A recent and significant acquisition is a fine copy of sefer Devar Shmuel, a collection of responsa by the illustrious Rabbi Shmuel ben Avraham Aboab – revered as one of Italy’s greatest rabbinic authorities and long-serving chief rabbi of Venice. The volume was printed in Venice in 1702.
Devar Shmuel (lit. “Words of Samuel”), widely regarded as Rabbi Aboab’s magnum opus, was published posthumously by his son Rabbi Yaakov Aboab. The work comprises an extensive corpus of responsa addressing diverse halachic questions. Its preface includes both a biographical sketch and Rabbi Aboab’s ethical will to his four sons, exhorting them to revere the Divine Name, uphold integrity in all dealings, refrain from slander and derision, devote themselves to educating the young, and attend synagogue daily.
An appendix titled Zikkaron li-Venei Yisrael (“A Memorial for the Children of Israel”) contains a trenchant refutation of Nathan of Gaza and his Sabbatean doctrines. The author, a central figure in Venetian and Italian rabbinic leadership, was a formidable opponent of Sabbateanism. Leaves 95-97 of the work record the interrogation of Nathan of Gaza before the rabbis of Venice in 1668, along with their letter of protest condemning the abolition of fast days by Sabbatean adherents. Correspondence between Rabbi Aboab and Rabbi Yaakov Sasportas of Amsterdam concerning the Shabbatean movement is also included.
In responsum no. 375, a pivotal letter appears under the heading: “A Letter Written in the Name of the General Assembly Regarding the Matter of Sabbatai Zevi and Nathan of Gaza – A Memorial for the People of Israel.” Composed in 1668, this letter denounces the destructive influence of these false messianic figures and was signed by the leading rabbinic luminaries of the time, including Rabbi Yaakov HaLevi, Rabbi Shmuel Aboab, Rabbi Shlomo Chai Saraval, Rabbi Moshe Treves, Rabbi Senior Ben Danan, Rabbi Moshe Zacuto, Rabbi Yitzchak Min HaLeviim, and Rabbi Yosef Alulansi. It further bears the attestation of Rabbi Yaakov of Ancona, scribe of the Venetian community, signing on behalf of the city’s spiritual leadership – among them Rabbis Baruch Alfarin, Menashe Marari, Meshulam Levy, Yosef Yeshurun, Yaakov Tzuidal, Yitzchak Baruch Carvalho, and Don Yitzchak Abarbanel.
Following this is a crucial testimony given by Nathan of Gaza before the Venetian court, wherein he publicly recants his earlier claims of divine visions, declaring, “I was deceived, and there is no truth to that vision.” He signed the statement “Nathan Benjamin.” Additional testimonies from the courts of Constantinople and Ispahan further illuminate the formal renunciation of Sabbatean beliefs during this critical year of 1668 – the decisive turning point in the sect’s decline.
Rabbi Shmuel ben Avraham Aboab, was among the foremost Sephardic Sages of the seventeenth century. Born in Hamburg in 1610 to Rabbi Avraham Aboab – himself a former Crypto-Jew and one of the founders of the Portuguese Jewish community there – Rabbi Shmuel was sent at thirteen to Venice to study under Rabbi David Franco, later marrying his teacher’s daughter, Mazal-Tov Franco.
At eighteen, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Verona, where his erudition drew students such as Rabbis Shimshon Morpurgo and R. Yaakov Hagiz, and even senior scholars sought his counsel. A polymath conversant in Latin, German, Italian, and Ladino, Rabbi Aboab combined profound Talmudic mastery with broad secular learning.
In 1650, he became Av Bet Din of Venice, where he emerged as a leading opponent of Shabbateanism. Rabbi Aboab also played a major role in organizing financial aid from European communities for Jewish settlements in the Land of Israel – particularly Hebron – and raised funds in 1643 to ransom Jews captured in Kremsier by Swedish forces.
Despite his later years being marked by personal hardship, illness, and temporary exile due to a dispute with the Venetian doge, he was eventually reinstated to his position shortly before his passing. He died in Venice on August 22, 1694. His son, Rabbi Yaakov Aboab, succeeded him as a prominent rabbi in Venice, and his descendants later settled in Turkey.