Responsa Chacham Tzvi – First Edition – Amsterdam, 1712

Responsa Chacham Tzvi – First Edition – Amsterdam, 1712

Responsa Chacham Tzvi, Part I, by R. Tzvi Hirsh Ashkenazi. Amsterdam: Shlomo Proops, [1712]. First edition.

Signature on title page: "Yaakov Beit of Hamburg".

R. Tzvi Ashkenazi – the Chacham Tzvi (1658-1718) was a foremost Torah scholar of his times, leading halachic authority and kabbalist (on his tombstone in Lviv, his son the Yaavetz engraved the epitaph: "Unique in his generation… the great and pious Torah scholar… great and awe-inspiring kabbalist"). He was born in Óbuda (present-day Budapest) to parents who fled Vilna in the wake of the Chmielnicki massacres. He studied under his grandfather, the Shaar Efraim, and under R. Eliyahu Kovo, a Torah scholar of Thessaloniki. From there, he went to study under Turkish Torah scholars, who ordained him Chacham, and he was since known as Chacham Tzvi. He served as rabbi of Sarajevo, Altona and Hamburg. In 1710, he was appointed rabbi of Amsterdam, where he published his Responsa Chacham Tzvi (Amsterdam, 1712). In 1714, as a result of his opposition to the Sabbatean Nechemiah Hayyun, he was compelled to flee Amsterdam for London. The Sephardic community in London wished to appoint him Chief Rabbi, but he preferred to continue to Poland, which he reached by travelling through Hanover, Berlin, Breslau and Apta. In 1717, he was appointed rabbi of Lemberg (Lviv). His biography was published in Megillat Sefer, authored by his son the Yaavetz (acronym of Yaakov ben Tzvi).

His descendants include: His son R. Yaakov Emden – the Yaavetz, who dedicated his life to continuing his father's battle against Sabbateanism; his son-in-law R. Aryeh Leib Rabbi of Amsterdam, his son R. Efraim of Brody, his son R. Meshulam Zalman of Ostroh (author of Divre Rav Meshulam), and others. Many prominent Torah scholars and Chassidic leaders trace their lineage to the Chacham Tzvi, and many of them mention it in their books: R. Yosef Shaul Nathansohn (who cites "my grandfather the Chacham Tzvi" in dozens of places in his responsa Shoel UMeshiv), R. Simchah Zissel Ziv-Broide the Alter of Kelm (see: Chochmah UMusar, I, p. 57), and R. Chaim of Sanz (who mentions his grandfather the Chacham Tzvi in many places in his Divre Chaim). The tombstone of the Divre Chaim mentions his lineage: "Of holy descent of the Maharshal and Chacham Tzvi" (a tradition of Sanz Chassidim holds it to be a great segulah for descendants of the Chacham Tzvi to mention their ancestor's name on their tombstone).

[1]. 127 leaves. 29 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains (many stains to title page). Open tears to title page, repaired with paper (over some of text on verso). Worming, affecting text. Margins of some leaves repaired with paper. New binding.

Provenance: Yosef Weinman collection.