years of the present exile would therefore be 1580 (1549+ 31) i. e. less than the time from Creation to Noah, which was 1656 years. 86

4. That the year 1648 was generally regarded as the miracle year is apparent also from the narrative of Shabbetai Cohen (1622-1662). Shabbatai Cohen, who wrote Seliḥot and Kinot on the persecutions of 1648, intimates in his Megillat 'Afah, a narrative of those tragic events, that all Israel expected the Messiah to come in the year 1648. "The year 1648, concerning which I thought 'on this (year n=1648) will Aaron enter the inner sanctuary,' my harp was turned to mourning and my joy to sorrow, and the Israelites, Levites and Priests were offered up as burnt offerings."'98 That the succeeding decades also were regarded as Messianic is indicated in the inscription on Shabbetai Cohen's tombstone in Holleschau, where the

שנת היום" ב"א year of his death is given in the Gematria of

(1662): "Today is the Messiah come to

redeem."88 His commentary Sifte Kohen on the Shulḥan Aruk, Hoshen Mishpat, which was printed in Amsterdam in 1663, also carries the date in the Gematria of """" (=1663): "The Days of the Messiah."

5. Joseph Sambari, who finished his Chronicle in the year 1672, likewise makes mention of the nigh universal anticipations which were entertained for the year 1648. Speaking of the persecutions of 1648, he says, "and they made a sign for this year 5408 p′′′ "Thorns

and Thistles,"89 for they had thought that that year would be the year of Redemption, according to the Zohar,90 in the year of "the Children of Heth," (n'n "=1648) and now it has turned into a thorn."91

ח"ת)

6. Isaac Cohen, who was the first to publish Isaac Halevi's Pa'aneaḥ Raza, in the year 1607, adds his own calculations to that of the author. Before he embarks

86 See David Holub, o'n л, p. 63.

87 App. to 71' av, ed. M. Wiener, p. 139. 88 See Bernhard Friedberg,

89 Gen. 3.18, in Gematria, = 1648.

.p. 129a פ' חיי שרה 90

5, ed. Drohobycz, 1898 p., 19.

91 Neubauer, Med. Jew. Chron., I, p. 149.

upon his task, he warns the reader not to lose heart if these calculations are found to be as futile as those of the original author. For when all is said and done, we do not know the terminus a quo for all our calculations. The important thing is not to lose hope. He then proceeds to suggest that the two exiles, the Egyptian (400 years) and the Babylonian (70 years), should be taken as a unit (470) years). "Time, times and half a time" would then be three and a half times 470=1645. This is the length of the exile. If this number is counted from the destruction, then the Messiah will come in the year 1713-14.92

But this date is so far off, says the author. Perhaps the reckoning is to begin with the year when the Sanhedrin was expelled, and met in the market place (forty years before the destruction). 93 Then the end would be in the year 1673.94

There is a possibility of even an earlier date, if the period begins with the time when the rabbis declared the lands of the Gentiles unclean (80 years before the destruction). The end would then be in 1633.95

7. Nathan Nata Spira (c. 1584-1633), Rabbi of Cracow, placed the Redemption year in 1725. He bases himself on Deut. 3.25: "Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land" (''''). The Gematria of integrated, i. e. 8, is equal to 1725, whereas the letters

possess the same numerical value as those of לף, יש, די 96.מ'ש'י'ח' ב'ן' ד'ו'ד'

8. Manasseh ben Israel (c. 1604-1657) of all the Messianic speculators was perhaps the only one whose Messianic

92 He gives Gematria for this figure: Deut. 30.3, '''b'y'n 'b'a'b 'q's'a'p'ı =473=1713 C. E.

.c. E 1713=473= והיטבך והרבך מ'א'ב'ו'ת'יך',5 Also verse

.c. E 1714=473=ותרבה הד'ע'ת'

This means that Messiah would come in the 474th year. Hence Dan. 12.4.

C. E.

93 'Ab. Zar., 8b.

94 As proof he offers the Gematria, m' 'pa pyn '''n=433=1673

. . 1673 = והביאך.. אל הארץ אשר ירשו א'ב'ו'ת'י'ך',30.5 .Also Deut והביאך ה' א'ל'ה'ך' אילי ה'א'ר'ץ',30.5 .The Gematria for this figure is Deut 96

=393-1633 c. E. See mзy (64b).

96

nippy пhip, Cracow, 1637, p. 165d:

ואראה את הארץ הוא סוד משיח בן דוד, ר"ל כשתמלא אותיות ארץ כזה אלף ריש צדי הנעלם שהיא ליף, י"ש, ד"י עולה משיח בן דוד בסוד.... וכבוד ה' מלא אר"ץ ר"ל אימתי יהיה כבוד ה' מלאה כשתמלא אותיות אר"ץ דהיינו כשיבא משיח שנרמז במילוי ארץ.

interest led to tangible results of historical value and benefit to his people. It was his firm conviction that the hour of redemption was near at hand, waiting only upon a complete dispersion of Israel throughout the world. This strong belief prompted him to petition Cromwell for the readmission of the Jews into England (1655).

In his Vindiciae Judaeorum, Manesseh writes: "For I conceived that our universal dispersion was a necessary circumstance to be fulfilled before all that shall be accomplished which the Lord hath promised to the people of the Jews, concerning their restoration and their returning again into their own land."97 Though his petition was not formally granted, the way was paved for the unopposed infiltration of the Jews into England, and for their organization into community life.

Manasseh ben Israel was opposed to Messianic calculations, 98 but he was firmly of the opinion that the time of the Messiah's appearance was very near at hand. In his address to the Lord Protector he writes of "the approaching deliverance of Israel," and in his Declaration to the Commonwealth of England he gives as the second motive for his mission to that country, "because the opinion of many Christians and mine do concur herein, that we both believe that the restoring time of our Nation into their Native Country is very near at hand."100 In section 29 of his Mikweh Israel, he writes: "Yet this I can affirm that it shall be at the end of this age. . . though we cannot exactly show the time of our redemption, yet we judge it to be near."101 He gives four reasons for this belief: (1) The present fortunes of Israel are so low that they cannot be aught else, but the tribulations announced by the prophets as precedent to the advent of the Messiah. “Oh, how have we seen these things in the banishment of England, France and Spain!" The Inquisition, the un

97 See Lucien Wolf, Manasseh ben Israel's Mission to Cromwell, London, 1901, p. 143.

98 See infra., pp. 237-8.

99 Op. cit., p. 78.

100 Ibid., p. 79.

101 Ibid., p. 36.

numbered martyrdoms and the nigh universal persecutions are fulfilment of ancient prophecies. But "if the Lord fulfil his word in calamities, he will fulfil it also in felicities."102 (2) Israel's constancy under such suffering is proof that God has reserved us for better things. The beginning of these better things in the midst of great misfortune is even now visible. He points to the favor in which certain prominent Jews have been held in recent times by rulers and peoples; to the Abarbanel family; to the diplomat Rabbi Solomon ben Nathan Ashkenazi; to Abraham Alhulu, treasurer to the Pasha of Egypt; to Don Joseph Nasi, and to many others.103 (3) Israel must be scattered through all the corners of the world before they can be redeemed. This is clearly the meaning of Dan. 12.7; "And when the scattering of the holy people shall have an end, all these things shall have been fulfilled." "And this appears now to be done when as our synagogues are found in America." According to Deut. 28.64, the dispersion must be "from one end of the earth to the other." The Jews were now in the one extreme end of the earth-America. If they could also be established in the other-England-the prophecy would be fulfilled.104 (4) It is now clear that the prophecy of the two legs of the

102 Ibid., p. 48. This belief, which was universally held, is succinctly

אמרו ישראל רבש"ע אימת את גואלינו. א'ל לכשתרדו :summarized by one of the Rabbis

dɔnn bæɑ ɔw nyʊ anıs ayınana n¬¬↳ (Mid. Sh. Tob. Tehil. 45).

103 Op. cit., pp. 48-51.

104 Ibid., p.52. The thought that the presence of Jews in the extremes of the earth is tantamount to their dispersion in every land is already found

(Sarmatia) דומה כמו שגליתם כולכם.. ונשתעבדתם בע' אומות :2.19 .in Mid. Shir R

"DO OD TANI "7a7ab nb12 oɔd 708 (see also Pesik. R., ed. Friedmann, chap. 15, p. 71b. Here a late version is quoted which substitutes (Britain) for "ooh). A mystic explanation of this belief, rather widely

Israel must be scattered .לקוטי תורה וטעמי המצות held, is given by Vital in his

among all the nations, in order that it might bring up again the "sparks of holiness" which fell among these peoples and it is sufficient if only one Israelite

.וע"כ נגזר על ישראל שישתעבדו בע' :is found among each people to accomplish this ,1879 ,ibid., ed. Wilna) אומות כולם להוציא הניצוצין שנפלו בכל אומה ואומה

p. 131a). Jacob Anatoli (first half of 13c.) suggests as the reason for the universal dispersion at the time of Redemption the possibility of converting the whole world to God: "and the fact our being scattered among all the nations at the time of the Redemption will be instrumental in 'turning to the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord'" (Zeph. 3.9; see ¤¬п ¬¤¤, ed. Lyck, 1866, p. 97a).

image of Nebuchadnezzar, which is to be overthrown by the Fifth Monarchy, refers to the Ottoman race. This clear understanding of prophecies hitherto obscure is a sign of Messianic times, for so says Dan. 12.4: "Then knowledge shall be increased."105

Manasseh devoted a whole book to the interpretation of the Image of Nebuchadnezzar-Piedra Gloriosa o de la Estatua de Nebuchadnesar10s which he dedicated to Isaac Vossius and for which Rembrandt made four etchings.

Manasseh thus sums up his thesis in this book:

Whereby one sees in this prophecy five propositions diffusely expressed, namely:

I. That by those four figures of beasts the four Monarchies are signified, as it says in verse 17: these beasts are four, four monarchies, this being described with all the circumstances and typified by the Statue of Nebuchadnesar.

II. That the fourth Monarchy will be divided into two nations, of different laws, this division being made by the little Mohammedan horn, and they are the two legs of the Statue.

III. That this Roman empire will be divided into ten kingdoms, which are the ten horns derived from that beast and the ten toes of the Statue.

IV. That after the termination and destruction of these kingdoms there will follow the Monarchy of Israel, as it is the holy people and the stone which turns into a mountain, filling up the whole world.

V. That this Monarchy of Israel will be temporal and terrestrial, as it says "under the heaven”; all that which the Lord revealed to Nebuchadnesar, in a general way, as to a heathen, he explained again with more diffusion and latitude and other circumstances perfectly to Daniel, revealing to him at the same time the duration of the fourth Monarchy, although in such enigmatic terms that he alone understood them and kept them in his heart, as he affirms himself in the last words of this chapter.107

10% Op. cit., p. 52.

106 Amsterdam, 1655. 107 Op. cit., pp. 254-5.