Israel Abrahams

“ 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. ”

“ In 1650 appeared an English version of the Hope of Israel, a tract which deeply impressed public opinion. Cromwell had been moved to sympathy with the Jewish cause partly by his tolerant leanings, but chiefly because he foresaw the importance for English commerce of the presence of the Jewish merchant princes, some of whom had already found their way to London. At this juncture Jews received full rights in the colony of Surinam, which had been English since 1650. In 1655 Menasseh arrived in London. ”

“ 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 Pereiras. ”