Sepher Nitzachon [“Book of Victory”: anti-Christian polemic]

The intent of Muelhausen’s Sepher Nitzachon, composed in 1390, was to serve as an instruction to the ordinary Jew as to how to respond if confronted by Christians seeking to prove the veracity of their religion over Judaism. Following the Biblical order, Muelhausen here refutes the Christian interpretations of the Bible and the doctrines derived from them, and in so doing, incidentally provides many exegetic insights. His method is to expose the Christian lack of understanding of Hebrew sources with their linguistic and contextual associations and to deride aspects of the Christian religion. The final two chapters notes Muelhausen’s important debate with the Jewish apostate Peter (pp. 191-95) and the responses of R. David Kimchi (pp.196-200). For the fullest, in depth treatment of Muelhausen, see Judah (Even Shmuel) Kaufman, R. Yom Tov Lipmann Muelhausen (1927); J. Rosenthal, Anti-Christian Polemics from Its Beginnings to the End of the 18th Century, Aresheth II, pp.142-146; Carmilly-Weinberger, pp.186-87; EJ XI, cols. 499-502