The Sabbatean Prophets

78 The Sabbatean Prophets
his own. He must make the switch while still remaining in the Lurianic
camp, where his heart as well as those of many would-be believers clearly
lay. The method he uses is very similar to a strategy of the hagiographical
Toledoth ha-AR”I. In that work, the apologist must explain why the world-famous
luminaries of Safed such as R. Joseph Karo, R. Moses Cordovero, R.
Abraham and R. Moses Galante, and R. Moses Alsheikh, were nevertheless
inferior to the young Luria, who showed up in Safed only in 1570 at age
thirty-six and died two years later. The author of Toledoth ha-AR”I uses a
story in each case to show that these great elder scholars were indeed extremely
holy and exalted, but God simply had not put their souls in the same
league as that of the almost superhuman AR”I. It is in fact the AR”I himself
who is able to explain, for example, why Alsheikh’s soul was not destined
for Kabbalah study when the latter begs to join Luria’s circle. R. Moses
Galante comes to him in search of a tikkun for his soul. In the case of
Cordovero, the older rabbi as much as turns his mantle of leadership over to
Luria. 76
The tables are now turned. Luria was a great and holy person, and his
practices were necessary in the pre-messianic world; but in the messianic
world they are superseded and even dangerous. He could hardly have been
expected to know what would later be revealed to the apocalyptically illuminated
Nathan. 77 The exaltation of the place of R. Hayyim Vital is especially
interesting. The Toledoth ha-AR”I and Vital’s own Book of Visions bear witness
to a very complex relationship between Luria and Vital—Luria sometimes
extols Vital in the highest terms, while at other times it appears Vital
can never reach his teacher’s spiritual level. 78 Ultimately, though, Nathan’s
judgment of Vital’s superiority may have been a judicious move at a time
when the enlistment of R. Samuel Vital, heir and son of R. Hayyim Vital, was
so important to the success of Sabbateanism. 79 For this reason and others,
the mention of Vital’s messianic attributes is critical to the implications of the
letter.
A further matter connected with Luria and Vital, and the failure of messianism
in their time (and in all previous times), is the profound difference
between their era and Shabbatai’s. While no adequate explanation is given
here, Nathan insists that in the past figures with genuine potential to be the
messiah were thwarted by the bad deeds or disbelief of their generation; but
the present generation, sinful as it might be, cannot be cheated of the messianic
advent. One might again be reminded of an incident from the Toledoth
ha-AR”I, in which Luria suddenly tells the disciples during the service wel-