Sabbatai Zevi (,

,
,
other spellings include Sabbatai evi, Shabbetai evi, Shabbey
Se, Sabbatai Sevi, Shabsai Tzvi, and Sabetay Sevi in Turkish) (August 1, 1626 c.
September 17, 1676[1]) was a Sephardic Rabbi[2] and kabbalist who claimed to be the longawaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Sabbatean movement.
In February of 1666, upon his arrival in Constantinople, Sabbatai was imprisoned following
orders issued by the grand vizierAhmed Kprl; in September of that same year, after being
moved from different prisons around the capital to Adrianople (the imperial court's seat) for
judgement on accusations of fomenting sedition, Sabbatai was given by Kprl, in the
name of theSultan Mehmed IV, the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal, or
of converting to Islam. Sabbatai seems to have chosen the latter by donning on his head
from then on a Turkish turban. He was then also rewarded by the heads of the Ottoman state
with a generous pension for his compliance with their political and religious plans. [3] Some of
his followers also converted to Islamabout 300 families who were known as
the Dnmeh (converts).[4]
Contents
[hide]

1Early life and education

2Influence of English millenarianism
3Claims of messiahship
4In Salonica, Cairo, and Jerusalem
5Marriage to Sarah
6Nathan of Gaza
7Proclaimed messiah
8Spread of his influence
9In Constantinople
10At Abydos (Migdal Oz)
11Nehemiah ha-Kohen
12Conversion to Islam
13Disillusion
14Last years
15Modern followers
16See also
17References
18Bibliography
19Further reading
20Notes
21External links

Early life and education[edit]

Sabbatai evi was born in Smyrna (zmir in present-day Turkey) on (supposedly) Tisha
B'Av or the 9th of Av, 1626, the holy day of mourning. His name literally meant the

planetSaturn, and in Jewish tradition "The reign of Sabbatai" (The highest planet) was often
linked to the advent of the Messiah.[5] evi's family were Romaniotes from Patras in presentday Greece; his father, Mordecai, was a poultry dealer in the Morea. During the war
between Turkey and Venice, Smyrna became the center of Levantine trade. Mordecai
became the Smyrna agent of an English trading house and managed to achieve some
wealth in this role.
In accordance with the prevailing Jewish custom of the time, Sabbatai's father had him study
the Talmud. He attended a yeshiva under the rabbi of Smyrna, Joseph Escapa. Studies
in halakha (Jewish law) did not appeal to him, but apparently evi did attain proficiency in the
Talmud. On the other hand, he was fascinated by mysticism and theKabbalah, as influenced
by Rabbi Isaac Luria. He found the practical kabbalah - with its asceticism, through which its
devotees claimed to be able to communicate with God and the angels, to predict the
future and to perform all sorts of miracles - especially appealing.

Influence of English millenarianism[edit]

During the first half of the 17th century, millenarian ideas of the approach of
the Messianic time were popular. They included ideas of the redemption of the Jews and
their return to the land of Israel, with independent sovereignty. The apocalyptic year was
identified by Christian authors as 1666 and millenarianism was widespread in England. This
belief was so prevalent that Manasseh ben Israel, in his letter to Oliver Cromwell and
the Rump Parliament, appealed to it as a reason to readmit Jews into England, saying,
"[T]he opinions of many Christians and mine do concur herein, that we both believe that the
restoring time of our Nation into their native country is very near at hand." [6] Besides being
involved in other commercial activities, Sabbatai's father was the agent for an English trading
house in Smyrna and must have had some business contact with English people. Sabbatai
could have learned something about these Western millenarian expectations at his father's
house.[7]

Claims of messiahship[edit]
Apart from this general Messianic theory, there was another computation, based on an
interpreted passage in the Zohar (a famous Jewish mystical text), and particularly popular
among the Jews, according to which the year 1648 was to be the year of Israel's redemption
by their long-awaited Jewish Messiah.
At age 22 in 1648, Sabbatai started declaring to his followers in Smyrna that he was the true
Messianic redeemer. In order to prove this claim he started to pronounce
theTetragrammaton, an act which Judaism emphatically prohibited to all but the Jewish high
priest in the Temple in Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement. For scholars acquainted

with rabbinical, and kabbalistic literature, the act was highly symbolic. He revealed his
Messiahship early on to Isaac Silveyra and Moses Pinheiro, the latter a brother-in-law of the
Italian rabbi and kabbalist Joseph Ergas.
However, at this point he was still relatively young to be thought of as an accepted and
established rabbinic authority; and his influence in the local community was not widespread.
Even though Sabbatai had led the pious life of a mystic in Smyrna for several years, the
older and more established rabbinic leadership was still suspicious of his activities. The local
college of rabbis, headed by his teacher, Joseph Escapa, kept a watchful eye on him. When
his Messianic pretensions became too bold, they put him and his followers under cherem, a
type of excommunication in Judaism.
About the year 1651 (according to others, 1654), the rabbis banished Sabbatai and his
disciples from Smyrna. It is not certain where he went from there. By 1658, he was
inConstantinople, where he met a preacher, Abraham Yachini (a disciple of Joseph di Trani),
who confirmed Sabbatai's messianic mission. Yachini is said to have forged a manuscript in
archaic characters which, he alleged, bore testimony to Sabbatai's Messiahship. It was
entitled "The Great Wisdom of Solomon", and began:
"I, Abraham, was confined in a cave for forty years, and I wondered greatly that the time of
miracles did not arrive. Then was heard a voice proclaiming, 'A son will be born in the
Hebrew year 5386 [the year 1626 CE] to Mordecai evi; and he will be called Shabbethai.
He will humble the great dragon; ... he, the true Messiah, will sit upon My throne."

In Salonica, Cairo, and Jerusalem[edit]

New Mosque, built by Donmeh community of Salonica during the Ottoman period.

With this document, Sabbatai chose Salonica, at that time a center of kabbalists, for his
base. He proclaimed himself the Messiah or "anointed one," gaining many adherents. He put
on all sorts of mystical events e.g., the celebration of his marriage as the "One Without
End" (the Ein Sof) with the Torah, preparing a solemn festival to which he invited his friends.
The rabbis of Salonica, headed by Rabbi Hiyya Abraham Di Boton, banished him from the
city. The sources differ widely as to the route he took after this expulsion,
with Alexandria, Athens,Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Smyrna mentioned as temporary
centers. After wandering, he settled in Cairo, where he resided for about two years (1660
1662).
Raphael Joseph Halabi ("of Aleppo") was a wealthy and influential Jew who held the high
position of mint-master and tax-farmer in Cairo under the Ottoman government. He led
an ascetic life, which included fasting, bathing in cold water, and scourging his body at night.
He used his great wealth for charity, supporting poor Talmudists and Kabbalists, fifty of whom
reportedly dined at his table regularly. Sabbatai befriended Raphael Joseph, who became a
supporter and promoter of his Messianic claims.
About 1663 Sabbatai moved on to Jerusalem. Here he resumed his former ascetic practice
of frequent fasting and other penances. Many saw this as proof of his extraordinary piety. He
was said to have a good voice, and sang psalms all night long, or at times Spanish lovesongs, to which he gave mystical interpretations. He attracted crowds of listeners. At other
times he prayed and cried at the graves of pious men and women. He
distributed sweetmeats to children on the streets. Gradually he gathered a circle of
adherents.
The important community of Jerusalem at the time was also in need of money to keep up
with the heavy taxes imposed on it by the Ottoman government. The community was coming
up short of funds to pay these levies, and these arrears could have dire consequences.
Sabbatai, known as the favorite of the rich and powerful Raphael Joseph Halabi in the
Turkish government center in Cairo, was chosen as the community envoy to appeal to Halabi
for money and support. His success in getting the funds to pay off the Turks raised his
prestige. His followers dated his public career from this journey to Cairo.

Marriage to Sarah[edit]
Another event helped spread Sabbatai's fame in the Jewish world of the time in the course of
his second stay in Cairo. During the Chmielnicki massacres in Poland, a Jewish orphan girl
named Sarah, about six years old, was found by Christians and sent to a convent for care.
After ten years', she escaped (through a miracle she claimed), and made her way
to Amsterdam. Some years later she went to Livorno where, according to reports, she led a

life of prostitution. She also conceived the notion that she was to become the bride of the
Messiah, who was soon to appear.
When the report of Sarah's adventures reached Cairo, Sabbatai claimed that such a consort
had been promised to him in a dream because he, as the Messiah, was bound to fall in love
with an unchaste woman.[citation needed] He reportedly sent messengers to Livorno to bring Sarah
to him, and they were married at Halabi's house. Her beauty and eccentricity reportedly
helped him gain new followers. Through her a new romantic and licentious element entered
Sabbatai's career. Even the overturning of her past scandalous life was seen by Sabbatai's
followers as additional confirmation of his messiahship, following the biblical story of the
prophet Hosea, who had also been commanded to take a "wife of whoredom" as the first
symbolic act of his calling.

Nathan of Gaza[edit]
Main article: Nathan of Gaza
With Halabi's financial and political backing, a charming wife, and many additional followers,
Sabbatai triumphantly returned to Palestine. Passing through the city of Gaza, which at the
time had an important Jewish community, he met Nathan Benjamin Levi, known since
as Nathan of Gaza (, Nathan 'Azzati). Nathan became very active in Sabbatai's
subsequent Messianic career, serving as Sabbatai's right-hand man and declaring himself to
be the risen Elijah, who, it was predicted, would proclaim the arrival of the Messiah. In 1665,
Nathan announced that the Messianic age would begin the following year with the conquest
of the world without bloodshed. The Messiah would lead the Ten Lost Tribesback to the Holy
Land, "riding on a lion with a seven-headed dragon in its jaws".
The rabbis of Jerusalem viewed Sabbatai's movement with great suspicion, and threatened
its followers with excommunication. Acknowledging that Jerusalem would not be the best
place to enact his plans, Sabbatai left for his native city, Smyrna. Nathan proclaimed that
henceforth Gaza, and not Jerusalem, would be the sacred city. On his way from Jerusalem
to Smyrna, Sabbatai was greeted enthusiastically in Aleppo. In Smyrna, which he reached in
the autumn of 1665, the greatest homage was paid to him. After some hesitation, he publicly
declared himself to be the expected Messiah during the Jewish New Year in 1665; his
declaration was made in the synagogue, with the blowing of horns, and shouts of "Long live
our King, our Messiah!"[citation needed]
His followers began to refer to him with the title AMIRAH, a Hebrew acronym for the phrase
"Our Lord and King, his Majesty be exalted" (Adoneinu Malkeinu Yarum Hodo).

Proclaimed messiah[edit]

"Sabbatai evi enthroned", from Tikkun, Amsterdam, 1666.

Assisted by his wife, Sabbatai became the leader of the community. He used his power to
crush the opposition. He deposed the existing rabbi of Smyrna, Aaron Lapapa, and
appointed Chaim Benveniste in his place. His popularity grew, as people of all faiths
repeated his story. His fame extended far and wide. Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands had
centers of his Messianic movement. The Jews of Hamburg and Amsterdam learned of the
events in Smyrna from trustworthy Christians. Henry Oldenburg, a distinguished German
savant who became the first secretary of the Royal Society, wrote to Baruch
Spinoza (Spinozae Epistolae No 33): "All the world here is talking of a rumour of the return of
the Israelites ... to their own country. ... Should the news be confirmed, it may bring about a
revolution in all things."
Sabbatai's followers included many prominent rabbis, such as Isaac Aboab da
Fonseca, Moses Raphael de Aguilar, Moses Galante,Moses acuto, and the abovementioned Hayyim Benveniste. Dionysius Musaphia, an adherent of Spinoza, likewise
became a follower. People spread fantastic reports, which were widely believed. For
example, it was said, "In the north of Scotland a ship had appeared with silken sails and
ropes, manned by sailors who spoke Hebrew. The flag bore the inscription 'The Twelve

Tribes of Israel'."[8] The Jewish community of Avignon, France prepared to emigrate to the
new kingdom in the spring of 1666.
The readiness of the Jews to believe the messianic claims of Sabbatai evi may largely be
explained by the desperate state of European Jewry in the mid-17th century. The bloody
pogroms of Bohdan Khmelnytsky had wiped out one third of Europe's Jewish population [citation
needed]

and destroyed many centers of Jewish learning and communal life. There is no doubt

that for most of the Jews of Europe there could not have been a more propitious moment for
the messiah to deliver salvation than the moment Sabbetai evi made his appearance.

Spread of his influence[edit]

Main article: Sabbateans
Probably with his consent, Sabbatai's adherents planned to abolish many of the ritualistic
observances because, according to a minority opinion in the Talmud, in the Messianic time
there would no longer be holy obligations. The fast of the Tenth of Tevet became a day of
feasting and rejoicing. Samuel Primo, who became Sabbatai's secretary when the latter went
to Smyrna, directed in the name of the Messiah the following circular to all of the Jews:
"The first-begotten Son of God, Shabbethai Tebi, Messiah and Redeemer of the people of
Israel, to all the sons of Israel, Peace! Since ye have been deemed worthy to behold the
great day and the fulfilment of God's word by the Prophets, your lament and sorrow must be
changed into joy, and your fasting into merriment; for ye shall weep no more. Rejoice with
song and melody, and change the day formerly spent in sadness and sorrow into a day of
jubilee, because I have appeared."
Primo's message was considered blasphemous, as Sabbatai wanted to celebrate his
birthday rather than the holy day. There was outrage and dissension in the communities;
many of the leaders who had regarded the movement sympathetically were shocked at such
radical innovations. Solomon Algazi, a prominent Talmudist of Smyrna, and other members
of the rabbinate who opposed the abolition of the fast, narrowly escaped death at the hands
of Sabbatai's followers.

In Constantinople[edit]
At the beginning of the year 1666, Sabbatai left Izmir for Constantinople (stanbul in presentday Turkey). He may have been forced to flee by city officials. Nathan Ghazzati had
prophesied that, once in Constantinople, Sabbatai would place the sultan's crown on his own
head. The grand vizier, Ahmed Kprl, ordered Sabbatai's immediate arrest upon his arrival
and had him imprisoned, maybe to avoid any doubts among local and foreign observers of
the imperial court as to the power still wielded by the Turkish Sultanate and by the Sultan
himself.

Sabbatai's imprisonment discouraged neither him nor his followers at this stage. He was
treated well in prison, perhaps because of bribes paid. This seems to have strengthened
belief within his immediate circle of followers. Fabulous reports concerning the miraculous
deeds "the Messiah" was performing in the Turkish capital were spread by
Ghazzati,Abraham Yachini, and Primo among the Jews of Smyrna and in many other
communities, and the messianic expectations in the Jewish diasporas continued to rise.

At Abydos (Migdal Oz)[edit]

After two months' imprisonment in Constantinople, Sabbatai was moved to the state prison
at Abydos. Some of his friends were allowed to accompany him. As a result, the Sabbataians
called the fortress Migdal Oz (Tower [of] Strength). As Sabbatai had arrived on the day
preceding Passover, he slew a paschal lamb for himself and his followers. He ate it with its
fat, a violation of Jewish Law. It is said that he pronounced over it the benediction: "Blessed
be God who hath restored again that which was forbidden."
The immense sums sent to him by his rich followers, the charms of the queenly Sarah, and
the cooperation shown by the Turkish officials and others enabled Sabbatai to display royal
splendor in the prison castle of Abydos. Accounts of his life there were exaggerated and
spread among Jews in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In some parts of Europe, Jews began to
unroof their houses and prepare for a new "exodus". In almost every synagogue, Sabbatai's
initials were posted, and prayers for him were inserted in the following form: "Bless our Lord
and King, the holy and righteous Sabbatai evi, the Messiah of the God of Jacob."
In Hamburg, the council introduced the custom of praying for Sabbatai not only
on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), but also on Monday and Thursday. Unbelievers were
compelled to remain in the synagogue and join in the prayer with a loud Amen. Sabbatai's
picture was printed together with that of King David in most of the prayer-books, along with
his kabbalistic formulas and penances.
These and similar innovations caused great commotion in some communities.
In Moravia excitement reached such a pitch that the government had to intervene, while
at Sale, Morocco, the emir ordered a persecution of the Jews. During this period Sabbatai
declared the fasts of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av (his birthday) would
henceforth be feast-days. He contemplated converting the Day of Atonement to one of
celebration.

Nehemiah ha-Kohen[edit]

Sabbatai evi as a prisoner in Abydos.

While Sabbatai was in the Abydos prison an incident occurred which ultimately led to
Sabbatai's downfall. Two prominent Polish Talmudists from Lww, Lesser Poland, who were
among Sabbatai's visitors in Abydos, informed him that in their native country a
prophet, Nehemiah ha-Kohen, had announced the coming of the Messiah. Sabbatai ordered
the prophet to appear before him. (SeeJew. Encyc. ix. 212a, s.v. Nehemiah ha-Kohen).
Nehemiah obeyed, reaching Abydos after a journey of three months at the beginning of
September, 1666. The meeting between the two ended in mutual dissatisfaction. Some
Sabbataians are said to have contemplated the secret murder of the rival.

Conversion to Islam[edit]
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Nehemiah, however, escaped to Constantinople, where he pretended [citation needed] to

embrace Islam to get an audience with thekaymakam. He told him of Sabbatai's ambitions.
The kaymakam informed the sultan, Mehmed IV. Sabbatai was taken from Abydos
to Adrianople, where the sultan's vizier gave him three choices; subject himself to a trial of
his divinity in the form of a volley of arrows (in which should the archers miss, his divinity
would be proven); be impaled; or he could convert to Islam. [citation needed] On the following day
(September 16, 1666) evi came before the sultan, cast off his Jewish garb and put a
Turkish turban on his head. Thus his conversion to Islam was accomplished. The sultan was
much pleased, and rewarded Sabbatai by conferring on him the title (Mahmed) Effendi, and
appointing him as his doorkeeper with a generous salary. Sarah and approximately 300
families among Sabbatai's followers also converted to Islam. These new Muslims thereafter

were known asdnmeh (converts).[4] The sultan's officials ordered Sabbatai to take an
additional wife to demonstrate his conversion. Some days after his conversion he wrote to
Smyrna: "God has made me an Ishmaelite; He commanded, and it was done. The ninth day
of my regeneration."[citation needed]

Disillusion[edit]
Sabbatai's conversion devastated his followers. Muslims and Christians alike ridiculed his
followers after the event. In spite of Sabbatai's apostasy, many of his adherents still clung
tenaciously to their belief in him, claiming that his conversion was a part of the Messianic
scheme. Prophets such as Ghazzati and Primo, who were interested in maintaining the
movement, encouraged such belief. In many communities, the Seventeenth of Tammuz and
the Ninth of Av were still observed as feast-days in spite of bans and excommunications by
the rabbis.

Former followers of Sabbatai do penance for their support of him.

At times Sabbatai assumed the role of a pious Muslim and reviled Judaism; at others he
associated with Jews as one of their own faith. In March, 1668, he announced that he had
been filled with the "Holy Spirit" at Passover, and had received a "revelation." He, or one of
his followers, published a mystical work claiming Sabbatai was the true Messiah in spite of
his conversion, whose goal was to bring thousands of Muslims to Judaism. [citation needed] He told
the sultan, however, that he was trying to convert Jews to Islam. The sultan permitted
Sabbatai to associate with other Jews and preach in their synagogues. He succeeded in
bringing over a number of Muslims to his kabbalistic views. Whether through his efforts or
their willingness to follow in his latest steps, about 300 families of Sephardic Jews converted

to Islam, becoming known as the Dnmeh (also spelled Dnme), convert.[4] Some of the
followers adhered to a combination of their former Jewish practices as well as Islam.
Gradually the Turks tired of Sabbatai's schemes. They ended his doorkeeper's salary and
banished him to Constantinople. When he was discovered singing psalms with Jews, the
grand vizier ordered his banishment to Dulcigno (today called Ulcinj), a small place in
present-day Montenegro. In August 1676, he wrote to the Jewish Community in Berat,
Albania, requesting religious books,[9] but he died shortly after in isolation, according to some
accounts on September 17, 1676, the High Holy Day of Yom Kippur. His tomb was believed
for a long time to have been in Berat, at a tekke built in the yard of the "Sultan Mosque"
(Albanian: Xhamia e Mbretit), where a tomb stood until 1967. Recently, scholars support the
theory that he was buried in Dulcigno. [citation needed] His biographer Gershom Scholem mentions
that his tomb was visited by Dnme pilgrims from Salonika until the early 20th century.[9]
"By the 1680s, the Dnme had congregated in Salonica, the cosmopolitan and majorityJewish city in Ottoman Greece. For the next 250 years, they would lead an independent
communal life intermarrying, doing business together, maintaining their own shrines, and
handing down their secret traditions." By the 19th century, the Dnmeh had become
prominent in the tobacco and textile trades. They established progressive schools and some
members became politically active. Some joined the Committee on Union and
Progress (CUP), the revolutionary party known as the Young Turks. With independence, in
the 1910s, Greeceexpelled the Muslims from its territory, including the Dnmeh. Most
migrated to Turkey, where by mid-century they were becoming highly assimilated. [4]

Last years[edit]
At the beginning of 1673, the sultan had evi exiled to Ulcinj (Dulcigno, Turkish: Ulkum).
[10]

His wife died there in 1674, after which evi married the daughter of rabbi Joseph Filosoff

of Thessaloniki.[10] He died on 17 September 1676.[10] Upon his death, his widow, brother and
children by his first wife moved to Thessaloniki.[10]

Modern followers[edit]
Main articles: Sabbateans and Dnmeh
Although rather little is known about them, various groups called Dnmeh (Turkish for
"convert") continue to follow Sabbatai evi today, mostly in Turkey.[citation needed] Estimates of the
numbers vary. Many sources claim that there are fewer than 100,000 and some of them
claim there are several hundred thousand in Turkey.[citation needed] They have been described as
presenting themselves as Muslim in public whilst practising their own forms of
messianic/mystical Jewish beliefs in private.[11]

The Dnme eventually split into three sects, each with quite different beliefs, according to
professor Cengiz iman, author of The Burden of Silence.[12] The branch known as Karaka
follow Sufi-influenced practices, while the Kapancs have not been influenced by Islam at all,
and are now completely secular.[13]

See also[edit]

Donmeh West

Jacob Frank

Frankism

Yakov Leib HaKohain

List of messiah claimants

Jewish Messiah claimants

Jews in apostasy

Sabbateans

Schisms among the Jews

Shabtai

Who is a Jew?

References[edit]

Graetz, Heinrich, History of the Jews, The Jewish Publication Society of America,
Philadelphia, 1895, vol. V, pp 5185.

Kohler, Kaufmann and Malter, Henry, "Shabbethai ebi b. Mordecai" in Jewish

Encyclopedia, London, 1901-1906. (Contents made public
athttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ The article above was first created here as a New
Page on March 1, 2003 from the 1906 Public Domain Jewish Encyclopedia)

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public

domain: Kaufmann Kohler & Henry Malter (19011906). "SHABBETHAI Z EBI B.
MORDECAI". In Singer, Isidore; et al. Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls
Company.

Bibliography[edit]

Halperin, David Joel (2007). Sabbatai Zevi: Testimonies to a Fallen Messiah. Littman
Library of Jewish Civilization. ISBN 978-1-904113-25-6.

Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah: 1626-1676, Routledge

Kegan Paul, London, 1973 ISBN 0-7100-7703-3, American Edition, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 1973 ISBN 0-691-09916-2 (hardcover edn.).

--, "Shabbetai evi," in Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Farmington Hills,

Michigan, 2007, vol. 18, pp. 340359. ISBN 978-0-02-865946-6.

John Freely, The Lost Messiah: In Search of the Mystical Rabbi Sabbatai Sevi, The
Overlook Press, Woodstock & New York, NY, 2001. ISBN 1-58567-318-8.

Mark Mazower, Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims, and Jews, 14301950. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, pp. 6971. Print.

Matt Goldish, The Sabbatean Prophets, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.

Moshe Idel, Messianic Mystics, New Haven: Harvard University Press, 1998
(Chapter Six: Sabbateanism and Mysticism, pp. 183211.

Further reading[edit]

Koutzakiotis, Georges (2014). Attendre la fin du monde au XVIIe sicle. Le messie

juif et le grand drogman. Textes, Documents, tudes sur le Monde Byzantin,
Nohellnique et Balkanique 15. Paris: ditions de lAssociation Pierre Belon.

Notes[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah: 16261676, pp. 103106
has a whole discussion of the historical probabilities that he was really born on the 9th of Av,
which according to Jewish tradition is the date of the destruction of both Temples and is also
the date 'prescribed' in some traditions for the birth of the Messiah.
2.
Jump up^ Scholem, op. cit., p. 111, mentions, among other evidence of Sabbatai's
early rabbinic training and smicha by Rabbi Joseph Eskapha of his native town of Smyrna:
"According to the testimony of Leib b. Ozer, the notary of the notary of the Ashkenazi
community of Amesterdam ..., Sabbatai was eighteen years old when he was ordained
a hakham." Scholem also writes, in the previous sentence: "Thomas Coenen, the Protestant
minister serving the Dutch congregation in Smyrna, tells us ... that he received the
title hakham, the Sephardi honorific for a rabbi, when still an adolescent."
3.
Jump up^ Scholem, op cit., pp. 678681; Scholem, Gershom. "Shabbetai evi."
Encyclopaedia Judaica, pp. 348-350
4.
^ Jump up to:a b c d Adam Kirsch, "The Other Secret Jews", review of Marc David
Baer, The Dnme: Jewish Converts, Muslim Revolutionaries, and Secular Turks, The New
Republic, 15 Feb 2010, accessed 20 Feb 2010
5.
Jump up^ The mixed multitude:Jacob Frank and the Frankist movement, Pawel
Maciejko, University of Pennsylvania Press, Mar 8, 2011, Page 45.
6.
Jump up^ "SHABBETHAI EBI B. MORDECAI", by Kaufmann Kohler and Henry
Malter, Jewish Encyclopedia (refers to Grtz, "Gesch." x., note 3, pp. xxix. et seq.), accessed
9 Apr 2011
7.
Jump up^ This theory was originally suggested by Graetz; Gershom
Scholem argued forcefully against it in his major work on Sabbatai quoted throughout this
entry.
8.
Jump up^ Lukach, Harry Charles (1914). The City of Dancing Dervishes and Other
Sketches and Studies from the Near East. London: Macmillan and Company. pp. 189190.
9.
^ Jump up to:a b Robert Elsie (2010), Historical Dictionary of Albania, Scarecrow
Press, p. 411, ISBN 9780810861886
10.
^ Jump up to:a b c d Halperin 2007, p. 13.
11.
Jump up^ http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/interview-cengiz-sisman-on-thedonmes-350-year-burden-of-silence.aspx?pageID=238&nID=91139&NewsCatID=386

12.

Jump up^ http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Turkish-Jewrys-secret-medievalmessianics-survive-456030

13.
Jump up^ http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Turkish-Jewrys-secret-medievalmessianics-survive-456030

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related
to Shabbatai Tzvi.

Dr. Henry Abramson's Video Lecture on Shabbetai Tsvi

Sabbatai evi, Jewish Encyclopedia

In search of followers of the false messiah, Haaretz

Shabbetai vi Jewish Virtual Library

"Sabbateanism: a mysterious heritage from the Ottoman Empire", Today's aman,

2008

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public

domain: Kaufmann Kohler & Henry Malter (19011906). "SHABBETHAI Z EBI B.
MORDECAI". In Singer, Isidore; et al. Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls
Company.