Nehemiah Hayyun
Encyclopedia
Nehemiah Hiyya ben Moses Hayyun (ca. 1650 – ca. 1730) was a kabalist from Bosnia. His parents, of Sephardic descent, lived in Sarajevo
, Bosnia
, where probably he was born, although in later life he pretended that he was a Palestinian
emissary born in Safed
. He received his Talmudic education in Hebron
.
. This position, however, he held only for a brief period. Thereafter he led a wandering life, as a merchant, as a scholar, or as a mendicant. In the guise of a saint he constantly sought adventures of love. From Uskup he went to Palestine, then to Egypt
. In 1708 he made his appearance in Smyrna
, where he won some adherents willing to help him publish his Mehemnuta de Kulla, and thus secure a rabbinical position for him. In this work he asserted that Judaism
teaches a Trinitarian God. This God, he declared, embodies three faces ("parẓufim") – the Ancient of Days ("'Attiḳ"), the Holy King, and the Shekinah. Ḥayyun's own part in this book consists only of two commentaries; the text was anonymously written by a Shabbethaian pupil. Leaving Smyrna, Ḥayyun was led to Jerusalem with pomp and ceremony, but the rabbi of Smyrna, who had seen through his pretensions, warned the rabbis of Jerusalem of his heresies. The immediate consequence was that even before his arrival the rabbis of Jerusalem, though they had never read his work, excommunicated him as a "min," and condemned his book to be burned.
, where he lived from 1711 until 1712, he found an appropriate soil for his teaching. Joseph Oppenheim, the son of David Oppenheim, received him. The cabalistic rabbi of Prague, Naphtali Cohen
, was also greatly impressed with his personality. He even highly recommended his book, basing his judgment merely upon fraudulent testimonials. Here Ḥayyun delivered sermons which had a Shabbethaian background, and which he had printed in Berlin (1713) under the title Dibre Neḥemyah. Moreover, he played the role of a wizard, of one who had intercourse with Elijah, of a person capable of resurrecting the dead and of creating new worlds. By writing amulets he earned the money he needed for gambling. By fraudulent introductions he also managed to obtain friends in Vienna
, Nikolsburg
, Prossnitz
, Breslau, Glogau, and Berlin
, and formed political connections with Löbel Prossnitz of Moravia
. In Berlin (1713), the community of which city was then split into two parties, he succeeded in having his book Mehemnuta de Kulla, or Oz le-Elohim, printed with the approval of the Berlin rabbi, Aaron Benjamin Wolf.
. Almost from the outset he encountered the antagonism of Tzvi Ashkenazi
, rabbi of the German congregation of Amsterdam, who mistook him for another Ḥayyun, an old enemy of his. Ḥayyun surrendered his book to the board of the Portuguese congregation
in Amsterdam, in order to obtain permission to sell it. Distrusting their own rabbi, Solomon Ayllon
, this board brought the matter before Tzvi Ashkenazi
, who, of course, very soon detected its heretical character and called for its author's expulsion. At this point, however, Ayllon, under the threat of Hayyun to reveal his past life as a Shabbethaian to the whole of Amsterdam, became his defender, and made Ḥayyun's cause entirely his own and that of the Portuguese community. The result was that Ayllon was charged by the board of his synagogue to form a commission to reexamine Ḥayyun's book. Without awaiting the decision of this commission, Tzvi Ashkenazi and his anti-Shabbethaian friend Moses Hagiz
excommunicated Ḥayyun (July 23, 1713). They published their decision, with various unjustified calumnies, in pamphlets, which, answered by counter pamphlets, greatly increased the ill feeling between the Portuguese and the German congregation.
. In spite of this the members of the Portuguese commission adhered to their decision, but felt themselves bound to publicly exonerate themselves, and for this purpose issued Ḳoshṭ Imre Emet, a pamphlet which was not without obvious misstatements. Protected by the Portuguese, Ḥayyun could even insult his opponents in pamphlets, and did so. He attacked Ẓebi Ashkenazi, in Ha-Ẓad Ẓebi, Amsterdam, 1713; Joseph Ergas, in Shalhebet Yah and Ketobet Ḳa'ḳa; Ẓebi Ashkenazi, Moses Ḥagiz, and Leon Brieli, in Pitḳa Min Shemaya; Moses Ḥagiz, in Iggeret Shebuḳin, Amsterdam, 1714. At last, however, Ḥayyun left for the Orient, and every one felt relieved. The introductions given him by his supporters were of little avail; wherever he went the doors were barred against him.
In August, 1724, through the influence of a vizier, he succeeded at Constantinople
in absolving himself from the excommunication on the condition that he should abstain from teaching, writing, and preaching on cabalistic subjects. Under oath he promised this, but subsequently broke his word. Thus rehabilitated, he went to Vienna
and managed, by urging his Trinitarian teachings and professing his intention to convert the Jews to Christianity
, to obtain a letter of protection from the Austrian emperor. Secretly he sympathized with the Shabbethaians, but openly he still professed to be an Orthodox Jew. But his game had been played. Before the walls of Prague he faced starvation. In Berlin he threatened to embrace Christianity if support were denied him. His friends in Amsterdam, even Ayllon, forsook him. In April, 1726, he was excommunicated in Hamburg
and finally in Altona
. He fled to North Africa
, where he died. His son turned Christian, and endeavored to revenge his father by calumnious attacks on Judaism.
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, where probably he was born, although in later life he pretended that he was a Palestinian
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
emissary born in Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
. He received his Talmudic education in Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
.
Excommunicated at Jerusalem
In his eighteenth year he became rabbi of SkopjeSkopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
. This position, however, he held only for a brief period. Thereafter he led a wandering life, as a merchant, as a scholar, or as a mendicant. In the guise of a saint he constantly sought adventures of love. From Uskup he went to Palestine, then to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. In 1708 he made his appearance in Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
, where he won some adherents willing to help him publish his Mehemnuta de Kulla, and thus secure a rabbinical position for him. In this work he asserted that Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
teaches a Trinitarian God. This God, he declared, embodies three faces ("parẓufim") – the Ancient of Days ("'Attiḳ"), the Holy King, and the Shekinah. Ḥayyun's own part in this book consists only of two commentaries; the text was anonymously written by a Shabbethaian pupil. Leaving Smyrna, Ḥayyun was led to Jerusalem with pomp and ceremony, but the rabbi of Smyrna, who had seen through his pretensions, warned the rabbis of Jerusalem of his heresies. The immediate consequence was that even before his arrival the rabbis of Jerusalem, though they had never read his work, excommunicated him as a "min," and condemned his book to be burned.
At Prague
Excommunicated, he met little sympathy anywhere (1709-1711) with his kabalistic fraud. In Venice, however (1711), with the approval of the rabbis of that community, he had printed an extract from his work, under the title Raza di-Yiḥudah, into the beginning of which he had woven the first stanza of a lascivious Italian love-song, La Bella Margaritha, with a mystical hymn entitled Keter 'Elyon. In PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, where he lived from 1711 until 1712, he found an appropriate soil for his teaching. Joseph Oppenheim, the son of David Oppenheim, received him. The cabalistic rabbi of Prague, Naphtali Cohen
Naphtali Cohen
Naphtali Cohen , also known as Naphtali Katz, was a Russo-German rabbi and kabalist born in Ostrowo in the Ukraine. He belonged to a family of rabbis in Ostrowo, where his father, Isaac Cohen, a great-great-grandson of the Rabbi Judah Loew, had fled during the Cossack war.- Biography :In 1663 Cohen...
, was also greatly impressed with his personality. He even highly recommended his book, basing his judgment merely upon fraudulent testimonials. Here Ḥayyun delivered sermons which had a Shabbethaian background, and which he had printed in Berlin (1713) under the title Dibre Neḥemyah. Moreover, he played the role of a wizard, of one who had intercourse with Elijah, of a person capable of resurrecting the dead and of creating new worlds. By writing amulets he earned the money he needed for gambling. By fraudulent introductions he also managed to obtain friends in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Nikolsburg
Mikulov
Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...
, Prossnitz
Prostejov
Prostějov is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. Today the city is known for its fashion industry and special military forces based there....
, Breslau, Glogau, and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and formed political connections with Löbel Prossnitz of Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. In Berlin (1713), the community of which city was then split into two parties, he succeeded in having his book Mehemnuta de Kulla, or Oz le-Elohim, printed with the approval of the Berlin rabbi, Aaron Benjamin Wolf.
In Amsterdam
On the prestige he obtained from his book he now tried his fortune in AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. Almost from the outset he encountered the antagonism of Tzvi Ashkenazi
Tzvi Ashkenazi
Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi , known as the Chacham Tzvi , for some time rabbi of Amsterdam, was a resolute opponent of the followers of the false messiah, Sabbatai Zevi. He had a chequered career, owing to his independence of character...
, rabbi of the German congregation of Amsterdam, who mistook him for another Ḥayyun, an old enemy of his. Ḥayyun surrendered his book to the board of the Portuguese congregation
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
in Amsterdam, in order to obtain permission to sell it. Distrusting their own rabbi, Solomon Ayllon
Solomon Ayllon
Solomon Ayllon was haham of the Sephardic congregations in London and Amsterdam, and a follower of Shabbethai Ẓebi. His name is derived from a the town of Ayllon, in what is now the province of Segovia....
, this board brought the matter before Tzvi Ashkenazi
Tzvi Ashkenazi
Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi , known as the Chacham Tzvi , for some time rabbi of Amsterdam, was a resolute opponent of the followers of the false messiah, Sabbatai Zevi. He had a chequered career, owing to his independence of character...
, who, of course, very soon detected its heretical character and called for its author's expulsion. At this point, however, Ayllon, under the threat of Hayyun to reveal his past life as a Shabbethaian to the whole of Amsterdam, became his defender, and made Ḥayyun's cause entirely his own and that of the Portuguese community. The result was that Ayllon was charged by the board of his synagogue to form a commission to reexamine Ḥayyun's book. Without awaiting the decision of this commission, Tzvi Ashkenazi and his anti-Shabbethaian friend Moses Hagiz
Moses Hagiz
Moses Hagiz was a Talmudic scholar, rabbi, kabbalist, and author born in Jerusalem, Palestine. He was one of the most prominent and influential Jewish leaders in 17th-century Amsterdam...
excommunicated Ḥayyun (July 23, 1713). They published their decision, with various unjustified calumnies, in pamphlets, which, answered by counter pamphlets, greatly increased the ill feeling between the Portuguese and the German congregation.
Left Amsterdam
The Portuguese commission announced its decision on August 7, 1713. In spite of the objections of two members of the commission, one of them Ayllon's own son, they declared Ḥayyun entirely guiltless of heresy, and he was rehabilitated in a solemn assembly of the great Amsterdam synagogue. But Ḥayyun was excommunicated by many other outside congregations, and his disreputable antecedents and the deceptive means by which he acquired introductions were exposed, especially by Leon Brieli, the aged rabbi of MantuaMantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
. In spite of this the members of the Portuguese commission adhered to their decision, but felt themselves bound to publicly exonerate themselves, and for this purpose issued Ḳoshṭ Imre Emet, a pamphlet which was not without obvious misstatements. Protected by the Portuguese, Ḥayyun could even insult his opponents in pamphlets, and did so. He attacked Ẓebi Ashkenazi, in Ha-Ẓad Ẓebi, Amsterdam, 1713; Joseph Ergas, in Shalhebet Yah and Ketobet Ḳa'ḳa; Ẓebi Ashkenazi, Moses Ḥagiz, and Leon Brieli, in Pitḳa Min Shemaya; Moses Ḥagiz, in Iggeret Shebuḳin, Amsterdam, 1714. At last, however, Ḥayyun left for the Orient, and every one felt relieved. The introductions given him by his supporters were of little avail; wherever he went the doors were barred against him.
In August, 1724, through the influence of a vizier, he succeeded at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in absolving himself from the excommunication on the condition that he should abstain from teaching, writing, and preaching on cabalistic subjects. Under oath he promised this, but subsequently broke his word. Thus rehabilitated, he went to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and managed, by urging his Trinitarian teachings and professing his intention to convert the Jews to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, to obtain a letter of protection from the Austrian emperor. Secretly he sympathized with the Shabbethaians, but openly he still professed to be an Orthodox Jew. But his game had been played. Before the walls of Prague he faced starvation. In Berlin he threatened to embrace Christianity if support were denied him. His friends in Amsterdam, even Ayllon, forsook him. In April, 1726, he was excommunicated in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and finally in Altona
Altona, Hamburg
Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...
. He fled to North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, where he died. His son turned Christian, and endeavored to revenge his father by calumnious attacks on Judaism.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- Johann Christoph WolfJohann Christoph WolfJohann Christoph Wolf was a German Christian Hebraist, polyhistor, and collector of books....
, Bibliotheca Hebræa iii.828 et seq., iv.928 et seq.; - Jost, Geschichte des Israelitischen Volkes, ii.363 et seq., 468 et seq.;
- —, Geschichte des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, iii.177 et seq.;
- D. Kahana, Eben ha-Ṭo'im, pp. 64 et seq.;
- Jacob EmdenJacob EmdenJacob Emden also known as Ya'avetz, , was a leading German rabbi and talmudist who championed Orthodox Judaism in the face of the growing influence of the Sabbatean movement...
, Megillat Sefer, ed. Kahana, pp. 25, 30-32, 34, 39, 58, 117, 118; - Adolf NeubauerAdolf NeubauerAdolf Neubauer was sublibrarian at the Bodleian Library and reader in Rabbinic Hebrew at Oxford University....
, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. p. 760; - Heinrich GraetzHeinrich GraetzHeinrich Graetz was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective....
, Geschichte x.309 et seq., 468 et seq.; - Leser LandshuthLeser LandshuthLeser Landshuth was a German Jewish liturgiologist.He went to Berlin as a youth to study Jewish theology, and there he became acquainted with Leopold Zunz and Abraham Geiger, the latter of whom was then staying in that city in order to become naturalized in Prussia...
, Ammude ha-'Abodah, p. 282; - Joseph PerlesJoseph Perles-Biography:Perles born in Baja Hungary on November 26, 1835. Having received his early instruction in the Talmud from his father, Baruch Asher Perles, he was educated successively at the gymnasium of his native city, was one of the first rabbis trained at the new type of rabbinical seminary at...
, Geschichte der Juden in Posen, pp. 79 et seq.; - Moritz SteinschneiderMoritz SteinschneiderMoritz Steinschneider was a Bohemian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider , who was not only an expert Talmudist, but was also well versed in secular science...
, Cat. Bodl. cols. 2054 et seq.; - Winter and Wünsche, Die Jüdische Litteratur, ii.73;
- Miktab me-R. Abraham Segre, in Berliner's Magazin, Hebr. part, 1890, xvii.15;
- D. Kaufmann, Samson Wertheimer, p. 97, note 1;
- —, in Ha-Ḥoḳer, ii.11, Vienna, 1894;
- Abraham BerlinerAbraham BerlinerAbraham Berliner was a German theologian and historian, born in Obersitzko, province of Posen, Prussia. He received his first education under his father, who was teacher in Obersitzko...
, Geschichte der Juden in Rom, ii.75; - Ha-Ẓad Ẓebi, Preface, Amsterdam, 1713.