Yom-Tov Lipmann-Muhlhausen - Works

Works

Lipmann was the author of:

• Sefer ha-Niẓẓaḥon, a refutation of Christianity and Karaism and a demonstration of the superiority of rabbinical Judaism. The work was the first to recount a Christian response to the ritual of Elijah's chair.
• Zikron Sefer ha-Niẓẓaḥon a refutation of Christianity, an abstract in verse of the preceding work (pp. 107–117 in the Tela Ignea Satanæ of Wagenseil, who supplied a Latin translation and added a long refutation, Freiburg, 1681; A. Geiger, in Bresslauer's Deutscher Volkskalender, iii.48, declares Lipmann's authorship of this poem doubtful)
• a commentary to the Shir ha-Yiẓud (Freiburg, 1560)
• In Samson ben Eleazar's Baruk she-Amar (Shklov, 1804) there is a kabalistic treatise on the Hebrew alphabet, entitled Sefer Alfa Beta, the author of which is given as מהר"ל שלי"ו. S. Sachs and Steinschneider concluded that the author was Lipmann-Mülhausen. This work discusses:

1. the form of the letters
2. the reason for their form
3. the mystery of their composition, order, and numerical value, and
4. the kabalistic explanation of their form

In this work the author frequently mentions a cabalistic work entitled Sefer ha-Eshkol and a commentary to the Sefer Yeẓirah

• Menahem Ẓiyyoni's Ẓefune Ẓiyyoni is ascribed, in a pamphlet quoted by Reuben ben Hoshke (Yalḳuṭ Re'ubeni, section "Naso"), to a certain R. Ṭabyomi, whom Steinschneider (Cat. Bodl. col. 1411) identifies with Lipmann-Mülhausen.
• Lipmann promises, in his Niẓẓaḥon (§197), a commentary to Pirḳe Abot, but such a work is not extant.
• Finally, it may be added that Manuscript 820 in Oppenheimer's collection was supposed to be a Biblical commentary by the author of the Sefer ha-Niẓẓaḥon, but Dukes (Orient, Lit. xi.299) declares that it is nothing else than the Niẓẓaḥon itself.