4 Iyar · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Jacob Sasportas
Rabbi Jacob ben Aaron Sasportas (1610 - 1698) was a rabbi, kabbalist, and staunch opponent of the Sabbatean movement. He was the father of Isaac ben Jacob Sasportas.
Yahrzeit - 4 Iyar
Burial place -
Sasportas was born in Oran. He became the rabbi of Tlemcen (at the age of twenty-four), and later of Marrakesh, Fez, and Salé. Around 1646 he was imprisoned by the Moroccan king, but managed to escape with his family to Amsterdam. He remained there until the unrest in Africa subsided, at which point the King of Morocco recalled him and sent him on a special mission to the Spanish court to request assistance against the rebels.
Upon his return, he was invited to serve as rabbi of the Portuguese community of London (1664). According to David Franco Mendes (in Ha-Meassef, 1788, p. 169), Rabbi Jacob accompanied Menasseh ben Israel to London in 1655. Due to the outbreak of plague in London in 1665, Rabbi Jacob went to Hamburg, where he served as rabbi until 1673. That same year he was called to Amsterdam and appointed head of the Keter Torah Yeshiva, founded by the Pinto brothers. Two years later he became a dayan and head of the yeshiva in Livorno, and in 1680 he returned to Amsterdam, where he was appointed head of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva. After the death of Isaac Aboab da Fonseca (1693), he was appointed rabbi of the Portuguese community and held this position until his death in Amsterdam.
Jacob was one of the fiercest opponents of the Sabbatean movement; he wrote many letters to various communities in Europe, Asia, and Africa, urging them to expose the impostors and warn people against them.
Works
"Toldot Yaakov" (Amsterdam, 1652), an index of biblical passages found in the aggadah of the Jerusalem Talmud, similar to Aaron Pesaro's "Toldot Aharon," which deals only with the Babylonian Talmud;
"Ohel Yaakov" (1737), a collection of responsa edited and prefaced by his son Abraham Sasportas;
"Tzitzat Novel Tzvi" (1737), polemical correspondence against Shabbetai Tzvi and his followers, also edited by his son. This work was later abridged and published under the title "Kitzur Tzitzat Novel Tzvi" (Altona).
Jacob edited Moses ben Maimon Albaz's "Heichal HaKodesh," to which he added an introduction and annotations (Amsterdam, 1653).
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!