Biblia Hebraica

Born Manoel Dias Soeiro to Portuguese Jewish refugees from the Inquisition, Manasseh ben Israel (1604-57) was a diplomat, rabbi, writer, and founder of the first Hebrew press at Amsterdam. A friend of Hugo Grotius and Rembrandt, he was committed to free thought and inquiry and influenced many, including a young Baruch Spinoza. Oliver Cromwell invited him to the Whitehall Conference (1655) that established the invalidity of King Edward I Longshanks’ Edict of Expulsion (1290), paving the way for Jewish immigration to England. Intensive use has deprived this Ben Israel Bible of its title page and Greek apocrypha.