Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell: Being a reprint of the pamphlets published by Menasseh ben Israel to promote the re-admission of the Jews to England, 1649-1656Manasseh ben Israel
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Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell: Being a reprint of the pamphlets published by Menasseh ben Israel to promote the re-admission of the Jews to England, 1649-1656
Manasseh ben Israel
Jews -- Great Britain
P. 118, l. 34. “_A fabulous narrative._” Brett, “A Narrative of the
Proceedings of a Great Councel of Jews assembled on the plain of
Ageda” (Lond., 1655; reprinted in “The Phœnix,” 1707, the “Harleian
Miscellany,” vol i., 1813, and in pamphlet form by Longmans & Co.,
1876).
P. 121, l. 27. “_The book called Scebet Iehuda_,” ספר שבת יהודה, by
Solomon Aben Verga, a Jewish chronicle of the sixteenth century. See
German translation by Wiener (Hanover, 1856). The story related by
Menasseh ben Israel will be found on pp. 77–78. It is not told of a
“King of Portugal,” but of a King of Spain.
P. 121, l. 32. “_Before one of the Popes, at a full Councell._” For
Papal Bulls on the Blood Accusation see “Die Blutbeschuldigung gegen
die Juden von Christlicher Seite beurtheilt,” Zweite Auflage
(Vienna, 1883). Strack’s “Blutaberglaube” (several editions) is the
classical work on the subject.
THE SECOND SECTION
P. 124, l. 16. “_The Israelites hold._” This paragraph is a summary of
the Thirteen Articles of Faith first drawn up by Moses Maimonides in
1168, and now incorporated in the Synagogue liturgy. Menasseh’s
summary, though admirably succinct, is not altogether perfect, and
was apparently drafted with a view to the susceptibilities of the
English Conversionists. A full translation of the thirteen creeds
had, however, already appeared in England (see Chilmead’s
translation of Leo Modena’s “The History of the Rites, Customes, and
Manner of Life of the Present Jews,” Lond., 1650, pp. 246–249).
P. 124, l. 28. “_A French book which he calleth the Rappel of the
Jewes_,” Iaac la Peyrère “Rappel des Juifs.”
THE THIRD SECTION
The subject matter of this section, the alleged cursing of Gentiles, is,
like the Blood Accusation, an obstinate delusion of the anti-Semites. It
is the burden of a very voluminous literature. See, among recent
publications, Jellinek, “Der Talmudjude” (Vienna, 1882); Daab, “Der
Thalmud” (Leipzig, 1883); Hirsch, “Über die Beziehung des Talmuds zum
Judenthum” (Frankfort, 1884); and Hoffmann, “Der Schulchan Aruch und die
Rabbinen über das Verhältniss der Juden zu Andersgläubigen” (Berlin,
1885).
P. 127, l. 31. “_Prayers for Kings and Princes._” See note, _supra_,
p. 163.
P. 128, l. 6. “_The form of prayer in the book entitled The Humble
Addresses_,” _supra_, p. 92.
P. 133, l. 25. “_Wise and vertuous Lady Beruria._” The most famous of
the women mentioned in the Talmud. She was the daughter of Rabbi
Chanina ben Tradjon, and wife of Rabbi Meir (Kayserling, “Jüdischen
Frauen,” pp. 120–124).
P. 133, l. 26. “_R. Meir._” A distinguished pupil of the great Rabbi
Akiba, and one of the most famous of the authors of the Talmud. He
lived in the second century (Levy, “Un Tanah,” Paris, 1883;
Blumenthal, “Rabbi Meir,” Frankfurt, 1888).
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