Mitpachath Sepharim

EMDEN, JACOB

By The Author

Altona

1768

FIRST EDITION

Vinograd, Altona 88; Mehlman 1050; Raphael 14

Seminal polemic against the Zohar and the undue influence this primary Kabbalistic text held among the Chassidim In this copy many of the controversial passages have been delineated in pencil e.g. (see ff. 10b) - 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 whoevever believes such will be stricken with leprosy... “