The Sabbatean Prophets

The Jewish Tradition 55
Sarah, like that of Luria, which permits them to override Jewish law for such
mystical gains.
Sabbateanism could probably not have been successful without the Kabbalah
to prepare the ground. Both as a set of ideas and images that could attract
learned mystics, and as a powerful body of legends, Kabbalah provided
many tools needed for a successful messianic movement. Shabbatai and Nathan
were clearly part of the new elite of mystics, and they took full advantage
of that status to press home their message.
Jewish messianism in the early modern period was diachronically bound to
the long history of Jewish messianic hopes, pretensions, and writings. It was
also, however, equally integrated into the contemporary existential situation
of the Jews within the early modern world. Two factors—the converso
phenomenon and the Kabbalah—had a particularly strong influence on the
shape of Jewish messianic views in Shabbatai’s period; but these elements
themselves arose in dialectical relationship with the historical position of the
Jew in Christian and Muslim lands. While that world seemed increasingly
hostile toward Jews, it was paradoxically drawing closer in the matter of
messianic expectations and calculations. It is thus important to constantly
observe the unfolding of Sabbateanism from both within and without the
Jewish context.
It was not only surrounding conditions, however, that allowed the success
of Sabbateanism. Nathan of Gaza and the other Sabbatean prophets knew
how to shape and deliver the message persuasively. They avoided the pitfalls
that would immediately brand their prophecy as false, sounded the traditional
tones that would validate their authenticity, and held out satisfaction
for the yearnings of all hearts. Nathan deftly exploited the dense messianic
atmosphere of the age to accomplish this design.