The Sabbatean Prophets

Opponents and Observers Respond 135
fulfilled We have also not seen the blossoms of his messiah, nor have the
wonderful blooms and flowers of God sprouted in the courtyards of our
Lord as they are foretold by the holy man of God, Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai
[purported author of the Zohar] and others.” 14 He further notes that the order
of matters predicted by Nathan differs from that of the Zohar, and that
Nathan misunderstood the words of the AR”I. 15
Sasportas was also fond of pointing out things about which Nathan failed
to prophesy, and about which his prophecy failed or could not be confirmed.
For example, he discusses the wild earliest reports coming from the East according
to which Jewish armies were appearing out of Africa and India and
advancing on the Turks. “He has not prophesied about them and their memory
has been lost from his mouth. . . . And were it not for these earlier letters
this prophet would have no basis for his claim to be a true prophet that
announceth peace, the harbinger of good tidings.” 16 Note that this is another explicit
testimony of a contemporary that the success of the movement was
squarely based on prophetic reports.
Sasportas likewise scoffs at Nathan’s ability to identify the anonymous
grave sites of holy men: “Who is there to confirm that these are their graves
And what sign has he given for it Have those buried testified for themselves,
coming back to life and rising up on their legs to confirm his claims,
or anything of the sort And even if he is correct about them and their
names, this is not sufficient to confirm he is a true prophet—for more than
this was claimed of the AR”I z”l and his students!” 17
Sasportas especially delighted in catching Nathan feigning he had prophetic
knowledge about his correspondents, which he needed to offer appropriate
penances (tikkunim).
We were also told that Nathan of Gaza had collected a great deal of money
from those who came to him; for anyone wishing a tikkun for their soul
could purchase atonement from him. He would thus redeem the person’s
soul from purgatory with a spiritual penance that would be revealed to him.
I myself saw some of these penances that he sent to certain persons here
and in Amsterdam at the request of Rabbi Shalom ben Joseph z”l. One of
these was to Rabbi Abraham Nahar, written thus on a small note: “Abraham
Nahar, because [lit. in the footsteps] of the messiah, 1,800 fasts. He is
from the tribe of Judah.”. . . . The abovementioned man [Nahar] told me...
“He says that anyone who does not believe in him and his messiah has no
part in the God of Israel and comes from the mixed multitude [of non-Jews