Eybeschuetz, Jonathan Ben Nathan/Nata

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Eybeschuetz, Jonathan Ben Nathan/Nata also Jonathan Ben Nathan/Nata Eybeschitz (1690/5–1764). Jewish talmudic and kabbalistic scholar. When rabbi of ‘the three communities’ (Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck), he came into controversy with Jacob Emden over his supposed leanings towards Shabbateanism (see SHABBETAI ZEVI). Eventually he was vindicated by the Council of the Four Lands in 1753. He was an outstanding preacher, and published several homiletic works, as well as thirty treatises on halakhah. Scholars do not agree whether there is any substance in the Shabbatean charges. His book on the Kabbalah, Shem ʿOlam (Everlasting Name) can be interpreted in different ways, and doubt has been cast on its authorship. Eybeschuetz published a refutation of the charges in Luḥot Edut (1755).