24 Facts About Tzvi Ashkenazi

Tzvi Ashkenazi was a resolute opponent of the followers of the self-proclaimed messiah, Sabbatai Zevi.

Tzvi Ashkenazi had a chequered career owing to his independence of character.

Tzvi Ashkenazi visited many lands, including England, where he wielded much influence.

Tzvi Ashkenazi was descended from a well-known family of scholars, a grandson of Ephraim ha-Kohen who in turn was the son-in-law of a grandchild of Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm.

Tzvi Ashkenazi spent most his childhood in Alt-Ofen where his grandfather served as rabbi.

Tzvi Ashkenazi witnessed the impact of the Sabbatai Zevi movement on the community, an experience which significantly influenced his career.

Tzvi Ashkenazi fled, becoming separated from his parents, and proceeded to Bosnia, where he received an appointment as rabbi in Sarajevo.

Tzvi Ashkenazi remained in that city until 1689, in which year he resigned and left for Germany.

Friction and strife over religious questions ensued, and finally became so intense that, in 1709, Tzvi Ashkenazi deemed it advisable to resign and resume his duties as rabbi of the Klaus.

Unselfish and independent by nature, Tzvi Ashkenazi renounced the perquisites of his office, such as fees in civil suits, in order to maintain his independence, and accepted the high position only upon the condition that under no circumstances was he to be required to subordinate himself to the congregation, or to be obliged to receive gifts, and that he should be permitted to preserve absolute freedom of action on all occasions.

Tzvi Ashkenazi announced that he would not under any circumstances accept this dismissal, which he regarded as unjust.

The rabbi's salary does not seem to have been paid, for in the register of the records of the congregation it is stated that on Saturday 4 Nisan 5472, the parnasim sent a secretary and two attendants of the congregation to Tzvi Ashkenazi to inform the latter that upon the return of the letter of appointment he would be paid the money to which he was still entitled.

Tzvi Ashkenazi naturally declined to return this piece of evidence, a copy of which has been preserved among the official documents of the congregation.

Tzvi Ashkenazi thought Chayun was an old enemy of his from Sarajevo and Salonica, and at once requested Solomon Ayllon, Chacham of the Portuguese congregation, not to accord patronage to the stranger, who was unfavorably known to him.

Tzvi Ashkenazi believed himself justified in making this demand, as the Portuguese congregation and its rabbi had, from the beginning, treated him most courteously, and had already, during his term at Altona, repeatedly sent to him from the Sephardim of Hamburg, Amsterdam, and London religio-legal questions for his decision.

Chayun thereupon called on Tzvi Ashkenazi personally and made an explanation; whereupon the rabbi retracted his accusation, stating that it was a case of mistaken identity.

Tzvi Ashkenazi called the attention of Ashkenazi to the dangerous doctrines published in Chayun's book, whereupon the rabbi again warned the directorate of the Sephardim congregation not to support the author.

Tzvi Ashkenazi rejected a proposition to designate the objectionable passages, and declined to act as member of a committee of investigation, because he did not regard Ayllon, the rabbi of the Sephardim, as a competent authority on such questions.

Naturally, the Sephardic opponents of Tzvi Ashkenazi had found excellent support among the rabbi's adversaries in his own German congregation.

Tzvi Ashkenazi was deserted, except for a few friends that remained faithful to him.

Tzvi Ashkenazi was temporarily placed under arrest in his own home by the municipal authorities, who had been influenced against him by Ayllon and the Portuguese leaders; and the whole matter was brought before the magistracy in order to secure Tzvi Ashkenazi's deposition and banishment from Amsterdam.

Tzvi Ashkenazi forestalled the magisterial action by resigning his office and fleeing, in the beginning of 1714, from Amsterdam, perhaps secretly, with the aid of his friend Solomon Levi Norden Lima.

In London Tzvi Ashkenazi found many friends, and received many tributes of regard.

Tzvi Ashkenazi would suffer serious deprivation rather than accept pecuniary assistance; and this characteristic, interpreted by the wealthy of that day as obstinacy and arrogance, became to him a source of much suffering and enmity.