The second part of The Conciliator
Menasseh ben Israel, rabbi, scholar, philosopher, diplomat and Hebrew printer, 1604-1657
In the midst of history – Menasseh ben Israel’s mission to England
Apology for the honorable nation of the Jews and all the sons of Israel
The Lost tribes of Israel, rediscovered in South America
Short demurrer to the Jewes long discontinued remitter into England
A loving salutation to the seed of Abraham among the Jewes
Printing and Teaching Judaism
Menasseh ben Israel's Liturgical Bible: Pentateuch, Five Scrolls and the Prophetic Portions (1)
Menasseh ben Israel's Liturgical Bible: Pentateuch, Five Scrolls and the Prophetic Portions (2)
A mystical treatise on the fear of God
A Treasury of [religious] Laws which the people of Israel is obligated to know and keep
Fifty precious sermons by Amsterdam’s senior rabbi
"THEOLOGUS ET PHILOSOPHUS HEBRAEUS"
The first part of The Conciliador
Thirty problems concerning Creation
Three books on the resurrection of the dead (1)
Three books on the resurrection of the dead (2)
Three books on the resurrection of the dead (3)
Portrait of the Tabernacle of Moses (1)
Portrait of the Tabernacle of Moses (2)
Portrait of the Tabernacle of Moses (3)
The second part of the Conciliador is dedicated to the “most noble, very prudent, and eminent Lords of the Council of the West Indies” – the board members of the Dutch West Indies Company.
Here Menasseh’s ‘pilgrim’ printer's mark appears for the first time, showing a bearded pilgrim on foot, striding out with his rucksack, walking stick and water gourd. The oval frame is inscribed in Portuguese “Apercebido como hu[m] romeiro” - “He appeared as a pilgrim (literally a pilgrim going to Rome).”
Although resonant of the fate of Jewish communities in a period of expulsions, the pilgrim is a peculiar choice of what is essentially Christian imagery. It is suggestive of the Emmaus apparition – Christ appearing to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Yet the figure of the pilgrim had many meanings, and it was capable of Jewish appropriation.
In Salom Italia’s 1642 portrait of Menasseh, the pilgrim appears as the scholar’s coat of arms, with the inscription “Peregrinando quaerimus”, equating wandering with the philosophical quest.
