orig. Manoel Dias Soeiro
born 1604, Lisbon?
died Nov. 20, 1657, Middelburg, United Provinces of the Netherlands
Portuguese-born Dutch Hebrew scholar and Jewish leader.
He was born to a family of Marrano s whom persecution drove to Amsterdam. A brilliant theology student, he became rabbi of a Portuguese congregation in Amsterdam in 1622 and established the first Hebrew printing press there in 1626. In the belief that the messiah would come only when the Jews were dispersed throughout the world, he lobbied the English government to allow Jews to live in England, and he wrote Vindication of the Jews (1656). His efforts led to unofficial English acceptance of Jewish settlement and, after his death, to the granting of an official charter of protection to the Jews of England in 1664.