https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/files/original/0e687b667ba0786e8b3a6c19ebd1988d.jpg a2ac0f9513f2b77df8517db7ca5f0dfb Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data copper engraving Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Portrait of Menasseh Ben Israel (1604-1657) rabbi, philosopher and printer. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Salomo d’Italia Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Adam Smart Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1642 Description An account of the resource Menasseh ben Israel, a Sephardic Jewish rabbi from Amsterdam, embodies aspects of the religious environment of the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. Throughout the 17th century, Jewish communities from both Iberia (Sephardic) and Germany immigrated to cities like Amsterdam, (Israel 1995, 657-658) and contributed to the intellectual and economic worlds of the Dutch Republic. Menasseh ben Israel serves as an example of this intellectual participation. He wrote texts which discussed the Bible, and actively debated with Christians. These debates brought on struggle, however, as many Christian thinkers were only really concerned with converting the Jewish communities instead of debating religious concepts (Israel 1995, 580-581). The fact that these debates and publications occurred, albeit with cultural friction, is a testament to growing tolerance in the Dutch Republic. Another aspect of the Dutch religious climate involved the influence of English Quakers, which also interacted with Menasseh ben Israel and other Dutch and Jewish intellectuals such as Spinoza. Margaret Fell, a leading member of the Quakers, published an open letter directed at Menasseh ben Israel in an attempt to convert the Jewish community to Christianity (Popkin 18). The Quakers also interacted with Spinoza, who translated some of their works into Hebrew while in Amsterdam (Popkin 15). Another Quaker, Benjamin Furly, settled in the city of Rotterdam and prepared migrations to North America while also engaging in Enlightenment debates with a wide variety of thinkers (Laborie 359-360). Through figures such as Spinoza and Furly, the Enlightenment, Dutch religious tolerance, and the growing Jewish communities in the Netherlands are all linked. Works Cited Israel, Jonathan, The Dutch Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Laborie, Lionel, “Radical tolerance in early enlightenment Europe.” History of European Ideas 43, no. 4 (2017): 359-375. doi: 10.1080/01916599.2016.1203600 Popkin, Richard H. “Spinoza’s Relations with the Quakers in Amsterdam.” Quaker History 73, no. 1 (Spring 1984): 14-28. doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/qkh.1984.0016">10.1353/qkh.1984.0016</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Menasseh_ben_Israel_1642.jpg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is in the Public Domain.