ר׳ מנשה בן ישראל

ר׳ מנשה בן ישראל (1604–1657), born Manoel Dias Soeiro to a Portuguese New Christian family, became an Amsterdam rabbi, preacher, author, printer and diplomat. His birthplace is disputed between Lisbon and La Rochelle. After the family reached Amsterdam around 1613 and openly returned to Judaism, he studied under ר׳ יצחק עוזיאל and emerged as an unusually multilingual scholar. He began preaching while still young and in 1626 established the first enduring Hebrew press in Amsterdam, publishing Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin works. His El Conciliador sought to reconcile apparent biblical contradictions and brought him into correspondence with Christian humanists, scholars and artists, including Rembrandt. Mikveh Israel (The Hope of Israel, 1650) connected reports about Indigenous Americans with the Ten Lost Tribes and helped frame his campaign for Jewish resettlement in England. In 1655 he travelled to London, submitted the Humble Addresses to Oliver Cromwell and participated in the debate surrounding the Whitehall Conference. No formal readmission decree resulted, but Jews were thereafter able to worship and organize more openly. He defended them in Vindiciae Judaeorum (1656). Returning after his son Samuel’s death, he died at Middelburg on 20 November 1657 and was buried at Beth Haim, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.