[[Image:Yakov Emden.jpg|frame|Rabbi Yakov Yisrael Emden]]Rabbi Yakov Yisrael ben Zevi Ashkenazi Emden (Ya'abetz) was German Talmudist and anti-Shabbethaian; born at Altona June 4, 1697; died there April 19, 1776. Until seventeen Emden studied Talmud under his father, known as "Ḥakam Ẓebi," first at Altona, then (1710-14) at Amsterdam. In 1715 he married the daughter of Mordecai ben Naphtali Kohen, rabbi of Ungarish-Brod, Moravia, and continued his studies in his father-in-law's yeshibah. Emden became well versed in all branches of Talmudic literature; later he studied philosophy, Cabala, and grammar, and made an effort to acquire the Latin and Dutch languages, in which, however, he was seriously hindered by his belief that a Jew should occupy himself with secular sciences only during the hour of twilight. He was also opposed to philosophy, and maintained that the "Moreh" could not have been written by Maimonides ("Miṭpaḥat Sefarim"). He spent three years at Ungarish-Brod, where he held the office of private lecturer in Talmud. Then be became a dealer in jewelry and other articles, which occupation compelled him to travel. He generally declined to accept the office of rabbi, though in 1728 he was induced to accept the rabbinate of Emden, from which place he took his name.
