Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi, born in Smyrna on the Anatolian Aegean coast in 1626. He emerged as the central figure of the most significant messianic movement in Jewish history since the destruction of the Second Temple.
Born into an affluent family in Western Anatolia, Zevi displayed early signs of a volatile personality, characterised by periods of profound depression interspersed with states of ecstatic illumination. Modern secular scholars, who don't recognise demonic permission, identify these oscillations as symptoms of manic-depressive psychosis, yet to his contemporaries, his manic phases were perceived as moments of divine radiance where his face appeared like fire.
During these periods of illumination, Zevi engaged in ma’asim zarim, or strange actions, which deliberately violated traditional Jewish law. These acts of blasphemy included pronouncing the ineffable Tetragrammaton, celebrating a marriage ceremony between himself and the Torah, and consuming forbidden fats known as heleb.
He recited a heretical and Satanic benediction: Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who makes the forbidden things permissible. These transgressions were not merely acts of rebellion but were framed as sacramental duties necessary for the inauguration of a new cosmic era.
The Role of Nathan of Gaza
The transformation of Zevi from a local eccentric into a global messianic figure occurred in 1665 upon his meeting with Nathan of Gaza in Palestine.
Nathan, a brilliant young Kabbalist, convinced Zevi of his messianic destiny and assumed the role of his prophet. Nathan disseminated the news of the Messiah's arrival throughout the Jewish diaspora, utilising a theological framework that reinterpreted Lurianic Kabbalah. He taught that the Messiah must engage in a struggle against the klippot, or realms of evil, to liberate the trapped sparks of divine light.
The proclamation of Sabbatai Zevi as the Messiah in 1665 ignited a frenzy of repentance and anticipation across the Jewish world, from Yemen to England.
The year 1666 was designated as the time of redemption, derived from mystical numerology. The movement attracted approximately one million followers, encompassing roughly half of the world's Jewish population at the time.
Prophets arose in the hundreds, including women and children, proclaiming Zevi's kingship in ecstatic trances.
Apostasy and Theological Justification
In 1666, Zvi travelled to Constantinople, where he was arrested by Ottoman authorities who viewed his movement as seditious. On 16 September 1666, he was brought before the Sultan’s Privy Council in Adrianople. Faced with the choice of martyrdom or conversion to Islam - presented as the turban or the head - Zevi chose to don the turban,.
He adopted the name Aziz Mehmed Effendi and accepted a position as the Sultan's personal doorman.
This apostasy sent a shockwave of trauma through the Jewish world, leading to widespread disillusionment and the excommunication of Sabbateans by rabbinic authorities.
However, Nathan of Gaza provided a radical theological defence for Zevi's conversion. He argued that the Messiah was required to descend into the deepest abyss of impurity to reclaim the final divine sparks that could not be retrieved by righteousness alone.
In this view, Zevi’s conversion was a holy act of camouflage, a descent into the klippot to destroy the kingdom of evil from within.
The Donmeh and Later Years
Following his conversion, Zevi lived in Adrianople and later Constantinople, maintaining contact with his followers and continuing his antinomian practices under the guise of Islam.
He purportedly engaged in Sufi Bektashi rituals, which shared certain antinomian characteristics with his own doctrine. In 1672, he was exiled to the fortress of Dulcigno in present-day Montenegro after being caught participating in Jewish rituals. He died there in 1676 on the Day of Atonement.
The most enduring legacy of Zevi’s apostasy was the formation of the Donmeh, a sect of followers who converted to Islam in imitation of their Messiah. Concentrated in Salonika, the Donmeh practiced a crypto-Judaism, outwardly observing Islamic customs while secretly adhering to Sabbatean rituals and the prohibition against intermarriage with outsiders.
They developed a theology that sanctioned the violation of religious law, including sexual taboos, as a means of tikkun, or repair of the world.
Historical Impact
Sabbatianism represented a pivotal shatter point in Jewish history, introducing a nihilistic theology that elevated transgression to a sacred status.
The movement undermined traditional rabbinic authority and introduced the concept that true faith could remain hidden, separate from outward religious affiliation.
This doctrine of religious camouflage and the separation of internal belief from external action is identified by scholars as a precursor to Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) and secularisation.
The sectarian impulses of Sabbatianism persisted into the eighteenth century, directly influencing the Sabbatean Frankism movement led by Jacob Frank, who claimed to be Zevi’s reincarnation and successor.