Shmuel Aboab. Zichron LeB'nei Yisrael [concerning pseudo-messiah Shabthai Tzvi]

(SHABTHAI TZVI).

n.p.

Venice

1668

FIRST EDITION. Rare printed broadside, printed in two columns, with decorative typographic ornaments.

Vinograd, Venice 1380 (not in the National Library of Israel).

Exceptionally rare. According to G. Scholem: “Only a few copies are extant” (Sabbatai Sevi, p. 765, n. 209). Shortly following the scandalous conversion to Islam of Shabthai Tzvi in the Spring of 1668, his ‘prophet’ Nathan of Gaza, appeared in Venice on a clandestine mission heading toward Rome. Nathan was subsequently intercepted and subjected to a tribunal consisting of eight judges and communal leaders: Rabbis Jacob Halevi, Samuel Aboab, Solomon Chai Saraval, Moshe Treves, Senior ibn Danon, Moshe Zacut, Yizchak min HaLeviyim and Yoseph Alvalanci. The cross-examination took place on the night of the 13th of the Omer 1668, at the conclusion of which, Nathan was forced to sign a retraction of his beliefs concerning Sabbatianism, which was confirmed and corroborated by the first three judges. The present historical record of the proceedings was forwarded by the Venetian rabbis to Jewish communities abroad, in order to discredit the erstwhile ‘prophet’ who had so ignominiously promoted Shabthai Tzvi. This text was later appended to Aboab's responsa ‘Devar Shmuel’ (1702). See G. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah (1975) pp. 763-69.