom it had theological — perhaps even messianic — significance. By 1649, he was attaching further importance to the tale as “New Christians” were hounded in Portugal and Cossack massacres drove Ashkenazim westward from Poland. If there were persecuted Jews in need of a refuge, there was also a land, England, now governed by Bible-loving Puritans, where no Jewish community had existed since 1290. Quoting biblical prophecies about the dispersion and ingathering of Israel, Manasseh published The Hope of Israel (1650), an overtly messianic tract in Latin and Spanish which he dedicated to England’s Parliament.

Thanks to the author’s broad hint that no Christian millennium could take place without a Jewish return to England (Angleterre, signifying “the end of the earth"), this book appealed especially to the predominant English religious movements of the time, while the general argument promoted English sympathy for homeless Jews. Oliver Cromwell’s Latin secretary, John Milton, arranged for an English translation to be printed and it achieved the status of a best-seller, running to three consecutive editions. Though impressed by Manasseh’s arguments and well-disposed toward victims of Catholic persecution, Cromwell had the very practical advantages of Jewish resettlement in mind, at a time when the Dutch and English were bitter commercial rivals.

Manasseh ben Israel headed a small delegation that arrived in London (Septmeber 1655) and submitted Humble Addresses to the Lord Protector in behalf of the Jewish Nation, restating the prophetic theme, as well as a petition for the “free exercise of our own Religion.” Knowing that city merchants and Puritan divines had come out: in opposition, the Council of State showed no enthusiasm for the admission of Jews who, it was rumored, aimed to buy Saint Paul’s Cathedral and turn it into a synagogue! The Whitehall Confer- encesummoned by Cromwell met several times (December 4-18) but proved no more helpful, apart from reaching one notable conclusion: that there was no legal impediment to a Jewish community, since the expulsion of 1290 had been a royal (not a parliamentary) decree. While hoping and waiting for a successful end to these negotiation's, Manasseh published his Vindiciae Judaeorum (1656), a trenchant reply to the anti-Semitic bigotry of William Prynne.

It was a sudden threat to a few dozen Marranos living in London that decided the issue. Facing arrest and expropriation as “Spanish Catholic” aliens, these merchants begged for Manasseh ben Israel’s signature on a petition of their own to Cromwell (March 24, 1656), acknowledging that they were in fact “Hebrews" and requesting permission to worship and bury their dead accordingly. Three months later. Council of State granted the merchants’ request, although someone hacked the minuted decision out of the Council’s order book after the death of Cromwell. This tacit arrangement suited the ex-Marranos perfectly, but it was a crushing blow to Manasseh ben Israel, who had expected far more of Cromwell. Convinced that his great mission had failed he returned to the Netherlands a broken man and died there shortly afterward.

Achievements

Versatile, fluent in several languages, and widely read, he became an illustrious spokesman for the Jewish faith and people, admired by fellow Jews and Christian scholars alike. He established the first Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam (1626), which relied on new techniques and published more than seventy different works. He later headed a Talmudic college.

Works

book
- The Hope of Israel

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