The Sabbatean Prophets

60 The Sabbatean Prophets
thing in its order: the merkabah [chariot] 7 and the face of AMIRAH
[Shabbatai Zvi]. [Pinheiro] asked him how long he stayed in this state and
he replied, for twenty-four hours. [Pinheiro] then asked him how things
appeared—as in a dream As if from far away or from close up Or just like
a man learning He answered that [he saw] by the light God made on the
first day, which permits a man to see from one end of the world to the other,
each thing in its appropriate place in heaven; then above [heaven] in the
ascending order of levels.
Baruch ben Gershon of Arezzo, A Remembrance for the Children of Israel 8 (ca.
1676):
Afterwards Rabbi Nathan was told in a dream vision at night that he should
carry out an extended fast [hafsaqah] since he was destined to see a great vision;
and so he did. On Sunday, the 25th day of the month of Elul 5425 9 he
isolated himself in a room, and the sages were in an adjoining room. On
Monday, following the morning service, a great vision came to him. He beheld
the light which God created on the six days of Creation; he viewed
from one end of the universe to the other; and he saw a scene like that
which Ezekiel the prophet saw [the chariot]. And he saw the following engraved
in supernal lights: “Thus saith the Lord: Behold your savior is coming,
Shabbatai Zvi” etc. And he was dressed in it [!] like an angel, and he
forced him to say these words. He heard a decree in the heavenly academy
announcing: “In one year and a few months you will reveal and you will
see the kingdom of the House of David.” He [Nathan] swore on the life of
the world [that is, God] that what he said was true, and that he really had
this vision.
These accounts are mainly free of complex literary accretions, and they
essentially agree in content. Nathan describes himself as a highly dedicated
student who sought voluntary mortifications and penances although he
knew that he was in fact pure and sinless. This attitude presents an interesting
contrast with many Palestinian kabbalists of the sixteenth century, such
as Rabbis Joseph Karo and Hayyim Vital, who led saintly lives but were constantly
tortured by the fear of minute transgressions. It offers an insight into
the immense self-confidence of Nathan, the very quality that allowed him to
dive head-first into the Sabbatean enterprise and convince others (including
Shabbatai) to join him. Self-confidence was a quality Nathan shared with
the most influential of the sixteenth-century kabbalists, Rabbi Isaac Luria,