The Sabbatean Prophets

198 Notes to Pages 79–85
in previous messiahs more generally, must have come mainly from Shabbatai.
See Scholem, Sabbatai àevi, 211–12, 217, 284–85.
85. Scholem is not entirely correct in stating that the material here fits the traditional
apocalyptic mode and was therefore attractive to ordinary Jews. See
ibid., 287.
86. This is the thesis of Jonathan I. Israel, European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism,
1550–1750, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Littman Library, 1998).
87. Scholem, Sabbatai àevi, 274 n221. Some of Scholem’s references are clearly unrelated
to the imagery Nathan is attempting to conjure.
88. Ibid., 286.
89. Moses Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Principles of Torah, ch. 7. All
translations below are my own.
90. Ibid., s. 2.
91. Ibid., s. 7.
92. Ibid., ch. 8, ss. 1 and 3.
93. For this reason I disagree with Scholem (Sabbatai àevi, 212), who claims that
because of Maimonides’ disdain for signs and miracles, Nathan’s doctrine “does
not, therefore, constitute a radical innovation.” Nathan must modify
Maimonides’ position in a subtle but critical way to make his claim. The
Sabbateans’ use of this loophole in Maimonides is dealt with in David Berger,
“Some Ironic Consequences of Maimonides’ Rationalistic Messianism,” [Hebrew]
in Maimonidean Studies, Vol. 2, ed. A. Hyman (New York: Yeshiva University
Press, 1991), 4–6. But note that it is Maimonides’ position on prophecy that
Nathan must finesse.
94. Scholem (Sabbatai àevi, 211, and in more detail concerning the Christian overtones
on 282–83) points out the centrality of this doctrine and the probable
Christian influences upon it. Elqayam and Liebes place it at the center of their
analyses of Nathan.
95. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, ch. 11, s. 3.
96. See Lenowitz, Jewish Messiahs, 14–15 and passim, on the question of past messianic
pretenders and the literature associated with them.
97. See Scholem, Sabbatai àevi, 284–85 and below. Bar-Kosiba becomes an even
bigger subject for Abraham Miguel Cardoso.
98. See Menachem Kallus, “Pneumatic Spirit Possession and the Eschatology of
the Soul,” in Goldish, ed., Spirit Possession in Judaism, 159–85.
99. Sasportas, Zizat Novel Zvi, 156; and 154; Scholem, Sabbatai àevi, 284–85.
100. The complex and fascinating history of bar-Kosiba’s image, including a fine
treatment of the conflicts in Jewish thought concerning unfulfilled messiahs,
can be found in Richard G. Marks, The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish
Literature: False Messiah and National Hero (University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania
State University Press, 1994). Marks deals with Maimonides in ch. 2, and with
Nathan in ch. 8.
101. Maimonides, Laws of Kings, ch. 11.