Nachlath Shivah [contract law]

HALEVI, SAMUEL BEN DAVID.

Uri Fayvish ben Aaron HaLevi

Amsterdam

1667

First Edition. Title within historiated architectural border

Vinograd, Amsterdam 352; Fuks, Amsterdam 310

The year of publication expressed as an acrostic on the title: “Shenath Mashiach ben David Ba” (The year the Messiah has arrived) reflects the Messianic expectation that gripped the Amsterdam Jewish community, fomented by Shabbethai Zevi. There is a second allusion to the arrival of the Messiah at the end of the introduction (f. 5a).The author himself however, was apparently not a Sabbathian as the work contains a laudatory approbation from the virulent anti-Sabathian Jacob Sasportas