Anonymous (attributed to Chaim Abulafia). Chemdath Yamim [liturgy].

(SABBATIANISM).

Aaron & Gershon, Sons of Chaim David Segal

Zolkiew

1744

Two volumes.

Vinograd, Zolkiew 115.

On the surface, Chemdath Yamim (“Delight of Days”) is a fine esthetic distillation of Lurianic kabbalah applied to the cycle of the Jewish year. Israel Zinberg could not lavish enough praise on the literary style of Chemdath Yamim. The popularity of the work is attested to by the many editions it went through within a very short period of time. Below the surface however, there is an undercurrent of crypto-Sabbatianism. Rabbi Jacob Emden discovered in this work three festival songs composed by Nathan of Gaza, the “prophet” of the pseudo-Messiah of Izmir, Shabbetai Zevi. The book was greatly revered in the Sephardic world, while among Ashkenazim, due to the efforts and influence of Rabbi Jacob Emden, it fell into disrepute. This Zolkiew edition has attempts to deflect critics’ claim that the work is Sabbatian in character. See Israel Zinberg, A History of Jewish Literature, Vol. V (The Jewish Center of Culture in the Ottoman Empire), pp. 151-160; Abraham Yaari, Ta’alumath Sepher (1954); Isaiah Tishby, Kiryat Sefer 54:586, n. 7; Tarbiz 50 (1981) pp. 463-514; Bezalel Naor, Post-Sabbatian Sabbatianism (1999) pp. 58-68; Moshe Fogel, “The Sabbatian Character of Hemdat Yamim: A Re-examination,” in: Rachel Elior (ed.) The Sabbatian Movement and Its Aftermath: Messianism, Sabbatianism and Frankism II (2001), pp. 365-422.