Approbations And Deadly Amulets: The Life And Works Of Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim (1664-1736)

The Serpent Infiltrates the Rabbinate in Prague

Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim (1664 – 1736) was the chief rabbi of Nikolsburg and later of Prague. When the noted Sabbatean, Nechemiah Chiya ben Moshe Chiyun traveled to Prague in the early 18th century, Rabbi Oppenheim was drawn into one of the most heated sagas in Jewish history known as the “Chiyun Polemic.”

It is presumed that the sly and cunning Nechemiah Chiya ben Moshe Chiyun was born around 1655 in Sarajevo and educated in Eretz Yisrael, in the holy city of Chevron. When his travels brought him to Salonica, he became affiliated with Sabbateanism and eventually joined the crypto-Sabbatean movement with full force.

Nechemiah Chiyun authored a number of commentaries on Sabbatean works and during his travels, sought haskamos (approbations) for these publications. However, in Jerusalem, Izmir, Egypt, and Livorno, his identity as a Sabbatean was discovered and the local rabbinates banished him and his books.

But Nechemiah Chiyun wasn’t one to easily give up. With great determination he pressed on and tried his luck in the Ashkenazic communities of Central and Western Europe. In the winter of 1711-12, he arrived in Prague, where he successfully managed to conceal his Sabbatean identity and quickly gained the respect of the kehillah members, both laymen and rabbinic figures.

Prague’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim, unaware of Nechemiah Chiyun’s hidden Sabbatean identity, appointed his son Rabbi Yosef Oppenheim to care for the “saintly” emissary from the Holy Land.

Rabbi Yosef Oppenheim graciously hosted Nechemiah Chiyun in his home and even supported him financially. Although he had initially planned to remain in Prague for just a few weeks, upon realizing his good fortune, Nechemiah Chiyun extended his visit and remained there for a full year. During his stay, he wrote a mystical commentary on the Torah titled Divrei Nechemiah. This work, which was embedded with Sabbatean doctrine, earned haskamos from several prominent rabbis, among them the chief rabbi of Prague, Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim. As he attests in his haskamah (see underlined text below), Rabbi Oppenheim only read one page of the book and relied on the yeshiva students who reported that the author was a respected rabbi and Kabbalist.

Nechemiah Chiyun’s mystical and charming personality attracted large crowds to Prague. With his reputation as a Kabbalist and miracle worker, Chiyun began distributing “healing amulets” in exchange for large sums of money.

Rabbi Yaakov Emden (see Toras ha-Kenaos) relates the following fateful story about one of Nechemiah Chiyun’s amulets:

Rabbi Yosef Oppenheim was traveling to the spa town of Carlsbad, Bohemia to recuperate in its healing thermal springs and wished to take his young son with him. But the young boy’s grandfather, Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim, insisted that his grandson remain behind in Prague where he would be safe from the dangers of travel. Into the disagreement stepped Nechemiah Chiyun, offering Rabbi Yosef Oppenheim an amulet which would guarantee the protection of the young child. Upon hearing that Nechemiah Chiyun had prescribed a special amulet, Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim agreed to let his precious grandson travel. With the amulet hanging from the young boy’s neck, father and son began their journey to Carlsbad. At one point during their trip, the wagon suddenly jerked, throwing the young boy out of the wagon and onto the road. The lad’s small and frail body was crushed by the wagon’s wheels and he tragically passed away on the roadside. The heartbroken and devastated Oppenheim family mourned the young boy’s death with deep pain and grief.

What happened to Nechemiah Chiyun’s Kabbalistic protection? When the mysterious amulet was later opened, it revealed the image of a black crow, the notorious Sabbatean icon. This incident is one of many that earned Nechemiah Chiyun the notorious Hebrew nickname, “nachash” (serpent), an acronym which stands for several things including “Nechemiah Chiyun Satan.”

{The Death of Genendel and Nomination as Landesrabbiner of Bohemia

On 9 Sivan 1712, Rabbi Oppenheim’s first wife, Genendel, tragically passed away at a young age and was buried in her hometown of Hanover. On February 9, 1713, at a conference in Brandeis, the Landesjudenschaft appointed Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim as Landesrabbiner (Rav HaMedina) over half of Bohemia. At some point during that year, Rabbi Oppenheim married Shifra, the daughter of Rabbi Binyamin Wolff Spira of Prague. Two years later, on January 11, 1715, Rabbi Binyamin Wolff Spira passed away and shortly thereafter Rabbi Dovid Oppenheim was appointed Landesrabbiner over the entire Bohemia, a position he held until his passing on September 12, 1736. Rabbi Oppenheim’s extensive collection of manuscripts and prints constitute an important part of the Hebrew section of the Bodleian Library in Oxford. 

Nosson Wiggins (@jewishhistorysheimhagedolim) is the author of two books on the subject of Jewish history, “The Tannaim & Amoraim” and “The Rishonim” (Judaica Press). He researches Jewish History at the Klau Library, HUC-JIR in his hometown of Cincinnati and leads tours of Klau’s Rare Book Room. He is a passionate enthusiast of Jewish history and when he’s not in the hospital working as a nurse, he can be found researching and writing posts for his Substack, “Jewish History—Sheim Hagedolim.”