 |
| A Chumash printed by R. Menashe ben Yisrael in Amsterdam. Note the interesting way he presents the date. |
Introduction
This article ꟷ based extensively on the research by Professor Matt Goldish[1] ꟷ examines the unusual notion of messianic crossover between Jews, Christians and Muslims that developed around the sixteenth century. What is even more unusual, from a Jewish perspective, is that the rabbis who participated in such enterprises were always Kabbalists and often respected Halachists as well.
Early forms of ‘messianic crossover’
An early example of messianic crossover may have early Christianity where Paul of Tarsus “deliberately engineered or changed” symbols and messages of his messianic movement (Christianity) to “appeal to people outside that tradition” (Goldish 2018:124). This successful methodology was adopted by Paul and he indeed brought many Gentiles under the wings of Christianity.
As history progressed to around the sixteenth century, however, it was no longer always necessary to adapt and disguise one’s messianism to entice the ‘other’ because now messianism had certain universal aspects that, surprisingly, resonated well with messianic Jews, Christians and Muslims. The number of Jewish Messiahs that emerged from around that time up to the present day, is astounding [see (99+) Three Sixteenth-Century Jewish Messiahs].
This early modern period[2] was a time of increased mutual exposure to different religions and traditions and resulted in “mingled identities” (Ruderman 2011: Ch.5).[3] Following the Expulsion of practising Jews from Spain in 1492 and the subsequent emergence of Conversos (also known as Marranos or New Christians ꟷ as the Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity were known) ꟷ the boundaries between Jews and Christians began to merge. The scientific revolution and intellectual contact between Jews, Christians and Muslims also brought a blurring of identities. The recent invention of the printing press in 1440 allowed for a free flow of ideas to permeate different communities. Significantly, there was also a peak in Jewish, Christian and Muslim messianism that sprouted simultaneously.
Jews, and non-Jews soon realised that:
“they could work together to prepare for the redemption…These small cooperating groups never truly adopted each other’s messiahs or messianic theologies, but they were willing to put aside the broad theological gap because they agreed that the way forward was similar for both. The arrival of the savior was expected imminently and all questions would be answered then” (Goldish 2018:126).
We shall now examine an unusual messianic crossover movement
that preceded seventeenth-century Sabbatianism, Sebastianism:
Sebastianism (not to be confused with Sabbatianism)
During the sixteenth century, Portuguese messianism was rife under King Sebastian, a religious Christian ruler who lost his life in an anti-Muslim crusade in Morocco in 1578. This messianic movement, although essentially Christian, was deeply connected to the Conversos as well as several important rabbis. A Converso messianic claimant, Luis Dias encouraged his fellow Conversos to observe circumcision because that would aid his messianic mission. Dias was associated with an influential messianic writer called António Bandarra (d.1556) who had written mystical messianic poems in a work entitled Trovas. Bandarra ꟷ who does not seem to have been a Converso, although he was well-acquainted with and profoundly influenced by them (Goldish 2018:129) ꟷ predicted that a new king would arise in Portugal and herald the messianic age. Bandarra infuses his writings with references to the key role Jews were to play in the unfolding of the messianic plan. Bandarra references amongst other matters:
“…the new men, who come from the
Tribe of Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son” (Trovas CLVII).
This appears to be directed to David Reuveini, another Jewish Messiah [see Kotzk Blog: 206) DAVID REUVENI AND SHLOMO MOLCHO - A MESSIANIC DUO:]. But where boundaries begin to merge and crossover messianism begins to sprout, is his emphasis on Reuben as “Jacob’s eldest son.” Christians often refer to Judaism as their older brother ꟷ to pave the way for the more beloved younger son (who in biblical literature is usually greater than the older brother). Jesus, the Christian messiah came from Judah, who was younger than Reuben.
Bandarra’s poetic verses also make an obscure reference to:
“Jews [who] had been Christians” (Trovas CLVI).
This seems to allude to the Conversos who we know informed
his messianic worldview (Goldish 2018:129). In fact, Bandarra was so bound up
with Jews and Conversos that the Inquisition tried him as a Judaiser in 1541.
This all points to an intersection of interests between Jewish and Portuguese
messianism. It was also widely believed that Bandarra had predicted the death
of King Sebastian, and that (as with many Messiahs) he had not really died but
simply occulted and gone into hiding until the messianic moment was sufficiently
ripe for his revelation. This Portuguese messianism, although comprised of many
Conversos, former Conversos ꟷ and as we shall see, even rabbis ꟷ was predominantly Christian. It
grew into a veritable movement known as Sebastianism.
The Jewish and rabbinic components of Sebastianism
Focusing now on the Jewish and rabbinic connection to Sebastianism,
we turn to Bocarro-Rosales and his messianic associate, R. Menashe ben Yisrael
of Amsterdam.
Bocarro-Rosales becomes Yakov Rosales (c.1593-1662)
Bocaro-Rosales was a Converso physician who became a leading ideologue and theorist of Sebastianism and authored the movement’s important work, entitled Anacephaleoses[4] (A Summary of the Lusitanian Monarchy). He was also interested in astrology and was encouraged by Galileo to write treatises on the subject. In 1625 he left Portugal for Rome, changed his first name to Yakov, and openly practised his Judaism and participated in Jewish communal affairs. Ironically, he continued to remain the great “theorist of the highly Christian Sebastianist movement” ꟷ as a practising Jew ꟷ although from 1644 he removed most of the blatant Christian references from his Anacephaleoses (Goldish 1218:129).
The paradox of Yakov Rosales’ messianic associations must not be lost. Sebastianism was certainly not a Jewish movement. Jews did not particularly like King Sebastian who had emerged as a type of messianic figure and, to the contrary, Moroccan Jews (many former Conversos) went so far as to even celebrate his defeat by the Muslims. The Jews were concerned that if King Sabastian had been victorious, they would be killed or tried by the Inquisition for returning to Judaism.
For our concerns, perhaps the most significant aspect of Yakov Rosales’ enterprises was his close association with his fellow messianist, the Portuguese rabbi of Amsterdam, Menashe ben Yisrael.
R. Menashe ben Yisrael (1604-1657)
Manoel Dias Soeiro, or Menashe ben Yisrael was born in
France just after his parents had fled Portugal. They were related to R. Don Yitzchak
Abravanel (1437-1508). The young Menashe ben Yisrael and his family moved to
the Netherlands in 1610 and Menashe studied in the yeshivas of R. Moses Raphael
de Aguilar and R. Yitzchak Uziel. Later, R. Menashe ben Yisrael became one of the leading rabbis of the large Portuguese community, opened a yeshiva, and established the
first Jewish press in Holland. He became acquainted with Rembrandt who it seems
painted a portrait of his son, Shmuel, although there are divided opinions on
the matter.[5]
R. Menashe ben Yisrael was a foremost Kabbalist and authored an eclectic work entitled Nishmat Chaim [6] on the immortality of the soul. It delas with Church Fathers and Muslim theologians. It engages with rationalists and mystics. It describes how he was visited at dawn one day by an angelic being who instructed him to write this book. The work also describes demons and spirits according to Kabbalah, "demonic possession (as well as sexual relations between demons and living human beings)" (Nadler 2018:147).
R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s deep association with Christian Sebastianism
is placed in further tension when one considers that he also appears to have studied Kabbalah with the former Converso, R. Avraham Cohen de Herrera, a student of the Egyptian rabbi, Yisrael Sarug who, in turn, was a major student of the Ari Zal (=R. Yitzchak Luria, 1534-1572). This means that
R. Menashe ben Yisrael had a direct line to Lurianic Kabbalah. I also
noticed that R. Avraham Cohen de Herrera had written a Kabbalistic work,
in Spanish, entitled Puerta Del Cielo (Shaar haShamayim) which is
very interesting in connection with our study because it discusses the mystical
approaches of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Also significant is that Puerta
Del Cielo is a rare example of a classical Kabbalistic work written
for non-Kabbalists, which means it was intended for the masses.
(Incidentally, in more recent times, Rav Kook was most interested in this
particular book. See: Kotzk
Blog: 170) DID RAV KOOK WANT TO START A NEW CHASSIDIC MOVEMENT?).
R. Menashe ben Yisrael and Padre
António Vieira
Having touched upon the unusual and multi-layered ‘messianic scope’ of R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s Kabbalistic theology, it is easier to understand how R. Menashe ben Yisrael struck an unusual relationship with the Jesuit priest, Padre António Vieira (1608-1697).
Padre António Vieira was an important follower of R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s messianic associate, Yakov Rosales, and was another leading figure of Sebastianist cross-cultural messianism and a member of the Royal Council to the King of Portugal. He bravely spoke out against the Inquisition and the unjust ways Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity were treated by the Church.[7] He believed, like his teacher Yakov Rosales, that Sebastianism could be removed from its predominant Christian setting and be more open to Jewish and Muslim collaboration. He also believed that the Messiah did not have to be King Sebastian himself.
Padre António Vieira travelled twice to Amsterdam to engage extensively with his “fellow messianist” (Goldish 2018:131), R. Menashe ben Yisrael. The padre and the rabbi, together with Yakov Rosales the former Converso, made an unlikely Sebastian messianic trio. All three believed that the Messiah’s arrival ꟷ in whatever manifestation ꟷ was imminent. All believed that the Conversos, because of their split loyalty to Judaism and Christianity were key to the messianic process. Padre António Vieira was particularly fond of the Jews. He wrote:
“God chose those people of the Hebrew Nation to represent Himself, He caused His son to be born from that blood. The greatest saints of the Church, St. John the Baptist, St. Paul, St. Peter, all the apostles, the mother of God, and Christ’s disciples, all belonged to the Hebrew Nation and not to the Gentiles” (Padre António Viera).[8]
Although Padre António Viera and R. Menashe ben Yisrael understood the dogmatic differences between Judaism and Christianity, they were prepared to set “aside their theological differences in the face of the looming redemption” (Goldish 2018:132). Soon, more and more players began to enter the messianic arena. The next influential figure to consolidate this unique form of emergent Sebastianism was another Converso, António de Montezinos.
António de Montezinos
Around 1640, António de Montezinos travelled to the jungles of Central America. There he encountered a tribe that recited the Shema (Nadler 2018:129) and claimed to be one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. António de Montezinos returned to Amsterdam and gave this testimony before the Beit Din (court) over which R. Menashe ben Yisrael presided.
R. Menashe ben Yisrael was deeply moved by the testimony of António de Montezinos concerning the discovery of a Lost Tribe. It fitted his urgent messianic vision where, at the end of days, all the Lost Tribes would return to their roots in Judaism. This inspired R. Menashe ben Yisrael to write another book, Mikve Yisrael (Hope of Israel) in 1650 which was originally written in Latin and dealt with the origins of the Native Americans. It was soon translated into a number of languages including English, which again shows how these messianic works were directed to the general community:
“This book explicitly ties the
evidence of the appearance of the Lost Tribes in America and in various areas
of the world to the expected and impending messianic advent” (Goldish
2018:133).
R. Menashe ben Yisrael established an image of considerable standing amongst Christians, and he was invited to London, to address Oliver Cromwell and Parliament. This was perhaps the first time a Jew was granted official permission to set foot on English soil since the time of King Edward I in1290. R. Menashe ben Yisrael requested the ban against Jews living in England be repealed.
Besides the important politics and advocating on behalf of the Jews, this meeting gives us a window into R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s unusual crossover messianism. This is best expressed in R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s address to Parliament in his seventeenth-century English:
“The opinion of many Christians and mine doe concurre herein, that we both believe that the restoring time of our Nation into their Native Countrey, is very neer at hand; I believing more particularly, that this restauration cannot be, before these words of Daniel, Chap. 12. Ver.7. be first accomplished, when he saith, And when the dispersion of the Holy people shall be completed in all places, then shall all these things be completed: signifying therewith, that before all be fulfilled, the People of God must be first dispersed into all places & Countreyes of the World. Now we know, how our Nation at the present is spread all about, and hath its seat and dwelling in the most flourishing parts of all the Kingdomes, and Countreys of the World, as well in America, as in the other three parts thereof; except onely in this considerable and mighty Island [England].[9] And therefore this remains onely in my judgement, before the Messia come and restore our Nation, that first we must have our seat here likewise” (Wolf 1901:78-9).[10]
Jews were eventually permitted to return to England in 1655, and, by 1690, about 400 Jews had settled in England.[11]
R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s uncommon partnership with Christians on matters messianic is most interesting. His opening statement: “The opinion of many Christians and mine doe concurre herein” is not something one often hears from rabbis. In essence, he is appealing to Parliament and Christians to partner with the Jews to bring the Messiah. In his Sebastianist worldview, the Messiah could only come through intense cooperation between Jews and Christians:
“This episode well illustrates
the unique cultural moment that brought Jews and Christians together in a joint
messianic project” (Goldish 2018:135).
Adam Boreel and the Latin Mishna project
The respected rabbi and famed Kabbalist, R. Menashe ben Yisrael did not stop there. He created another Jewish-Christian partnership, this time together with a Dutch theologian who had broken away from the Dutch Reformed Church, Adam Boreel (1602-1665). Adam Boreel promoted a path for Christians known as sola scriptura, which only included the Bible, and rejected all other forms of Christian dogma. Adam Boreel was associated with Baruch Spinoza after he had been excommunicated from the Jewish community. Adam Boreel also became interested in reconstructing the Jewish Temple.
Adam Boreel and R. Menashe ben Yisrael worked together on a major literary project to translate the entire corpus of the Mishna into Latin. The translation of this text, however, was only half the story, because they further embarked upon a most ambitious and unprecedented scheme. They were going to create a religious school for both Jews and Christians:
“The Mishnah would be used as the curriculum for a Jewish-Christian college, educating youth of both traditions in the practices and views of Jesus’s environment, and of Judaism altogether. This would prepare them to take their place as leaders of the (presumably combined) community in the End Times” (Goldish 2018).
I have come across accounts of schools in the time of
Maimonides where both Jews and Muslims studied together in a Madrassa/Beit
Medrash and only split up for certain subjects ꟷ but I have never encountered
the notion of a “Jewish-Christian college.”[12]
R. Natan Nata Shapira (1585-1633)
R. Natan Shapira of Kraków, also known as the Megaleh Amukot (Revealer of Secrets) after the title of one of his works, was another student of Lurianic Kabbalah from the school of R. Yisrael Sarug and was responsible for the dissemination of the teaching of the Ari Zal.[13]
“[Natan Nata Shapira] also
clarified the mission of Judaism, in light of kabbalistic historiography, as
one that aims to gather up the holy sparks scattered among gentiles in order to
bring redemption nearer” (Rachel Elior in Yivo Encyclopedia).
“Jewish messianists and Christian
millenarians were looking at each other as fellow-participants in a joint
project of preparation for an imminent redemption…[While] Jews and Christians
did not generally believe in each other’s messiahs…they did occasionally
participate in each other’s messianic movements” (Goldish 2018:135-6).[14]
Contemporary parallel?
In our times we find rabbis like Eliezer Melamed (author of the Halachic anthology Peninei Halacha) expressing an interest in Christians who love Israel and views them within a messianic context as fulfilling a biblical prophesy:
“It seems that Christian philo-Semites are undergoing a very impressive process of elevation never previously experienced by Christianity. Therefore, with the appropriate caution, we are spiritually and ethically obligated to relate to this process very positively…‘In the end of days, the Mountain of the Lord’s House shall stand firm…and all the nations shall stream towards it’ (Isaiah 2:2).” (R. Eliezer Melamed, 2013: Christians Fulfilling the Prophecy of Isaiah).[15]
After exploring earlier periods of Jewish history such as Sebastianism,
we see that this phenomenon of some form of ‘messianic crossover’ is not
entirely a new development.
Analysis
Some scholars consider Sebastianism as the spiritual forerunner to Shabbatai Tzvi’s Sabbatianism, which began a mere eight years after the passing of R. Menashe ben Yisrael. Sabbatianism and its messianic offshoot Frankism, eventually resulted in tripartite messianic crossovers embracing Kabbalistic Judaism, Christian millenarianism and Islamic Sufism.
Sabbatianism was by all accounts an extreme mystical movement ꟷ and also extremely successful in terms of the number and calibre of its followers. The astonishing yet common thread that runs through both Sebastianism and Sabbatianism is the sheer number of learned, well-known and respected mainstream rabbis who played key roles in the founding and development of these messianic movements.
After Shabbatai Tzvi’s was exposed as a false Messiah, the communal leaders and rabbis actively destroyed documents and communal records that attested to their commitment to Sabbatianism. Even today, the extent of their involvement is either denied or downplayed. The same attitude is found regarding the contemporary retelling of the history of Sebastianists. Modern biographies of rabbis like R. Natan Shapira and R. Menashe ben Yisrael often omit to inform their readers of how far these rabbis were prepared to go with their messianism. Instead, they are presented as mirroring rabbis as we understand them today.
Within the context of what was predominantly a Christian movement of Sebastianism ꟷ as Goldish has described ꟷ it is interesting to note how benignly some sanitised accounts by certain appointed chroniclers of Jewish history, describe R. Menashe ben Yisrael. In one case, R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s deep mystical participation in Sebastianism including his intense association with ministers and padres is completely ignored. As is his real attempt at establishing Jewish-Christian schools that would study Mishna in Latin (something that would not go down well today) ꟷ writing simply as if describing a typical contemporary rabbi with common messianic beliefs:
“His thorough knowledge of Cabbala helped him also in reaffirming the belief in the coming of the Messiah.”[16]
This is a far cry from R. Menashe ben Yisrael’s actual radical
approach as expressed in his own words, “[t]he opinion of many Christians
and mine doe concurre herein.” These aspects of rabbinic history are often not
acknowledged even tangentially, as the actual historical records continue to be
erased almost as they were in the aftermath of Shabbatai Tzvi, albeit more
subtly and through omission.
A parting note on Jewish messianism
I first came across the notion of messianic crossover some
years ago while writing my Master’s thesis on Jewish Messianism [(99+)
Jewish messianism culminating in the rise and dissemination of Sabbatianism -
An excursion into messianic Kabbalah and its theological enterprises (Master's
Thesis)]. I found myself particularly fascinated ꟷ not just by the history
of messianism and the astonishing ubiquity of messianic claimants ꟷ but by the
common denominator of mainstream rabbinic personalities who always played key
roles in radical (and unrealised) messianism. The thesis demonstrated that for over the
past two and a half thousand years, messianism and its resultant Messiahs usually
emerged as a consequence of the appearance of some new form of mysticism.
[1]
Goldish, M., 2018, ‘Could Early Modern Messianic Movements Cross Religious
Boundaries?’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient,
vol. 61. nos.1-2, 124-146.
[2]
The Modern Period is usually given as between 1500 and 1945.
[3]
Ruderman, D.B., 2011, Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History, Princeton
University Press, Princeton.
[4]
Anacephaleoses da monarchia Luzitana.
[5]
Steven Nadler maintains that this is not the case: Nadler, S., 2018, Menasseh
ben Israel, Rabbi of Amsterdam, Yale University Press, New Haven, 223.
[6]
See https://www.sefaria.org/Nishmat_Chayyim?tab=contents.
[7]
See https://web.archive.org/web/20170709192153/http://upmagazine-tap.com/en/pt_artigos/padre-antonio-vieira-brazil/.
[8]
See: Novinsky, A.,1992, ‘Padre Antonio Vieira, the Inquisition, and the Jews’, Jewish
History 6/1-2. P. 156.
[9]
Square brackets are mine.
[10]
Wolf, L., 1901, Menasseh ben Israel’s Mission to Oliver Cromwell, Macmillan
& Co., London.
[11] See: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/united-kingdom-virtual-jewish-history-tour.
[12]
Popkin, R. H., 1988, ‘Some Aspects of Jewish-Christian Theological Interchanges
in Holland and England, 1640-1700’, in Jewish Christian Relations in the
Seventeenth Century: Studies and Documents. Edited by J. van den Berg and
Ernestine G.E. van der Wall, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 3-32. (It is interesting to
note that Popkin was Goldish’s teacher).
[13]
There is some debate over the identity of R. Natan Shapira:
Rachel Elior points out that there may have been some
confusion between Natan Nata ben Shlomo Shapira and Natan ben Reuven Shapira
haYerushalmi who made contact with Dutch and English Christians. In any case,
many “sources all link him [Natan Nata ben Shlomo] to messianism and
to Christianity [and this] arouses interest, and points to the complexity of
the connection between the Jewish and Christian worlds in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries” (Yivo ibid.).
David Slavin maintains that “His uncle was a famed
kabbalist of the same name who is famous for his Magnus Opus, the ‘Megale
Amukot’.”
See:
ttps://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380411/jewish/Tuv-HaAretz-About-the-Author.htm.
[14]
Elior explains the Christian connection as a mystical paradox where: “Spira
drew a great deal from Christianity and even revived various elements of the
Jewish–Christian tradition that are found in midrashic literature. These common
elements, however, were not regarded by Spira as a basis for affinity and
identification. In his opinion, the Christian messiah was the opposite of the
true messiah, and the Christian religion was a satanic version of the true
faith; similarities between the religions actually make possible the battle
against Christianity and its ‘nullification’” (Yivo ibid.).
[15]
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/christians-fulfilling-the-prophecy-of-isaiah/
[16]
See https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111879/jewish/Menasseh-Ben-Israel.htm.
No comments:
Post a Comment