Jacob Sasportas

Born and raised in Oran, Algeria, the talmudic scholar Jacob Sasportas served as rabbi of Tlemcen. Forced to flee Morocco due to political unrest, in 1647 he embarked on a life of wandering. In 1664, he was invited to become chief rabbi (ḥakham) of the Jewish community of London. However, one year later, as the plague raged, Jacob fled the city. A descendant of Naḥmanides (1194–1270), Sasportas was ḥakham in both London and Livorno. He spent time in Hamburg and, at the age of eighty-three, was appointed rabbi of the Portuguese community in Amsterdam, a position he had long desired. A major opponent (he was among the first) of the Sabbatean movement, while living in Hamburg he compiled a collection of Sabbatean letters and pamphlets together with his own fierce responses: Tsitsat novel tsevi (Fading Flower of Beauty; abridged edition, 1737; first complete edition, 1954). The strongest attack on Sabbateanism in its early years, this work became a prominent source for the study of the movement. Jacob altered some of his responses in hindsight, seeking to depict his opposition as resolute from the outset, when in fact his earlier stance was somewhat more ambivalent. Jacob also composed numerous responsa, which were published posthumously by his son.