Menasseh ben Israel vs. The Rabbis

Do you think conflicts within Jewish communities are something new? It is possible that the re-admission of Jews to England was a consequence of a squabble between Amsterdam's leading rabbis.

With the merger of the three original Amsterdam Sephardic communities, the city found itself with four rabbis. All of them were strong characters. Inevitably, there were disputes over who had religious authority and who should be paid the most.

It is possible that Menasseh's trip to London, and the establishment of a Jewish community there,  partly had its roots in his differences with Saul Levi Morteira, Isaac Aboab, David Pardo.

Sephardic World's expert speaker this Sunday 8 November 2020, Professor Steven Nadler, is Professor of Philosophy and of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on philosophy in the seventeenth century. He has written extensively on Descartes and Cartesianism, Spinoza, and Leibniz. He also works on medieval and early modern Jewish philosophy. His publications include biographies of Spinoza and Menasseh ben Israel.

If you are not on the Sephardic World mailing list, sign up for free at https://mailchi.mp/sephardicgenealogy/ars1w3v45e