Obj. ID: 35685
Jewish printed books  Lechem Shamayim by Jacob Yisrael ben Tzvi Hirsch Emden, Hamburg-Wandsbek, 1728

This text was prepared by William Gross:

Lechem Shamayim, on the Mishnayot, Part 1. Kuntress Binyan Beit HaBechira, by Rabbi Ya'akov Emden – the Ya'avetz. Wandsbek, [1733]. First edition. The first book which the Ya'avetz printed in his lifetime and the only one not printed in Altona, the place in which he established his printing press.
First edition of this commentary on Mishnayot and the the first chapter of the Rambam’s Bet ha-Behirah in the Mishneh Torah by R. Jacob Emden (Yavez). In Lehem Shamayim Yavez discusses variant readings, determining the correct one by linguistic considerations. The verso of the title page has an illustration of the altar according to the Ra'avad with numbers at various locations accompanied by a description of those locations. The text of this volume covers Mo’ed and the beginning of Bet ha-Behirah.
R. Jacob Emden (Yavez, 1697–1776) was a rabbi, halakhic authority, kabbalist, and anti-Shabbatean polemicist. R. Emden was regarded as one of the outstanding scholars of his generation. R. Emden's teacher was his father R. Zevi Hirsch Ashkenazi (Hakham Zevi). He inherited his father's interest in secular studies, his dissociation from the Ashkenazi method of study (pilpul) and customs, his stormy, independent, and uncompromising character, and his devotion to the campaign against the Shabbateans and their sympathizers. In addition, he possessed a fine literary talent, a critical tendency, and a knowledge unusual for his age of general non-halakhic Jewish literature. He was also familiar with sciences and languages (German, Dutch, Latin). Despite his distinguished descent and his remarkable talmudic attainments, R. Emden occupied no official position, with the exception of a few years as rabbi of R. Emden (1728–33). This made it possible for him to be exceptionally critical toward the society and the tradition of his time. He was more on guard about anything that he considered hillul ha-Shem (bringing the name of the Jew into disrepute) than for the good name of the rabbinate and of the community. He made extensive use of the private printing press he founded in Altona to disseminate his views. As a result, because of his views on a number of issues, both personal and communal, he became a figure of contention. His important halakhic works are Lehem Shamayim, on the Mishnah (pt. 1, 1728; pt. 2, 1768); a letter of criticism against R. Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen, rabbi of Altona (1736); responsa, She'elat Yavez (2 pts., 1738–59); Mor u-Kezi'ah, on the Shulhan Arukh, OH (2 pts., 1761–68). In addition, he published an important edition of the prayer book (whose parts had different names) with a valuable commentary (1745–48). This prayer book was reprinted several times. His main historical importance lies in his campaigns against the Shabbateans to which he dedicated many years. He relentlessly examined and investigated every suspicious phenomenon pertaining to the sect. He called upon the contemporary rabbis to publish excommunications and mercilessly attacked anyone suspected of supporting or showing sympathy to the Shabbateans. The Shabbateans were accustomed to introduce hints of their secret doctrine into their literary works, particularly in the field of Kabbalah. Consequently, R. Emden became an expert in uncovering such allusions and hidden meanings, and developed an extraordinarily sharp critical faculty by which he could recognize any suggestion of the Shabbatean heresy. Many books in which no one saw anything to which objection could be taken, were condemned by him as heretical. Though at times he was at fault and suspected the innocent without cause, his judgment in general was sound (F. Lachover and I. Tishby (eds.) Mishnat ha-Zohar, 1 (19572), 52–56).
His most famous controversy was with R. Jonathan Eybeschuetz, rabbi of the "Three Communities" (Altona, Hamburg, Wandsbek) from 1750 until he died in 1764. It commenced in 1751 soon after R. Eybeschuetz came to Altona and did not cease even with the latter's death. It divided German Jewry, particularly rabbinic circles, into two camps, and undermined the prestige of rabbinical institutions. The conflict at first centered around several amulets which R. Eybeschuetz circulated in Metz and Hamburg. R. Emden published their content in his work Sefat Emet u-Leshon Zehorit (1751) and interpreted them rather convincingly as Shabbatean amulets. As a result of this publication, R. Emden was compelled to escape to Amsterdam for some time and there he published in Torat ha-Kena'ot (1752) an anthology of documents on Shabbateanism. Eybeschuetz too was a great scholar; he had devoted disciples but also many enemies. He was suspected of adhering secretly to the Shabbatean groups or at least of affinity to them. His son was a declared Shabbatean. R. Eybeschuetz denied the accusation, which in any case could not be proved with certainty. The majority of the greatest rabbis in Poland, Moravia, and Bohemia, as well as the leaders of the Three Communities supported him, either because the accusation was utterly incredible, or because condemnation of a rabbi who enjoyed such an enormous prestige as R. Eybeschuetz would cause inestimable damage to the communal organizations as a whole. R. Emden disregarded these considerations vehemently. He fought his opponent and his numerous supporters by means of books and pamphlets which came out in unabated succession.
[1], 118, 120-121 leaves