England's End, Israel's Friend
The Jews were expelled from England by Edward I in the year 1290. More than 16,500 Jews were forced to leave the country, and for over three centuries, no Jewish community existed there.
In 1655 the renowned Dutch rabbi and writer Menashe ben Israel4 (1604-1657) looking for freedom to practice Judaism openly, Amsterdam became a safe haven. Its liberal laws granted its Jewish inhabitants to freely engage in commerce, and many of the Jews there amassed affluence and power. In a short time,
4 He was given the name Manoel Dias Soerio when he was born. Born as a Marrano in Portugal, Menashe and his family escaped the Inquisition and moved to Amsterdam, where they returned to practicing Judaism publicly. For many Jews
convinced Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, to permit the Jews to return. Although Jews were allowed to resettle, they were not granted the right to become naturalized English citizens until 1753.
Menashe believed that the ultimate redemption of the Jewish people could not arrive until the prophecies in sefer Devarim and Daniel—that the Jews would be exiled to the ends of the earth— had been fulfilled. By opening England to Jewish settlement, he felt he would help spread the Diaspora and thereby hasten the coming of Moshiach.
Menashe convinced Cromwell that allowing Jews to return was important to the Christian religion. At the same time, Menashe hoped to provide a refuge for Jews fleeing the devastating Chmielnicki massacres.
Once permission was granted for Jewish settlement, twenty Marrano families openly declared their Judaism. With a Sefer Torah sent from Amsterdam, they opened a shul on Creechurch Lane in London, laying the foundation for the reestablishment of Jewish life in England.
Over the following centuries, England's Jewish community flourished. Its impact extended far beyond Britain's borders. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration, through which Great Britain agreed to help establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, was a direct result of the influence of England's Jewish community. That declaration eventually led to the founding of the State of Israel.