(ANGLO-JUDAICA).

In 1655, the Amsterdam rabbi and mystic Menasseh Ben Israel arrived in London intent on persuading Oliver Cromwell to readmit the Jews to England after an absence of over three and a half centuries. On 31st October, Menasseh presented his celebrated pamphlet “Humble Address” to the Council of State. In the introduction, he expresed his belief that the dispersal of the Jews to the four corners of the Earth was necessary for the Final Redemption to occur, in fulfillment of the prophecies in Deuteronomy 28:64 and Daniel 12:7. For conspicuously, the Jews were yet absent from Angle Terre (Heb. “ketzeh ha-aretz”, literally, the end of the earth). However Menasseh’s proposal met with considerable backlash. Indicative of this reaction, is the present pamphlet in which the author laments the fact that “the Rabbi appears to be utterly ignorant of our Histories.” Subsequently recounted are the many alleged wrongdoings of the Jews during their earlier sojourn in England, including the murder of Christian children for ritual purposes, the most infamous being that of Hugh of Lincoln in 1255 (pp. 18-19). Anglo-Jewish history is summed up : “Thus admitted by William the Conqueror, about the year 1070, they were expelled in the year 1290, being here some 220 years (longer by five or six than their ancestors were in Egypt) during which time we may easily see the English Nation was as in bondage” (p. 31). The pamphleteer proceeds to systematically demolish Menasseh ben Israel’s arguments. He is especially cynical regarding the Rabbi’s assertion that the imminent Redemption rides upon the Jews’ readmission to England: “I cannot but wonder at the Rabbi. It is believed that the time of their redemption is near (saith he) and that they must first be scattered throughout the world… Why, they had a seat here once before for the space of above 220 years, and must they need come again, or else their dispersion (as to this place) cannnot be accomplished?” (pp. 32-33). Cromwell, who initially was in favor of the readmission, evidently miscalculated the degree of opposition and ultimately dissolved the conference that was to debate the question. Subsequently, in July of 1656, the Council of State granted the petition of a small community of London-based Marranos seeking to have their own burial ground and hold religious services undisturbed. Thus, the readmission of the Jews to England became de facto, though never de jure. See T.M. Endelman, The Jews of Britain 1656 to 2000 (2002), pp. 20-27 ; EJ, Vol. VI, cols. 752-3.