It was a remarkable display of toleration in a generally intolerant era. There was no ghetto, and while there were some restrictions on Jewish activities-they were excluded from most guilds-they could socialize and do business as they wished. Unlike almost everywhere else in 17th-century Europe, Jews in the Dutch Republic were allowed to live where they wanted and practice their religion openly. The Portuguese authorities’ suspicions of Judaizing were well grounded-when the family reached Holland, the men were all circumcised and took the name “ben Israel,” son of Israel. As soon as they could, the family fled Iberia, first to Madeira, then to La Rochelle, in southwestern France, and finally, around 1610, to Amsterdam. His father had suffered horribly there under the Inquisition’s torturers, and there was reason to believe that he would be arrested again even though his family was converso and ostensibly Catholic, the authorities suspected them of secret Judaizing. Menasseh was born Manoel Diaz Soeiro in Lisbon in 1604. He was, for many, the go-to person for all things Judaic.Īnd yet, Menasseh felt that, somehow, he did not receive the respect he deserved from his own local community. His network of friends and admirers stretched across the continent. He was a scholar, philosopher, diplomat, educator (he was the philosopher Spinoza’s elementary school teacher), editor, translator, printer, and bookseller no activity seems to have been outside his considerable talents. Menasseh, a true Renaissance man, did more than anybody in the 17th century to advance the Jewish cause, whether in learning or in politics, and to educate Christians about Jewish religion, literature, and history. ![]() ![]() Menasseh played an essential role in that community’s reputation because his books and other writings-in Hebrew, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, and English-reached a broad and very appreciative audience, among both Jews and gentiles. He was among the three rabbis of the “Portuguese Nation” in Amsterdam, a community founded at the beginning of the 17th century that would quickly earn great renown (and envy) worldwide for its mercantile and scholarly vitality. Menasseh was one of the most accomplished and cosmopolitan rabbis of his time, and a pivotal intellectual figure in early modern Jewish history.
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