Manoel Dias Soeiro (1604 – 20 November 1657), better known by his

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

name Menasseh ben Israel (), also known as Menasheh ben Yossef ben Yisrael, also known with the Hebrew acronym, MB"Y or MBI, was a Portuguese

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

, kabbalist, writer, diplomat, printer, publisher, and founder of the first Hebrew

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

(named ''Emeth Meerets Titsma`h'') in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in 1626.

Life

Menasseh was born on

Madeira Island Madeira is a Portuguese island, and is the largest and most populous of the Madeira Archipelago. It has an area of , including Ilhéu de Agostinho, Ilhéu de São Lourenço, Ilhéu Mole (northwest). As of 2011, Madeira had a total population of ...

in 1604, with the name Manoel Dias Soeiro, a year after his parents had left mainland

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

because of the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

. The family moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1610. The Netherlands was in the middle of a process of religious revolt against Catholic Spanish rule throughout the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Ref ...

(1568–1648). Amsterdam was an important center of Jewish life in Europe at this time. The family's arrival in 1610 was during the

Twelve Years' Truce The Twelve Years' Truce was a ceasefire during the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, agreed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609 and ended on 9 April 1621. While European powers like France began treating the Republic as a sovereign ...

mediated by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. In Amsterdam he studied under

Moses Raphael de Aguilar Moses Raphael de Aguilar ( – 15 December 1679) was a Sephardic- Dutch rabbi, Hebrew Grammatician and scholar, who wrote some 20 books on a series of talmudic and Hebrew language topics. He was also an important lecturer at the Amsterdam Talmud To ...

. Menasseh rose to eminence not only as a rabbi and an author, but also as a printer. He established the first Hebrew press in Holland. One of his earliest works, ''El Conciliador'', published in 1632, won immediate reputation; it was an attempt to reconcile apparent discrepancies in various parts of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Gerardus Vossius,

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

, Petrus Serrarius,

António Vieira Pedro António Vieira (; 6 February 160818 July 1697) was an Afro-Portuguese Jesuit priest, diplomat, orator, preacher, philosopher, writer, and member of the Royal Council to the King of Portugal. Biography Vieira was born in Lisbon to ...

and Pierre Daniel Huet. In 1638, he decided to settle in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, as he still found it difficult to provide for his wife and family in Amsterdam. He may have visited the Dutch colony's capital of

Recife That it may shine on all (Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South Am ...

, but did not move there. One of the reasons his financial situation improved in Amsterdam was the arrival of two Portuguese Jewish entrepreneurs, the brothers Abraham and Isaac Pereyra. They hired Rabbi Manasseh to direct a small college or academy (a ''yeshibah'' in Spanish-Portuguese parlance of the time) they had founded in the city. In 1644, Menasseh met Antonio de Montezinos, a Portuguese traveler and

Marrano Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to practice Judaism in secrecy. The term specifically refers to the char ...

Sephardic Jew Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

who had been in the New World. Montezinos convinced him of his conclusion that the South America Andes' Indians were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. This purported discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes, as the settlement of Jews throughout the world was supposed to be a sign that the Messiah would come. Filled with this idea, he turned his attention to England, whence the Jews had been expelled since 1290. He worked to get them permission to settle there again and thus hasten the Messiah's coming. With the start of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

, the question of the readmission of the Jews had found increased

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

support, but it was often mooted under the growing desire for religious liberty. In addition, Messianic and other mystic hopes were then current in England. His book,
The Hope of Israel
', was first published in Amsterdam in Latin (''Spes Israelis'') and in Spanish (''Esperança de Israel'') in 1650. The book was written in response to a 1648 letter from John Dury enquiring about Montezinos' claims. In addition to reporting Montezinos' accounts of Jews in the Americas, the book also expressed the hope that the Jews would return to England as a way of hastening the coming of the messiah. Menasseh also stresses his kinship with parliament, and explains himself as driven by amity for England rather than financial gain.Crome, Andrew (2014)
The Restoration of the Jews: Early Modern Hermeneutics, Eschatology, and National Identity in the Works of Thomas Brightman
Springer. . p.192-194 In 1651 he offered to serve Christina, Queen of Sweden as her agent of Hebrew books. The same year he met

Oliver St John Sir Oliver St John (; c. 1598 – 31 December 1673) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640-53. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. Early life St John was the son of Oliver S ...

and his envoys on his mission to secure an Anglo-Dutch coalition (which would have given Dutch citizens, and thus Jews, privileges to stay and work in England). The English were impressed by learning and manner, and advised him to formally apply for Jewish readmission to England. In 1652 ''The Hope of Israel'' was translated from Latin into English by John Dury or one of his associates, and it was published in London by Moses Wall, prefixed with a dedication to the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

; his account of descendants of the Lost Tribes being found in the New World deeply impressed public opinion and stirred up many polemics in English literature. This included a debate between Edward Spencer and Moses Wall, an MP and a scholar respectively, on ben Israel's millennial claims and the manner in which the Jews would be converted. Wall and Spencer's letters were printed in later additions of the book. Despite their historic misfortunes and movements, Menasseh characterizes the condition of Jewry at the time by saying:

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

was sympathetic to the Jewish cause, partly because of his tolerant leanings but chiefly because he foresaw the importance for English commerce of the participation of the Jewish merchant princes, some of whom had already made their way to London. At this juncture, the English gave Jews full rights in the colony of Surinam, which they had controlled since 1650. There is some debate among historians concerning whether Menasseh's motives for pursuing the readmission of the Jews by England were primarily political or religious. Ismar Schorsch, for example, has argued that the idea of England being a final place for Jews to inhabit in order to bring about the coming of the Messiah was hardly present in ''The Hope of Israel'' (1652), but rather was developed by Menasseh later (1656-57 when he was in London) in order to appeal to English Christians with

Millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarian ...

beliefs. Henry Méchoulan, on the other hand, in his later in-depth detailed analysis of the book has striven to show that the Jewish messianic theme in it is also rather fundamental to its initial conception.

Steven Nadler Steven M. Nadler (born November 11, 1958) is an American academic and philosopher specializing in early modern philosophy. He is Vilas Research Professor and the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy, and (from 2004–2009) Max and Frieda Wei ...

, in his 2018 book, which is actually the last word on Menasseh's biography to be published to date, has seemingly also closed the debate on this issue of Menasseh's own messianic beliefs: Menasseh T

In November 1655, Menasseh arrived in London. During his absence from the Netherlands, the Amsterdam rabbis excommunicated his student,

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, ...

. In London, Menasseh published his ''Humble Addresses to the Lord Protector'', but its effect was weakened by

William Prynne William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were presb ...

's publication of ''Short Demurrer''. Cromwell summoned the

Whitehall Conference {{onesource, date=October 2008 The Whitehall Conference was a gathering of prominent English merchants, clergymen, and lawyers convened by Oliver Cromwell for the purpose of debating whether Jews should be readmitted to England. The conference l ...

in December of the same year. Some of the most notable statesmen, lawyers, and theologians of the day were summoned to this conference to discuss whether the Jews should be readmitted to England. The chief practical result was the declaration of judges Glynne and Steele that "there was no law which forbade the Jews' return to England" (as they had been expelled by royal decree of

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

, and not by formal parliamentary action; Jews remaining in England lived, however, under constant threat of expulsion). Though nothing was done to regularize the position of the Jews, the door was opened to their gradual return. On 14 December 1655,

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or m ...

entered in his ''

Diary A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

,'' "Now were the Jews admitted." When Prynne and others attacked the Jews, Menasseh wrote his major work, '' Vindiciae judaeorum'' (1656), in response. Menasseh ben Israel stayed in England for close to two years after the Whitehall Conference. During this time he tried to obtain written permission for the resettlement of the Jews in England. Although he failed in this endeavour, during his stay he met with a large number of influential figures of the age, including Cambridge theologian Ralph Cudworth,

Henry Oldenburg Henry Oldenburg (also Henry Oldenbourg) FRS (c. 1618 as Heinrich Oldenburg – 5 September 1677), was a German theologian, diplomat, and natural philosopher, known as one of the creators of modern scientific peer review. He was one of the fo ...

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders ...

and his sister, Adam Boreel, John Sadler, John Dury and Samuel Hartlib, as well as more marginal prophetic figures such as Ambrose Barnes and Arise Evans. Ben Israel's stay was managed by the

millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarian ...

philosemite Philosemitism is a notable interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jewish people, their history, and the influence of Judaism, particularly on the part of a non-Jew. In the aftermath of World War II, the phenomenon of philosemitism sa ...

Baptist clergyman Henry Jessey.

Death and burial

In February 1657 Cromwell granted ben Israel a state pension of £100, but he died before enjoying it, at Middelburg in the Netherlands in the winter of 1657 (14 ''

Kislev Kislev or Chislev (Hebrew: כִּסְלֵו, Standard ''Kīslev'' Tiberian ''Kīslēw''), also 'Chisleu' in the King James (authorized English) Bible, is the third month of the civil year and the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year on the H ...

'' 5418). He was conveying the body of his son Samuel home for burial. His grave is in the

Beth Haim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel The Beth Haim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands. It was purchased for use as a burying ground by the Jewish community of Amsterdam in 1614 and is located in the village of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, in the ...

, and remains intact (headstone and gravestone).

Writings

De Resurrectione Mortuorum, Menassah Ben Israel

Menasseh ben Israel was the author of many works. His major work ''Nishmat Hayim'' is a treatise in Hebrew on the Jewish concept of reincarnation of souls, published by his son Samuel six years before they both died. Some scholars think that he studied kabbalah with

Abraham Cohen de Herrera Abraham Cohen de Herrera ( he, רבי אברהם כהן בן דוד דה-הירירה), also known as Alonso Nunez de Herrera or Abraham Irira (c. 1570 – c. 1635), was a religious philosopher and cabbalist (a student of Israel Sarug, who was on ...

, a disciple of Israel Saruk. This would explain his familiarity with the method of

Isaac Luria Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (1534Fine 2003, p24/ref> – July 25, 1572) ( he, יִצְחָק בן שלמה לוּרְיָא אשכנזי ''Yitzhak Ben Sh'lomo Lurya Ashkenazi''), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as "Ha'ARI" (mean ...

. ''The Conciliator'' was, as above, a work written to reconcile the apparent contradictions in numerous passages throughout the Bible. To achieve this aim, Ben Israel "utilized an astounding range of sources"; primarily the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

and the classic Jewish commentaries but frequently quotes from the early Christian authorities as well as Greek and Latin authors of antiquity. Written in Spanish, in Amsterdam, 1632, it was aimed primarily to strengthen the faith of the Marranos in the veracity of the Tanach according to Jewish interpretation. It was translated by Elias Haim Lindo and published by Duncan and Malcolm, in 1842, and again in 1972, with footnotes and introductory material by Sepher-Hermon Press. His other works include: * ''De termino vitae'' written in Latin 1639, translated into English by Thomas Pocock (London, 1709) * ''De Creatione Problemata,'' in Spanish, Amsterdam 1635. * ''De Resurrectione Mortuorum,'' Book I 1636 - written originally in Spanish but later translated into Latin, 1636 First English Translation, by Walter Hilliger, ISBN 1735673765, and in modern Spanish, , both digital versions available o
Sefaria
* ''De la Fragilidad Humana'' (On Human Frailty) (1642) * ''Nishmat Hayyim'' Hebrew * a ritual compendium ''Thesouros dos dinim''. * ''Piedra gloriosa'' - with four engraved etchings by his acquaintance

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...

, who is also thought by some to have painted his portrait. These are preserved in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. *
The Hope of Israel
' (London 1652). Printed in Lucien Wolf (ed.), ''Manasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell'' (London 1901), p. 50-51. * ''Vindiciae Judaeorum, Or, A Letter in Answer to Certain Questions Propounded by a Nobel and Learned Gentleman: Touching the Reproaches Cast on the Nation of the Jews ; Wherein All Objections are Candidly, and Yet Fully Clear'd''. Amsterdam 1656. Other works can be found in the Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for example: * ''Orden de las oraciones del mes, con lo mes necessario y obligatorio de las tres fiestas del año. Como tambien lo que toca a los ayunos, Hanucah, y Purim: con sus advertencias y notas para mas facilidad, y clareza. Industria y despeza de Menasseh ben Israel''

Descendants

Menasseh's wife, Rachel, was a descendant of the

Abarbanel The Abravanel family ( he, ''ʾAbravanʾēl'' or ''ʾAbarbənəʾēl''), also spelled as ''Abarbanel'', ''Abrabanel'', ''Avravanel'', ''Barbernell'', or ''Barbanel'' – literally meaning ''Ab'' ("father") ''rabban'' ("priest") ''el'' ("of God" ...

family. Menasseh had three children by her. According to family legend, the Abarbanels were descendants of King David, and he was proud of his children's Davidic ancestry.

Albert Montefiore Hyamson Albert Montefiore Hyamson, (27 August 1875 – 5 October 1954) was a British civil servant and historian who served as chief immigration officer in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1921 to 1934. The Political Zionist of the 1910s and 192 ...

, ''A History of the Jews in England'' (1908), p. 182 Both of Menasseh's sons predeceased their father. Menasseh's eldest son was Samuel Abarbanel Soeiro, also known as Samuel Ben Israel, who worked as a printer and assisted his father with matters in England. He died in 1657. Menasseh's youngest son, Joseph, died at age 20, in 1650, on a disastrous business trip to Poland. Menasseh also had a daughter, Gracia, born 1628, who married Samuel Abarbanel Barboza in 1646, and died in 1690.

Moses Jacob Ezekiel Moses Jacob Ezekiel, also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel (October 28, 1844 – March 27, 1917), was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career. Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to r ...

, the American sculptor, in his autobiography claimed to be a descendant of Menasseh Ben Israel. His claim is unconfirmed.

Notes

References

External links

''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1901-1906)
entry on Menasseh Ben Israel by Joseph Jacobs *
''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2007)
entry on "Manasseh (Menasseh) Ben Israel" by Cecil Roth and A.K. Offenberg (2nd ed.)

* ttp://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=111879 Short biography of Menasseh Ben Israel
''The Hope of Israel'' (Vilnius, 1836 in the original Hebrew text)
online at Hebrewbooks.org
Manasseh ben Israel as a printer
Rare Books of the Shimeon Brisman Collection in Jewish Studies, Washington University
Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel: The Chacham Who Opened England to Jews
by Rabbi Menachem Levine {{DEFAULTSORT:Menasseh Ben Israel 1604 births 1657 deaths Chief rabbis 17th-century Dutch rabbis Jewish English history 17th-century printers Sephardi rabbis 17th-century Sephardi Jews Dutch Sephardi Jews Jewish printing and publishing Rabbis from Amsterdam Bible commentators Jewish apologists People of the Interregnum (England) People from Madeira Dutch Golden Age writers Portuguese emigrants to the Dutch Republic People associated with Baruch Spinoza 17th-century Dutch businesspeople