Manasseh ben Israel and the Ten Tribes
Contents:
1. Who was he?
2. Background
Heinrich Graetz, "Readmission."
Early English Jews. An Historical Outline. Extract.
Manasseh Origins.
3. His Works
"Hope of Israel"
Writings
4. America. Amerindians and the Ten Tribes.
MONTEZINOS, ANTONIO DE (AARON LEVI)
5. "Hope of Israel."
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1. Who was he?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menasseh_Ben_Israel
Manoel Dias Soeiro (1604 - 20 November 1657), better known by his Hebrew name Manasseh ben Israel, also, Menasheh ben Yossef ben Yisrael, also known with the Hebrew acronym, MB"Y or MBI, was a Portuguese rabbi, kabbalist, writer, diplomat, printer, publisher, and founder of the first Hebrew printing press [in the world] in Amsterdam in 1626.
Manasseh was the author of several books, These include "The Hope of Israel" in which he discusses the Lost Ten Tribes. He identified them with the Amerindians. This identification is not overall accepted by us though it may be of interest to some. Manasseh however provides additional information, quoted commentary, and sources, that deserves to be noticed. In effect he supports our equation of the USA as a major Israelite Entity in the End Times!
Manasseh wrote numerous works and corresponded with scholars all over Europe. He was well-known and even perhaps something of a celebrity. Even so he had difficulty masking ends meet. Meanwhile in England the Puritans had come to power and displaced the king.
Manasseh interested them. He corresponded with them. Olvier Cromwell, the Lord Protector (i.e. effective ruler), paid for him to come and stay in England and advocate before Parliament the legal readmission of the Jews to England. Eventually it was decided to leave matters as they were with the Jews being allowed to come without any formal announcement of their right to do so being made.
Manasseh returned to the Netherlands with the promise of a life-long pension being given him by Cromwell. Manasseh unfortunately died shortly after.
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2. Background
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Heinrich Graetz, "Readmission."
How the Jews in Recent Times were allowed back into England. Extract.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/guest/graetz.html
Manasseh ben Israel, second or third rabbi at Amsterdam, who at home played only a subordinate part, the poor preacher who, to support his family, was obliged to resort to printing, but obtained so little profit from it, that he wished to exchange pulpit oratory for mercantile speculation, and was near settling in Brazil; he it was who won England for Judaism, and, if he did not banish, diminished the prejudice against his race. To him belongs the credit for a service not to be lightly estimated, for there were but few to help him. The release of the Jews from their thousand years' contempt and depreciation in European society, or rather the struggle for civil equality, begins with Manasseh ben Israel. ... As has been stated, he was not in the true sense great, and can only be reckoned a man of mediocrity. He belonged to the happily constituted class of persons, who do not perceive the harsh contrasts and shrill discords in the world around, hence are confiding and enterprising. His heart was deeper than his mind. His power rested in his easy eloquence, his facility in explaining and working out ideas which lay within his narrow field of vision, and which he had acquired rather than produced. Manasseh ben Israel had complete grasp of Jewish literature, and knew the Christian theology of his time, and what was to be said on each point, i. e., what had been said by his predecessors.
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See:
Early English Jews.
An Historical Outline. Extract.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/16/britain/earlyjews.html
Oliver Cromwell (1599 -1658), leader of the Puritans, became virtual dictator (to some degree) of England. Cromwell described himself as protector of different Protestant groups as well as of the Jews. Cromwell befriended Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel of the Netherlands and together they attempted to have the Jews officially re-admitted to England. This was not successful but legally it was clarified that no prohibition against their return existed. John Sadler, a Member of Parliament and friend of both Cromwell and Manasseh ben Israel, wrote "The Rights of the Kingdom" and also made a Parliamentary speech saying that the English were descended from the Lost Ten Tribes. Cromwell appears to have believed the same as evidenced by some of his sayings and speeches. ... It turned out that the de facto acceptance of the Jews returning was the best solution for them. Anything else may have circumscribed their legal rights.
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See:
Manasseh Origins.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Manasseh-ben-Israel
Extracts:
Manasseh was born into a family of Marranos (Jews of Spain and Portugal who publicly accepted Christianity but privately practiced Judaism). ... the family escaped to Amsterdam, where Jewish settlement was officially authorized. Manasseh, a brilliant theological student, became the rabbi of a Portuguese Jewish congregation in Amsterdam in 1622.
Among his writings, Conciliador, 3 vol. (1632-51) (nopw available in English under the title, "Conciliator") was an attempt to reconcile discordant passages in the Bible; it established his reputation as a scholar in the Jewish and Christian communities. Manasseh maintained friendships with Hugo Grotius [Dutch foremost legal expert on International Law] and Rembrandt, corresponded with Queen Christina of Sweden, and was an early teacher of Benedict de Spinoza whom he later excommunicated.
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3. His Works
"Hope of Israel"
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ten-lost-tribes
Extract:
Aaron (Antonio) Levi de Montezinos who, on his return to Amsterdam from South America in 1644, told a remarkable story of having found Indians beyond the mountain passes of the Cordilleras who greeted him by reciting the Shema. Among those to whom Montezinos gave his affidavit was *Manasseh Ben Israel, then rabbi of Amsterdam, who fully accepted the story, and to it devoted his Hope of Israel (1650, 16522) which he dedicated to the English Parliament. In section 37 he sums up his findings in the following words:
"1. That the West Indies were anciently inhabited by a part of the Ten Tribes, which passed thither out of Tartary, by the Streight of Anian [Bering Strait]. 2. That the Tribes are not in any one place, but in many; because the Prophets have fore-told their return shall be into their Country, out of divers places; Isaiah especially saith it shall be out of eight. 3. That they did not return to the Second Temple. 4. That at this day they keep the Jewish Religion. 5. That the prophecies concerning their return to their Country, are of necessity to be fulfilled. 6. That from all coasts of the World they shall meet in those two places, sc. Assyria and Egypt; God preparing an easier, pleasant way, and abounding with all things, as Isaiah saith, ch. 49, and from thence they shall flie to Jerusalem, as birds to their nests. 7. That their Kingdom shall be no more divided; but the twelve Tribes shall be joined together under one Prince, that is under Messiah, the Son of David; and that they shall never be driven out of their Land."
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Writings
Manasseh wrote numerous books and articles.
The best know of these are:
"Conciliator" a very worthwhile book reconciling from a Rabbinical point of view apparent contradictions in the Biblical text. Available in English.
"Nishmat Hayyim" (in Hebrew) i.e. "Soul of Life" a discussion of Life after Death and Reincarnation, etc.
"Hope of Israel" which is discussed below.
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4. America. Amerindians and the Ten Tribes.
America was discovered in 1492. In the same year the Jews were expelled from Spain. Af first it was not certain what exactly had been found. Was it a new Continent or part of Asia?
It took a while for news of the event and information concerning the people there to percolate through Europe.
From the beginning the idea arose that the natives might be descended from the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
MONTEZINOS, ANTONIO DE (AARON LEVI)
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10962-montezinos-antonio-de-aaron-levi
Marano traveler of the seventeenth century. He claimed that while journeying in South America about 1641 near Quito, Ecuador, he met with savages who practised Jewish ceremonies and recited the Shema' and who were of the tribe of Reuben. He met other savages of the tribe of Levi. Going to Holland in 1644 he told this story to Manasseh ben Israel; the latter repeated it to Thomas Thorowgood, by whom it was printed in his "Jews in America," [1650] pp. 1-9 et seq. It was also published by Manasseh ben Israel in his "Hope of Israel," pp. 1-7.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/montezinos-antonio-de
Manasseh Ben Israel dwells on Montezinos' discovery in a booklet entitled Esperanta de Israel ("The Hope of Israel," Amsterdam, 1650), which he dedicated to the British parliament, appending it to his petition for the readmittance of Jews to England. His thesis was that Montezinos' account points to an imminent fulfillment of the messianic prophecy of the lost tribes of Israel being reunited with Judah.
It has been suggested that Montezino at the time was in delirium from a sickness contracted in the jungle. A few natives spoke to him and he imagined they were speaking Hebrew! Whatever the case Manasseh accepted the account and put it together with other reports along similar lines. This comprises the bulk of his book, "Hope of Israel."
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5. "Hope of Israel."
The work was first written in Spanish and published in 1650. Shortly afterwards a Latin version came out in the same year. It was dedicated to the English Parliament which at that time then ruled England having decapitated the previously reigning monarch.
An English translation, believed to be the work of Moses Wall, also came out in 1650. An improved version of the same appeared in1651, and another in 1652.
A reproduction of the 1652 edition is included in the work:
"Indians of Jews? An Introduction by Lynn Glasser to a Reprint of Manasseh ben Israel's The House of Israel," California, 1973.
This is what we are using in these articles. There is a note by the translator who announces his Christian beliefs and here and there appears to have had inserted emendations in the text.
We do not think the Amerindians were descended from the Lost Ten Tribes though some of them may have been.
Nevertheless the subject is of interest. We hope in the near future to dedicate a few articles to it. We will then probably also enlarge on the beliefs of Manasseh ben Israel concerning the Amerindians.
Manasseh believed the Ten Tribes were in 8 different places. America was one of them. His work is mostly about the Amerindians but he also quotes from sources concerning the Lost Ten Tribes in general and the other areas they were to be found in including Europe. It is this that interests us at the moment.
He believed the Lost Ten Tribes to be in America. He quoted Biblical Passage that in his opinion proved it. Most of the quotations refer to the return of the Lost Ten Tribes in the End Times.
These to our mind are valid sources helping to prove the case. We too believe the Lost Ten Tribes to be in America.
The differences are that we understand the LTTs (Lost Ten Tribes) to be in North America. MBI (Manasseh ben Israel) believed they were in the south. We say the North. MBI said they were Amerindians, or part of them. We say they are mostly amongst the European-descended populace. MBI also thought the LTTs would still be pratisin Judaism but we understand they would not. This lack of Jewish practice by the LTTs is one of the main barriers making the Brit-Am explanations difficult to accept.
Apart from that the sources quoted by MBI are valid and worth looking at.