Menasseh Ben Israel's Christian Connection: Henry Jessey and the Jews
MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL'S CHRISTIAN CONNECTION: HENRY JESSEY AND THE JEWS DAVID S. KATZ "He was of a middle Stature, and inclining to Fatness", an English con temporary described Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel, "He always wore his own Hair, which (many years before his Death) was very Grey; so that his Complexion being pretty fresh, his Demeanor Grace ful, and Comely, his Habit plain and decent, he Commanded an aweful Rev erence which was justly due to so venerable a Deportment: In short, he was un homme sans Passion, sans légèreté, mais Hélas/ sans opulence' '1. From his lodgings in the Strand, Menasseh sallied forth to meet politi cians, divines, intellectuals, and anyone who conceivably could help him to reach the goal of his English mission: an official authorization of the re- admission of the Jews to England after an exile of over three and a half centuries2. Menasseh had come to London in September 1655, and al though the Whitehall Conference of December failed to resolve the re- admission question, he remained in England for exactly two years in the vain hope of obtaining a formal written permission3. During his stay in London, he seems to have established himself, at least among gentiles, as a self-appointed ambassador of world Jewry and as a renowned expert in things Jewish. Menasseh received Ralph Cudworth, the Regius professor of Hebrew, and gave him a manuscript summarizing the Jewish objections to Christianity4. He discussed plans for a polyglot bible with Henry Thorndike5. He held further meetings with Henry Ol denburg, later secretary of the Royal Society; with Adam Boreel, the Con- 1 Menasseh ben Israel, Of The Term of Liß, ed.
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