The Sabbatean Prophets

142 The Sabbatean Prophets
Groups like the Quakers, Ranters, and Familiasts were attacked for creating
an alternative system of religious authority in which education and rationalism
were less esteemed than inspiration.
A pivotal target for his attack is the centrality of ignorant persons, women,
and children in the prophetic outbreak. True to his deep belief in the special
status of rabbis and traditional authority structure, Sasportas heaps scorn
upon these visionaries who have done nothing to prepare themselves spiritually
for the experience. Here Maimonides is central, for in the chapter
Sasportas paraphrases, the Egyptian rabbi states the following:
However, we shall find many texts, some of them scriptural and some of
them dicta of the Sages, all of which maintain this fundamental principle
that God turns whom He wills, whenever He wills it, into a prophet—but
only someone perfect and superior to the utmost degree. But with regard to
one of the ignorant among the common people, this is not possible according
to us—I mean, that He should turn one of them into a prophet—except
as it is possible that He should turn an ass or a frog into a prophet. It is our
fundamental principle that there must be training and perfection, where
upon the possibility arises to which the power of the deity becomes attached.
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Thus Sasportas can prove that according to the greatest Jewish legal authority,
these lowly people could not possibly be God’s chosen conduits. He also
questions the prophets’ bona fides on the basis of the Zohar and mystical traditions.
In many places he goes back to the theme of women and the kabbalistic
symbolism of the feminine aspect of God as the dangerous, dark
side. 51
The implication, which he then makes explicit, is that if God were to bring
prophecy back, even in Turkey, it could not possibly be to these ignorant
persons when great Torah scholars live in the same vicinity. Why would God
pass up famous rabbis like Hayyim Benveniste (though he was a staunch
Sabbatean!) or Solomon Algazi and grant His inspiration instead to women
and children who had done nothing—could have done nothing—to prepare
themselves for a divine communication Attitudes like this place Sasportas
squarely in the context of the contemporary debate over religious Enthusiasm;
but before examining that issue, it will be useful to return for a moment
to his accusations that the Sabbateans were heretics.
Gershom Scholem characterized the Sabbatean movement as “mystical
heresy,” pointing out the heterodox ways Kabbalah was used to justify