Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell / Being a reprint of the pamphlets published by Menasseh ben Israel to promote the re-admission of the Jews to England, 1649-1656

by Manasseh ben Israel

VINDICÆ JUDÆORUM

(pp. 105–147)

Bibliographical Note

For the origin of this tract see Introduction, pp. lxii-lxiv.

It has often been reprinted and translated, especially on occasions of Jewish persecution. In 1708 it reappeared in the second volume of “The Phœnix; or a Revival of Scarce and Valuable Pieces.” In 1743 it was reprinted as an independent pamphlet (Lond., 8vo, pp. 67). Ninety-five years later it was again reprinted by M. Samuels in the prolegomena to his translation of Moses Mendelssohn’s “Jerusalem” (Lond., 1838, vol. i. pp. [1]–73), together with a translation of Mendelssohn’s introduction to the German edition (pp. 77–116).

On the Continent it was first published in 1782 in connection with the Mendelssohnian movement for Jewish emancipation, which was participated in by Lessing and Dohm. The fact that it should have been considered by Moses Mendelssohn worthy to stand by the side of Lessing’s Nathan der Weise is a striking tribute to its merits. The Mendelssohnian issue is more famous than the original English edition, for in its German form the work became a classic of national Jewish controversy, whereas in English it was only associated with the local history of the British Jews. The following is the full title of the German edition (pp. lii, 64, sm. 8vo):—

Manasseh Ben Israel / Rettung der Juden / Aus dem Englischen übersetzt / Nebst einer Vorrede / von / Moses Mendelssohn./ Als ein Anhang / zu des / Hrn. Kriegsraths Dohm / Abhandlung: / Ueber / die bürgerliche Verbesserung / der Juden./ Mit Königl. Preussischer allergnädigster Freyheit./ Berlin und Stettin / bey Friedrich Nicolai / 1782.

This translation is said to have been made by Dr. Herz, the husband of the famous Henrietta Herz (Kayserling, “Moses Mendelssohn sein Leben und seine Werke,” p. 354), but it was probably done by his wife, who knew English so well that during her widowhood she was engaged to teach it to the daughter of the Duchess of Courland. (See “Life” by Fürst, also Jennings’s “Rahel,” pp. 19 et seq.) The introduction supplied by Moses Mendelssohn fills fifty-two pages, and is as famous as the Vindiciæ itself.

Besides being reprinted in Mendelssohn’s collected works, the German edition of the Vindiciæ was republished in 1882, in connection with the Anti-Semitic agitation, under the title “Gegen die Verleumder,” and again in 1890.

The following editions have also appeared:—

1813. Hebrew by Bloch (Vienna). 1818. Hebrew with a preface by Moses Kunitz (Wilna). 1837. Polish by J. Tugenhold (Warsaw). 1842. French by Carmoly (Brussels, Revue Orientale, ii. pp. 491 et seq.). 1883. Italian by Nahmias (Florence).

The First Section

P. [108], l. 11. “The Jews are wont to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, fermenting it with the blood of some Christians.” This accusation, now known as the Blood Accusation, has been for many centuries the favourite superstition of the Jew-haters. It was revived by Prynne and Ross during Menasseh’s sojourn in London. During the residence of the Jews in England previously to 1290, it played a conspicuous part in their persecution. (See Joseph Jacobs’ “Little St. Hugh of Lincoln,” Jew. Hist. Soc. Trans., vol. i., especially pp. 92–99. “The Blood Accusation, its origin and occurrence in the Middle Ages,” reprinted from the Jewish Chronicle, 1883.) There is a very voluminous literature of the Blood Accusation (see especially Zunz’s “Damaskus, ein Wort zur Abwehr,” Berlin, 1859), but it has not hitherto been noticed that during the period the Jews were banished from England (1290–1655) the superstition continued to haunt the public mind. We have a curious instance of it in 1577. When John Foxe, the martyrologist, baptized a Moorish Jew named Nathaniel Menda, on April 1 of that year, at All Hallows, Lombard Street, he adopted the Blood Accusation in the address he delivered to celebrate the occasion. “Moreover, if he (Abraham) had seene your unappeaceable disorder without all remorse of mercy in persecuting his (Jesus’s) disciples; your intolerable scorpionlike savageness, so furiously boyling against the innocent infants of the Christian Gentiles: ... would he ever accompted you for his sonnes.” To which the printer’s gloss runs thus: “Christen men’s children here in Englande crucified by the Jewes, Anno 1189 and Anno 1141 at Norwiche, &c.” (John Foxe, “A Sermon at the Christening of a certaine Iew at London,” London, 1578; p. E. iii.) This sermon, originally delivered in Latin, was translated into English and published in extenso, together with the confession of Nathaniel Menda, in 1578. It was dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham, Principal Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth.

Thomas Calvert, “Minister of the Word at York,” was the next to lend his name to the superstition, and to give vigorous expression to it in his “Diatraba of the Jews’ Estate.” This was a preface to “The Blessed Jew of Marocco; or A Blackmoor made White, by Rabbi Samuel, a Jew turned Christian; written first in the Arabick, after translated into Latin, and now Englished” (York, 1648. The British Museum copy is dated in MS. “July 25, 1649.”) His exact words are as follows:—

“So much are they (the Jews) bent to shed the blood of Christians, that they say a Jew needs no repentance for murdering a Christian; and they add to that sinne to make it sweet and delectable that hee who doth it, it is as if he had offered a Corban to the Lord, hereby making the abominable sin an acceptable sacrifice. But beyond all these they have a bloody thirst after the blood of Christians. In France and many kingdoms they have used yearly to steale a Christian boy and to crucifie him, fastning him to a crosse, giving him gall and vinegar, and running him in the end thorow with a spear, to rub their memories afresh into sweet thoughts of their crucifying Christ, the more to harden themselves against Christ and to shew their curst hatred to all Christians” (pp. 18–19).

John Sadler stands out conspicuously for dissociating himself from this baseless prejudice. When he wrote his “Rights of the Kingdom,” in 1649, he summed up the matter in a happy and pithy manner: “Wee say, they (the Jews) crucified a child, or more. They doe deny it: and we prove it not” (p. 74). Undaunted by Sadler’s championship of the Jews, James Howell followed Calvert, and in the Epistle Dedicatory to his pirated edition of Morvyn’s translation of Joseph ben Gorion, “The wonderful and deplorable history of the latter times of the Jews” (London [June 2], 1652), he thus insinuated the truth of the charge:—

“The first Christian Prince that expelled the Jews out of his territories, was that heroik King, our Edward the First, who was such a sore scourge also to the Scots; and it is thought divers families of those banished Jews fled then to Scotland, where they have propagated since in great numbers, witness the aversion that nation hath above others to hog’s flesh. Nor was this extermination for their Religion, but for their notorious crimes, as poysoning of wells, counterfeiting of coines, falsifying of seales, and crucifying of Christian children, with other villanies.”

Sadler was not the only English contemporary of Menasseh ben Israel who threw doubt on the Blood Accusation. Prynne himself relates in the preface to his “Demurrer” that he met Mr. Nye by the garden wall at Whitehall, when he was on his way to the Conference on the Jewish Question. “I told him,” writes Prynne, “the Jews had been formerly clippers and forgers of money, and had crucified three or four children in England at least, which were principal causes of their banishment, to which he replied, that the crucifying of children was not fully charged on them by our historians, and would easily be wiped off.” (Preface, p. 4.)

It is curious that, as Menasseh himself points out, the Jews were not alone at this period as sufferers from the Blood Accusation. (“Humble Addresses,” p. 21.) Apart from the instance quoted by Menasseh, a similar charge was levelled at the Quakers, who were accused of the ritual murder of women. An illustrated tract on the subject will be found in Historia Fanaticorum. (See “Historia von den Wider-Tauffern,” Cöthen, 1701.)

The Blood Accusation did not again make a conspicuous appearance in Anglo-Jewish history, but it is not improbable that the Damascus trials in 1840 produced a serious effect in retarding the progress of the struggle for emancipation. On the Continent, and in the Levant, it has frequently reappeared during the last thirty years.

P. [109], l. 8. “In Iad a Razaka.” Misprint for Yad Hachazaka (“The Strong Hand”), also called Mishneh Torah, an exposition of Jewish law by Moses Maimonides, written (in Hebrew) 1170–1180.

P. [111], l. 7. “A particular blessing of the Prince or Magistrate.” See note, supra, p. 163.

P. [112], l. 16. “And every day the Jewes mainly strike.” The belief that Jews habitually desecrated the sacramental wafer runs parallel with the Blood Accusation. A curious echo of it was heard in 1822, and the published account of the case was illustrated by George Cruikshank (“The Miraculous Host tortured by the Jews,” Lond., 1822).

P. [114], l. 4. “Wherefore I swear.” This oath is famous in Jewish history, and has been over and over again quoted and reiterated on occasions of the revival of the Blood Accusation (see e.g. Trans. Jew. Hist. Soc., vol. i. p. 38).

P. [114], l. 20. “John Hoornbeek in that book which he lately writ.” The work referred to is De Convertendis Judæis, 1655.

P. [115], l. 28. “In my continuation of Flavius Josephus.” In the “Hope of Israel” (supra, p. 7), Menasseh announced his intention of writing this work. From this passage it seems that he had now completed it, and that he had the MS. with him in London. It was never printed, as none of it has survived. It is curious that Menasseh does not mention it among his “Books ready for the Presse,” of which he gave a list at the end of the Vindiciæ (see p. [147]).

P. [116], l. 13. “One Isaac Jeshurun.” An account of his persecution was written in Hebrew by Aaron de David Cohen of Ragusa, and translated into Spanish under the title, Memorable relacion de Yshac Jesurun. The work is in MS.; a copy was in the Almanzi Library.

P. [118], l. 30. “That our nation had purchased S. Paul’s Church.” See Introduction, p. xli.

P. [118], l. 34. “A fabulous narrative.” Brett, “A Narrative of the Proceedings of a Great Councel of Jews assembled on the plain of Ageda” (Lond., 1655; reprinted in “The Phœnix,” 1707, the “Harleian Miscellany,” vol i., 1813, and in pamphlet form by Longmans & Co., 1876).

P. [121], l. 27. “The book called Scebet Iehuda,” ספר שבת יהודה, by Solomon Aben Verga, a Jewish chronicle of the sixteenth century. See German translation by Wiener (Hanover, 1856). The story related by Menasseh ben Israel will be found on pp. 77–78. It is not told of a “King of Portugal,” but of a King of Spain.

P. [121], l. 32. “Before one of the Popes, at a full Councell.” For Papal Bulls on the Blood Accusation see “Die Blutbeschuldigung gegen die Juden von Christlicher Seite beurtheilt,” Zweite Auflage (Vienna, 1883). Strack’s “Blutaberglaube” (several editions) is the classical work on the subject.

The Second Section

P. [124], l. 16. “The Israelites hold.” This paragraph is a summary of the Thirteen Articles of Faith first drawn up by Moses Maimonides in 1168, and now incorporated in the Synagogue liturgy. Menasseh’s summary, though admirably succinct, is not altogether perfect, and was apparently drafted with a view to the susceptibilities of the English Conversionists. A full translation of the thirteen creeds had, however, already appeared in England (see Chilmead’s translation of Leo Modena’s “The History of the Rites, Customes, and Manner of Life of the Present Jews,” Lond., 1650, pp. 246–249).

P. [124], l. 28. “A French book which he calleth the Rappel of the Jewes,” Iaac la Peyrère “Rappel des Juifs.”

The Third Section

The subject matter of this section, the alleged cursing of Gentiles, is, like the Blood Accusation, an obstinate delusion of the anti-Semites. It is the burden of a very voluminous literature. See, among recent publications, Jellinek, “Der Talmudjude” (Vienna, 1882); Daab, “Der Thalmud” (Leipzig, 1883); Hirsch, “Über die Beziehung des Talmuds zum Judenthum” (Frankfort, 1884); and Hoffmann, “Der Schulchan Aruch und die Rabbinen über das Verhältniss der Juden zu Andersgläubigen” (Berlin, 1885).

P. [127], l. 31. “Prayers for Kings and Princes.” See note, supra, p. 163.

P. [128], l. 6. “The form of prayer in the book entitled The Humble Addresses,” supra, p. 92.

P. [133], l. 25. “Wise and vertuous Lady Beruria.” The most famous of the women mentioned in the Talmud. She was the daughter of Rabbi Chanina ben Tradjon, and wife of Rabbi Meir (Kayserling, “Jüdischen Frauen,” pp. 120–124).

P. [133], l. 26. “R. Meir.” A distinguished pupil of the great Rabbi Akiba, and one of the most famous of the authors of the Talmud. He lived in the second century (Levy, “Un Tanah,” Paris, 1883; Blumenthal, “Rabbi Meir,” Frankfurt, 1888).

The Fourth Section

P. [134], l. 14. “Buxtorphius.” Johann Buxtorf the Elder (1564–1629), the greatest Christian Hebraist of his day. Professor of Hebrew at Basle.

P. [136], l. 22. “R. David Gawz.” David Gans (1541–1631), a Jewish chronicler, mathematician, and astronomer, author of Zemach David. He lived in Prague, and was a friend of Tycho Brahe and Keppler (Klemperer, “David Gans’s Chronikartige Weltgeschichte,” Prague, 1890).

P. [136], l. 25. “Antonius Margarita.” His name was Aaron Margalita. He was an ignorant Polish Jew, who became converted to Christianity and placed his services at the disposal of the Jew-haters (Graetz, “Geschichte,” vol. x. pp. 313–314).

The Fifth Section

P. [137], l. 18. “I have held friendship with many great men.” Menasseh’s circle of Christian friends was large and distinguished. His intimacy with Rembrandt has already been referred to (supra, pp. 149–150). Among his other friends were Hugo Grotius, the learned family of Vossius, Episcopius, Vorstius, Meursius, Cunæus, Blondel, Chr. Arnold, Bochart, Huet, Sobierre, Felgenhauer, Frankenberg, Mochinger, and Caspar Barlæus.

P. [137], l. 23. “Many verses in my commendations.” The poem by Barlæus here referred to was prefixed to Menasseh’s treatise “De Creatione” (Amsterdam, 1636), together with congratulatory sonnets by Himanuel Nehamias, Mosseh Pinto, Jona Abravanel, and Daniel Abravanel. It ran as follows:—

EPIGRAMMA,

IN

PROBLEMATA

Clarissimi viri Manassis Ben-Israel,

De Creatione.

Qvæ cœlos terrasq́; manus, spatiosaq́; Nerei

Æquora, & immẽsas, quas habet orbis opes,

Condiderit, mersuniq́; alta caligine mundum

Iusserit imperijs ilicet esse suis:

Disserit Isacides. Et facta ingentia pandit;

Et nondum exhaustum contrahit arte Deum.

Hîc atavos patresq́; suos & verba recenset,

Sensaq́; Thalmudicæ relligiosa Scholæ.

Vera placẽt, placet egregijs conatibus author,

Et pietas fidei disparis ista placet.

Cunctorum est coluisse Deum. Non unius æví,

Non populi unius credimus, esse pium.

Si sapimus diversa, Deo vivamus amici,

Doctaq́; mens precio constet ubiq́; suo.

Hæc fidei vox summa meæ est. Hæc crede Menasse.

Sic ego Christiades, sic eris Abramides.

C. Barlævs.

The Seventh Section

P. [144], l. 37. “Wherefore those few Jewes that were here, despairing of our expected successe departed hence.” This can only refer to Menasseh’s companions on his mission. With two exceptions all the Marranos in London at the time of Menasseh’s arrival remained in the country.

P. [145], l. 34. “From my study in London.” See Trans. Jew. Hist. Soc., vol. iii. pp. 144–150.