Who was Menasseh ben Israel and why was he so important — not just to the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam whom he served as rabbi, but to the wider European “Republic of Letters"? Gentile scholars and theologians especially, including messianists and millenarians waiting for the (second) coming of the Messiah and the inauguration of the World-to-Come, all regarded Menasseh as the go-to person for Jewish views on a variety of religious and philosophical topics. In this lecture we will look at Menasseh’s various activities as rabbi, author, printer/publisher — he was the first printer of Hebrew books in Amsterdam — and even consultant to Rembrandt.