Mitpachath Sepharim [“Wrapping of Books”]

Jacob Emden’s Vituperative Attack upon the Zohar Seminal polemic against the Zohar and the undue influence this primary Kabbalistic text held among the Sabbatians. In this copy many of the controversial passages have been delineated in pencil. See for example f.10v. where Emden writes: “My heart is bitter and broken to see what is written in a so called holy book (i.e the Zohar), this thing which is absurd and makes no sense. For to corrupt our mother’ s Torah and attribute such nonsense to R. Shimon Bar Yochai is shameful and whoever believes such will be stricken with leprosy... “ In many places he bemoans the fact that the “wicked, accursed group” of followers of Shabbetai Tzvi use certain passages for their nefarious purposes. “They will even accost a donkey in the marketplace” (ff. 17v and 32r)