Every England Jewish heritage tour I lead has a turning point, and it is this one. After the medieval communities, after the massacre at York and the stone houses of Lincoln, after the long silence of the expulsion, there comes the return. In 1656, after three hundred and sixty-six years, Jews were permitted to live openly in England again. I have watched groups visibly change when we reach this part of the story. The grief that has been building lifts, just a little, and something hopeful enters the room. That movement, from absence to return, is the spine of the whole journey.
This is the story of the resettlement, the two men at the heart of it, and how a group walks it on the ground.
A Door Closed for 366 Years
To understand the return, you have to hold the length of the absence. From the expulsion of 1290 until 1656, there were essentially no openly practicing Jews in England. That is three and a half centuries. Entire dynasties of English history, the Wars of the Roses, the Tudors, Henry VIII and the break with Rome, Elizabeth I and the Armada, all of it passed without a Jewish community on English soil.
There were exceptions in the shadows. A handful of Jews, often Sephardic merchants from Spain and Portugal living outwardly as Christians, conducted business quietly in London and other ports. But there was no community, no synagogue, no open Jewish life. The expulsion had done its work, and England remained, on paper, a country without Jews. For the story of how that absence began, see our piece on the expulsion of 1290.
Menasseh ben Israel: The Man Who Made the Case
The return did not happen by accident, and it did not happen first in the halls of power. It happened because one man set out to make it happen. Menasseh ben Israel was a rabbi, scholar, and printer in Amsterdam, the great center of Sephardic Jewish life in the seventeenth century. He was learned, eloquent, and deeply connected across the Christian and Jewish worlds of his day, and he became convinced that England should reopen its doors to the Jews.
His reasons were both practical and profound. Some were rooted in the messianic thought of the age, a belief in certain circles that the dispersal of the Jews to the far corners of the earth, including the island of England, was a condition for the redemption of the world. Some were straightforwardly humane: a place of refuge for a persecuted people. In 1655 he traveled to London and presented his case directly, publishing his appeal, the Humble Addresses, and petitioning the government for the readmission of the Jews.
I always make sure a group meets Menasseh ben Israel as a person, not a footnote. The return was argued for. Someone crossed the sea, wrote the documents, sat in the rooms, and pressed the case. That human agency matters in a story that has so much that was done to the Jews. Here is a moment when a Jew acted, and the course of history bent.
Cromwell and the Quiet Readmission
On the English side stood Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth after the execution of Charles I. Cromwell convened a conference at Whitehall in 1655 to consider Menasseh ben Israel’s petition. The debate was real and the opposition was fierce, from merchants who feared competition and from theologians who objected on religious grounds. No formal, public act of readmission emerged. The conference ended without a clear decree.
And yet the door opened. Cromwell, for reasons both sympathetic and pragmatic, including a recognition of the commercial value that a Jewish merchant community could bring to England, allowed the matter to proceed quietly. In 1656, the small community of Sephardic Jews already living discreetly in London was permitted to worship openly, to acquire a burial ground, and to begin building a real, visible Jewish life. There was no grand proclamation. The readmission was practical, low-key, almost informal. But it was real, and it held.
I am honest with groups about this. The return was not a great act of welcome. It was a quiet calculation that left a door ajar. But people walked through that door, and from that narrow opening grew everything that followed: Bevis Marks Synagogue in 1701, the great Anglo-Jewish families, the East End immigration of the nineteenth century, the whole modern story of Jews in Britain.
Walking the Return With a Group
The resettlement is a London story, and London is where a group walks it. The community that returned in 1656 settled in the City of London, and within a generation they built Bevis Marks Synagogue, which stands and functions to this day. To visit Bevis Marks knowing the story of 1656 is to stand inside the answer to the expulsion of 1290. The arc closes in that room.
This is why I structure England itineraries so the return comes last. A group that has walked medieval York and Lincoln, that has felt the weight of the expulsion, arrives at Bevis Marks not as tourists at an old building but as people witnessing a resurrection. The candelabra, the original benches, the unbroken centuries of worship, all of it means more when you know what came before. For the full account of the synagogue, see our piece on Bevis Marks.
Heritage Tours builds England journeys so the whole story unfolds in order: the medieval communities, the rupture of 1290, the long absence, and the return of 1656 that made modern Anglo-Jewry possible. We handle the route, the sites, the advance booking at Bevis Marks, and the timing, and we prepare group leaders to teach the return as the hopeful hinge it is. Group leaders travel free with fifteen or more participants.
To plan the journey, start with our England Jewish heritage hub, our England destination page, and our group heritage tours.
FAQ: The Resettlement of Jews in England in 1656
Who was responsible for the return of Jews to England? Two figures stand at the heart of it. Menasseh ben Israel, a rabbi and scholar from Amsterdam, made the case for readmission, traveling to London in 1655, publishing his appeal, and petitioning the government. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, convened a conference to consider the petition and, though no formal decree emerged, allowed Jewish life to resume quietly. The return in 1656 was the result of Menasseh’s advocacy and Cromwell’s pragmatic willingness to leave the door open.
Why did Cromwell allow Jews to return? Cromwell’s motives were a mix of the sympathetic and the practical. Some in his circle held religious and messianic views that favored welcoming the Jews. More concretely, Cromwell recognized the commercial value that a community of Sephardic merchants could bring to England’s trade. The readmission was never a grand act of welcome. It was a quiet calculation that left the door ajar, and the small Jewish community already in London walked through it.
Was there a formal law readmitting the Jews? No. The Whitehall conference of 1655 ended without a clear, public decree, partly because of opposition from merchants and theologians. Instead, the readmission happened informally. From 1656, the Sephardic community already living discreetly in London was permitted to worship openly, acquire a burial ground, and build a visible Jewish life. The absence of a formal law is itself part of the story: the return was quiet and pragmatic rather than proclaimed.
How long had Jews been absent from England before 1656? Three hundred and sixty-six years. From the Edict of Expulsion in 1290 until the resettlement in 1656, there were essentially no openly practicing Jews in England. The Tudor era, the Reformation, and much of English history passed without a Jewish community on English soil. The 1656 return finally closed that long absence.
How do groups visit the story of the resettlement today? The resettlement is a London story. The community that returned in 1656 settled in the City of London and within a generation built Bevis Marks Synagogue, which still stands and functions. Visiting Bevis Marks with the story of 1656 in mind is to stand inside the answer to the expulsion of 1290. Heritage Tours structures England itineraries so the return comes last, after the medieval communities and the expulsion, letting the arc close where it belongs.
If you want your community to feel the full sweep of the Jewish story in England, from rupture to return, the resettlement is where hope re-enters the journey. We would be glad to help you build it. Contact us whenever you are ready.