BEN ISRAEL, a celebrated rabbi, the son of a rich merchant, was born in Spain about 1604. At an early age he fled along with his father from the terrors of the Inquisition, and repaired to Holland. In his eighteenth year he succeeded his teacher Isaac Uziel as expounder of the Talmud in the synagogue at Amsterdam. His great work, Conciliador nel Penateuco, Amsterdam, 1632, introduced him to the favourable notice of the learned among both Jews and Christians. In the following year a Latin translation, by Dionysius Vossius, appeared under the title of Conciliator, sive de Conveniencia Locorum S. Scripturae quae pugnare esse videtur. About 1639 the seizure of his property by the Spanish Inquisition drove him to settle at Basle as a merchant. Induced soon afterwards to visit England in the hope of obtaining more privileges for his nation, Menasseh was favourably received and entertained by Cromwell. He died at Amsterdam about 1659. The rest of Menasseh's important works are,—an edition of the Hebrew Bible, without points, in 2 vols. 4to, Amsterdam, 1635; an edition of the Talmud, with notes, Svo, Amsterdam, 1633; De Resurrectione Mortuorum libri iii., Svo, Amsterdam, 1636; De Fragilitate Humana ex Lapide Adami, de quo Divino Auxilio, Amsterdam, 1642; Spes Israelis, 12mo, Amsterdam, 1650; and A Defence of the Jews in England, London, 1656. The Conciliador has been translated into English, by E. H. Linde, in 2 vols. Svo, London, 1842. Dr Thomas Pococke has written the Life of Menasseh in English.