The Sabbatean Prophets

120 The Sabbatean Prophets
ferent way, but the essence of their words was always that Shabbatai Zvi is
messiah and king of all the earth, and he will redeem us speedily from our
exile.
One heard nothing but that this man has become a prophet, and this
woman has become a prophetess, and here sprang up a coterie of prophets;
these prophesied thus and those prophesied thus. But the upshot of all of
them was that Shabbatai is the messiah and our righteous redeemer.
So far Leib’s account differs little from other descriptions. The emphasis on
women and children prophesying alongside men, the physical symptoms,
the miraculous knowledge, and the geographic distribution (with the addition
of Adrianople)—all tally with what we already know of the outbreaks.
Leib is equally clear about the banality of the prophecies’ content. It is his
opening sentence that will be especially important here, along with what
follows below: the prophetic possession of the Peña daughters.
Now, a person is likely to think that all this was simply deception—that certain
persons pretended to be prophets. But it is not so! You must believe
it really was this way. Look at the case of the abovementioned Hayyim
Pakhina [Peña], whom Shabbatai Zvi hounded so intensely in the synagogue
with the intent of killing him, because he was an unbeliever, as I recounted.
Afterwards he [Peña] had made his peace with Shabbatai Zvi and
believed in him out of fear. This is what occurred, and it is the unadulterated
truth.
This Hayyim Peña came home to find a great crowd of people there. He
did not know what had happened to provoke all these people to congregate
before the door of his house. He asked, “What is it that causes so many people
to gather at the door” The people told him that his two daughters had
become prophetesses and prophesied like the other prophets. When this
Hayyim entered his house he saw that his daughters shook and convulsed
and uttered great things. They claimed to see the Hakham Shabbatai Zvi sitting
on his throne in heaven with the crown of kingship on his head, and
many other things. And when they finished speaking they called several
times in sequence, “Crown! Crown!”
When the father, Hayyim Peña, saw his daughters at this, he was shocked
and very taken aback. He didn’t know what to say, since he was among the
sharpest opponents of Shabbatai Zvi and had made peace with him only out
of fear, though in his heart he did not believe in him at all. Now all this occurred,
and he was stunned and depressed. When the news got out every-