Saul Berlin

Berlin used humor to describe what he viewed as the absurd methods of the Jewish schools, and alleges how the rabbinic casuistry—which then constituted the greater part of the curriculum—injures the sound common sense of the pupils and deadens their noblest aspirations.

Under the name "Ovadiah b. Baruch of Poland," Berlin attempted in this work to ridicule Talmudic science, and to stigmatize one of its foremost exponents not only as ignorant, but also as dishonest.

The publishers declared in the preface that they had received the work from a traveling Polish Talmudist, and had considered it their duty to print it and submit it to the judgment of specialists.

The dispute that then arose concerning the validity of the ban turned entirely on the question of whether a personal element, like the attack upon the rabbi of Altona, justified such a punishment.

Berlin said that the work "Besamim Rosh" had been compiled from Asher ben Jehiel's writings in the sixteenth century by Isaac de Molina.

"Choice Spices") is a work of legal Responsa attributed to Asher ben Jehiel of the thirteenth century, but which is widely considered a forgery composed by Saul Berlin himself.

Berlin said that the work "Besamim Rosh" had been compiled from Asher ben Jehiel's writings in the sixteenth century by Isaac de Molina.

251, that states an insight into the principles of the Torah and its commands can not be gained directly from it or from tradition, but only by means of the philosophico-logical training derived from non-Jewish sources.

Berlin aroused a storm of indignation from authorities who accused him of fraudulently using the name of one of the most famous rabbis of the Middle Ages to combat rabbinism.

[5] The Sochatchover Rebbe, Avrohom Bornsztain later wrote that it was prohibited to keep the Besamim Rosh in one's home and it was permitted to burn it even on a Yom Kippur that falls on Sabbath.