[¹] “Hinc etiam in Synagogis Hebraeorum ... vel eorum qui terram sanctum incolunt....” (De Termino Vitae, p. 103).
[²] Ibid., p. 184.
Manasseh was a Hebrew grammarian concerned with the correctness of ancient sacred texts, and an editor of keen discrimination. In his scholarly work he kept in close touch with the scholars of Safed; he was moreover influenced by the religious Zionistic enthusiasm of Rabbi Isaiah Horwitz. In his Messianic hopes he was a disciple of Abrabanel, and he highly appreciated the modern though religious Hebrew poetry of his time, which poetry he introduced in his devotional book as a Viduy, concluding with an apotheosis of Zion and Jerusalem.
Regarded from the point of view of these ideas, Manasseh of the “Conciliador” appears to us in his proper light. Broad-minded, highly accomplished, interested in all the discoveries of his time—an important period for discoveries—he sincerely believed in Montezinos’ report concerning his distant brethren, while, on the other hand, his great devotion to Palestine and his belief in Abrabanel’s predictions made the question of the Lost Ten Tribes for him not one of curiosity but one of vital importance for the national salvation. Judah and Israel are to return—where, then, is Israel? Is the Return thinkable so long as Israel is lost? All the legends concerning the Sambatyon and the various reports of Eldad ben Mahli Ha’dani (fl. 9th century) concerning the tribe of Dan and the “Sons of Moses” who live somewhere as an independent, strong nation, were essentially the reflex of a powerful national aspiration. The descendants of Judah, Benjamin and half of the tribe of Manasseh felt themselves too weak, too humiliated and too few in number to achieve the great work of Restoration, but believing as they did in the impossibility of the disappearance of the ancient nation, they were sure that the descendants of Israel, uniting with and absorbed by other nations though they might be at present, would one day be awakened to consciousness as to their origin and join Judah in repopulating the [♦]Holy Land. This is the reason why they were so fascinated by the reports respecting the Lost Ten Tribes. Is it to be wondered at that Marranos were particularly ready to believe in this miracle? Were they not themselves like one of the Lost Ten Tribes in that, after all the tortures of the Inquisition, and after having apparently been ultimately denationalized, converted and absorbed, they had reasserted themselves and were now awakening to a new Jewish revival? Considering that these aspirations happened to coincide with the hope for the Restoration and the rediscovery of the Lost Ten Tribes, in which reformed Christianity, and especially the Puritans, believed, we can fully realize the popularity which Manasseh’s ideas had gained in these circles, and we can quite understand how they led to the readmission of the Jews to England.
[♦] “Loly” replaced with “Holy”
CHAPTER V.
MANASSEH’S NISHMATH CHAYYIM
The most important of his Hebrew writings—Quotations from Gebirol, Bedersi, R. Kalonymus, R. Zerahiah Ha’levi, and others—Plato, Aristotle and Philo—Cabbalistic ideas—R. Isaac Luria—Miracles and Christian Saints—Manasseh’s Jewish Nationalism—“The Jewish Soul”—The Zohar—R. Jehudah Ha’levi—The holiness of the Land of Israel—R. David Carcassone, the messenger from Constantinople.
The most important of Manasseh’s Hebrew writings, though it is only alluded to incidentally, or dismissed with derisive criticism in some biographies, was his Nishmath Chayyim...,[¹] Amsterdam, 1651 (Appendix xi). Sarcastic observations have been made with regard to the legends and superstitions with which this book abounds. It is true that the book contains many legends and superstitious beliefs; but that is just why, from a literary point of view, it contributes far more to a real knowledge of Manasseh than the writings in which he advocated certain causes as apologist or translator. In this book we get Manasseh himself, a national Jew, preaching to his brethren in the national language. A careful study of the book in the original, with its peculiar style, its wide range of allusion, and its distinctive spirit, gives us a clear idea of Manasseh’s religious views, his Jewish national self-consciousness, or—to use the modern term—his Zionism.
[¹] “The Breath of Life”: on the existence of the soul, the future life, etc.