Hebrew Bible

[Hebrew Bible]. Ḥamishah ḥumshey Torah, parshiyotav petuḥot u-setumot ... u-nebiyim, rishonim ve-aḥaronim u-khetuvim.
[Amsterdam]: Menasseh ben Israel, for Henricus Laurentius, 1630. (AFH4167/B)

This is the first edition of the Hebrew Bible edited and printed by Menasseh ben Israel (1604–1657). Born to a Portuguese converso family that returned to Judaism in the relatively tolerant environment of Amsterdam, Menasseh became that city’s leading rabbi and was also widely respected as a scholar and diplomat in Christian circles. In 1626 he established the first Hebrew printing press in the Protestant Netherlands, and he was instrumental in negotiating the return of Jews to England in 1655 following an exile of 365 years.