Sabbatai Zevi

Sabbatai Zevi, (????? ??? Shabtai Tzvi in Hebrew) (also known as Shabbethai, Shabbetai, Sabbetai, or Shabtai; Zvi or Tzvi) (July 23 1626–possibly September 30 1676) was a claimed Messiah and Kabbalist. He was the founder of the Donmeh sect, which flourished in the Ottoman Empire, and which drew elements from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as of the more Judaism-influenced Sabbatian movement (Sabbatianism), which continued in Europe after his death.

Claims of Messiahship

Apart from this general Messianic theory, there was another computation, based on a presumably interpolated passage in the Zohar (a famous Jewish mystical text), and particularly popular among the Jews, according to which the year 1648 was to be the year of Israel's redemption by their long-awaited Jewish Messiah. All these things led Sabbatai to conceive a plan which was of grave consequence for the whole of Jewry, and whose effects are felt even to the present time: he decided to assume the role of that expected Jewish Messiah.

Related Topics:
Zohar - 1648 - Israel's - Jewish Messiah

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Though only twenty-two years old, he dared (in the ominous year 1648) to reveal himself at Smyrna to a band of followers (whom he had won over through his knowledge of the Kabbalah, his attractive appearance and personality, and his strange actions) as the true Messianic redeemer designated by God to overthrow the governments of the nations and to restore the kingdom of Israel. His mode of revealing his mission was the pronouncing of the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew, an act which was forbidden to all, except the Jewish high priest in the Temple in Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement. This was of great significance to those acquainted with rabbinical, and especially Kabbalistic, literature. However, Sabbatai's authority at the age of twenty-two did not reach far enough for him to gain many adherents.

Related Topics:
Kingdom of Israel - Tetragrammaton - Hebrew - High priest - Temple in Jerusalem - Day of Atonement - Rabbinical

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Among the first of those to whom he revealed his Messiahship were Isaac Silveyra and Moses Pinheiro, the latter a brother-in-law of the Italian rabbi and kabbalist Joseph Ergas. Sabbatai remained at Smyrna for several years, leading the pious life of a mystic, and giving rise to much argument in the community, the details of which are not known. The college of rabbis, having at its head his teacher, Joseph Escapa, watched Sabbatai closely, and when his Messianic pretensions became too bold they put him and his followers under a ban of cherem, a type of excommunication in classical Judaism.

Related Topics:
Isaac Silveyra - Moses Pinheiro - Italian - Kabbalist - Joseph Ergas - Joseph Escapa - Cherem - Excommunication - Judaism

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About the year 1651 (according to others, 1654) Sabbatai and his disciples were banished from Smyrna. It is not quite certain where he went from there. In 1653, or at the latest 1658, he was in Constantinople, where he met a preacher, Abraham ha-Yakini (a disciple of Joseph di Trani), who confirmed Sabbatai. Ha-Yakini is said to have forged a manuscript in archaic characters and in a style imitating the ancient apocalypses, and which, he alleged, bore testimony to Sabbatai's Messiahship. It was entitled The Great Wisdom of Solomon, and began:

Related Topics:
1651 - 1654 - 1653 - 1658 - Constantinople - Abraham ha-Yakini - Joseph di Trani - Apocalypse

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:?I, Abraham, was confined in a cave for forty years, and I wondered greatly that the time of miracles did not arrive. Then was heard a voice proclaiming, 'A son will be born in the Hebrew year 5386 to Mordecai Zevi; and he will be called Shabbethai. He will humble the great dragon; ... he, the true Messiah, will sit upon My throne.?

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