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Overview
"Curious ties between 'Israelites' and Indians was brought to the world's attention by Menasseh Ben Israel in his book The Hope of Israel...a group of Indians told of an encounter with a strange unusual tribe...one of the lost tribes of Israel." - From the Margins: Historical Anthropology and Its Futures (2002)
"Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel...published Spes Israelis...this was quickly translated into English and published as The Hope of Israel by Moses Wall;...a Spanish Jew...claimed he had stumbled across a tribe of Indians who recited the shema and kept Hebrew customs in Peru." - The Restoration of the Jews: Early Modern Hermeneutics (2014)
"Antonio de Montezinos...declared after his return from the Americas that he had indeed met...people across a fast river in Peru...speaking in Hebrew...Menasseh Ben Israel would later expound on the incident in his book ...The Hope of Israel." - Jerusalem on the Amstel: The Quest for Zion in the Dutch Republic (2019)
"Montezinos created a sensation with his travel report, which identified Peru as Ophir, Indian language words as Hebrew, and Indian tribes as the Lost Tribes of Israel." -University of Leeds Library
Antonio de Montezinos, also known as Aharon Levi was a Portuguese traveler and a Marrano Sephardic Jew who in 1644 persuaded Menasseh Ben Israel, a rabbi of Amsterdam, that he had found one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel living in the jungles of the "Quito Province" (that is, the Pichincha Province) of Ecuador. This supposed discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes.
Menasseh wrote a book about this narrative, The Hope of Israel. In it Menasseh argued, and tried to give learned support to the theory that the native inhabitants of America at the time of the European discovery were actually descendants of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel. The book was originally written in Hebrew (Mikveh Israel) or in Latin (Spes Israelis) around 1648, but its publication in English in 1650 in London caused great controversy and polemics in England.
The work was translated into English again in 1652, this time by Moses Wall, and it is this 1652 translation which has been republished here for the convenience of the interested reader.
Regarding the scattering of the lost tribes of Israel, the author notes:
"We have shewed that the ten Tribes are in divers places, as in the West-Indies, in Sina; in the confines of Tartary, beyond the river Sabbathion, and Euphrates, in Media, in the Kingdome of the Habyssins; of all which the Prophet Isaiah is to be understood, in Isa. 11. II. It shall come to passe in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Sinear, from Hamath, and from the Islands of the Sea."
About the author:
MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL (c. 1604-1657), Jewish leader, was born in Lisbon about 1604, and was brought up in Amsterdam. His family had suffered under the Inquisition, but found an asylum first in La Rochelle and later in Holland. Here Menasseh rose to eminence not only as a rabbi and an author but also as a printer. He established the first Hebrew press in Holland. One of his earliest works El Conciliador won immediate reputation. It was an attempt at reconciliation between apparent discrepancies in various parts of the Old Testament. Among his correspondents were Vossius, Grotius and Huet. In 1638 he decided to settle in Brazil, as he still found it difficult to provide in Amsterdam for his wife and family, but this step was rendered unnecessary by his appointment to direct a college founded by the Pcreiras,
In 1644 Menasseh met Antonio de Montesinos, who persuaded him that the North-American Indians were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. This supposed discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes. But he was convinced that the Messianic age needed as its certain precursor the settlement of Jews in all parts of the known world. Filled with this idea, he turned his attention to England, whence the Jews had been expelled since 1290. He found much Christian support in England. During the Commonwealth the question of the readmission of the Jews was often mooted under the growing desire for religious liberty. Besides this, Messianic and other mystic hopes were current in England. In 1650 appeared an English version of the Hope of Israel, a tract which deeply impressed public opinion.
"Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel...published Spes Israelis...this was quickly translated into English and published as The Hope of Israel by Moses Wall;...a Spanish Jew...claimed he had stumbled across a tribe of Indians who recited the shema and kept Hebrew customs in Peru." - The Restoration of the Jews: Early Modern Hermeneutics (2014)
"Antonio de Montezinos...declared after his return from the Americas that he had indeed met...people across a fast river in Peru...speaking in Hebrew...Menasseh Ben Israel would later expound on the incident in his book ...The Hope of Israel." - Jerusalem on the Amstel: The Quest for Zion in the Dutch Republic (2019)
"Montezinos created a sensation with his travel report, which identified Peru as Ophir, Indian language words as Hebrew, and Indian tribes as the Lost Tribes of Israel." -University of Leeds Library
Antonio de Montezinos, also known as Aharon Levi was a Portuguese traveler and a Marrano Sephardic Jew who in 1644 persuaded Menasseh Ben Israel, a rabbi of Amsterdam, that he had found one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel living in the jungles of the "Quito Province" (that is, the Pichincha Province) of Ecuador. This supposed discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes.
Menasseh wrote a book about this narrative, The Hope of Israel. In it Menasseh argued, and tried to give learned support to the theory that the native inhabitants of America at the time of the European discovery were actually descendants of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel. The book was originally written in Hebrew (Mikveh Israel) or in Latin (Spes Israelis) around 1648, but its publication in English in 1650 in London caused great controversy and polemics in England.
The work was translated into English again in 1652, this time by Moses Wall, and it is this 1652 translation which has been republished here for the convenience of the interested reader.
Regarding the scattering of the lost tribes of Israel, the author notes:
"We have shewed that the ten Tribes are in divers places, as in the West-Indies, in Sina; in the confines of Tartary, beyond the river Sabbathion, and Euphrates, in Media, in the Kingdome of the Habyssins; of all which the Prophet Isaiah is to be understood, in Isa. 11. II. It shall come to passe in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Sinear, from Hamath, and from the Islands of the Sea."
About the author:
MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL (c. 1604-1657), Jewish leader, was born in Lisbon about 1604, and was brought up in Amsterdam. His family had suffered under the Inquisition, but found an asylum first in La Rochelle and later in Holland. Here Menasseh rose to eminence not only as a rabbi and an author but also as a printer. He established the first Hebrew press in Holland. One of his earliest works El Conciliador won immediate reputation. It was an attempt at reconciliation between apparent discrepancies in various parts of the Old Testament. Among his correspondents were Vossius, Grotius and Huet. In 1638 he decided to settle in Brazil, as he still found it difficult to provide in Amsterdam for his wife and family, but this step was rendered unnecessary by his appointment to direct a college founded by the Pcreiras,
In 1644 Menasseh met Antonio de Montesinos, who persuaded him that the North-American Indians were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. This supposed discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes. But he was convinced that the Messianic age needed as its certain precursor the settlement of Jews in all parts of the known world. Filled with this idea, he turned his attention to England, whence the Jews had been expelled since 1290. He found much Christian support in England. During the Commonwealth the question of the readmission of the Jews was often mooted under the growing desire for religious liberty. Besides this, Messianic and other mystic hopes were current in England. In 1650 appeared an English version of the Hope of Israel, a tract which deeply impressed public opinion.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940186433477 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Far West Travel Adventure |
| Publication date: | 07/18/2022 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Sales rank: | 823,684 |
| File size: | 291 KB |
About the Author
MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL (c. 1604-1657), Jewish leader, was born in Lisbon about 1604, and was brought up in Amsterdam. His family had suffered under the Inquisition, but found an asylum first in La Rochelle and later in Holland. Here Menasseh rose to eminence not only as a rabbi and an author but also as a printer. He established the first Hebrew press in Holland. One of his earliest works El Conciliador won immediate reputation. It was an attempt at reconciliation between apparent discrepancies in various parts of the Old Testament. Among his correspondents were Vossius, Grotius and Huet. In 1638 he decided to settle in Brazil, as he still found it difficult to provide in Amsterdam for his wife and family, but this step was rendered unnecessary by his appointment to direct a college founded by the Pcreiras,
In 1644 Menasseh met Antonio de Montesinos, who persuaded him that the North-American Indians were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. This supposed discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes. But he was convinced that the Messianic age needed as its certain precursor the settlement of Jews in all parts of the known world. Filled with this idea, he turned his attention to England, whence the Jews had been expelled since 1290. He found much Christian support in England. During the Commonwealth the question of the readmission of the Jews was often mooted under the growing desire for religious liberty. Besides this, Messianic and other mystic hopes were current in England. In 1650 appeared an English version of the Hope of Israel, a tract which deeply impressed public opinion.
In 1644 Menasseh met Antonio de Montesinos, who persuaded him that the North-American Indians were the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. This supposed discovery gave a new impulse to Menasseh's Messianic hopes. But he was convinced that the Messianic age needed as its certain precursor the settlement of Jews in all parts of the known world. Filled with this idea, he turned his attention to England, whence the Jews had been expelled since 1290. He found much Christian support in England. During the Commonwealth the question of the readmission of the Jews was often mooted under the growing desire for religious liberty. Besides this, Messianic and other mystic hopes were current in England. In 1650 appeared an English version of the Hope of Israel, a tract which deeply impressed public opinion.
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