Devar Shmuel [responsa]. With supplement (often lacking): Zichron LeB’nei Yisrael [concerning the pseudo-messiah Shabthai Tzvi].

In the Spring of 1668, shortly after the scandalous conversion to Islam by Shabthai Tzvi, his “prophet” Nathan of Gaza appeared in Venice on a clandestine mission heading toward Rome. Nathan was intercepted and subjected to a tribunal consisting of three judges: Rabbis Jacob Halevi, Samuel Aboab, and Solomon Chai Saraval. The cross-examination took place on the night of the 13th of the Omer 1668 at the conclusion of which Nathan was forced to sign a retraction of his beliefs concerning Sabbatianism. The proceedings, entitled “Zichron LeB’nei Yisrael,” were then forwarded by the Venetian rabbis to Jewish communities abroad, in order to discredit the erstwhile “prophet” who had so ignominiously promoted Shabthai Tzvi messianism. The historical record of these deliberations are preserved at the conclusion of Aboab’s responsa here (ff. 95b-97b).