It is not Steven Nadler’s fault that his book Manasseh ben Israel: Rabbi of Amsterdam (Jewish Lives) is a bit boring. Manasseh ben Israel, unfortunately, is not a very compelling figure. He seems to have been, perhaps, the world’s first celebrity rabbi for non-Jews. That is his claim to fame.
Many Jews seemed to dislike him – sometimes rabidly. Others were suspicious of his interactions with Messianic Christians. If anything, perhaps Manasseh ben Israel was ahead of his time: an ecumenical man living in a still very narrow religious world.
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