Jacob ben-Machir Tibbon. See Profiat.
Jacob ben-Meier. See Tam.
Jacob ben - Sheshet Gerundi, a celebrated Cabalist who flourished about the middle of the 13th century, deserves our notice because of his efforts to counteract the influence which some of the better edu- cated and more liberal-minded Jewish Rabbins of the 13th and 14th centuries exerted in behalf of the intro- duction of a philosophical mode of interpretation inau- gurated by the renowned Maimonides. Like many others of his conservative brethren, he confronted the liberals with harsh terms and low and vidgar epithets, and thereby only strengthened the cause of his adver- saries. Thus he called the Maimonidists " heretics and transgressors of the law," and asserted that " they seek only tiie furtherance of the temporal good, of the earth- ly life, the defence of life and property, but deny all fu- ture rewards and punishments," etc. These gross mis- representations are contained in a worli which he pub- lished in defence of the cabalistic mode of interpreta- tion. See Griitz, Geschichte der Juden, vii, 85 ; note 3, p. 442^59. See Cabala ; Maimonides. (J. H. W.)
Jacob Baradaeus. See Jacobites.
Jacob Berab, a Jewish Rabbi, born A.D. 1474 at Maqueda, near Toledo, Spain, was obliged by persecu- tion to leave his native land when only eighteen years old. After many years of travel through Egypt to Je- rusalem, and thence to Damascus, he at last found a resting-place m Safet (about 1534). Possessing a large
fortune and great thirst for honor, he sought distinc- tion -among his Palestinian brethren. Favored by the Rabbins of his own immediate vicinity, he succeeded in re-establishing (1538) the Sanhedrim in the Holy Land, which, no doubt, he intended to serve as the starting-point for the re-establishment of the Jewish kingdom. Unfortunately, however, for the Jewish cause, there was higher authority at Jerusalem than at Safet ; and when Berab sought a reconciliation with the chief Rabbi, Levi ben-Chabib, by appointing him next in au- thority, the consummation of the project failed, to the great detriment of Judaism all over the world. A con- troversy between the two parties ensued, which ended with the death of Berab (Januarj^, 1541) ; it completely destroyed the hope of a re-establishment of ordination and of a Jewish state. See Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, ix, ch. ix and x; Jost, Geschichte d. Judenthums, iii, 128 sq. See Jews. (J.H.W.)
Jacob Emden Ashkenasi (shortened Jabez), a Jewish Rabbi of great distinction among the Hebrews of the last centurj', was bom at Amsterdam in 1(596. He was the son of Chacham Zewi, another Rabbi of the celebrated Zewi family. Being banished from their homes, his father's family sought a refuge first in Po- land, later in Moravia. Possessed of a considerable fortune, Jacob devoted most of his time to the study of the Jewish traditions, to the exclusion of all secular studies, which he considered likely to be derogatory to his firm belief in the authenticity of Rabbinical writ- ings. Even the position of Rabbi, which was frequent- ly offered him, he hesitated to accept, lest it shoidd in the least interfere with his studies. But, once persuaded to assume the sacred duties at Emden, he was thereaf- ter always called Jacob Emden, although in the official papers of the Danish government he is called Herschel. He soon returned to private life, and became a resi- dent at Altona (about 1730), near Hamburg. But, if Jacob did not retain an official position in the syna- gogue, he certainly continued to work actively for the good of Israel ; and as, by his zeal for the cause of the Jewish religion, he often censured, both by pen and tongue, those who departed from the old and wonted way, he thus made it possible for his adversaries, of wliom, like his father, he had not a few, to stigmatize him as the Jewish " grand inquisitor," etc. If Jacob Emden ever deserved to be criticised for improper con- duct, it is for his relation towards Rabbi Eibeschutz,M-ho was his competitor for the rabbiship of the Altona, Ham- burg, and Wandsbeck congregations, which Jacob did not care to fill, but which he would gladly have had the honor to decline. (Compare Griitz, v, 397 sq.) Era- den was especially severe against all the Cabalists, and many were the books that he issued to contradict their teachings. He even denied the authorship of some of the cabalistic writings ; thus he pronounced the book Zohar to be a spurious production of his own centiu^-, etc. He placed himself in a verj' ridiculous light by a judgment which he gave on Jewish traditional law, upon which the advice of Jloses INIendelssohn had also been obtained, and in which, differing from this great man, he addressed him more like a teacher tlian a pupil. Jacob Emden died in 1776. One of his pupils was the celebrated Samuel Dubno. His writings, according to his own state- ment, cover no less than 34 different works. The most important of them are his contributions to the historj' of the fanatics of the last century, known as the foUowerg ofSabbataiZewi (q.v.). They are, bniS r^'4''^ -i^lSp "^2^, taken from the celebrated polemical work by Ja- cob Sasportas, on the sad fate of Sabbatai Ze-\vi (Amst. 1737, 4to) :— diai^'iH 'o, the most ably conducted po- lemic against Zoharites and Sabbatians, consisting of different brochures (Alton. 1758, 4to) :— niXJptj Pniri, another collection against S. Zewi and his followers (Al- tona, 1752, 4to) :— ■■'?-'52r! nill'X bx nnriFl, on the Sabbatians who espoused the Christian faith (Altona,