Yehiel Michel Epstein Ashkenazi

Not to be confused with Yechiel Michel Epstein.

Yehiel Michel ben Avraham Epstein Ashkenazi (Hebrew: יחיאל מיכל בן אברהם עפשטיין אשכנזי), also known as Jeḥiel Michel Segal Epstein (Hebrew: יחיאל מיכל סג"ל עפשטיין) was a Sabbatean writer and ethicist who lived in the seventeenth century.^[1]

In 1683, Yehiel Michel published Ḳiẓẓur Shnei Luḥot haBrit (Hebrew: קיצור שני לחות הברית),^[2][3] also known as Kitzur Shelah (Hebrew: קיצור של"ה),^[4] written after the style of Isaiah Horowitz's Shnei Luḥot haBrit (1648). A second edition, with numerous additions, and containing extracts from current ethical works, was published fifteen years later at Fürth. Nothing is known of his career.^[5] Jacob Emden publicized the Sabbatean nature of the work in Torat Kinna'ot (1752) and explicit references to Zevi were excised from subsequent editions.^[1] The Kitzur Shelah is notable for introducing many mystical and liturgical traditions, always citing them, however, to manuscripts supposedly in the author's possession.

References

1. Says, Ibtdpdecz (2006-11-01). "Kitzur Shelah, Sabbatianism, and the Importance of Owning Old Books – The Seforim Blog". Retrieved 2024-12-21.
2. Samuel Joseph Fuenn (1886). הר"ר יחיאל מיכל ב"ר אברהם סג"ל עפשטיין. כנסת ישראל (in Hebrew). Warsaw. p. 526. Retrieved Aug 10, 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
3. Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob. "Ḳiẓẓur Shene Luḥot ha-Berit" קצור שני לוחות הברית. אוצר הספרים (in Hebrew). Vilnius. p. 535. Retrieved Aug 10, 2023.
4. Trachtenberg, Joshua (2004) [Originally published 1939]. "HEBREW SOURCES, PRINTED". Jewish Magic and Superstition. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 318. ISBN 9780812218626. Retrieved Aug 10, 2023.
5.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Jehiel N. Epstein". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.