Bidspirit auction | Rare! Polemic against Christianity: Hoda'at

Rare! Polemic against Christianity: Hoda'at Baal Din - First Edition Frankfurt am Main, 1866 Fascinating Historical Chapter - Sefer Hoda'at Baal Din, two sections, against Christianity, authored by Don David Nassi. First edition. Frankfurt am Main - 1866. 32 pp. Stains and minor blemishes. Good overall condition.  The book and its rareness Rare polemic work against Christianity printed here for the first time many years after it was written. Except for this edition, the book was published only one more time by the famed bibliographer and author Ephraim Deinard. Not many copies remained from this edition too as written by Deinard in his article ”ישו הנוצרי לא היה ולא נברא”: For the benefit of Hebrew bibliography, I should mention that in 1904 I reprinted the wonderful work Hoda'at Baal Din against Christianity by Don David Nassi. In my foreword I then wrote that among all the lies the Gentiles fabricated about the Jewish people, the biggest lie is that one Jewish man turned himself into a God”. All the copies were destroyed in a fire at the H. Lifshitz Press in Newark and only a single exemplar remained with me”.  The background against which the work was written Zeev Yavetz in his book Toldot Yisrael (section XII, p. 162) writes that Don David Nassi, teacher of Cardinal Bentivoglio in Candia Island, published a small book titled Hoda'at Baal Din, proving on the basis of the Evangelion the truth of Judaism and the laxity of Christianity so much so the Cardinal converted to Judaism in secret.  The author's identity The author of the book is Don David Nassi. Based on what is written in the book he was the brother of Don Yosef Nassi the author of Sefer Porat Yosef. This, however, does not fit the times and raises many questions. Shmuel Yosef Finn in his book Knesset Yisrael (pp. 244-245) states that Don David Nassi was a Talmid Chacham and Paytan and based on Don David's introduction to the book, the teacher and accountant of Cardinal Bentivoglio in Candia Island. However, Finn challenges what is written in the book about Don David Nassi being Don Yosef Nassi's brother since Don Yosef Nassi, the author of Sefer Ben Porat Yosef lived in the early 4th century making it impossible for Don David of the 19th century to be his brother.