(MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL).

Records the religious disputation that took place in London between Menasseh ben Israel and Jean d’Espagne, Minister of the French Reformed Church at Westminster and held in the presence of the French Ambassador on May 2nd, 1656. Menasseh ben Israel had come to England from Amsterdam in September 1655 and although the Whitehall Conference of December failed to resolve the readmission question, he stayed on in London for some two years in the hope of obtaining formal written permission. During the course of his stay he met with numerous politicians, divines, intellectuals and anyone he believed could help him reach the goal of his “English Mission,” an official authorization of the readmission of the Jews to England after an exile of over three and a half centuries. Menasseh’s discussions with Christians rarely led to controversy. He usually presented his Jewish views but did not challenge the Christian outlook. One of the rare indications of a dispute on the relative merits of Judaism and Christianity is the present discussion with Minister Jean d’Espagne. See Cecil Roth, A Life of Menasseh ben Israel (1945) pp. 254-55.