Nofeth Tzufim [Zohar on the Pentateuch]

(CHOTSH, TZVI HIRSCH)

Shapira Brothers

Zhitomir

1863

Yiddish text. Second edition under this name

Vinograd Zhitomir 310; Liberman, H. Ohel Rachel, Vol. I, pp.417-31

SCARCE, this edition not listed in Friedberg. This work was originally published under the name Nachlath Tzvi in 1711. The publishers in Zhitomir changed its name to Nofeth Tzufim in 1850 and printed it as an anonymous work. Under this name, it became very popular among women as a companion to the Tzenah U-Re-enah. The name of the author was restored in later Vilna editions. Although scholars of different stripes - from the Orthodox Rabbi Reuben Margalioth to the heterodox Prof. Gershom Scholem have detected hints of Chotsh's reverence for the pseudo-Messiah, Shabbetai Tzvi in his work Chemdath Tzvi (on the Tikunei Zohar), the present work, Nofeth Tzufim, seems to be free of such influence. Perhaps the Shapira Brothers changed its title from Nachlath Tzvi and eliminated the name of the author so as to ensure that the name “Tzvi” not appear anywhere in connection with this work. On the author, see B. Naor, Post-Sabbatian Sabbatianism (1999) pp. 79-82