Silver Medallion Commemorating 300 Years of Jewish Settlement in Great Britain

Silver Medallion Commemorating 300 Years of Jewish Settlement in Great Britain

Silver Medallion Commemorating 300 Years of Renewed Jewish Settlement in Great Britain 1656 -1956.

Design: Paul Vincha [stamped on obverse]. Obverse: Woman holding a scroll in one hand with the years 1656 and 1956 on it, with a star of David between them. A board inscribed: 'You will know that your tent is at peace.' is in her other hand. RESETTLEMENT OF THE JEWS IN GT. BRITAIN is written around the medal, as well as 300TH ANNIVERSARY. Reverse: Seven-branched menorah with the image of Oliver Cromwell side by side with Menasseh Ben Israel.

Cromwell [1599-1658]: English military leader and diplomat, leader of the parliamentary forces in the civil war in England, who led them to victory.

Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel: [1604-1657]: Rabbi and preacher, founder of the first Hebrew press in Ashterdam and diplomat who worked on behalf of diaspora Jewry.

The images of the two appear on the medallion due to the fact that in December 1655 the Whitehall Conference was assembled to debate the right of Jews to return to England and live there as subjects recognized by the government after they were expelled in 1290. Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel was invited to England by Cromwell as a representative of the Jewish people in order to participate in the polemic. Rabbi Ben Israel stayed in England about two years and put a lot of effort into the matter, but was forced to leave the country before an agreement was reached, due to the death of his son. However, years after his passing in 1664, the London community merited official protection and a Jewish community began to reestablish there thanks to the early efforts of Ben Israel, whose greatest influence was the moment of the appointment of Benjamin Disraeli, a Jew,  as Prime Minister of Britain in 1868.

Weight: 36 grams.

Diameter: 39 mm.

Fine condition.