What was the difference between Manasseh and other _Rabbis_? No _Rabbi_ could fail to be well acquainted with the familiar prophecies of the Bible, and to know that the Dispersion was to be from one end of the earth to the other. Are not these prophecies quoted in the Jewish daily prayers, prayers that have been lost unheard, as it seems, in the dark depths of 2000 years of dispersion, and are known to every Jewish child? Or did not the _Rabbis_ cherish those Messianic hopes which inspired Manasseh? There was only one difference: the difference between passivity and activity, between purely spiritual impulses and impulses which lead to action. If the dispersion has to be complete, let Providence make it complete――this was the usual point of view. Those who merely believed declined to do anything, as they did not wish to face the danger of failure. They lived on that, of which other nations die――on sorrow. Their melancholy had much of majesty in it, but it led to nothing and ended in nothing. They dared not attempt to penetrate into the secrets of the Almighty; for God alone can see what will happen, and no man can avoid his destiny. They refused to undertake any effort for the readmission of their brethren not only into Palestine, but even into England. They were believers, not men of action. Manasseh took matters into his own hands. He not only believed, he acted in accordance with his belief. He collected evidence with judicious care, weighing and measuring difficulties, keeping facts calmly before his mind, studying the facts of the dispersion with interest and zeal. He occupied himself with Messianism more than any Jewish scholar since _Don_ Isaac _de_ Judah Abrabanel (1437‒1508), and more effectively than the latter, because of the active character of his plans. In his מקוה ישראל, _Esperança de Israel_ (Appendix iv), Manasseh relates how the _Marrano_ traveller, Aaron Levi, _alias_ Antony Montezinos, while travelling in South America, had met a race of natives in the Cordilleras, who recited the _Shema_, practised Jewish ceremonies, and were, in short, Israelites of the tribe of _Reuben_. Montezinos had related his story to Manasseh, and had even embodied it in a sworn affidavit before the heads of the Amsterdam Synagogue. Montezinos’ story seemed to be a proof of the increasing dispersion of _Israel_. _Daniel_ (xii. 7) had foretold in his prophecies that the dispersion of the Jewish people would be the forerunner of their restoration. “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;...” (Deuteronomy xxviii. 64).