(Attributed to Nathan of Gaza). Chemdath Yamim ["Delight of Days:” Kabbalistic homilies through the year].

(KABBALAH)

n.p.

Venice

1763

Four volumes. Lengthy Hebrew manuscript notes in an Italian hand on front and back endpapers of vol. I discussing the nature of this work and recording that writes that in Germany and Poland authorities stated that this work should be burned. Printed on thicker paper.

Vinograd, Venice 1963

Rarely has a single book generated such controversy as the anonymously penned Chemdath Yamim. There are those who cannot lavish enough praise on the work’s superior literary style and content, which is held to be conducive to sincere piety. At the other extreme, there are those, especially in the Aschkenazic community, who regard the book with deep suspicion, viewing it as the illegitimate brainchild of some lingering post-Sabbatian elements. Suspected within the text are cryptic references to the supposedly fallen “Messiah” that found their way past internal rabbinic censorship. Nonetheless, the Chemdath Yamim became a favorite within the Sephardic literary world and no warnings of the anti-Sabbatian R. Jacob Emden could wean Sephardic Jewry away from this literary masterpiece. Chemdath Yamim first appeared in Izmir in 1732 and then Constantinople in 1735; the present four volume third edition is by far the most elegant.