Raza DeYichuda ["The Mystery of Unity": Kabbalistic meditations on the Shema]. Appended: Kether Elyon ["Supernal Crown": Ten Sephiroth in the form of a liturgical poem]

CHAYUN, NECHEMIAH CHIYA

Bragadin

Venice

1711

FIRST EDITION. Two parts in one.

Vinograd, Venice 1599

Chayun’s first published work, the first in a series of highly controversial texts championing the heresies of the false Messiah Shabbetai Tzvi. Surprisingly, the book was supported with generous approbations by members of the Venetian Rabbinate, who were apparently unaware of the Author’s intent. It was not until some two years later, upon his arrival in Amsterdam in 1713, that the true invidiousness of Chayun’s intentions was first brought to light by the Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam’s Aschkenazi Community, the Chacham Zvi. Soon, most of Europe’s Rabbinic Establishment sought to severely censure Chayun’s heretical writings. Indeed, the Chief Rabbinate of Livorno consigned the book to flames. However, Rabbi Samson Morpurgo of Ancona, perhaps fearful of the reaction of the Church to Jews burning their own books, instructed all copies of the Raza DeYichuda to be gathered together and buried. See M. Benayahu, Haskamah Ureshut Bedefusei Venezia (1971) pp. 108-12; see also E. Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy (1990) pp. 94-5. Due to the ensuing controversy, the Raza DeYichuda was the last Hebrew book to obtain a strict copyright from the Venetian Rabbinate, who henceforth removed themselves from such regulatory issues, rather than face further embarrassment.