The Sabbatean Prophets

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Opponents and Observers Respond 159 millenarian scenario of the immediate future. All Christians must now recognize that they have been corrupted by vanity. It is this that has prevented them from recognizing the truth from wherever it might appear. The stream of God’s truth will now sweep away this vanity, overthrowing all temporal powers so that Jesus can return and rule again with his saints. The expectation of this cataclysmic apocalypse was “the opinion of Millenarians all over Europe, especially the Fifth Monarchy Men in England, who demanded the return of Jews to England for these reasons.” 95 The author emphasizes Serrarius’ certainty, based on calculations from the prophets and the New Testament, that 1666 was destined to be the year that the kingdom of Heaven would be restored. It is clear, then, that Serrarius was ready for news like that of Shabbatai Zvi at exactly this moment. He was not a believer in Shabbatai in the way the Jews were, but because of his flexibility in imagining the pre-millenarian scenario, he could absolutely understand these events as part of the process of the Second Coming. In his vision of the future, the Jews would converge on Jerusalem, rout the Muslims, usurp all temporal power in the region, and thereby serve as the foot soldiers of Christ, saving Christians from the exigencies of these wars. Afterward, of course, they would convert and serve the real messiah, Jesus. This conception, which becomes clearer in Serrarius’ subsequent responses to the better informed Sabbatean reports, constitutes the apogee of Christian Sabbateanism, for Serrarius was the central figure in the distribution of Sabbatean propaganda in the non-Jewish world. To many Jews the positive attitude of Serrarius and others like him was one of the wonders proving the truth of Shabbatai’s mission. Hence European millenarianism becomes directly relevant to the success of the movement among Jews. The author of the letter, who took Serrarius seriously, is an example of the type of neutral or wait-and-see response common among Christians until Shabbatai’s apostasy. Numerous documents concerning Christian attitudes toward Sabbateanism could be fruitfully examined here, but this example clearly illustrates some of the ways in which the prophetic understandings of European Christian millenarians and Jewish messianists interacted in 1665, effecting a profound influence on the Sabbatean movement. One more case of a Christian Sabbatean deserves attention to complete the picture. This is the amazing case of a Christian girl in Izmir who became a Sabbatean prophetess. Though the case properly belongs to the previous
160 The Sabbatean Prophets chapter because of the symptoms and circumstances involved, it is part of the Christian world’s response to Sabbatean news. This may or may not have been an isolated case. The spirit of prophecy even rested upon a Christian girl. Afterward she claimed to remember nothing of what she had spoken. Nevertheless, a priest came with the intention of exorcizing the spirit from her. She responded to him with derisive words in front of the Turks and Christians, saying the Master Shabbatai Zvi is the messiah. Later she regretted saying anything, but she felt a great fire in her heart. 96 The girl continued to confirm her belief in Shabbatai as the messiah before a priest and other people after her ecstasy had worn off, suggesting that she was an actual believer, not just someone caught up in a spiritual moment. Izmir was a busy port city with many Christian merchants from all over Europe in residence, but it also had a native population of Orthodox Christians. It is not known which branch of Christianity the girl professed, and without knowing more about her (her age, for example) it is hard to know what to make of the incident. What is certain is that this was a real Christian who became a Sabbataean—one who came to believe in Shabbatai not as an antichrist or a precursor of Jesus, but as the real messiah. This strange episode serves as an appropriate indication of how deeply prophetic events and reports had penetrated the atmosphere within months of Nathan of Gaza’s first prophecy. The responses to Sabbatean prophecy among both Jews and Christians, then, fit larger patterns in the period. Not only the willingness to believe, but also the opposition to the prophets displayed by Hakham Sasportas bear a striking resemblance to other models in the seventeenth century. Sasportas’ opposition to Sabbatean Enthusiasm mirrors that of opponents to the Quakers, the French prophets, the Saint-Médard convulsionaries, and other visionary movements. At the same time, some European Christians went the other way and were prepared to consider the breaking news about Shabbatai in the context of their own prophetic traditions. Although a Christian could not believe in Shabbatai as the true messiah while remaining committed to all Christian principles, he or she might see the Jewish messiah as part of a larger process in which the Jews prepare the ground for the Second Coming. At least one example indicates that there could be Christians
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The Sabbatean Prophets
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Copyright © 2004 by the President
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Contents Preface ix Prologue 1 1 Me
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x Preface of Jewish mysticism, but,
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xii Preface into sleep. My daughter
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Prologue In the spring of 1665, Rab
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Prologue 3 academies), and in his e
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Prologue 5 who would always pursue
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Prologue 7 messiah, like the accept
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The Early Modern Context 9 liefs wa
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The Early Modern Context 11 curring
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The Early Modern Context 13 ment an
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The Early Modern Context 15 cess of
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The Early Modern Context 17 Nathani
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The Early Modern Context 19 faiths.
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The Early Modern Context 21 terpret
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The Early Modern Context 23 ing, so
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The Early Modern Context 25 mists,
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The Early Modern Context 27 Renewed
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The Early Modern Context 29 istence
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The Early Modern Context 31 fluenti
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The Early Modern Context 33 miah, a
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The Early Modern Context 35 than Je
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gatekeeper—the same office given
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The Early Modern Context 39 messian
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CHAPTER 2 Messianism and Prophecy i
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The Jewish Tradition 43 anic age. 1
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The Jewish Tradition 45 Converso Me
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The Jewish Tradition 47 messianic t
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The Jewish Tradition 49 ence on the
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The Jewish Tradition 51 balah broug
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The Jewish Tradition 53 was itself
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The Jewish Tradition 55 Sarah, like
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Nathan of Gaza 57 Each claimed to b
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Nathan of Gaza 59 prolonged fast [h
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Nathan of Gaza 61 who also appears
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Nathan of Gaza 63 In both Nathan’
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Nathan of Gaza 65 streets and house
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Nathan of Gaza 67 may his light shi
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Nathan of Gaza 69 riod in Safed. 43
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Nathan of Gaza 71 messianic pretend
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Nathan of Gaza 73 a member of the T
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Nathan of Gaza 75 jah and Joseph So
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Nathan of Gaza 77 without war, for
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Nathan of Gaza 79 coming the Sabbat
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Nathan of Gaza 81 the Land of Israe
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Nathan of Gaza 83 public prophecy o
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Nathan of Gaza 85 Shabbatai Zvi ...
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Nathan of Gaza 87 but the general i
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CHAPTER 4 From Mystical Vision to P
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From Mystical Vision to Prophetic E
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Page 124 and 125: From Mystical Vision to Prophetic E
Page 146 and 147: Opponents and Observers Respond 131
Page 178 and 179: Prophecy after Shabbatai’s Aposta
Page 186: NOTES INDEX
Page 189 and 190: 174 Notes to Pages 3-8 8. See Rapha
Page 191 and 192: 176 Notes to Pages 12-14 Early Mode
Page 193 and 194: 178 Notes to Pages 15-16 35. See Mi
Page 195 and 196: 180 Notes to Pages 17-18 Eighteenth
Page 197 and 198: 182 Notes to Pages 21-24 This Resti
Page 199 and 200: 184 Notes to Pages 26-29 and Though
Page 201 and 202: 186 Notes to Pages 33-36 First Two
Page 203 and 204: 188 Notes to Pages 38-43 Influences
Page 205 and 206: 190 Notes to Pages 46-49 Mysticism,
Page 207 and 208: 192 Notes to Pages 59-62 duced and
Page 209 and 210: 194 Notes to Pages 63-68 tors,” I
Page 211 and 212: 196 Notes to Pages 72-73 to refer t
Page 213 and 214: 198 Notes to Pages 79-85 in previou
Page 215 and 216: 200 Notes to Pages 94-97 legend. Th
Page 217 and 218: 202 Notes to Pages 105-112 45. Ziza
Page 219 and 220: 204 Notes to Pages 117-130 sion, an
Page 221 and 222: 206 Notes to Pages 137-140 22. Ibid
Page 223 and 224: 208 Notes to Pages 147-153 71. Yosh
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210 Notes to Pages 167-170 Papers,
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212 Index astrology (continued) 100
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214 Index English Revolution, 16 En
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216 Index Judaism (continued) 157;
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218 Index Oral Law, 74, 132, 144, 1
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220 Index Sefer Haredim (R. Azikri)
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The Sabbatean Prophets

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