Manasseh ben Israel

Dutch theologian and scholar

• Born: c. 1604
• Birthplace: Island of Madeira
• Died: November 20, 1657
• Place of death: Middelburg, Zeeland, United Provinces (now in the Netherlands)

Manasseh ben Israel was instrumental in gaining re-admission of the Jews into England, from which they had been expelled in 1290. He was a scholar who wrote theological interpretations of the Bible, and he founded the first Hebrew printing press in the region.

Early Life

The ancestry of Manasseh ben Israel (meh-NAHS-eh behn IHZ-ray-ehl) was Jewish, but for more than a century, his family had lived as Marranos, Jews forcibly converted to Christianity but who secretly maintained a Jewish identity. Manasseh had been baptized as Manoel Dias Soeiro. Manasseh’s father, likewise a baptized Marrano, called himself Joseph ben Israel, while Manasseh’s mother took the name Rachel. Their children, named for biblical characters, were Esther, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Many of these “secret Jews” had escaped the religious persecution of Spain and Portugal, and immigrated to Amsterdam, where a large Spanish community had developed. It was this climate in which Manasseh was raised.

Jewish education in Amsterdam was noteworthy even by European standards of the time. Manasseh began his study of the Torah at age twelve, and was known as a highly intelligent, if precocious, student. Among his teachers was Isaac Uzziel, formerly the rabbi of Oran, who was a primary rabbi in the Amsterdam community. Here, Manasseh also was trained in the fluent use of several languages and in the classics. Manasseh’s classmates included many who would later become equally prominent in the Jewish community.

By the age of thirteen, Manasseh was invited to become a member of several prominent Yeshivot, academies known for their biblical scholarship. By seventeen, he had written his first book, Safah berurah (1621), an unpublished work on grammar. The following year, after the death of Rabbi Uzziel, Manasseh became head of the congregation.

Life’s Work

As head of the congregation Neveh Shalom, Manasseh’s duties included serving as an elementary teacher and also teaching the Talmud to fellow scholars. Within two years, he was ordained as a rabbi, probably by his colleague, Saul Levi Mortara. Manasseh’s parents lived long enough to witness the honor. During this same period, Manasseh met and married Rachel Abravanel, daughter of a prominent Spanish family that had likewise fled its homeland. Manasseh and Rachel would produce three children, a daughter and two sons.

During this period of significant growth in European Jewry, Manasseh recognized a dependency on foreign printers, principally those in Venice, for the publication of Hebrew texts. In 1626, Manasseh entered a partnership with a Jewish scribe and Gentile craftsperson to prepare the special fonts, and a printing press was placed in his house. It was here that he would eventually publish his works, numbering more than sixty and in several languages. Three Hebrew Bibles were among the printed works. In 1627, the first work Manasseh printed on the press was Sefer ha-jirah, a twelfth-thirteenth century work on ethics and ascetics by Rabbi Jonah of Gerona (Jona Gerondi). Manasseh’s own first work to be published, Penei rabbah (1628), an index to the Midrash Rabbah, was also printed on the new press.

Manasseh addressed many of his writings to a non-Jewish audience specifically, and for a generation, his writings would represent the epitome of Jewish scholarship in their eyes. He spent five years putting together the first section of one of his greatest works, El conciliador (1632; The Conciliator of R. Manasseh ben Israel , 1842), an attempt to explain a number of biblical passages. The first part was written in both Spanish and Latin, while the remaining three parts appeared only in Spanish (1641-1651).

Several of his philosophical writings, including De creatione problemata XXX (1635), De termino vitae (1634), and the two-part De la fragilidad humana (1642), were soon published. These works, while subtly opposing certain tenets of Christianity, attempted to address aspects of Judaism for a non-Jewish audience.

Manasseh’s Piedra gloriosa, o de la Estatua de Nebuchadnessar (c. 1655), a commentary on the biblical Book of Daniel, was noteworthy for another reason: its inclusion of four etchings by Rembrandt.

Rembrandt at the time was living in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam because of financial straits and most likely not because of an affinity with Jews. Rembrandt was interested, however, in depicting prominent Jews for his paintings, and during this thirty-year period, he produced some twenty paintings and etchings. One of these etchings was of Manasseh.

Manasseh ben Israel’s role in the readmission of Jews to England could be seen as mutually beneficial. Among the goals of Oliver Cromwell , lord protector of England since 1653, was the expansion of English commerce. He was well aware of the role of Jewish merchants in helping to make several regions and cities on the Continent prosperous, most notably, Amsterdam. The reintroduction of Jewish merchants, including both their capital and their connections, was thought to be vital in the quest to establish a competitive market from London.

At the same time, Manasseh believed that the reintroduction of Jews to England would fulfill the biblical prophecy of the redemption of Israel, a view he described in his treatise Esperança de Israel (1650; The Hope of Israel , 1650). The thought process was roundabout. In 1641, Antón de Montesinos, a Marrano visitor in South America, reported the presence of Ecuadoran indigenous peoples allegedly descended from the tribes of Reuben and Levi. If this were true, only England would be devoid of Jews. Using the Deuteronomic interpretation that the term “the ends of the Earth” referred to England, Manasseh presented a petition to the English Parliament that readmission of the Jews had messianic implications. Whether for theological or practical reasons, Cromwell recommended the acceptance of Manasseh’s petition. The petition, however, was rejected.

In September, 1655, Manasseh appeared before the British Counsel to argue for his petition; it was accepted. In 1657, the first Jewish cemetery and synagogue in four hundred years in England were established. While in England, Manasseh responded to anti-Jewish attacks with his final writing, Vindiciae judaeorum (1656; English translation, 1656). That fall, Manasseh returned to the Netherlands, where he soon died.

Significance

Manasseh ben Israel was one of numerous European scholars of the period whose work emphasized interpretation of Jewish or biblical writings. Most of his writings did not specifically deal with Talmudic interpretations, though he did have training in that area. Rather, he was the first Jewish scholar to provide an outreach to the non-Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal. Much of his later writings were carried out with a specifically Christian audience in mind, and some have named him an “apostle to the Gentiles.”

Manasseh was able to bridge the Jewish and Christian communities of Amsterdam, no small achievement given the times. In reality, though, he remained under the suspicion of Christians and Jews; Christians would on occasion disparage his Judaism, while Jews were uneasy with his imparting of Kabbalah to those outside the community.

His friendship with Rembrandt resulted in a famous portrait, while his work with Oliver Cromwell led to the return of Jews to England. The charter of protection granted to Jews in England in 1664 attests to Manasseh ben Israel’s influence, even after his death.

Bibliography

Endelman, Todd. Jews of Modern Britain, 1656-2000. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. The return and resettlement of European Jews to England during the period of Cromwell is the major focus of the beginning portion of this work. While acknowledging a continual presence of Jews throughout the period of expulsion, the author places emphasis on re-integration within English societies in the centuries that followed the return.

Kaplan, Yosef, Henry Mechoulan, and Richard H. Popkin. Manasseh ben Israel and His World. Boston: Brill Academic, 1989. A collection of essays on the subject. Discussion of Manasseh’s writings in the context of the period’s Jewish mysticism and Christian theology.

Roth, Cecil. A History of the Jews in England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964. The Jewish presence in England began with the period of William the Conqueror. The author describes the expulsion of the Jews in 1290, the role of Manasseh in their readmittance some four centuries later, and continues through their legal emancipation in the nineteenth century.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. A Life of Manasseh ben Israel, Rabbi, Printer, and Diplomat. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1934. Remains the classic work on the subject. In addition to biographical information, the author discusses Manasseh in the context of the Christian theology of the period.

Zell, Michael. Reframing Rembrandt: Jews and the Christian Image in Seventeenth Century Amsterdam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. Examines the influence of Jewish scholarship on the depiction of biblical themes by artists of the period. Particular emphasis is placed on Manasseh’s role on themes depicted by Rembrandt.