The Sabbatean Prophets

Nathan of Gaza 67
may his light shine. It was a loud voice with letters clearly enunciated. All
the companions heard the voice but were unable to understand what was
said. It was an exceedingly pleasant voice, becoming increasingly strong.
We all fell upon our faces and none of us had any spirit left in him because
of our great dread and awe. The voice began to address us, saying: “Friends,
choicest of the choice, peace to you, beloved companions. Happy are you
and happy those that bore you. Happy are you in this world and happy in
the next that you resolved to adorn Me on this night. For these many years
had My head been fallen with none to comfort me . . . Behold, I am the
Mishnah, the mother who chastises her children and I have come to converse
with you. 34
Gershom Scholem took note of the parallels between the possessions of
Nathan and R. Karo: “Solomon Alkabes’ description of a similar manifestation—also
in the night of Pentecost—when the voice spoke through the
mouth of R. Joseph Karo in the presence of many brethren, provides a perfect
analogy [maqbil] to the case of Nathan.” 35 Scholem did not develop the
significance of the parallel, but the similarities cannot be a coincidence. R.
Karo’s possession by the spirit of the Mishnah was a famous event in the
Jewish world. The specifics of the possessions are also too similar to occur by
chance. Both took place late on Shavu’ot night, in an atmosphere of scholarly
group study and music. Both experienced xenoglossia, speech in a foreign
voice, which is one of the best known symptoms of possession. Both
men were mystics who appear to have prepared for a spiritual experience
deliberately.
Nathan had a special connection with the maggid of R. Karo. Nathan’s father,
Elisha Ashkenazi, owned part of the manuscript (perhaps an autograph)
of Maggid Mesharim, the work in which R. Karo’s experiences with his
maggid are recorded. R. Elisha brought this part of the work to press for the
first time in 1649. 36 R. Karo’s original maggidic possession apparently occurred
in Nicopolis in the first half of the sixteenth century. He had been
studying with members of the circle of R. Joseph Taytatzak, an exiled Spanish
kabbalist. (Others in the group included Alkabetz and the messianic
prophet Solomon Molkho, whose martyrdom deeply affected R. Karo.)
Taytatzak was connected to the Sefer ha-Meshiv circle and was well known as
a ba’al maggid. As it happens, Elisha Ashkenazi owned a prophetic manuscript
of R. Joseph Taytatzak as well: a work containing revelations Taytatzak
received while still in Spain. Although Scholem questions whether Nathan