Tochachath Megulah VehaTzad Nachash ["An Open Rebuke and The Serpent Hunter: anti-Sabbatian polemic]. Two parts in one

ERGAS, JOSEPH

for Moses Hagiz

London

1715

FIRST EDITION

Vinograd, London 29; Roth, London 8; Mehlman 1700

Kabbalist Joseph Ergas (1685-1730) was a Livornese Rabbi, who amidst a post-Sabbatian controversy attacks here the theology of Nechemiah Chiya Hayun. The polemic contains both kabbalistic refutations of the legitimacy of Sabbatian mystical belief and harsh invective against Hayun personally. The second part of the volume (“The Serpent Hunter”) is a reply to Hayun’s attack upon R. Tzvi Aschkenazi (known as "Chacham Tzvi"), entitled HaTzad Tzvi (“The Deer Hunter"). See E. Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy (1990), pp.137-43; and B. Naor, Post-Sabbatian Sabatianism (1999), pp.145-49