April 15 1698 – 4 Iyar 5458
Rabbi Jacob Sasportas died in Amsterdam, Holland, after many years of wandering. Born in Oran, Algeria, he served as rabbi of four different communities in north Africa before he was imprisoned and succeeded in escaping to Amsterdam with his family in about 1653. Later he was sent by the King of Morocco as an emissary to the Spanish court, and a few years later he served as rabbi of the Portuguese Jewish community in London. Plague in England drove him to Hamburg, once again as a community rabbi, until in 1673 he became dean of the talmudic academy Keter Torah of Amsterdam. Similar appointments in Livorno, Italy and again in Amsterdam culminated with his appointment as chief rabbi of the Amsterdam community, an office he held until his death.
Sasportas was among the first to recognize the danger of the Sabbatean heresy and to denounce Shabetai Zvi as a false messiah. He fought stubbornly against the movement as it gained momentum, writing letters to the many communities with which he was acquainted urging them to unmask the Zvi and his followers as impostors.