Berlin began his literary career with an anonymous circular letter,
Katuv Yosher (
Written Truth) (printed in Berlin, 1794, after the death of the author), which
Hartwig Wessely warmly defended in his own contention with the rabbis while pleading for German education among the Jews. 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. He later wrote the pseudonymous work, ''Mitzpeh Yokt'el
(two place-names in Jos. 15:38; by way of pun Mitzpah Yekutiel,
"Superseder of Yekutiel") (published by David Friedländer and his brother-in-law Itzig, Berlin, 1789), a polemic against the Torat Yekutiel'' of
Raphael Cohen. The latter, one of the most zealous advocates of rabbinic piety, was a rival candidate with Levin for the Berlin rabbinate, which induced Levin's son to represent Cohen as a forbidding example of rabbinism. 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. To secure the anonymity more thoroughly, Berlin and his father were named among those who were to pass upon it. Berlin's statements, especially his personal attacks against those he disagreed with, undermined his cause. When it reached
Altona and
Hamburg, where Raphael was chief rabbi, the work and its author was placed under the ban. 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. Some Polish rabbis supported the ban, while some declared the ban invalid as did
Ezekiel Landau, chief rabbi of
Prague and a near relation of Berlin. Even the former censured Berlin's actions after circumstances forced him to acknowledge authorship. Before the excitement over this affair had subsided, Berlin created a new sensation by another work. In 1793 he published in Berlin, under the title "Besamim Rosh" (Incense of Spices), 392 responsa purporting to be by
Asher ben Jehiel. Berlin said that the work "Besamim Rosh" had been compiled from Asher ben Jehiel's writings in the sixteenth century by Isaac de Molina. However, rabbinic critics of his day suspected that Berlin had forged the work.
Mordecai Benet first attempted to prevent the printing of the book in
Austria, and then argued deception in a circular letter addressed to Berlin's father, by critically analyzing the responsa and arguing that they were spurious. Levin tried in vain to defend his son. Berlin resigned his rabbinate and, to end the dispute, went to London where he died a few months later. In a letter found in his pocket, he warned everybody against looking into his papers, requesting that they be sent to his father. He expressed the wish to be buried not in a cemetery, but in some lonely spot, and in the same garments in which he died. ==Besamim Rosh==