Luchoth Eiduth [polemic].

EYBESCHEUTZ, YONATHAN.

Aaron Katz

Altona

1755

FIRST EDITION. Kabbalistic diagram on f. 63. Autograph marginalia (see esp. f. 72v).

Vinograd, Altona 57.

Eybescheutz’s defense from the calumnious charges of Sabbatian heresy made by R. Ya’akov Emden. Includes section of character-testimonies on behalf of Eybescheutz from leading Rabbinic figures - including the Gaon of Vilna (see f. 71v). The controversy over Eybescheutz’s alleged Sabbatianism was one of the greatest scandals of mid-18th century European Jewry. While some attempted to mediate, such as the Noda Beyehudah, the bitter argument served to split much of the Ashkenazic rabbinic world. Never truly resolved, this internal division would do great harm to the rabbinates’ attempted responses to the nascent Haskalah movement. The debate over Eybescheutz has continued to this day within the Jewish academic sphere (albeit in a far less charged atmosphere). See G. Scholem, Mehkarei Shabta’ut (1991); S.Z. Leiman & S. Shwarzkopf, New Evidence on the Emden-Eibeschitz Controversy, in: Revue des Etudes Juives 165, (2006); E. Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy (1990) and S.Z. Leiman, ‘When a Rabbi is Accused of Heresy’ (various).