Portrait of Menasseh Ben Israel

Shalom Italia

1640–1649

Portrait print of man in skullcap and beard with Latin text in oval frame, Latin text below, and small illustration of man with walking stick and Hebrew book above.

Born to converso parents and baptized as Manoel Dias Soeiro, Menasseh Ben Israel moved as a boy with his family to Amsterdam, where they reverted openly to Judaism. In 1626, he established the first Hebrew printing shop in the Dutch capital. In his writings, he emphasized that the eternal life of the soul was assured to all the righteous of the nations. In 1650, he published his Miqveh Israel, esto es Esperança de Israel (The Hope of Israel) in several languages. In addition to his own writing and printing business, Menasseh Ben Israel was the third most important of the four ḥakhamim (rabbis) of the Sephardic congregation and was a gifted preacher. He was an interlocutor of Christian intellectuals on behalf of the Jewish community. Menasseh Ben Israel attended the 1655 Whitehall Conference convened by Oliver Cromwell and negotiated (unsuccessfully) with British leaders to obtain written permission for Jewish resettlement in England, following their expulsion in 1290.

Credits

Portret van Menasseh Ben Israël, Salomon Italia, 1640–1649. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Creator Bio

Shalom Italia

1619–1655
Engraver, etcher, and draftsman Shalom Italia was, as his name indicates, from Italy, where his family worked in the Mantua printing industry. However, probably attracted by the opportunities in the growing metropolis, he made his way to Amsterdam by 1641. Among Shalom Italia’s works are illustrated ketubot (marriage contracts), book illustrations, and portraits of the community’s leading figures, such as Menasseh Ben Israel, who was the founder of Amsterdam’s first Hebrew printing press and an advocate for the readmission of Jews to England.

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