Written by Stephanie Oster, Publicity Manager April 22, 2025 Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), Menasseh ben Israel, 1636. The British Museum. The following is the fourth in a series of inside looks at the current exhibition in Princeton University Library’s Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery in Firestone Library: “The Most Formidable Weapon Against Errors: The Sid Lapidus ’59 Collection & the Age of Reason.” Curated by Steven A. Knowlton, Librarian for History and African American Studies, the exhibition celebrates the collecting achievements of Sid Lapidus, Class of 1959, who has devoted many years to the acquisition of rare books that trace the emergence of Enlightenment ideas and their influence on politics, medicine, and society, creating a powerful tool for understanding the ideas that have shaped modern American society. Jews were expelled from England by King Edward I in 1290. During the 1650s, the rabbi Menasseh ben Israel encouraged the republican parliament to re-admit Jews.The laws gradually changed until in 1858 the first Jewish member of parliament was allowed to be seated.Anti-Jewish prejudice, along with concern for religious uniformity, competed with Enlightenment ideals of the natural rights of individuals to participate in their own government and to worship according to their consciences. Many works on this topic from the Lapidus collection were donated to the Center for Jewish History in New York. Henry Jessey (1603–1663), A Narrative of the Late Proceeds at White-hall, Concerning the Jews (London: Printed for L. Chapman, 1656). In the 1650s, the Dutch rabbi Menasseh ben Israel petitioned Oliver Cromwell to re-admit Jews to England. After a debate reproduced in this pamphlet, Cromwell declined to enforce the edict of expulsion.The exhibition is open through June 8, 2025 at the Milberg Gallery in Firestone Library. Please visit the website to view the gallery’s opening hours and for information about public tours and how to visit.
