Jakob Sasportas
Jakob ben Aaron Sasportas (* 1610 in Oran ; † April 15, 1698 in Amsterdam ) was a rabbi , Kabbalist and vehement opponent of the Sabbatian movement.
Life
Jacob Sasportas was born in 1610 in the Spanish occupied Oran (now Algeria ) into a Sephardic family that traced its roots back to Nachmanides . He was appointed rabbi in Morocco and held the influential rabbinates of Tlemcen and Salé . At the age of 37 he came into conflict with the Moroccan authorities and left the country after a brief jail sentence. He visited various Sephardic communities in Western Europe such as London , Livorno , Hamburg and Amsterdam.
He accompanied Menasse ben Israel in 1655 on his mission to England. In the meantime he returned briefly to North Africa . In 1664 he was called as Hacham to the young Sephardic congregation in London. Because of the outbreak of the plague , he left England again the following year.
He arrived in Hamburg with his family in the fall of 1665, at a time when the first messianic reports were arriving in the city. Since he did not hold an official rabbinical office during his Hamburg time (1665–1673), he was able to devote himself entirely to Sabbatianism. He was one of the few leading Jewish figures in Europe who vehemently opposed the messianic movement. In many letters to acquaintances and friends he warned against Sabbatai Zwi , whom he recognized as a false messiah. At the same time he recorded the events in Hamburg.
From 1673 he stayed in Amsterdam again. At times he taught at the yeshiva de los Pintos. In between he was to be found in Italy again. His greatest wish to take a position he deserved in Amsterdam was only fulfilled in 1693, when Isaac Aboab da Fonseca died. At 83, Sasportas was finally reappointed rabbi. He died a few years later on April 17, 1698 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery of Beth Haim (Ouderkerk aan de Amstel) .
His Ohel Ya'acov Responsen collection was published by his son Abraham Sasportas . However, it went down in history mainly because of its font Zizat nowel Zwi (Wilted Flower of Glory), which was also first printed in 1737. The Zizat nowel Zwi - the full text did not appear until 1954 - is considered to be one of the most important sources on the Sabbatian movement. The book mainly contains Sasportas' correspondence with some of his contemporaries.
Work editions
- Ohel Ya'akov (collection of responses). Amsterdam 1737.
- Kizzur Zizat Novel Zevi (short version). Amsterdam 1737, Altona 1757, Odessa 1867.
- Zizat Novel Zevi (full version, edited by I. Tishby). Jerusalem 1954.
Literature (selection)
- Eli Moyal: Rabbi Jacob Sasportas. Jerusalem 1992 (Hebrew)
- Matt Goldish: Rabbi Jacob Sasportas: Defender of Torah Authority in an Age of Change. Jerusalem 1991
- Gershom Scholem : Sabbatai Zwi. The mystical messiah. Jüdischer Verlag, Frankfurt 1992, ISBN 3-633-54051-2
- Hermann Kellenbenz : Sephardim on the lower Elbe. Their economic and political importance from the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 18th century. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1958
- Joseph Dan: SASPORTAS, JACOB. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 18, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865946-6 , pp. 66-67 (English).
Web links
- Jacob Sasportas , biography at the Joods Historisch Museum
- Joseph Jacobs, M. Seligsohn, ea: Jacob ben Aaron Sasporta. In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906.
Footnotes
- ↑ Exemplary life story of a Jewish wanderer. In: Fernand Braudel: The Mediterranean. Vol. 2. Frankfurt a. M. 1990, p. 613 f.
- ↑ Scholem 1992. pp. 625-647.
- ↑ Scholem 1992. p. 625.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sasportas, Jacob |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sasportas, Jakob ben Aaron |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jewish scholar |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1610 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oran |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 15, 1698 |
| Place of death | Amsterdam |