Hebrew title of the book,Miqveh Israel,while alluding to the Hebrew rootqvh
(“to hope”), alludes also to the restorative messianic vision;miqvehalso means a
“concentration of water.” Historian Ernestine Wall puts it well: “The Jewish
Rabbi and his millenarian friends were all living in the ‘miqweh Israel,’ the
hope of the assembling restoration of the Jews. There was a kind of brother-
hood between them.”^45
In addition to consolidating this brotherhood, the discussion regarding the
ten tribes provided the rabbi with an opportunity to perform a sort of irenic
scholarship intended to alleviate conflicts rather than deepen them—as Eras-
mus ( 1469 – 1538 ) conceived of its role. While the great Dutch theologian
thought of irenism in the context of removing conflicts among Christians
in the wake of the Reformation, Ben-Israel expanded it to Jewish-Christian
relations. HisConciliador,which reconciled thousands of conflicting passages
in the Bible, was intended for a Christian readership.^46 Even though it was not
a work of scriptural exegesis,Hope of Israelis full of irenic statements.^47
Hope of Israel,then, was born amid millenarian and messianic moods, in
the context of a friendly, brotherly, Jewish-Christian dialogue over questions of
the restoration of the Jews. The ten tribes were considered an important part of
Israel and mattered in the context of its restoration, within either the Christian
or Jewish realm. In this regard, Ben-Israel’sHope of Israelrepresents the
culmination of centuries of Christian-Jewish exchanges and dialogues, direct
and indirect, over the significance of the lost part of Israel, and the concord of
the two religions. As Ben-Israel wrote, “All which things of necessity must be
fulfilled, that soIsraelat last being brought back to [its] own place; peace which
is promised under the Messiah, may be restored to the world; & concord, which
is the only Mother of all good things.”^48
A Historical Portrait of World Wanderers
The more practical issue at stake, however, was thelocationof the people of
Israel. In this regard as well,Hope of Israelis the climax of a tacit Jewish-
Christian dialogue. Truthful to his ideal of irenic scholarship, Ben-Israel
produced the most inclusive treatise on the ten lost tribes ever undertaken
up to his time: “I have collected many acts of the Jewes, and many histories out
of the Hebrewes, the Arabians, the Grecians, the Latines, and other Authors of
other nations.”^49 Ben-Israel covered almost every Jewish source available to
him at the time, up to Isaac Abravanel. He also included every well-known
Roman and Greek geographer and historian. The list of Christian sources
was equally comprehensive, including several church fathers, such thinkers