[²] Apol., xxiii.
We have had to wander to some extent into a domain outside our province in order to appreciate fully Manasseh’s general ideas. His Jewish nationalism, which is for us the principal point, can be understood only in connection with his whole system of ideas. This nationalism is outspoken in the Nishmath Chayyim. What we, in modern language, call race, national (from natus—natio) individuality, i.e. what the Jew is by himself, by the fact of being born a Jew, is termed by Manasseh “the Jewish soul.” His system is rooted in his faith in the excellency of the Jewish soul, which is a profound act of homage to the race; that is the point of view from which he regards Jewish history. History, he thinks—and in this point again he is guided by the evidence of historical facts—bears witness to the beneficial influence that the soul of Israel, or—more precisely—the Israelitish soul, has exerted on the intellectual life of mankind.
On this point he is even carried away by his imagination to make exaggerated statements of the following kind, again backed up by authorities: “It is a truth confirmed by innumerable writers, that all the learning of the Greeks and Egyptians was derived from the Jews: Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria (150?–213?) and Theodoret (386?–247) assert that all the best philosophers and poets owe their learning to the Holy Scriptures, for which reason they call Plato the ‘Attic Moses’; the ‘Athenian Moses.’ Clearchus the Peripatetic (320 b.c.e.) writes that Aristotle gained most of his learning from a Jew with whom he had much conversation; Ambrose (340?–397) writes that Pythagoras (fl. 540–510 b.c.e.) was by origin a Jew, and like a pilferer robbed them of many things; Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor (80 b.c.e.) writes that he was a disciple of the prophet Ezekiel (fl. 3332 a.m.). Lastly, it is certain that Orpheus (14th or 13th cent. b.c.e.), Plato, Anaxagoras (500–428 b.c.e.) Pythagoras, the Milesian Thales (640–546 b.c.e.), Homer (fl. 962–927 b.c.e.) and many other very learned men, derived their knowledge from the wide ocean of the knowledge of Moses (2368–2488 a.m.) and the Sages and professors of his most Holy Law; for, according to the Psalmist,
“He declareth His word unto Jacob, ...” (Psalm cxlvii. 19).
“He hath not dealt so with any nation; ...” (Ibid. 20).
In his preface to Nishmath Chayyim he makes this statement in a more general form, saying that “wherever he quoted the non-Jewish authorities, he wanted only to show that most of their teachings were derived from our ancient sources.” He repeats that “Pythagoras was a Jew, and all he taught and wrote was copied from our Holy Law and true Tradition” (fol. 171a), and that “Plato had learned the teachings of our prophet Jeremiah” (fol. 171b) (fl. 3298 a.m.). Not that he was lacking in love and consideration for other nations. Far from it: on the contrary, he lays stress upon the sentence of the Mishnah, that the pious men even of heathen nations have their share in the future life, inasmuch as they observe the Seven Commandments of the Noahides; and, needless to say, he highly respected Christianity, and was practically the first Hebrew author who quoted so often and with such great reverence the authority of the Christian Church. Even when he speaks of the Spanish Inquisition, of which his father was one of the tortured victims, no word of contempt or hostility escapes his pen, although, living in Holland, and dealing almost exclusively with the adherents of the Reformation, he could have expressed his ideas on this subject quite frankly. But,nevertheless, he is convinced that “God gave to the Israelitish soul a very special grace, by which it is enabled to feel his sensible presence,” that “the Israelites are and have to remain a distinct nation, having essentially the prerogative of sanctifying life,” and he continually quotes and illustrates the Biblical verses:—
“... Blessed be ... Israel, Mine inheritance” (Isaiah xix. 25).
“... Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;...” (Jeremiah x. 16).
“And who is like Thy people, like Israel, a nation one in the earth,...” (2 Samuel vii. 23).
as well as several passages of the Zohar, which emphasize the particular dignity of the Jewish soul, and R. Judah (1085(6)–post 1140) ben Samuel Ha’levi’s [Abu al-Hasan al-Lawi] well-known views, expounded in the Kuzari (chap. i., par. 46):—