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 readmission 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 readmission 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. T[homas] P[ocoke] (London, 1699), p. viii. 2 See generally D.S. Katz, Phib-Semitism and the Readmission of the Jews to England, 1603-1655 (Oxford, 1982). On Menasseh's lodgings see L. Wolf, "Menasseh ben Israel's Study in London", Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society in England, III (1899), pp. 144-150. 3 D.S. Katz, "English Redemption and Jewish Readmission in 1656", Journal of Jewish Studies, XXXIV (1983-1984), pp. 73-91. 4 Katz, Phüo-Semitismf p. 234 and n. for more on this important MS. 5 Col. SP Dom., 1655-1656, pp. 366-367. Brian Walton's Biblia Sacra Polyglotta was pub• lished in 1657. 118 DAVID S. KATZ tinental theologian; with Robert Boyle and his sister the countess of Rane- lagh; and with Edward Lawrence, the son of the president of the Council of State6. Menasseh and his wife were well acquainted with John Sadler, the future master of Magdalene College, Cambridge7. He seems to have discussed "the doctrines and opinions of the Jews" with Ambrose Barnes, later an important figure in the north of England8. He met with Arise Evans, the Welsh tailor-prophet, and weighed the possibility that the ex• iled Charles II might be the Messiah9. Menasseh met Jean d'Espagne, the minister of the French Reformed Church, at the home of the French am• bassador, and later disputed with him formally on the relative merits of Judaism and Christianity10. He probably renewed his acquaintance with Walter Strickland, and with Cromwell's cousin Oliver St. John, both of whom had visited the synagogue in Amsterdam in 1651 u. He may have run across Edmund Gayton, one of the old Ben Jonson set, who soon slandered Menasseh in a poem about the rabbi's intentions in England12. More importantly, it seems that Menasseh was even ' 'once civilly enter- tain'd by the Protector [Oliver Cromwell] at his Table" 13. Cotton Mather the American missionary recalled that in the end, people in those years would believe almost anything ' ' if a Report of a Menasseh ben Israel be to back them"14. Certainly we know that while in England between September 1655 and September 1657, Menasseh "had frequent Conferences with some of the Eminent covenanting Divines" and numerous others15. His influence was felt among many other Englishmen, especially John Dury and Samuel Hartlib, those famous Puritan planners16. Menasseh's standing among Continental gentile intellectuals was no less elevated17. But this swarm of

6 Oldenburg to Menasseh, 25 July 1657: The Correspondence of Henry Oldenburg, ed. A.R. & M.B. Hall (Madison, Milwaukee and London, 1965- ), I, pp. 123-127; Menasseh, Term of Life, éd. P[ococke], p. vii. Cf. Robert Boyle, Works (London, 1772), I, p. 279; n. 183. 7 Katz, Phib-Semitism, pp. 103, 140-141, 194-195, 231, 242, 244. 8 M.R., Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Ambrose Barnes, ed. W.H.D. Longstafle (Surtees Soc, L, 1866), p. 17. 9 Katz, Phib-Semitism, esp. pp. 121-124; but more importantly, R.H. Popkin, "Menasseh ben Israel and Isaac La Peyrère. II", Studia Rosenthaliana, XVIII (1984), pp. 12-20. 10 Jean d'Espagne, Les Oeuvres (The Hague, 1674), I, pp. 470-477; the disputation took place on 2 May 1656. Cf. idem, Examen de XVII. Maximes Judaïques (London, 1657). 11 Katz, Phib-Semitism, pp. 183-184. 12 D.S. Katz, "Edmund Gayton's Anti-Jewish Poem Addressed to Menasseh ben Israel, 1656", Jewish Quarterly Review, n.s., LXXI (1981), pp. 239-250. 13 Menasseh, Term of Life, ed. P[ococke], p. iv. 14 Cotton Mather, Magnolia Christi Americana (London, 1702), bk. Ill, p. 193. 15 Menasseh, Term of Life, ed. P[ococke], p. iv. 16 Katz, Phib-Semitism, caps. 5 & 6. 17 D.S. Katz, "Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Queen Christina of Sweden, 1651-1655", Jewish Social Studies, XLV (1983-1984), pp. 57-72.