Sephath Emeth VeLashon Zehorith [polemic, includes letters in support of Jacob Emden in his pursuit of, and accusations against, Jonathan Eybeschütz]

RARE RELIC OF THE EMDEN-EYBESCHÜTZ CONTROVERSY Despite his Talmudic genius and widely acclaimed erudition, the newly-installed rabbi of the triple community of Altona-Hamburg-Wandsbeck, Jonathan Eybeschütz (commonly referred to as “R. Jonathan Prager” after his previous rabbinate), arrived with a troubled history. As early as 1725 he had fallen under suspicion of being a crypto-Sabbatian (secret believer in the long discredited Shabbetai Tzevi as Messiah). At that time he was able to silence his detractors by signing onto a formal ban against the Sabbatians. His opponent Rabbi Jacob Emden of Altona was aware of these previous accusations and seized upon several kabbalistic amulets Eybeschütz dispensed during his sojourn in Metz, France. (Eybeschütz served as rabbi of Metz during the years1741-1750.) According to Emden, the amulets whose text appears in the present diatribe, contain several references to Shabbetai Tzevi. Emden supposedly offers the accused a fair hearing, calling upon Eybeschütz to defend himself by providing alternate explanation of the amulets. Eybeschütz took up the offer in his work Luchoth Eduth (1755) in which he attempted to demonstrate that the amulets convey a different sense altogether. Prof. Gershom Scholem found Eybeschütz's reading forced. See G. Scholem, Kabbalah(1974), pp. 280-281; also E. Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy (1990), pp. 177-182; EJ, Vol. VI, cols. 1074-1076. It should be noted that the illustrious Chassidic master Rabbi Nachman of Braslav stated that he would have been able to clear Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschütz’s name by revealing the true meaning of the amulets. For example, the word “mevicho” (f.12r.) rather than being a veiled reference to “meshicho” (Messiah) by a permutation known as Atbash, as charged by Emden, is actually the initials of the verse “ve-Noach matza chen be-eynei Hashem” (Genesis 6:8), a name used in the adjuration of angels see Chayei Moharan (Jerusalem, n.d.), Avodat Hashem, par. 19 (pp. 443-444)