(Dionysius). Le'eynei Kol Yisrael [Halachic polemic concerning a ruling on an inheritance action]

An inheritance action brought by Mussaphia’s daughter was set aside on the grounds that the witnesses, as beneficiaries themselves, were invalid. Mussaphia gained broad attention among Gentile scholarly circles for his scientific and medical writings and disrepute among the Rabbis of Amsterdam for his support of Shabbetai Tzvi. It is not surprising that Jacob Sasportas, a zealous fighter against the Shabbateans, reprinted the present small tract work in his Va’yakam Eyduth Be’ya’acov with his own polemical attack. On Mussaphia’s involment in the Shabbatian Movement see: G. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, The Mystical Messiah (1973) p.541.