The Sabbatean Prophets

CHAPTER 6
Prophecy after
Shabbatai’s Apostasy
The Sabbataean movement strikingly illustrates the phenomenon
we are concerned with: when people are committed to a belief and a
course of action, clear, disconfirming evidence may simply result in
deepened conviction and increased proselytizing.
—L. Festinger et al., When Prophecy Fails, 12
When Shabbatai Zvi accepted Islam before the sultan in 1666,
the majority of the Jewish world turned its back on the would-be messiah
and returned to normal life. Yet a great many followers could not accept the
idea that their deep emotional investment had been futile. The embarrassed
leaders of the Jewish community sought to eradicate the traces of their error,
and over time they turned sharply against these remaining believers.
Like a minority of followers in most failed messianic movements, however,
the loyal Sabbateans went underground and kept up the faith in secret. 1
Several hundred of them converted to Islam during the 1680s to follow the
example of Shabbatai, but most remained within Judaism. Cells developed
in the Ottoman Empire and Europe. As long as Shabbatai and Nathan were
alive, they kept in touch with the believers.
One might expect that in such circumstances the prophecies about Shabbatai
would cease; or they might be studied and interpreted, but no new revelations
would emerge. In fact, the prophetic activity of Sabbatean believers
seems to have grown after the apostasy. In a related trend, although numerous
authors have written about the negative repercussions caused by the
movement on the study and practice of Kabbalah, there is more evidence to
show that interest in Kabbalah in the generation after Shabbatai’s apostasy
dramatically increased. Along with Kabbalah studies came a surge of non-
Sabbatean prophecy that was also rife in kabbalistic circles for a long time
afterward.
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