Sabbatai Zevi: The "Messiah" who almost brought down Judaism
Below is the script for a video I wrote & created independently.
The 17th century is a time when practically everyone in Europe and the Middle East was expecting the Messiah to come. There’s a mass messianic hysteria, with people prophesizing in crowds in public.
You needed just one spark for the entire powder keg to blow, and that is what happened with Sabbatai Zevi. In Smyrna, as a teenager he began toying with practical Kabbalistic ideas, challenging his rabbi, and starts wondering, “Am I the messiah?”
The Jewish authorities there don’t love this, so they kick him out of his hometown, and he starts traveling from city to city. Sometimes making an impact. Sometimes getting banished. Sometimes both. He ends up in Jerusalem.
It was a poor, tiny community and they loved him there.
He was charismatic and had a beautiful voice. He was quite possibly the first person to set Jewish songs to the melodies of other cultures, and we’re not just talking Adon Olam. They gave him the high honor of raising money for the Jerusalem Jewish community, so he starts regularly moving between Cairo and Jerusalem. Once, on his way back, he stops by Nathan of Gaza, an important Kabbalist. Sabbatai tells him about his swinging mood changes and that he wants help correcting his soul, what practical kabbalists were known for.
Nathan of Gaza quickly comprehends that the numeric value of the letters composing Sabbatai’s full name is the same as several messianic references in the Bible and says, “Sorry. You don’t need correcting, because YOU are the messiah.”
Sabbatai loves this idea and together, they head to Jerusalem.
And there in public he declares himself as the messiah.
“We’re going to make a fast day, the Ninth of Av, a time for feasting. Why mourn? We’re just on the verge of rebuilding the temple!”
Some were turned off, but many people started believing him.
So, why? Here’s the main theory:
In Jerusalem, in 1665, they likely weren’t aware of the Chmielnicki massacre where 8 years previous, an estimated hundred thousand Jews were killed in Ukraine, so it wasn’t looking for a person to give them hope following that.
And it also, most likely, wasn’t due to Lurianic Kabbalah, as that branch of Kabbalism didn’t become widely popular until a bit later.
Rather, it was simply the ubiquitous messianic fervor in the culture at that time.
People deeply believed the Messianic age was coming.
Sabbatai offered hope, saying, “We’ll reconquer the land of Israel and redistribute it among the resurrected Ten tribes.”
And Nathan writes many, many Jewish communities, spreading the word.
The Ottoman sultan gets hibigeebies of the reports of what’s going on and has Sabbatai come to Istanbul, so if this guy is the Messiah, he’s on his side and if he’s not then he’ll shut him down, to keep the peace in the empire.
Riding in on a horse, with a saber on his side, notably two acts prohibited to Jews and all dhimmies at that time, he enters the city and is surrounded by hundreds of people confident that he’s the Messiah.
At this time (It’s 1666) we have heavy evidence that most Jews in the diaspora, from Yemen to Amsterdam, are believers in Sabbatai Zevi.
Synagogues had prayers for him: “Bless our Lord and King, the holy and righteous Sabbatai Zevi, the Messiah of the God of Jacob.”
His picture was printed next to King David’s in many prayer books with an inscription: “Save our People.”
And Jews who opposed him said, “We ARE living in Messianic times, but Sabbatai Zevi is not the Messiah.” But they couldn’t say this out loud as they’d be beaten.
Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews had a similar response. Sabbatianism helped unite the diaspora, showing that both sides had the same issues and expectations, and the same messianic craze. These were Jewish communities that had never spoken to each other before.
So, the Sultan calls him in and says, “People say you're the Messiah, which means you’re immortal.”
Sabbatai says, “Maybe…Maybe not?”
“So let me do this,” says the Sultan, “I’ll have my archers hit you with their arrows. If you die, so be it. You’re an imposter. But if you don’t, you are the Messiah, and I’ll bow down to you.”
Sabbatai apparently says, “Is there an alternative?”
And the alternative is converting to Islam. We don’t know exactly what happened, but Sabbatai leaves the palace proudly wearing a turban, having converted.
Now, Nathan of Gaza doesn’t let a little thing like their Messiah switching religions stop the movement. He gets ahead of it and writes letters across the diaspora saying Sabbatai is still the messiah.
“The function of the messiah is to redeem holy sparks throughout the world, and only the Messiah can go to the dark side, Islam (The 1660’s were a bit less PC then now) to redeem sparks from even there.”
Most Jews don’t buy this. They’re shocked and wonder how they can atone for the sin of believing in him. They fast and do self-flagellation. And they remove evidence of him having been such a big deal from the histories, reframing it as just some crazy blip.
But others consider his conversion a martyrdom of sorts. What he taught is now more true than ever, because he willingly sacrificed himself.
After he converts, Sabbatai lives in a Turkish palace under house arrest with his disciples by his side, and people from all over the diaspora flock to him, their Messiah.
Despite converting, he still sang Jewish songs, ate kosher and celebrated the holidays, declaring it was Shabbat on whatever day of the week he saw as fit.
Some followed him in converting to Islam: The Donme. They secretly practiced Jewish traditions within Islam. This group lasted for hundreds of years. In the 1920’s they numbered 15,000.
And in 1676, ten years after he converted, Sabbatai died.
His disciples kept spreading the idea of Sabbatianism, leading to a line of Messianic figures to follow.
But the rest of the Jewish world (most Jews) needed to do something with the Kabbalistic legacy he used and abused. There was a search for how to follow Kabbalah properly now.
And a hundred years later, Hasidic Judaism would provide that answer. It came not necessarily to get rid of the Messianic ideas in Kabbalah, but rather interpret them in a completely different, more kosher light.
To learn how and why Hasidic Judaism began, changing the face of Judaism with it, watch the next video in this series. Make sure to subscribe for when future videos come out, and if you’re interested in supporting me making more videos like this one – whether you’re an educator, a life long student of history, or both – please click the link below in the video description.