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Leyb ben Oyzer

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Leyb ben Oyzer or Yehuda Leib ben Ozer Rosencranz (Rosenkrantz), or Leib ben Rabbi Oizers (d. 1727) was an 18th-century shamash ha-kehilla (beadle or sexton of the congregation), trustee, and secretary or notary, of the Jewish community in Amsterdam.[1][2] He is the author of the Bashraybung fun Shabsai Tsvi, a Yiddish chronicle written in 1718 about the messianic Sabbateanism movement.[3]

Overview

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Both an analysis of the failure of the movement and a cautionary tale, Oyzer's chronicle highlights the Ashkenazi role in the Sabbatean movement and the reaction of the Jewish community.[2][4]

Oyzer says he interviewed the personal contemporaries of Shabbetai Zvi for research for his chronicle.[5][6] Oyzer also compiled Ma'asim Nora'im (Horrible Acts), a manuscript which started with an abbreviated Toledot Yeshu, Gezeyros Yeshu, before going into the Sabbatean chronicle.[7][2] The chronicle was published in excerpts by Jacob Emden in 1752 in his Torat ha-Qena'ot.[8] Oyzer wrote that the messianic enthusiasm in Europe stemmed from, according to him, "the Jews in this bitter exile, love to hear good tidings of comfort and salvation ... especially in Poland where evil and exile are exceedingly great, and every day brings new persecution and harassment."[9] It is one of the few sources which consists of an overarching story tying together the movement of Sabbateanism.[10]

Oyzer was an important figure in his community and carried out a number of tasks for the elders of the congregation.[11] Starting in 1708 he was entrusted with his role in the congregation.[2] He started his work as a historian in 1711 after the Sabbatean prophecies of that year failed to materialize.[11] He is also the author of a Hanukkah song called Ezkerah Rahamekha be-Shiruve-Simha.[2]

Further reading

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  • Leyb ben Oyzer; Weinstock, Nathan (2011). La beauté du diable: portrait de Sabbataï Zevi. Bibliothèque d'études juives. Paris: H. Champion. ISBN 978-2-7453-2282-1.
  • מעשים נוראים (Horrible Acts), 1711, Yehuda Leib Ben Ozer, from Amsterdam. National Library of Israel
  • "בשרייבונג פון שבתי צבי" מאת ר' ליב ב"ר עוזר... יו"ל מכ"י המחבר עם תרגום, מבוא והערות מאת זלמן שזר In the Writings of Shabtai Zvi by Rabbi Leib ben Rabbi Ozer... with translation, introduction and notes by Zalman Shazar". National Library of Israel. 1978. Retrieved 2024-11-21.

References

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  1. ^ Feiner, Shmuel; Green, Jeffrey M. (2020). The Jewish Eighteenth Century: A European Biography, 1700–1750. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-04945-2. JSTOR j.ctv177tj2n.
  2. ^ a b c d e Radensky, Paul Ira (1997). "Leyb Ben Ozer's "Bashraybung Fun Shabsai Tsvi": An Ashkenazic Appropriation of Sabbatianism". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 88 (1/2): 43–56. doi:10.2307/1455062. ISSN 0021-6682. JSTOR 1455062.
  3. ^ Kriegel, Maurice (2012). "Review of La beauté du diable. Portrait de Sabbataï Zevi". Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 67 (3): 853–855. doi:10.1017/S0395264900007617. ISSN 0395-2649. JSTOR 23394399.
  4. ^ Baumgarten, Jean (2017), Sutcliffe, Adam; Karp, Jonathan (eds.), "Continuity and Change in Early Modern Yiddish Language and Literature", The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 7: The Early Modern World, 1500–1815, The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 7, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 274–290, ISBN 978-0-521-88904-9, retrieved 2024-11-19
  5. ^ "Eating and Drinking with Shabbetai Zvi". The Forward. 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  6. ^ Dweck, Yaacob (2019-09-17), "2. Jacob Sasportas and Jewish Messianism", Formations of Belief, Princeton University Press, pp. 41–66, doi:10.1515/9780691194165-004, ISBN 978-0-691-19416-5, retrieved 2024-11-19
  7. ^ Jews, Judaism, and the Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Germany. BRILL. 2006-02-01. p. 458. ISBN 978-90-474-0885-7.
  8. ^ Schatz, Andrea (2019-05-20). Josephus in Modern Jewish Culture. BRILL. p. 65. ISBN 978-90-04-39309-7.
  9. ^ "Sabbatianism". The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  10. ^ Wallet, Bart (2012-01-01). Links in a Chain: Early Modern Yiddish Historiography in the Northern Netherlands (1743-1812) (PDF). Universiteit van Amsterdam (Thesis).
  11. ^ a b Fuks-Mansfeld, R.G. (1981). "Yiddish Historiography in the Time of the Dutch Republic". Studia Rosenthaliana. 15 (1): 9–19. ISSN 0039-3347. JSTOR 41481882.