Thesouro dos Dinim (Thesaurus of Laws)

A Thesaurus of Laws which appeared in five parts between 1645 and 1647. This religious guide intended for Marranos rejoining the Jewish faith sets out all the precepts required to observe Judaism. Parts I-IV are dedicated to Abraham Ferrar, Emanuel Franco, Abraham del Prado, David Abarbanel Dormido, Jacob Bueno, Jacob Atias, and Jacob del Soto; Part V to Abraham and Isaac Pereira. Approbia of Hakhamim Saul Levi Morteira and David Pardo. Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657) whose face is known to many thanks to his friend Rembrandt’s portrait of him, is certainly the most famous of Amsterdam’s Jewish sages, though he never served in an official capacity as rabbi of that city, contrary to common opinion. The Thesouro is one of many books produced on Menasseh ben Israel’s press, Amsterdam’s first Hebrew press, which he established in 1626. In 1643 Menasseh gave his printing office to Elijah Aboab. Three years later, in 1646, Menasseh’s gifted youngest son, Joseph ben Israel, assumed directorship of the press (Fuks, pp. 108-109). Menasseh’s was a colorful life. Born a marrano on the isle of Madeira (Portugal) and baptized “Manoel Dias Soeiro,” as a child, he escaped with his father to Amsterdam. He soon excelled in rabbinic studies and a knowledge of languages, which later enabled him to produce works of Judaica in Hebrew as well as Latin, Spanish and Portuguese. Toward the end of his life, Menasseh petitoned Oliver Cromwell to allow the Jews to once again settle in England, a request which was only partially fulfilled during the rabbi’s lifetime. Fuks, Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands I (Leiden,, 1984), pp. 99-135; EJ, Vol.11, cols. 855-857. The owners of the book, Jacob Israel Bernal and later his son Isaac Israel Bernal, were prominent players in Anglo-Jewish history, both active in communal affairs, as well as in the West Indies trade. The father, Jacob Israel, gabay of the Bevis Marks synagogue, scandalized the Sephardic or Spanish-Portuguese community when in 1745 he took as wife a “Tudesca” (German or Ashkenazic Jewess), Jochabed Baruch, daughter of one Gershon Levy. See Albert M. Hyamson, The Sephardim of England (London, 1951), pp. 170, 197-198; James Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History (London, 1956), pp. 149,198-201.