Abraham ben Abraham
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Abraham ben Abraham ( he, אברהם בן אברהם, lit. "Avraham the son of Avraham") (c. 1700 – 23 May 1749), also known as
Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
Valentine (Valentin, Walentyn) Potocki (Pototzki or Pototski), was a purported Polish nobleman (''szlachta'') of the Potocki family who converted to
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
and was
burned at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
by the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
because he had renounced
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and had become an observant
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
. According to
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish oral traditions, he was known to the revered
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
ic sage, the Vilna Gaon (
Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
Elijah Ben Shlomo Zalman 720–1797, and his ashes were interred in the relocated grave of the Vilna Gaon in Vilna's new Jewish cemetery.Singer, Evelyne. "The Lost Jewish World: A visit to contemporary Lithuania". ''
Hamodia ''Hamodia'' ( he, המודיע – "''the Informer''") is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Jerusalem. A daily English-language edition is also published in the United States, and weekly English-language editions in England and Israe ...
'' Magazine, 22 November 2012, pp. 10–14.
Although the Orthodox Jewish community accepts the teachings about Abraham ben Abraham, including the involvement of the Vilna Gaon, secular scholars have until recently concluded that it is a legend.


Jewish traditions

There are several versions of this story, especially among the Jews of Lithuania,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, who know and still refer to Potocki as the ''
Ger Tzedek Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. ...
'' (" righteous proselyte") of
Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
(Vilnius). Virtually all Jewish sources agree that he was a Polish nobleman who converted to Judaism and was burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church at Vilnius on 23 May 1749 (7 Sivan 5509, corresponding to the second day of the
Jewish holiday Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...
of Shavuot in the Diaspora), because he had renounced Catholicism and had become an observant Jew. Multiple oral histories, backed up by several 19th-century and later printed versions of the story, from many Jewish communities over the past 250 years, serve as evidence of Potocki's story. Jewish oral traditions teach many more details of Avraham ben Avraham's life and death. There is also one contemporary written account from 1755, by Rabbi Yaakov Emden. ויקם עדות ביעקב דף כה, ב (Vayakam Edus b'Yaakov, 1755, p. 25b). A rough translation:
A few years ago, it happened in Vilna the capital of Lithuania that a great prince from the family of Pototska converted. They captured him and imprisoned him for many days thinking they could return him to their religion. He knew that he would not escape harsh tortures and a cruel death if he would not return. They wanted to save him from the death and punishment that would await him if he held out. He paid no attention to them or to the begging of his mother the countess. He was not afraid or worried about dying in all the bitter anguish they had done to him. After waiting for him for a long time, they tried to take it easy on him for the honor of his family. He ridiculed all the temptations of the priests who would speak to him every day because he was an important minister. He scorned them and laughed at them, and chose death of long and cruel agony, to the temporary life of this world. He accepted and suffered all from love, and died sanctifying God's name. May he rest in peace.
As to why there are few full sources, the Jewish view is reflected in this excerpt from the Shema Yisrael Torah Network website:
There are a few reasons why there are so few contemporary sources about the ger tzedek story. It can be assumed that the noble Pototzki family, which was a religious Polish-Catholic family, was not happy that one of their sons defected to Judaism. The Pototzki family was said to have generally dealt kindly with the Jews living on its lands. Mentioning the conversion would have been interpreted as an open provocation of the area's ruler, which would have not resulted in any good. In addition, undoubtedly the conversion of one of the upper-class gentiles aroused great interest among the populace, and his refusal to return to their faith caused them great embarrassment ... Nevertheless, we believe the words of our rabbis, which clearly indicate that there was a connection between the Gra (i.e. the Vilna Gaon) and the Ger Tzedek.
In his lecture on the topic, Prof. Sid Leiman quotes an author from a century ago who related the same reason - heard from a member of the Pototzki family.


The traditional story

Polish author
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (28 July 1812 – 19 March 1887) was a Polish writer, publisher, historian, journalist, scholar, painter, and author who produced more than 200 novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews, which makes him the ...
, based on the story written in Hebrew from 1766 by Judah Hurwitz, ''Ammudei Beit Yehuda'' in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
relates that young Potocki and his friend Zaremba, who traveled from
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
to study in a
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, became interested in an old Jew whom they found poring over a large volume when they entered his wine shop. This Jew might have been their own countryman, Menahem Man ben Aryeh Löb of Visun, who was tortured and executed in Vilna at the age of seventy (3 July 1749). Tradition has brought this Jewish martyr into close connection with the ''Ger Tzedek'', but fear of the censor has prevented writers in Russia from saying anything explicit on the subject. His teachings and explanations of the Old Testament, to which they, as Roman Catholics, were total strangers, so impressed them that they prevailed upon him to instruct them in the
Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
. In six months they acquired proficiency in the Biblical language and a strong inclination toward
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
. They resolved to go to
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, which was one of the few places in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
at that time where a Christian could openly embrace Judaism. But Potocki first went to
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
, whence, after convincing himself that he could no longer remain a Catholic, he went to Amsterdam and took upon himself the covenant of Abraham, assuming the name of Avraham ben Avraham ("Abraham the son of Abraham"; "the son of Abraham" is the traditional styling of a convert to Judaism, as
Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
was the first who converted to Judaism from polytheism). Potocki's parents got word of his leave from the seminary in Paris and the rumors that he had converted to Judaism and began searching for him. Potocki then fled from France and hid in a synagogue in Vilna, wearing a long beard and
peyot ''Pe'ot'', anglicized as payot ( he, פֵּאוֹת, pēʾōt, "corners") or payes (), is the Hebrew term for sidelocks or sideburns. Payot are worn by some men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community based on an interpretation of the Tanakh's ...
like the Perushim (devout Jews who separated themselves from the community to learn and pray). When the Vilna Gaon heard of his whereabouts, he advised him to hide instead in the small town of Ilye (
Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate (1795–1915; also known as Lithuania-Vilnius Governorate from 1801 until 1840; russian: Виленская губерния, ''Vilenskaya guberniya'', lt, Vilniaus gubernija, pl, gubernia wileńska) or Government of V ...
). There a Jewish tailor who sewed uniforms for Polish bureaucrats overheard some clients talking about the fugitive divinity student and suspected that the stranger in the synagogue might be he. Later this tailor's son, who liked to disturb the men studying in the synagogue, was sharply rebuked by Potocki; some say Potocki grabbed the boy by the ear and pulled him out the door. The tailor reported him to the Bishop of Vilna, and Potocki was arrested. Potocki's parents visited him in prison and begged him to renounce his Judaism publicly, promising to build him a castle where he could practice the religion privately. According to Rabbi Ben-Zion Alfes, the
Maggid A maggid ( he, מַגִּיד), also spelled as magid, is a traditional Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A chaplain of the more scholarly sort is called a '' darshan'' (). The title of '' ...
of Vilna, Potocki refused his mother, saying, "I love you dearly, but I love the truth even more". After a long imprisonment and a trial for
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
, Potocki was condemned to death by being burned alive at the stake. After the decree was handed down, the Vilna Gaon sent Potocki a message offering to rescue him using
Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defin ...
. Potocki refused, preferring instead to die ''al kiddush Hashem'' and inquired of the Vilna Gaon which blessing he should make immediately before his death. The Vilna Gaon answered, "...m'kadesh es Shimcha be'rabbim" (Who sanctifies His Name in public) and sent
Alexander Süsskind of Grodno Alexander Susskind ben Moses of Grodno was a kabbalist of the eighteenth century. He died at Grodno in 1794. He wrote "''Yesod we-Shoresh ha-'Abodah''" (''The Essence and Root of Worship''), Novydvor, 1782, a work frequently republished. It conta ...
as an emissary to hear and answer "
Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and ...
". His mother used all her influence to procure a pardon for him, but the execution was moved up one day so that she would not be able to deliver it in time. Potocki was executed in Vilna on the second day of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. It was unsafe for any Jew to witness the burning; nevertheless, one Jew, Leiser Zhiskes, who had no beard, went among the crowd and succeeded by bribery in securing some of the ashes of the martyr, which were later buried in the Jewish cemetery. Potocki walked proudly to the execution site, singing a song that was later sung in the
Volozhin yeshiva Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim (), commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva (), was a prestigious Lithuanian ''yeshiva'' located in the town of Volozhin, Russian Empire (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded around 1803 by Rabbi Ḥayyim Volozhiner, a stude ...
and that was also sung by Rabbi
Isser Zalman Meltzer Isser Zalman Meltzer ( he, איסר זלמן מלצר) (February 6, 1870 – November 17, 1953),Isser Zalman Meltzer "Even HaEzel" (1870 - 1953) was a famous Lithuanian Jewish and Belarusian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva and posek. He is also kn ...
after
Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...
. Some sources say that Rabbi Alexander Ziskind, author of ''Yesod VeShoresh HaAvodah'', stood near Potocki and said "Amen" to the blessing he said before he died. Following Potocki's execution, the town that had furnished the firewood for the execution burned down. There was also an unusual number of fires in Vilna, and a building that stood opposite the execution site bore a black stain from the "smoke and fumes of the burning". No amount of paint or whitewashing would remove the stain, and finally, the building was taken down. The authorities would not allow a monument to be erected over Potocki's ashes, but a "strange tree" grew at the site. Those who tried to cut down the tree were mysteriously injured in the process. Around 1919 a
tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
was erected over the ashes and Jews came to pray there. Following the destruction of the old cemetery of Vilna by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
during World War II, a new cemetery was built and the Vilna Gaon was interred in a new '' ohel''. Potocki's ashes were reinterred alongside the Vilna Gaon's grave, and an inscribed stone memorial to him was mounted on the wall of the ''ohel''. Potocki's comrade Zaremba returned to Poland several years before him, married the daughter of a great nobleman, and had a son. He remained true to the promise to embrace Judaism and took his wife and child to Amsterdam, where, after he and his son had been circumcised, his wife also converted to Judaism; they then went to the Land of Israel. According to Jewish tradition, following Avraham ben Avraham's death, the Vilna Gaon believed that the spiritual constitution of the world had become altered in such a way that a Jew was no longer bound to wash his hands in the morning (''netilat yadayim'') within four ''amot'' (
cubits The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding No ...
) of his bed, as explicitly taught in the codes of Jewish law such as the
Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in I ...
and other
halachic ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...
works. Rather, a Jew's entire house would be considered as four ''amot'' for this mitzvah. This custom, begun at Avraham ben Avraham's death, commenced with the Vilna Gaon and later became the practice of the
Slabodka yeshiva Slabodka yeshiva may refer to: * Hebron Yeshiva, a branch of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Hebron, relocated afterward to Jerusalem * Slabodka yeshiva (Bnei Brak), a branch of the Slabodka yeshiva in Bnei Brak * Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka) Ye ...
in Europe, becoming today the routine of many leading Israeli rabbis who follow the Slabodka tradition.


Lack of historical evidence

Many secondary sources – encyclopaedias of Jewish culture, history and religion – include an entry on Potocki, a Polish magnate and member of the powerful Potocki family, who converted to
Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...
in 18th-century Netherlands and who, after his return to Vilna, was tried by an
Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
court which sentenced him to burning at the stake. Janusz Tazbir, ''The Mystery of Walentyn Potocki'', Kwartalnik Historyczny, 3/2003
online abstracts from that issue
Historians (ex. Janusz Tazbir, Jacek Moskwa,
Rimantas Miknys Rimantas (shortened as Rimas) is a masculine Lithuanian given name. The feminine form of the name is Rimantė. Notable people with the name include: *Rimantas Astrauskas (b. 1955), physicist, ecologist, and signatory of the 1990 Act * Rimantas Jon ...
and Magda Teter) who have studied the story of Potocki, however, believe it to be invented, Jacek Moskwa, ''Legenda Sprawiedliwie Nawróconego: Historia zatajona czy zmyslona?'', Zwoje March 31, 2002
online original in Polish
although it is unknown when or by whom (Moskwa points to a possibility that the author was Kraszewski himself, who is known to have invented some tales he claimed were true). Teter mentioned that the story ("a carefully crafted tale of conversion") was likely created and developed as a "response to a number of challenges that the Polish Jewish community faced from the mid-eighteenth century".


Tazbir (2003)

Polish historian Janusz Tazbir asserted that the story—he uses the term "legend"—originated at the turn of the 19th century and was published in a Jewish periodical issued in London as "The Jewish Expositor and Friend of Israel" (vol. 8, 1822). He notes that the literary version of the legend was created by
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (28 July 1812 – 19 March 1887) was a Polish writer, publisher, historian, journalist, scholar, painter, and author who produced more than 200 novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews, which makes him the ...
, a well-known Polish writer of the 19th century, author of numerous historical novels, who included the story about Potocki in the third volume of the history of Vilna (1841), ''Wilno od początków jego do roku 1750'' (1840–1842), in which he claims to have followed a
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
original, thought by some to be from ''Ammudei Beit Yehudah'' ( Judah Hurwitz, Amsterdam 1766). (However, ''Ammudei Beit Yehudah'' contains no reference to this story other than a brief mention of the execution of the elderly Rabbi Mann in Wilno). The story was then popularised through Russian translations, and there is evidence that a cult of Potocki's grave in Vilna has existed until the Jewish cemetery (at Pióromont also known as Snipiszki quarter) was destroyed by
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and later by the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
s. Some sources claim his remains were rescued along with those of Vilna Gaon, though it is said that there is no modern monument or grave clearly identified as Potocki's in Vilna or elsewhere. However, historian Sid Leiman has identified what he thinks is a likely Potocki's grave by examination of the gravestones near the Vilna Gaon's. Tazbir stated that the tragic fate of Potocki, passed through Jewish oral tradition, remains unconfirmed by 18th-century Polish or Jewish
primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
s and that there is no evidence in any archives or genealogy tree that Potocki existed. Tazbir further notes that the Polish nobility was guaranteed the freedom of faith (by acts like Neminem captivabimus and the
Warsaw Confederation The Warsaw Confederation, signed on 28 January 1573 by the Polish national assembly (''sejm konwokacyjny'') in Warsaw, was one of the first European acts granting religious freedoms. It was an important development in the history of Poland and o ...
), and
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
was extremely rare. (though see also Iwan Tyszkiewicz). He observes that the incident, if real, should have caused an uproar among the Polish nobility (like an earlier and well-documented case of the execution of Samuel Zborowski), and would be the only historical example of execution by burning of a nobleman – yet no contemporary source from the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
mentions this event even in a passing reference. In addition, it is difficult to believe that the death at the stake of a Polish aristocrat, from one of the most powerful Polish magnate families, charged with a religious crime, was not echoed in any of the diaries or polemical writings concerning religion and tolerance, topics in which the Polish nobility, and the entire European Enlightenment, were particularly interested. Tazbir has concluded that "the court trial and death of Walentyn Potocki should be recognised as a historical legend deprived of all source–material foundations".


Similar story of Abraham Isacowicz

Some have suggested that the Potocki legend is an embellishment of a different story. A report published in the July 1753 edition of
The London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and miscellaneous topics. 1732–1785 ''The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly I ...
describes the story of a very similar execution. The correspondent dated his report 11 June, two days after the end of the Shavuot holiday. It describes "an apostate named Raphael Sentimany, a native of
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
", who converted to Judaism at the age of 12 and adopted the name Abraham Isacowicz. The report describes his imprisonment and execution in Wilno as the Potocki legend describes. The report also states that he was executed on 9 June, which was the second day of Shavuot, just as in the Potocki story. The only important differences between the Sentimany execution and the Potocki legend are that the
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
's Jewish surname was Isacowicz, called Rafael Sentimany rather than Valenty Potocki, was killed in 1753 rather than 1749, and that he was a Croatian immigrant rather than a Polish noble. Raphael Sentimany is also mentioned in the anonymous British work "Admonitions from the Dead, in Epistles to the Living", published in 1754, in a manner suggestive of the wide exposure of the original report of Abraham ben Abraham's execution.


References


Sources


Jewish


Potocki (Pototzki), Count Valentine, (Abraham B. Abraham)
''This article is based on article by Herman Rosenthal and Peter Wiernik from the Jewish Encyclopedia (published circa 1906). The original text is now in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.''
The Incredible Story of the Righteous Convert of Vilna
by Rabbi Menachem Levine

by Rabbi Dov Eliach)

by Professor Sidney Z. Leiman
"The Haskalah Movement in Russia", by Jacob S. Raisin, 1913
(2005 Project Gutenberg eBook) *

by
Nissan Mindel Nissan Mindel was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi, author, editor, and served on the administrative staff of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. Background Nissan Mindel was born in Riga, Latvia in March, 1912, one of nine ch ...


Modern

* Janusz Tazbir, ''The Mystery of Walentyn Potocki'', Kwartalnik Historyczny, 3/2003
online abstracts from that issue
* Jacek Moskwa, ''Legenda Sprawiedliwie Nawróconego: Historia zatajona czy zmyslona?'', Zwoje 3/31, 2002
online original in Polish

Magda Teter
"The Legend of Ger Zedek of Wilno as Polemic and Reasurance," AJS Review 29 no. 2(2005), 237-26
full text article at www.COJS.orgThe Ger Tzedek of Vilna - Fact or Fiction (8 June 2005)
by Professor Sidney Z. Leiman


Historic

* Fuenn, Kiryah Ne'emanah, p. 120, Wilna. 1860 * Gersoni, The Converted Nobleman, in Sketches of Jewish, Life and History, pp. 187–224, New York, 1873 * Judah ben Mordecai Ha-Levi Hurwitz, 'Ammude bet Yehudah, p. 46a, Amsterdam, 1766 * Kraszewski, Józef Ignacy, 'Wilno od poczatkow jego do roku 1750', 1841 (Russian translation: Yevreyskaya Biblioteka, iii., pages 228-236')hy * B. Mandelstamm, Chazon la-Mo'ed, p. 15, Vienna, 1877


Fiction

* Sabaliauskaite, Kristina
Silva rerum III.
A novel, Vilnius, Baltos Lankos, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham Ben Abraham 1700s births 1749 deaths Counts of Poland Converts_to_Judaism_from_Christianity Converts to Judaism from Roman Catholicism Converts_to_Judaism Jewish martyrs 18th-century Polish Jews Executed Polish people Potocki family People executed by Poland by burning