Manasseh as a Jewish Rabbi and as a Hebrew writer—His activity as a publisher and corrector of Hebrew books—The Bible editions, the Psalms and the Mishnah—Manasseh’s connection with Safed in Palestine—Enseña a Pecadores—The influence of Rabbi Isaiah ben Abraham Horwitz—Solomon de Oliveyra—Manasseh’s De Termino Vitae—The Influence of Don Isaac Abrabanel—The Lost Ten Tribes and the Marranos.
The literature concerning Manasseh, which is chiefly in English, but partly also in Dutch, German, Hebrew and Spanish, is very rich in detail and affords an accurate and thorough insight into Manasseh’s intellectual relationship to contemporary Christian scholars and statesmen, and extensive information as to his writings in defence of Judaism, his missions, etc. The Jewish Historical Society of England has played a prominent part in the researches on the subject by arranging lectures and publishing excellent papers, and the ground has been covered on the whole very thoroughly. There is, however, one point which has not yet been sufficiently elucidated, viz., Manasseh’s attitude as a Jewish Rabbi and as a Hebrew writer. His literary communications with Christian divines, his apologetic writings in Spanish and Latin, and his Spanish translations present after all only one view of his individuality and activity, the view seen by the outside world. If, however, we wish to describe Manasseh in his private, inner life, and to understand his particular views and methods, we have to leave the apologist and the polyglot translator and to discover the author when he writes for his nation in the national language. Here, and only here, we discover the Jewish scholar in his originality.
In this connection we meet Manasseh as publisher or corrector (proof reader) of his three partial and complete Bible editions: (1) Chamisha Chumshé Thora, Amsterdam, 1631; (2) Sefer T’hillim (Psalterium Hebraicum ex recens. Manasseh, etc.), Amsterdam, 1634; (3) Esrim V’arba (Biblia Hebraica), Amsterdam, 1639.
These books were edited by Manasseh with great care and fine judgment. Heer J. M. Hillesum, the scholarly librarian of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana (Universiteits—Bibliotheek, Amsterdam), supposes that the first Hebrew book printed in Amsterdam¹ was the “Daily Prayers” according to the Spanish rite dated January, 1627, and edited by Manasseh.² Whatever view may be taken of this assumption, it is, at all events, certain that Manasseh was one of the pioneers of Amsterdam Hebrew printing, which will for ever have a distinguished place in the annals of Hebrew publications. He not only displayed artistic taste worthy of the friend of Rembrandt in creating the first specimens of beautiful Hebrew books, but by the precision of his corrections he proved himself an excellent Hebrew grammarian. It must be borne in mind that Hebrew grammarians among the Rabbis of his time were seldom met with, and found only among scholars of a somewhat progressive type.
He showed his competence also in the Mishnah, three volumes, Amsterdam, 5404, corrected with great care by Manasseh Ben-Israel, Teacher of the Law and Preacher, and published by Eliahu Aboab.¹ In this edition we see mere corrector’s work. As we gather from the preface, manuscripts of the Mishnah were brought from “the town which is full of Scholars and writers, Safed in the Land of Israel, may God rebuild it soon!”
In the course of our inquiry we shall show that Manasseh was in close touch with the Holy Land; here attention is called only to the fact that in this editorial work Manasseh was actuated by a desire to compare the various manuscripts. These Mishnaioth are a wonderful pocket edition, containing the text without any commentary, and evidently destined for repetition. Talmud students will find here a good many instructive variants.
Another book edited by Manasseh, though it is merely a translation, throws some light on the tendencies of the time and on Manasseh’s Jewish connections. This is the Libro Yntitulado Enseña a Pecadores.¹ (Appendix ix). This little book contains, in addition to a translation of a prayer composed by Rabbi Isaac (1534–1572) ben Solomon [Ashkenazi] Luria, a translation of a section of Rabbi Isaiah (1555–1630) ben Abraham Horwitz’s Sepher Shné Luchot Ha’brith ... Amsterdam ... 5409. The author’s name has come down to posterity by the initials of his great work “S. L. H.”² with the attribute Hakadosh.³ He was Rabbi in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Prague, Posen, and Cracow, and then went to the Holy Land, where he was called מרא דארץ ישראל⁴ His Shné Luchot Ha’brith is a work of admirable erudition in the Agadah (Legend, Saga) of the Talmud, as well as in homiletics and Cabbalah. Rabbi Isaiah Horwitz was a religiously inspired Zionist. His enthusiasm in expounding the glory of the Holy Land (Shné Luchot Ha’brith, p. 275, sermon to Lech L’cha, and p. 389, sermon to Va’etchanan) was almost unique in the literature of that time. He combined moreover a rare religious ecstasy and Cabbalistic visions with progressive ideas on education, in which he recommended a systematic method, contrary to the customs of that time—a tendency also found in Manasseh. Rabbi Isaiah lived to an advanced age, and his activities came to an end in the Holy Land. His manuscript was brought to Amsterdam and published there, with additions by his son David, who was also a distinguished scholar. This book seems to have impressed Manasseh so much that he published a translation of a part of it, containing prayers and contemplations for repentant sinners, evidently for Marranos, for whom a great many prayer-books and religious tracts were published at that time in Spanish and Portuguese.
This book, while proving the fact of Manasseh’s connection with a great Palestinian authority, shows also that he was in touch with the Hebrew poet and grammarian, Haham Ribi Solomon¹ de David de Israel d’Oliveyra, the author of Sharshot Gabluth—Ayeleth Ahabim, which were both published in Amsterdam in the year 5425 [1665], and many other books and treatises on Hebrew poetry. He is considered to be one of the precursors of the revival of modern Hebrew literature in Holland, and wrote poems and compositions of a didactic character. In the course of our inquiry we shall discover that Manasseh himself had a great predilection for Hebrew poetry. Embodied in the Enseña a Pecadores is a “Confession of Penitence” composed by Haham d’Oliveyra in Hebrew וידוי כפרה and Portuguese [♦Viduy Penetencial], which includes a prayer for the rebuilding of the “Holy City,” using the Biblical phrase:—תבנה חומות ירושלים Fabricarás murallas de Yerusalaim.
Another work of Manasseh in Latin, De Termino Vitae, Amsterdam, 1639 (Appendix x), was written with the object of answering a question which was addressed by his friend the Christian scholar Jan van Beverwijck [Johannes Beverovicius] (1594–1647) to various divines and scholars, and is, consequently, apologetic in character. But two passages throw some light on Manasseh’s views as to the Land of Israel and Messianism. In one of them he emphasizes the fact that the Jews frequently collect alms for those who live in the Holy Land;¹ and in the other he says that “if anyone desires to know all the controversies of the Jews concerning the explanation of Daniel’s (fl. 3389 a.m.) Prophecies, he may read Abrabanel’s Treatise, which the learned Johannes Buxtorf II. (1599–1664) has translated into Latin.”² In this way he identifies himself with the ideas expounded by Abrabanel in his Mayy’neh Hayeshuah, which showed that Abrabanel was not only Messianistic in the usual sense, but was firmly convinced that the end of the Captivity might be expected in the near future.
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.