Menasseh Ben Israel

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• The Amsterdam rabbi who persuaded Cromwell to quietly let Jews back into England

  England expelled its Jews in 1290 and barred them for over three and a half centuries. In 1655 the Amsterdam rabbi Menasseh ben Israel came to London and petitioned Oliver Cromwell for their readmission. The Whitehall Conference that December reached no formal ruling, and no law of readmission was ever passed — but Cromwell let it be known he would not object, and within about a year Jews were quietly permitted to live and worship in England once more, some 365 years after the expulsion.

  How we know

  Edward I expelled England's Jews in 1290. Menasseh ben Israel (1604–1657) arrived in London in 1655 and petitioned Cromwell. The Whitehall Conference (Dec 1655) was inconclusive; Cromwell issued no formal decree, but by early 1656 gave a favorable reply, and a synagogue and burial ground were permitted by 1656–57. 1655 − 1290 = 365.

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• Rembrandt etched an Amsterdam rabbi

  Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657), the Amsterdam rabbi and printer who petitioned Cromwell to readmit Jews to England, lived in the same Amsterdam neighborhood as Rembrandt. In 1636 Rembrandt made an etched portrait long identified as Menasseh, and in 1655 supplied four etchings for Menasseh's book Piedra Gloriosa.

  How we know

  Menasseh ben Israel b.1604 d.1657 (graph). Rembrandt b.1606 d.1669. 1636 etched portrait + 1655 Piedra Gloriosa etchings; shared Jodenbreestraat-area neighborhood (Rembrandthuis museum; Rijksmuseum collection notes).

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