You don’t need to go further than his name to get a sense that Hacham Zvi Ashkenazi (1658-1718) must have been a unique and eccentric character. “Hacham” is a Sephardi honorific roughly equivalent to the term “rabbi.” Yet, as his last name lays bare, Hacham Zvi was an Ashkenazi scholar.
With only one exception (Isaac Bernays), there are no other Ashkenazi rabbinic figures of renown who used this title. But the anomaly of his name is just the beginning.
Hacham Zvi frequently broke with Ashkenazi practice in favor of Sephardi custom. At the same time, while serving the Ashkenazi community in Amsterdam, he was run out of the city by the Sephardi establishment. Why did he take on many Sephardi practices and a Sephardi title? And why was Amsterdam’s Sephardi leadership so unnerved by him?
Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide
Hacham Zvi’s place in the Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide is just the tip of the iceberg. He was a maverick in many other areas as well. His opponents might have even called him a gadfly.
The combination of his highly developed scruples, stubbornness, and independence contributed to the difficulty that he had in holding down official rabbinic positions. And yet his influence was profound.
Thanks to his mastery of the rabbinic tradition and his renown, his opinion on matters of Halacha (Jewish law) was sought from far and wide. The collection of responsa that he published in his lifetime has become highly authoritative and is an important part of the halachic canon.
Despite the curiosity that an intriguing and enigmatic figure like Hacham Zvi engenders, until recently a comprehensive biography had yet to be published. Fortunately, Rabbi Yosie Levine’s book Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate has come to fill this gaping hole in Jewish scholarship. Levine’s volume offers an in-depth academic study of this seminal figure.
Deep dive
Delving deeply into the historical record, Levine traces the entire outline of Hacham Zvi’s life. We learn the circumstances of his youth that led his family to send him to study in the Sephardi bastion of Torah of Salonika (Thessaloniki, Greece) and his subsequent wanderings in the Ottoman Empire. We come to understand why the title of Hacham makes some sense for this Ashkenazi rabbinic scion.
We learn of the tragic death of Hacham Zvi’s first wife and his daughter, killed by cannon fire in the war between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire. Then, we follow him on his flight from the war to Sarajevo’s Sephardi community, where he was appointed rabbi for a short period, and through major dislocations and relocations from Altona to Amsterdam to Poland, to name just a few.
Through Levine’s scholarship, we get much more than a chronology of Hacham Zvi’s life. He provides the lenses and background information that allow his readers to appreciate this character on much deeper levels.
The author presents the cosmopolitan nature of the varied port cities that Hacham Zvi called home and their historical importance. He informs us of the improved state of communications contemporaneous with the rabbi and how that impacted rabbinic responsa. Through Levine’s scholarship, we learn of the rise of lay leadership and their challenge to the rabbinic elite of the day.
One of the most profound examples of the framework that Levine offers is the backdrop he provides to appreciate what was perhaps the greatest controversy of the rabbi’s life.
Great controversy
Levine lays out for us in brief the story of the rise and fall of the false messiah Shabtai Zvi (1626-1676) and, in greater detail, the phenomenon of crypto-Sabbateanism that survived Shabtai Zvi’s apostasy and death.
He introduces us to the polemics of the late 17th and early 18th century around this phenomenon. To help explain the continuum of the relationship to this controversial event, he even coins the term “social Sabbatean” to characterize Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664-1736), the chief rabbi of Prague. It is against this backdrop of the widespread tolerance for and even acceptance of Sabbateanism that we can understand why Hacham Zvi’s approach of virulent vocal opposition caused him so much trouble.
The Sephardi community of Amsterdam issued two bans against Hacham Zvi and involved the civil authorities as well. This led to his abandonment of one of the world’s most lucrative and prestigious rabbinic positions.
At the same time, Levine explains, Hacham Zvi’s vehement opposition brought an end to the prevailing rabbinic approach of suppression and silence in the face of this heresy.
Another area of his long-lasting significance lies in his responsa’s impact on modern discussions of Jewish law. In the penultimate chapter of his work, Levine explores a number of responsa, the significance of which became fully developed only in modern times.
Particularly poignant are some of his responsa, which have become points of departure for any discussion of cloning and organ transplants in Jewish law.
A robust exploration awaits readers of the book. The volume is well written, meticulously sourced, and profoundly insightful.
Levine has done an excellent job of opening up this fascinating and seminal figure in a comprehensive fashion.
The writer is a tour guide, educator, and translator.
- HAKHAM TSEVI ASHKENAZI AND THE BATTLEGROUNDS OF THE EARLY MODERN RABBINATE
- By Rabbi Yosie Levine
- The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
- 296 pages; $47
