# Menasseh Ben Israel & His World



## Otherlane (Apr 26, 2021)

While following up my Tartaria research on the prophecies of Paul Grebner, I stumbled upon a footnote in Wikimindtricks which led me “Menasseh Ben Israel and His World”, edited by Yosef Qaplan, & Richard Henry Popkin, & Henry Mechoulan in 1989, published with financial support from Dr. C. Louise Thijssen-Schoutestichting.

This book discusses the 17th Century intellectual works of Menasseh Ben Israel, Portuguese Sephardic Jewish influence in Amsterdam and throughout Holland in the 1600s.  The second chapter includes an essay by Arthur H. Williamson about how the Scots were considered primitive and that many throughout Europe believed the north of the continent was a satanic place, citing Ezekiel in his prophetic vision of the armies of Gog coming out of the north in the latter days of the world.  He cites references of many authors discussing the north as a place of fairy tales and barbarianism.  He mentions James I of Britain accession to the southern crown as breaking the stereotype that evil came from the north.  “Within this context it is easy to see why Paul Grebner’s prophecy about the achievements of a great northern monarch at the end of days was gratefully received by the Elizabethan court and that its influence was felt throughout the seventeenth century.”  He discusses that the Scots are not just descendants of the Jews through Christianity conversion, but the future partners of the Jews as the Jews would embrace Christianity as Christian Jews fulfilling human destiny and destroying the antichrist of the Pope and the Turkish Empire and spreading the Gospel to the corners of the earth and re-establishing a powerful Jewish state in Palestine.

He refers to cataclysmic events, the Last Judgment, and Scot and Jew both engaged in a great common cause to give meaning to the human experience.  His section on the Union of Crowns: Britain and the Jews, says that the idea of Jewish conversion in the end times appeared in the early anglophone Reformation.  More importantly, he states that John Knox found the Spaniards to be at once the spiritual heirs of the Jews in their persecution of Christ’s faith as well as their literal descendants- (quoting Knox regarding the Spaniards) “for the Jews they are, as histories do witness, and they themselves confess.”

"The Works of John Knox”, which can be found in the Edinburgh Library, state on pg. 411-412 that the Spaniards were “persecutors of his (Christ’s) true members and haters of all virtue.  As the odious nation of Spaniards manifestly declare, who for every despit which they do bear against Christ Jesus, whom their forefathers did crucify (for Jews they are as histories do witness, and they themselves confess) do this day make plain war against true professors of his holy Gospel.  The Spaniards are Jews, and they brag that Marie of England is the root of Jesse.”  Williamson also discusses the idea of apocalypticism in England and Scotland where the Gentiles unite with the Jews to reinstitute the new holy kingdom in the land of Palestine.  These ideas have been popular in Anglo culture from Europe to the Americas since the 16th Century.

Back to Menasseh Ben Israel, I want to focus on his world for just a moment...

Menasseh Ben Israel is his Hebrew name; his Sephardic Portuguese name was Manoel Dias Soeiro (1604-1657).  He was a Portuguese rabbi who established the first Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam.  This is likely someone with a lot of pull in the Jewish Diaspora.  His wife is a descendant from the powerful Abarbanel Family.  His family "fled the inquisition" in Portugal and went to the Netherlands in 1610.  The Jews were said to be able to thrive in Amsterdam because of Holland's involvement in the Eighty Years War in opposition to the Church.

So, who was the ruling noble family in Spain during the Inquisition?  The Spanish Hapsburgs.  And in Holland.  The House of Orange-Nassau. While I don't believe the Hapsburgs and Orange-Nassau were related at this point, it is said Charles V had members of that German nobility in his court.  This is the Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, King of Spain (Castile and Aragon), and Duke of Burgundy which made him Lord of the Netherlands.  After his death, rather than a religious or nationalistic split (Spanish and German factions of the Hapsburgs), I see it more as the same with all other nobility wars: dividing the spoils of war amongst themselves; may the best team/army win the championship while the owners pop champagne together at the after party.  I mean, we have German families working together who rule over Spain and the Netherlands and are Holy Roman Emperors, while split amongst the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant movement within the Holy Roman Empire.  Sorting this all out is going to be a big but fruitful undertaking for us!

Anyways, that is the "World of Menasseh Ben Israel:" a Portuguese Sephardic Jew "expelled" from the Iberian Peninsula, which was dominated by Islamic Moors and Sephardic Jews up until, the magic year of 1492, when the Church (who I like to refer to as "The Circle" based on its etymology from the Scottish "kirk") took this strategic Iberian Peninsula which accessed control of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean beyond the Straight of Gibraltar to: the Americas!  If you're looking for some good historical readings and presentations on the Moors and the Americas, check out Kurimeo Ahau on YouTube.  His research will keep you busy for a while.

He was inspired by Portuguese traveler and Marrano Sephardic Jew Antonio de Montezinos, who told him in 1644 that the Natives of the South were the descendants of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel and practiced Hebrew customs to the present day.  He believed the sign of the "Messiah's return" was the resettlement of the Jews throughout the world.  He then developed a relationship with Oliver Cromwell so that the Jews could return to "hasten the coming of the Messiah" as the Jews had been expelled from England since 1290.  More than likely, rather than Messianic dreams, he wanted a religious/political/economic alliance with England's Millenaries, who sought the 5th Monarchy and a Messianic return as well (whatever that means).

Long story short, there seems to be a Millenary movement in the Protestant nations of Europe coinciding with a Jewish messianic movement, which produced "religious sects seeking freedom" like the Puritans, who had prominent members in the British East India Company, with wealthy Jewish slave traders, having a rivalry with the Spanish, the Catholic Church, and I guess the Holy Roman Empire.  It's going to take a lot of time to make more sense of the rival factions and tying together their end goals and results, but most of it is evident now and just needs to be clarified as we grow in knowledge.

As for other references to the 10 Lost Tribes, the Encyclopedia Judaica states that the Kingdom of Israel consisted of 10 tribes because the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah constituted the southern kingdom of Judah.  Israel fell in 722 BC and the Assyrians exiled the 10 tribes.  They didn’t disappear completely from history, as 1 Chronicles 5:26 says the tribes were “unto this day” and the prophecies of Isaiah 11:11, Jeremiah 31:8, and Ezekiel 37: 19-24 describe how the tribes will be rejoined with their brethren, the descendants of the Exile of Judah to Babylon. 

 This encyclopedia entry states that the 10 Lost Tribes are surrounded by legend instead. Josephus in _Antiquities_ 11:133 states that the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not be estimated in numbers.  Paul in Acts 26:6, protests to Agrippa, “for the hope of the promise made unto our fathers, unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God, hope to come.  James addresses his epistle “to the twelve tribes which are scattered about” (1:1).  On the countrary, Rabbi Akiva in Sanhedrin 10:3 says the ten tribes shall not return again.  Akiva views Leviticus 26:38 not as an exile of the ten tribes, but a complete disappearance.  This entry gives other theories as to the 10 Lost Tribes, but interestingly describes the most fanciful theory as that of the traveler tales of Aaron (Antonio) Levi de Montezinos, who on his return to Amsterdam from South America in 1644, told a story of finding Indians beyond the Cordilleras mountain passes who greeted him by reciting the Shema.  Montezinos confided this story to Manasseh Ben Israel, Rabbi of Amsterdam, who wrote of this account in his “Hope of Israel” in 1650, which he dedicated to the English Parliament.  In Section 37, he says that, “The West Indies were anciently inhabited by a part of the Ten Tribes, which passed thither out of *Tartary*, by the Streight of Anian.  That the Tribes are not in any one place, but in many; because the Prophets have foretold their return shall be into their Country, out of diverse places; Isaiah especially said it shall be out of eight.  That they did not return to the Second Temple.  That at this day they keep the Jewish religion.  That the prophecies concerning their return to their country are of necessity to be fulfilled.  That from all coasts of the World they shall meet in those two places: Assyria and Egypt; God preparing an easier, pleasant way, and abounding with all things, as Isaiah said in Chapter 49, and from thence they shall fly to Jerusalem, as birds to their nests.  That their Kingdom shall be no more divided, but the 12 Tribes shall be joined together under one Prince, that is under one Messiah, the Son of David, and that they shall never be driven out of their Land.” 

In summary, Oliver Cromwell, Puritans, and the extreme Puritan sect of 5th Monarchists, etc. help usher in the reign of Charles II after deposing of his father a decade earlier.  Charles II signs off on the Royal Society which consists of astrologers, astronomers, alchemists, magicians, and scientists such as Grebner, Newton, etc.  5th Monarchists then evolve under Charles II to preach about England becoming the 5th Monarchy of the World to fulfill biblical prophecy.  Cromwell works out a deal with Menasseh Ben Israel to allow the Jews to settle in Britain because he wants to do commercial trade with them, which Puritans such as Robert Blackborne, Secretary of the Admiralty, get involved in through the British East India Company.   

May we find what we seek together in this realm or the next.





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## AgentOrange5 (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: AgentOrange5Date: 2019-11-19 13:30:36Reaction Score: 1


A lot to think about here, I've never heard of this guy, but he sounds intriguing.


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## Archive (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: StarmonkeyDate: 2019-12-18 17:53:45Reaction Score: 0


Muslims of early America | Aeon
Muslims lived in America before Protestantism even existed – Sam Haselby | Aeon Essays


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## Alexandra (Jun 7, 2021)

Otherlane said:


> So, who was the ruling noble family in Spain during the Inquisition? The Spanish Hapsburgs. And in Holland. The House of Orange-Nassau. While I don't believe the Hapsburgs and Orange-Nassau were related at this point,


The hapsburgs / Spanjards were ruling Holland and Belgium, up until Willem Oranje Nassau seperated the north and all the jews fleed tot the Netherlands, resulting in "the golden age"

http://www.vandervaartenomstreken.nl/Genealogie/Geschiedenis/Nederland in het kort 1482-1568.html


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## Will Scarlet (Jun 8, 2021)

Otherlane said:


> In summary, Oliver Cromwell, Puritans, and the extreme Puritan sect of 5th Monarchists, etc. help usher in the reign of Charles II after deposing of his father a decade earlier. Charles II signs off on the Royal Society which consists of astrologers, astronomers, alchemists, magicians, and scientists such as Grebner, Newton, etc. 5th Monarchists then evolve under Charles II to preach about England becoming the 5th Monarchy of the World to fulfill biblical prophecy. Cromwell works out a deal with Menasseh Ben Israel to allow the Jews to settle in Britain because he wants to do commercial trade with them, which Puritans such as Robert Blackborne, Secretary of the Admiralty, get involved in through the British East India Company.



I believe the situation described was rather different. Also 'The Hope of Israel' book was (imo) propaganda to persuade the British parliament to 'invade' North America as well as to trigger all of the judeo/puritan/christian breakaway sects that had been created to get behind the movement to invade America and rescue all the lost tribes that were supposed to be there. This would then in turn trigger the coming of the Jewish Messiah, the Day of Judgement and all that stuff.

The Betrayal of Albion (Part 3): The English Revolution


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## Otherlane (Jun 8, 2021)

Will Scarlet said:


> I believe the situation described was rather different. Also 'The Hope of Israel' book was (imo) propaganda to persuade the British parliament to 'invade' North America as well as to trigger all of the judeo/puritan/christian breakaway sects that had been created to get behind the movement to invade America and rescue all the lost tribes that were supposed to be there. This would then in turn trigger the coming of the Jewish Messiah, the Day of Judgement and all that stuff.
> 
> The Betrayal of Albion (Part 3): The English Revolution


Interesting take and insight and very well could be true


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## mifletzet (Oct 14, 2021)

_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WE_NUGvq-U_


_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BavY6Mt6lE_

_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycmKFARL4t4_


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## Will Scarlet (Oct 14, 2021)

mifletzet said:


> _View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WE_NUGvq-U_
> 
> 
> _View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BavY6Mt6lE
> ...



 Total fantasy, imo.


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