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Philosophy & Social Sciences

Menasseh ben Israel

Who

Menasseh ben Israel · Philosophy & Social Sciences

What

Scholar, philosopher and printer; founded the first Hebrew press in Amsterdam and negotiated the readmission of Jews to England

When

1604, Madeira, Portugal — 1657, Middelburg, Dutch Republic (Netherlands)

Where

Netherlands (Amsterdam) · England

Biography

Menasseh ben Israel is recognized among Jewish contributors to Philosophy & Social Sciences — Scholar, philosopher and printer; founded the first Hebrew press in Amsterdam and negotiated the readmission of Jews to England

How & why

Menasseh ben Israel was a Sephardic rabbi, scholar and printer who in 1626 founded the first Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam, spreading Jewish learning across Europe. Through his book 'The Hope of Israel' and personal negotiations with Oliver Cromwell (1655), he pressed for the readmission of Jews to England, from which they had been expelled in 1290. He was an observant Jew descended from Portuguese conversos who had returned openly to Judaism in the Netherlands.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Jewish Encyclopedia

Contributions & Sources

Scholar, philosopher and printer; founded the first Hebrew press in Amsterdam and negotiated the readmission of Jews to England

1604 CE

Source: Jewish Encyclopedia