Divrei Nechemiah. Sabbatean Book Disguised as a Kabbalistic Book. Historic Controversy. Rare

Divrei Nechemiah. Sabbatean Book Disguised as a Kabbalistic Book. Historic Controversy. Rare

Divrei Nechemiah - "Novellae on the Torah through Drash and Kabbalah, by the great luminary ... the Kabbalist Rabbi Nechemiah Chiya Chayun from the holy city of Safed ..." Berlin, 1713. Rare only edition.

The book Divrei Nechemiah and its author, Nechemiah Chayun, stood at the center of a huge controversy. The author was a closet Sabbatean and he succeeded in misleading several rabbinic leaders who erroneously thought that he was a prominent Kabbalist and even wrote approbations for his books. At the beginning of this book before us, there are several approbations. The first approbation is by Rabbi David Oppenheim of Prague - one of the most prominent rabbis of his generation! This approbation was also printed in Chayun's other book, Oz L'E-lohim. (For his book Oz L'E-lohim he managed, by trickery, to also obtain an approbation from the author of Semichat Chachamim, who so deeply regretted this that he became ill.)

How did Chayun manage to obtain an approbation from Rabbi Oppenheim, who was one of the rabbinic leaders of his generation, without the latter realizing his true character? Chayun stayed for some time as a guest at Rabbi David Oppenheim's home (he admits as such in the introduction to the book). Given that Rabbi David himself was not then staying at home, and he heard of the author's greatness only from the members of his household and from his disciples, he did not discern Chayun's true character. In his approbation, Rabbi David Oppenheim wrote that he saw only a sample from the book, so he should not really be giving it an approbation, but he heard about the author's greatness and so he wrote an approbation. Among the approbations, there is one from Rabbi Gavriel of Nikolsburg, who claimed afterwards that he did not give an approbation to this book, and not to any similar book, and that the approbation is fraudulent.

A short time after his book was printed, the book and its author were opposed by the geonim Rabbi Naftali Katz, author of Semichat Chachamim, Rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi, the 'Chacham Tzvi, ' Rabbi Gavriel of Nikolsburg and others. The Chacham Tzvi and Rabbi Moshe Chagiz even excommunicated the author, and as a result the 'Chacham Tzvi' was forced to leave Amsterdam. 

[2] 89 [should be: 87] leaves, 18 cm. Rare book.

Moderate-fine condition: Aging stains. Damp stain on the first [35] leaves, without interfering with legibility. Worming perforations. Tears in the margins of several leaves, some restored and most without lack to text. The title page is affixed to paper for reinforcement.

Antique leather binding.

Included The informative article by bibliographer Rabbi Yosef Vichelder in the Torah supplement to the HaMevaser newspaper about the book's author.