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THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW, LXXXIV, Nos. 2-3 (October, 1993-January, 1994) 153-176
MATT GOLDISH
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
ABSTRACT
I. THE EVENTS
4 On Jacob Sasportas, see his Sefer Sisat Novel Sevi (ed. with notes and introduc-
tion by I. Tishby, Jerusalem, 1954); idem, Responsa 'Ohel Yacaqov (Amsterdam,
1737); Avraham Gross, "The Image of Rabbi Jacob Sasportas from his Responsa
'Ohel Ya'aqov"[Hebrew], Sinai 93 (1983): 132-141; Tishby, "Lettersof Rabbi Jacob
Sasportas against the Livorno Leaders from the Year 1681" [Hebrew] Qoves 'al Yad
4(1944): 144-159; idem, "New Informationon the 'Converso'Communityin London
accordingto the Lettersof Sasportasfrom 1664/5" [Hebrew], ed. A. Mirsky, A. Gross-
man, and Y. Kaplan,Exile and Diaspora (Hebrew Volume), pp. 470-496; Elie Moyal,
Rabbi Jacob Sasportas [Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1991); and my Rabbi Jacob Sasportas:
Defender of Torah Authority in an Age of Change (MA thesis, Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, 1991). In a manuscriptof Jacob Sasportas'responsa and correspondence
(MS Yeshiva University-Mendel GottesmanLibrary),there is a letter found between
pages 61 and 62 from the London rabbi, Hakham Joshua da Silva, which indicates
that the elder Sasportas saw his son Isaac as the most promising scholar among his
children, and requested da Silva to keep a special eye on him while he remained in
London.
5 On the anonymity of the letters, see SY, pp. 3r-v, 7r, 8r, 28r, 31v. In the later
stage of the controversy, in 1720, Sasportas points out that he was presented with da
Silva's reply "publicly" (p. 25r).
6
gy, pp. lr-2v.
156 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
7 The acronym v"r o"-m may be a play on the fourth blessing in the weekday
'Amidahprayer, which in the Ashkenazi pronunciationbegins 'Attahhonen le-adam
da'as ("You bestow wisdom upon man").
8 SY,pp. 2v-3r. P. 3r contains Sasportas'first letter; pp. 3v-5r is da Silva's reply;
and pp. 5r-8r contain Sasportas'interjectedgeneral comments before his second letter
to da Silva, pp. 8r-24r. The first letter (p. 3r) is really a Hebrew summaryof thatgiven
to Curiel, presumably in Spanish or Portuguese. Sasportas says there that this is his
reply derekh kelal, i.e., a paraphrase,and mentions also what he wrote be-la'az, that
is, in the Spanish or Portuguese original. MS Ets Hayyim contains several marginal
notes in Spanish, presumably in Sasportas'hand.
9 SY, p. 24r.
10 Ibid., p. 24v.
11 On him see Jacob J. Schacter, Rabbi Jacob Emden: Life and Major Works
(Ph.D. diss., HarvardUniversity, 1988) and the bibliography cited there. Emden was
the son of the Hakham Sevi."
12 His published responsa, She'elot u-Teshuvot Hakham Sevi (Amsterdam, 1712
and numerous subsequentprintings) contain many queries from the western Sephardi
diaspora, dealing with both technical and doctrinal issues. Perhaps the most famous
of the latter is #18, from the London Sephardi kehillah, on whether HakhamDavid
Nieto's equation of God and natureshould be considered heresy.
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 157
18
jy, pp. 25r-26v. Sasportas adds that da Silva declined an offer of mediation
for a compromise, offered by David de Pinto (ibid., p. 28v), and that da Silva had
"gone outside the bounds of Political Man [Ha-Adam ha-Medini]," the meaning of
which escapes me.
19 SY, p. 31v.
20
See Meir Benayahu, "The Controversybetween Halakhahand Kabbalah"[He-
brew], Da'at 5 (1981): 61-115; Robert Bonfil, "Halachah, Kabbalah, and Society:
Some Insights into Rabbi Menachem Azariah Da Fano's Inner World," I. Twersky
and B. Septimus, Jewish Thought in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, MA,
1987), pp. 39-61; Rachel Elior, "The Conflict over the Status of the Kabbalahin the
Sixteenth Century" [Hebrew], Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 1 (1981): 177-
190; Moshe Hallamish, "Kabbalahin the Legal Decisions of Joseph Karo"[Hebrew],
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 159
23
The main body of SYis divided roughly as follows: Pp. 25v-51r is mainly a dis-
section of da Silva's letter, criticizing his person, his scholarship, his Hebrew gram-
mar, and other matters. Pp. 51r-ca. lOOrcontain arguments for the primacy of
conventional talmudic and halakhic studies and legal decisions over those of the kab-
balah when there is a conflict. Included are citations from Elijah Mizrahi, Moses Cor-
dovero, Isaac bar Sheshet, Elijah ha-Levi, Tam ibn Yahya, David ibn Zimra, and
Solomon Luria dealing with the role of kabbalah in halakhic discourse, as well as
more complicated argumentsusing various sources to prove the point. Pp. lOOr-113r
deal more specifically with the issue of completing prayerswhen one is late for morn-
ing services, and 113r-120r resume the tone of a personal argumentwith da Silva.
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 161
24
See Benayahu, "The Controversy between Halakhah and Kabbalah,"pp. 62-
69; Katz, "Post-ZoharicRelations," pp. 289-291. For the various possible responses
to the problem of the role of kabbalahin halakhah,see Bonfil, "Halachah,Kabbalah,
and Society," pp. 39-44.
25 See Benayahu, "The Conflict Between Halachahand Kabbalah,"pp. 62, 69, 74,
89, 91 etpassim.
26 Da Silva's letter at the end of SY, p. 5v.
27
Ibid., pp. 19v-21r, 88v-lOOr.
28 Ibid., p. 4r.
29
Ibid., p. 20r.
30
On the attitudeof Joseph Qaro to kabbalistic legal rulings, see Hallamish, "Kab-
balah in the Legal Decisions," passim; Katz, "Post-ZoharicRelations," pp. 301-304;
Ta-Shma, "Rabbi Joseph Caro," pp. 197-206.
162 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
1327), who had not seen the Zohar (it appeared only during his
lifetime and was then still little known), required the wearing of
tefillin on intermediate festival days, a practice the Zohar would
strongly censure. The Italian Rabbi Moses Bassola (fl. 16th cen-
tury) later wrote that "If Rabbenu Asher had only seen the words of
R. Shimon bar Yohai [i.e., the Zohar], he would never have con-
cluded the law according to Rabbi Akiva."35 Similarly, the opinion
of another sixteenth-century Italian rabbi, Moses Provencali, was
affected because he lacked the Zohar on Song of Songs, where the
wearing of tefillin on intermediate festival days is discussed.36
Provencali was a contemporaryof Joseph Qaro, so theoretically da
Silva's claim might hold water-there were posqim at that time
who did not have the entire Zohar before them. Here, however,
Sasportas produces irrefragableproofs that Qaro had this section of
the Zohar and forgot nothing.37
The arguments of Sasportas and Ashkenazi notwithstanding, the
practice of reading the morning psalms when arriving late at the
synagogue has gained popularity since da Silva's time and is widely
practiced today. Here, for example, is Israel Meir Ha-Kohen'sMish-
nah Berurah, published in 1892-98 (Chap. 52): "Many righteous
men have the practice of praying in order for this reason [fear of
damaging the upper and lower worlds] even when they arrive late
to synagogue."38Although he cites Askhenazi's and others' objec-
tions, it is clear that the practice was widespread then as now.
[I write this response] also to teach others who might find cause
to sin because of him [da Silva] by saying, "If there is some-
thing better than those royal delicacies and sweeter than that
honey and honeycomb's flow found in the Shulhan 'Arukh and
the Tur, bring them out to us so that we may known them;42
why should you withhold the good from its rightful owners?"43
You must realize that if one of the nation44hears that [the pos-
qim's] words do not accord with truth and righteousness in even
a single matter, heaven forfend, unscrupulouspeople will find an
opportunity thereby to destroy the pillars of Torah and its roots,
and "This will be an offense and a stumbling block to you."45
"Unclean, unclean" he should cry,46to warn the great ones [the
Jews] about the ones of little faith [da Silva and his cohorts],
that they should stay away from them so as not to become con-
taminated with their impurity or become disabused of their [cor-
rect] opinions as he has today. He seeks to mislead the nation of
God from following the holy ones in the land [the rabbis] by ex-
plaining strange interpretationsof the words of the holy Zohar.47
42
Sasportas plays here on Gen 19:5, where the men of Sodom speak these words,
asking Lot to bring out the guests whom he shelters, so that (according to Rashi on
the passage) they might sodomize them (whence, of course, the term). This is Sas-
portas' subtle way of saying that the type of people who would willingly abandonthe
traditionalhalakhic norm in favor of kabbalistic innovations are such as would use it
incorrectly and inappropriately.The "Tur"is Jacob ben Asher's Arba'ah Turim.
4 SY, p. 9r.
44 I think Sasportas intends added meaning by use of the phrase from Gen 26:10,
where Avimelech tells Abraham that he was wrong to say Sarah was his sister, be-
cause "one of the nation" might have committed adultery with her. The implication
is that da Silva, by advertising his false conceptions, may be the cause of others' er-
ror. The fact that the words are marked with diacritical indicators (o"-w t"nx) hints
at an underlying meaning. I do not think that the interpretationof Rashi and the
midrashim, that owoi tnN means the king, figured in Sasportas'use of the verse. An
additional implication of "the nation" might be to indicate the Spanish and Portu-
guese "nation" (Nagao), as the former conversos called themselves. These were the
people who made up the Amsterdam community.
45 SY, p. 22v, the last line is from 1 Sam 25:3 1. For anotherreference to the con-
cern with "unscrupulousones" (oini nn)z), see SY, p. 32v.
46 Lev 13:45.
47 SY, p. 30v.
166 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
Disaster will result from this, which will destroy the walls of To-
rah and its roots; it will lead to heresy and will cause a distanc-
ing from the abode of God's desire, that is, drawing near to God.
It would be better for the offender that he had never been born.
All the more certainly is this true for changing a rabbinic teach-
ing [wv-rn] or for nullifying a halakhah-perish the thought!53
Sasportas cites Hillel's dictum, "Do not separate yourself from the
community,"54clearly alluding to da Silva's threat to tefillah ba-
sibbur (communal recitation of 'Amidah), and states that it really
means, "Don't cast aspersions on our true laws, received orally from
Moses."55He explicitly states his concern that da Silva will cause
the masses to be lax in synagogue attendance and punctuality.56
48 Ibid., p. 50v.
49 b.Hag 15b.
50 See EphraimE. Urbach, The Sages (Cambridge, MA, 1987), pp. 465-466.
51
jy, pp. lOr, llr-v, 15r, 18v, 30v, 37v, 40v, 117r, 118r.
52 Ibid., p.
lOv; bSanh 99b.
53 Ibid., p. 63r.
54 'Avot 2.5. See also the comment of R. Yonah b. AbrahamGerondi ad loc.
55 IY, p. 22v.
56Ibid., p. 117r-v.
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 167
60
On the Portuguese congregation of Amsterdam in this period, see Yosef Kap-
lan, From Christianity to Judaism: The Life and Times of Isaac Orobio de Castro
(London, 1989); idem, "The Portuguese Community of Amsterdamin the 17th Cen-
tury Between Tradition and Change," AbrahamHaim (ed.), Society and Community
(Jerusalem, 1991), pp. 141-171.
61 On the doctrinal deviations of the period, particularlyin Amsterdam and Italy,
see Shalom Rosenberg, "Emunat Hakhamim," I. Twersky and B. Septimus (eds.),
Jewish Thought in the Seventeenth Century, pp. 285-341, and bibliography cited
there. See now also Jose Faur, In the Shadow of History: Jews and Conversos at the
Dawn of Modernity (New York, 1991).
62 On converso Karaism, see Yosef Kaplan, "'Karaites' in Early Eighteenth-
Century Amsterdam,"D. S. Katz and J. I. Israel (eds.), Skeptics, Millenarians, and
Jews (Leiden, 1990), pp. 196-236.
63 On this work, see Talya Fishman, Kol Sachal's Critique of Rabbinic Tradition:
A Solution to the Problem of Galut (Ph.D. diss., HarvardUniversity, 1986).
64
See n. 43 above.
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 169
when he tells da Silva that "this is not the way and this is not the
city" for his innovations.65
The fact that da Silva's practice concerned synagogue activities,
and especially the question of communal prayer, also had a special
significance in the world of the former conversos. In Amsterdamand
the rest of the marranodiaspora outstanding reverence was paid to
the synagogue and its rites. The former conversos, who grew up un-
der Catholicism, had become accustomed to a dichotomy whereby
religion had minimal impact on daily business activities, but de-
manded strict honor and discipline inside the place of worship. The
AmsterdamPortuguese synagogue and service were the focus of all
congregational religious fervor, as we see reflected in the communal
rulebooks. Seating in the synagogue was strictly regulated, being
carefully orderedaccording to status and wealth. The honor of being
called to the Torah was a matter for more rules, and often a source
of disputes. Talking during services and Torah reading was strictly
forbidden, as was leaving while the Torah was out of the Ark. One
was permitted to sit or stand only at specific stages of the service.
Nobody was allowed to raise his voice on the synagogue grounds,
and one who struck a fellow Jew there, or even entered with a
weapon, was subject to excommunication. These are only a few of
the laws meant to preserve the sanctity of the synagogue and the
service.66
This excessive attention given to synagogue ritual, which was not
the norm in most Jewish communities,67goes far to explain why our
case hit a sensitive nerve. All matters of ritual and prayergained an
65 Y, p. 23v.
66
Arnold Wiznitzer, "The Merger Agreement and Regulations of Congregation
Talmud Torah of Amsterdam (1638-39)," Historia Judaica 20 (1958): 120-124.
67
Yosef Kaplan ("The Portuguese Community of Amsterdam," pp. 168-169)
states:
The more the influence of tradition diminished in different spheres of life in
this community, the more exclusively sacral values became restricted within
the narrowconfines of the religious institutions proper. Most regulations of the
Amsterdam Portuguese community concerned synagogue procedures. The
synagogue, in fact, became the major stronghold of tradition.... Although
these [many synagogue] regulations per se do not deviate from the original
halakhah, they do indicate a tendency for its very stringent implementation as
compared to the practices prevalent in other typical traditional congregations
of the time.
170 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
68 Sy, p. 117r-v.
69
So according to Colerus' biography of Spinoza, quoted in Jacob R. Marcus,
The Jew in the Medieval World(Cincinnati, 1938), p. 336.
70
See the second chapter of tractate Hagigah in the Mishnah and Talmud, espe-
cially mHag 2.1 and the story of the four who entered Pardes (bHag 14b).
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 171
71
Quoted in F. Lachower and I. Tishby (eds.), The Wisdomof the Zohar (trans.
D. Goldstein; Oxford, 1989), 1:34.
72
Examples include Ya'ir Haim Bacharach, Hawwot Ya'ir, #210; The Frances
brothers (see Penina Naveh's preface to her Kol Shire YacaqovFrances [Jerusalem,
1969), pp. 91-100); and Leon Modena, Ziqne Yehudah,#55 (that Modena's opposi-
tion was more to the dissemination of kabbalah,especially Sarug's, than to kabbalah
in general, is the contention of Howard E. Adelman, Success and Failure in the Sev-
enteenth Century Ghetto of Venice: The Life and Thought of Leon Modena, 1571-
1648 [Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1985], Chap. 16, pp. 461-484, especially
pp. 462-465).
It is relevant here to note that publicizing kabbalah, actually trying to spread
its study more widely, was one goal of many Lurianic kabbalists. This was for two
reasons-one eschatological (the spread of kabbalah would bring the messiah); and
the other didactic (kabbalahas ethical teaching). See, e.g., The Wisdomof the Zohar,
1:39; Rabbi Jacob Semah, introduction to Qol be-Ramah, quoted in Elisheva Car-
lebach, The Pursuit of Heresy: Moses Hagiz and the Sabbatian Controversies (New
172 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
York, 1990), p. 13; Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 81; Mordecai Pachter, "Re'shit Semiha-
tah shel Safrut ha-Musarha-Kabbalitbi-Sefat ba-Me'ah ha-16," J. Dan (ed.), Tarbut
we-Historiah (Jerusalem, 1987), p. 77.
On attitudes toward kabbalahstudy and heterodoxy in the seventeenth century
in general, see Jacob Katz, "Halakhah we-Kabbalah ke-Noge' Limud Mitharim,"
Da'at 7 (1981): 37-68; reprinted in his Halakhah and Kabbalah, pp. 70-101; The
Wisdomof the Zohar, vol. I, "GeneralIntroduction,"chap. 3, "The History of Zohar
Scholarship," pp. 33-55, and Chap. 4, "Zohar Criticism," pp. 55-87; Moshe Idel,
"Differing Conceptions of Kabbalahin the Early 17th Century,"in Jewish Thought
in the Seventeenth Century,pp. 137-200.
73 See n. 41, above.
74 See Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah (Princeton,
1973), especially chap. 1; idem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York,
1961), pp. 287-324; idem, Studies and Texts concerning the History of Sabbatean-
ism and its Metamorphoses (Hebrew; Jerusalem, 1974); idem, Researches in Sab-
bateanism [Hebrew], ed. Yehuda Liebes (Jerusalem, 1991).
75 Among their most staunch opponents was Jacob Emden; see Schacter, Rabbi
Jacob Emden and Carlebach, The Pursuit of Heresy.
76 Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews (Philadelphia, 1895), pp. 214-231; Na-
dav, "Rabbi Shlomo Aailon," pp. 307-309; I. S. Emmanuel, "Pulmus Nehemiah
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 173
half of the entire work (Lublin, 1646; Venice, 1649). Such works
surely served to heighten sensitivity toward the impact of kabbalah
on everyday activities, such as prayer.
Another possible factor in Amsterdam sensitivity to kabbalistic
impact on prayer is the fact that Moses Zacuto (ca. 1610-1697),
the most prominent promoter of Lurianic prayer modifications, had
been born and raised in that community. A brief glance at Zacuto's
published letters and responsa is sufficient to demonstrate that he
was a clearinghouse of information and advice on the implementa-
tion of Lurianic ritual techniques, and his unpublished works show
this even more clearly. It seems almost certain that such a person-
ality would have a circle of followers in his hometown who would
seek to spread Lurianic practices among their friends, perhaps cre-
ating some tension with those less mystically inclined.80
Some examples of other controversies concerning kabbalah-
oriented prayer innovations in the marrano diaspora during this
period will further define the background upon which da Silva ap-
peared with his new custom. In 1665-66 the Amsterdam Sephardi
community implemented the recital of the priestly blessing every
week rather than on holidays only, as a mystical innovation asso-
ciated with the movement of Shabbetai Sevi. After the apostasy of
the messiah some Amsterdam Jews, apparently supported by the
lay leadership, wished to return to the original practice, whereas
others, allegedly led by Isaac Aboab, said that the practice was
good in any case, and should continue. The question was referred
to Jacob Sasportas, who supportedthe party wishing to abolish the
modification; but his decision was not accepted by many Amster-
dam community members, and the matter remained a sore point
80
See, e.g., Bet Tefillah (Amsterdam, 1712); Hen Qol Hadash (Amsterdam,
1712); Qol ha-ReMeZ (Berditchev, 1900); 'Iggerot ReMeZ (Livorno, 1780); Re-
sponsa ha-ReMeZ (Venice, 1761). Note the dates of the first two items; these and
several of Zacuto's commentaries on various prayers were printed and circulated in
Amsterdamin the early eighteenth century.
See also Shlomo Simonsohn, History of the Jews in the Duchy of Mantua
(Jerusalem, 1977), pp. 738-741 (includes a partial list of Zacuto's manuscripts);
Scholem, Kabbalah, pp. 449-451 (includes bibliography); Abba Appelbaum,
Mosheh Zakut (Lvov, 1926), especially pp. 29-30, and his comparison of Zacuto
with Joseph Qaro, pp. 35-36; Jozef Melkman, "Re'shit Hayyaw shel Rabbi Moshe
Zakut," Sefunot 9 (1965): 129-132; Meir Benayahu, "Rabbi Mosheh Zakut beyn
Se'to me-Hamburgle-Shivto be-Venesiah," Asufot 5 (1991): 309-326.
HALAKHAH, KABBALAH AND HERESY-GOLDISH 175
for some time. In fact, this was only one of the ritual innovations
adopted in Amsterdam as part of the movement. Special prayers
were composed by the rabbis and said on additional occasions in
honor of Shabbetai Sevi, and the cantors, in their messianic fervor,
added their own flourishes to the service.8"
In the 1690's Solomon Aailion, then rabbi in the Sephardi com-
munity of London, was attackedby one Jacob Fidanquefor his prac-
tice of sitting during the Yishtabahprayer, for which Fidanque had
the tradition of standing. A local scholar, Joseph ibn Danon, at-
tempted to defend Aailion and wrote about the episode to Jacob Sas-
portas, Isaac's father, then rabbi in Amsterdam.82Ibn Danon says:
81
Jacob Sasportas, Sisat Novel Sevi, ed. I. Tishby (Jerusalem, 1954), pp. 211ff.;
idem, Responsa 'Ohel Yacaqov, #68, pp. 72v-74v; Scholem, Shabbetai Sevi, pp.
533-535; letters published by Meir Benayahu in Erez Yisrael 4 (1956): 202-205.
82
Sasportas, Responsa 'Ohel Yacaqov,#74, pp. 79v-80r.
83 Ibid.
84
Ibid., p. 80r. Another episode concerning Hamburgprayerinnovation may also
have involved use of the kabbalah. In 1678 Moses ben Gideon Abudiente of Ham-
burg, known mainly for his Sabbateantract Fin de los Dias (see Scholem, Shabbetai
Sevi, pp. 583-588), wrote a letter and poem to his friend Isaac Saruco about certain
reforms enacted by the new rabbinical court in the community. Most of these re-
forms involved changes in the prayer service, particularlyon the Day of Atonement.
He complains of the judges that "their reasoning and actions are done in secret ways
176 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
To sum up, the da Silva episode caused a great stir in the Am-
sterdamPortuguese Jewish community of the early eighteenth cen-
tury partially because of historical conditions pertaining to that
setting. Siah Yishaq and the responsum of Hakham Sevi Ashkenazi
fit into the framework of an ongoing dialectic concerning the place
of kabbalah in halakhic decision-making. Da Silva's practice was
considered dangerous and of heretical potential because it impinged
on the highly sensitive issues of that time and place, including syna-
gogue practices and unprecedentedkabbalistic innovation. Despite
the factitiousness of da Silva's interpretationand the clearcut con-
demnations of his view, the practice of reading the psalms in order
and forgoing the communal 'Amidahwhen late for services has per-
severed and become very widespread.
[,inmn Ir 5y] and with the wisdom of kabbalah"(MS Amsterdam-Ets Hayyim #47
B 26, p. 121; also in MS Columbia X893 Ab. 9/2-3). I am not sure how to interpret
the diacritical indicators over the word "kabbalah"(ntnp), but the whole reference
may simply be to a closed-door policy of the leaders, since no further mention is
made in either the letter or the poem about kabbalah.