Sabbatai Zevi (שַׁבְּתַאי צְבִי Shabbetai Tzvi, other spellings include Sabbatai Ẓevi, Shabbetai Ẓevi, Sabbatai Sevi, 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 long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement.

At the age of forty, he was forced by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV to convert to Islam. Some of his followers also converted to Islam, about 300 families who were known as the Dönmeh (converts).^[3]

Sabbateans (Sabbatians) is a complex general term that refers to a variety of followers of, disciples and believers in Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676), a Jewish rabbi who was proclaimed to be the Jewish Messiah in 1665 by Nathan of Gaza. Vast numbers of Jews in the Jewish diaspora accepted his claims, even after he became a Jewish apostate with his conversion to Islam in 1666. Sabbatai Zevi's followers, both during his "Messiahship" and after his conversion to Islam, are known as Sabbateans. They can be grouped into three: "Maaminim" (believers), "Haberim" (associates), and "Ba'ale Milhamah" (warriors).^[1]

Dönmeh (Turkish: Dönme) refers to a group of crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who, to escape the inferior condition of dhimmis, converted publicly to Islam, but were said to have retained their beliefs. The movement was historically centred in Salonica.^[1] The group originated during and soon after the era of Sabbatai Zevi, a 17th-century Jewish kabbalist who claimed to be the Messiah and eventually converted to Islam in order to escape punishment by the Sultan Mehmed IV. After Zevi'sconversion, a number of Jews followed him into Islam and became the Dönmeh. Since the 20th century, many Dönmeh have intermarried with other groups and most have assimilated into Turkish society.

Sabbatai Zevi

The Jewish mystic and messiah, Sabbatai Zevi (1626-76), referred to by the abbreviated title of Amirah by his followers, was born in Smyrna (now Izmir), Turkey. Sabbatai's first teacher was the Gadol Reb. Isaac di Alba, a member of the Bais Din in Smyrna with whom he studied Kabbalah beginning in 1650. After six years under Master Isaac, Sabbatai continued his studies under the illustrious R. Joseph Eskapha, author of "Rosh Yosef" and a leading halakhist of his time. He most probably gave Sabbatai smicha and the rabbinical title of hakham ("wise" or "sage") when the latter was still an adolescent.
By 1648 Sabbatai showed signs of what modern scholars (who are caught up in the meme of reductionist materialism) claim to be manic-depressive psychosis. In other words, strange behavior and violations of religious law, and proclaimed himself the Messiah. Expelled from Smyrna around 1651-54, he wandered through Greece, Thrace, Palestine, and Egypt. In 1665 he met the charismatic Nathan of Gaza, who persuaded him that he was indeed the Messiah. Sabbatai Zevi then formally revealed himself, named 1666 as the millennium, and soon gained fervent support in Palestine and the Diaspora. It is important to realize that the entire Jewish world of 1665-66 believed that Sabbatai was no mere "prophet" or "teacher" but the Promised Messiah and a living incarnation of God. It was the only messianic movement to engulf the whole of Jewry; from England to Persia, from Germany to Morocco, from Poland to the Yemen.

Sabbatai attempted to land in Constantinople in 1666, but was captured andimprisoned by the Turkish authorities in 1666. He converted to Islam, supposedly to escape execution, although Nathan and his other followers put a different interpretation on this. Sabbatai's conversion actually represented the descent into the klippotic realm in order to reclaim the lost sparks of light. Many of his followers converted likewise. Sabbatai - who, like Meher Baba and Max Theon was called "The Beloved" by his followers - may have had close relations with the Sufis. He died in exile in Ulcinj (in what is now Montenegro, part of the federation of Serbia and Montenegro). The Sabbatean movement was revived in the 18th century by Jacob Frank.

Early life and education[edit]

Sabbatai Zevi was born in Smyrna on (supposedly) Tisha B'Av or the 9th of Av, 1626, the holy day of mourning. His name literally meant the planet Saturn, and in Jewish tradition "The reign of Sabbatai" (The highest planet) was often linked to the advent of the Messiah.^[4]Zevi's family were Romaniotes from Patras in present-day 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 he did attain proficiency in the Talmud. On the other hand, he was fascinated by mysticism and the Kabbalah, 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."^[5] 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. - [note: this theory was originally suggested by Graetz; Gershom Scholem argued forcefully against it in his major work on Sabbatai quoted throughout this entry.]

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 the Tetragrammaton, 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 in Constantinople, 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 Zevi; and he will be called Shabbethai. He will humble the great dragon; ... he, the true Messiah, will sit upon My throne."

----Joseph Trani (1538–1639) or Joseph di Trani was a Talmudist of the latter part of the 16th century who lived in Greece. By contemporary scholars he was called Mahrimat (Hebrew: מהרימ"ט), and regarded as one of the foremost Talmudists of his time. Today he is more widely known as Maharit (Hebrew: מהרי"ט).

He was the author of She'elot u-Teshubot (responsa), a work in three parts: part i comprises 152 responsa, together with a general index (Constantinople, 1641); part ii consists of 111 responsa in the order of the first three parts of the ritual codex (Venice, 1645); part iii contains responsa to the fourth part of the ritual codex, together with novellæ to the tractate Ḳiddushin, and supercommentaries on RaN's andAlfasi's commentaries on the tractates Ketubot and Ḳiddushin (ib. 1645). The entire work appeared in Fürth in 1764. Joseph also published novellæ to the treatises Shabbat, Ketubot, and Kiddushin(Sudzilkov, 1802), and the responsa which were embodied in Alfandari's Maggid me-Reshit (Constantinople, 1710). He left several commentaries in manuscript on Alfasi, on Maimonides' Yad, and on R. Nathan's Aruk.

In 2008, Trani's grave was discovered in Safed by the noted bibliophile and book dealer Shlomo Epstein, near the grave of Rabbi Moshe Alshich.^[1]^{[dead link]} Although the Maharit died and was buried inConstantinople, his sons later transferred his remains to Safed as he had requested so that he could be interred near his father, Moshe di Trani. -----

In Salonika, Cairo, and Jerusalem[edit]

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

With this document, Sabbatai chose Salonika (greece), 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 love-songs, 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 Livornowhere, 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 (נתן עזתי 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 Tribes back 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 inAleppo. 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 Yearin 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 Zevi enthroned", fromTikkun, 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 Zacuto, and the above-mentioned 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'."^{[citation needed]} 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 Zevi 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 and destroyed many centers of Jewish learning and communal life (Cohen 1948). 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 Zevi 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 Smyrna for Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) He may have been forced to flee by city officials. Nathan Ghazzati had prophesied that, once in Istanbul, Sabbatai would place the sultan's crown on his own head. The grand vizier, Ahmed Köprülü, 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 fortressMigdal 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 Zevi, 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 apersecution 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 Zevi 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 Lwów, Galicia, 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. (See Jew. 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]

Nehemiah, however, escaped to Constantinople, where he pretended to embrace Islam to get an audience with the kaymakam. 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) Zevi 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 as dönmeh (converts).^[3] 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 Dönmeh (also spelled Dönme), convert.^[3] 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. There he died in isolation, according to some accounts on September 17, 1676, the High Holy Day of Yom Kippur.

"By the 1680s, the Dönme had congregated in Salonika, the cosmopolitan and majority-Jewish 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 Dönmeh 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, Greece expelled the Muslims from its territory, including the Dönmeh. Most migrated to Turkey, where by mid-century they were becoming highly assimilated.^[3]

Last years, exile and death[edit]

The death of Sabbatai Zevi is clouded in some mystery because of conflicting accounts about exactly how, when and where he died. There are those who maintain he died of natural causes and others that claim he was executed by hanging. Historians agree that in 1673 Zevi was exiled by the Turkish sultan to the Albanian port of Ulcinj (now in Montenegro), and died there three years later.^[6]

Modern followers[edit]

Main articles: Sabbateans and Dönmeh

Although rather little is known about them, various groups called Dönmeh (Turkish for "convert") continue to follow Sabbatai Zevi 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]}

Millenarianism (also millenarism), from Latin mīllēnārius "containing a thousand", is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed. Millenarianism is a concept or theme that exists in many cultures and religions.^[1]

Millennialism[edit]

Main articles: Millennialism and Apocalypticism

Millennialism is a specific type of Christian millenarianism, and is sometimes referred to as "chiliasm" from the New Testament use of the Greek chilia (thousand). It is part of the broader form of apocalyptic expectation. A core doctrine in some variations of Christian eschatology is the expectation of the Second Coming and the establishment of a Kingdom of God on Earth. According to an interpretation of prophecies in the Revelation of John, this Kingdom of God on Earth will last a thousand years or more (a millennium).^[2]

The application of an apocalyptic timetable to the establishment or changing of the world has happened in many cultures and religions, and continues to this day, and is not relegated to the sects of major world religions.^[3]

Theology[edit]

According to Collins, many if not most millenarian groups claim that the current society and its rulers are corrupt, unjust, or otherwise wrong. They therefore believe they will be destroyed soon by a powerful force. The harmful nature of the status quo is considered intractable without the anticipated dramatic change.^[4]

Some who held millenarian views were condemned in 1530 by the Lutherans.^[5]

In the modern world, economic rules or vast conspiracies are seen as generating oppression. Only dramatic events are seen as able to change the world and the change is anticipated to be brought about, or survived, by a group of the devout and dedicated. In most millenarian scenarios, the disaster or battle to come will be followed by a new, purified world in which the believers will be rewarded.

While many millennial groups are pacifistic, millenarian beliefs have been claimed as causes for people to ignore conventional rules of behavior, which can result in violence directed inwards (such as the Jonestown mass suicides) or outwards (such as the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist acts). It sometimes includes a belief in supernatural powers or predetermined victory. In some cases, millenarians withdraw from society to await the intervention of god.^[6]

Millenarian ideologies or religious sects sometimes appear in oppressed peoples, with examples such as the 19th-century Ghost Dance movement among American Indians and the 19th and 20th-century Cargo Cults among isolated Pacific Islanders.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 676, follows a discussion of the church's ultimate trial. "The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism [emphasis added], especially the 'intrinsically perverse' political form of a secular messianism."

Movements[edit]

There have been many examples of millenarian groups, movements, and writings over the years. While each is different, and not all of these adhere to a strict millennial pattern, they do ascribe to patterns of wide-scale change as described above:^{[citation needed]}

Transhumanism and singularitarianism may be considered millenarian movements in a looser sense, because they anticipate changes in the established biological and therefore social orders, although neither group considers these changes to be thoroughly inevitable, merely likely. Furthermore, neither group maintains a belief in the evilness or wrongness of the current order, only in the notion that we should desire to change the order for humanistic and humanitarian reasons,^{[citation needed]} and as such, both groups are thoroughly dedicated to ensuring that the changes involved are decidedly non-violent, entirely optional, and beneficial to as many people as possible.^{[according to whom?]}

Etymology[edit]

The Turkish word dönme is from the verbal root dön- that means 'to turn', i.e., "to convert", but in a pejorative sense. They are also called Selânikli "person from Thessaloniki" or avdetî "religious convert" (Arabic: عودة‎ ‘awdah 'return'). Members of the group refer to themselves simply as "the Believers" in Hebrew (Hebrew: המאמינים‎ ha-Ma'aminim),^[2] or "sazanikos," Turkish for "carp" in honor of the changing outward nature of the fish.^[3] An alternate explanation of this self-nomenclature is the prophecy that Sabbatai Zevi would deliver the Jews under the sign of the fish.^[4]

History[edit]

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

Ideology[edit]

The Dönmeh ideology of the 17th century revolved primarily around the Eighteen Precepts, an abridged version of the Ten Commandments in which the admonition against adultery is explained as more of a precautionary measure than a ban, likely included to explain the antinomian sexual activities of the Sabbateans. The additional commandments are concerned with defining the kinds of interactions that may occur between the Dönmeh and the Jewish and Muslim communities. The most basic of these laws of interaction was to avoid marriage with either Jews or Muslims and to prefer relations within the sect to those outside of it. In spite of this, they maintained ties with Sabbateans who had not converted and even with Jewish rabbis, who secretly settled disputes within the Dönmeh concerning Jewish law.^[5]

As far as ritual was concerned, the Dönmeh followed both Jewish and Muslim traditions, shifting between one and the other as necessary for integration into Ottoman society.^[7] Outwardly Muslims and secretly Jewish Sabbateans, the Dönmeh observed traditional Muslim holidays like Ramadan but also kept the Jewish Sabbath and major holidays.^[8] Much of Dönmeh ritual is a combination of various elements of Kabbalah, Sabbateanism, Jewish traditional law, and Sufism.^[9]

Dönmeh liturgy evolved as the sect grew and spread. At first, much of the Dönmeh literature was written in Hebrew. Later, as the group developed, Ladino replaced Hebrew as the prominent language and became not only the vernacular language, but also the liturgical language. Though the Dönmeh had branched into several sects, all of them held the view that Zevi was the divine messiah and that he had revealed the true "spiritual Torah"^[5] which was superior to the practical earthly Torah. The Dönmeh created and celebrated holidays pertaining to various points in Zevi's life and their own history of conversion. Based at least partially in the Kabbalistic understanding of divinity, the Dönmeh believed that there was a three-way connection of the emanations of the divine, which engendered much conflict with Muslim and Jewish communities alike. The most notable source of opposition from other contemporary religions was the common practice of exchanging wives between members of the Dönmeh.^[5]

The hierarchy of the Dönmeh was based in branch divisions. The Ismirli lay at the top of the hierarchy, composed of merchant classes and intelligentsia. Artisans tended to be mostly Karakashi while lower classes were mostly Jakubi. Each branch had its own prayer community, organized into a "Kahal," or congregation (Hebrew).^[5] An extensive internal economic network provided support for lower class Dönmeh in spite of ideological differences between branches.^[10]

Mehmet Karakaşzade Rüştü[edit]

In 1924, Mehmet Karakaşzade Rüştü, a Karakash Dönmeh,^{[clarification needed]} revealed information (= made allegations?) about Dönmehs, branches and wife-swapping rituals to Vakit newspaper. He also accused Donmehs of lacking patriotism and not having been assimilated. Discussions spread into other newspapers including the ones owned by Dönmeh groups. Ahmet Emin Yalman, in the newspaper (Vatan) he owned, accepted the existence of such groups, but claimed that those groups were no longer following their traditions. Then Karakaşzade Rüştü petitioned TBMM, requesting the abolition of some Dönmehs' ongoing immigration from Macedonia by population exchange.^[11]^[12]^[13]

Notable people of Dönmeh descent[edit]

References[edit]

Graetz, Heinrich, History of the Jews, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1895, vol. V, pp 51–85.
Kohler, Kaufmann and Malter, Henry, "Shabbethai Ẓebi b. Mordecai" in Jewish Encyclopedia, London, 1901-1906. (Contents made public at http://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 (1901–1906). "SHABBETHAI ẒEBI B. MORDECAI". Jewish Encyclopedia.

Bibliography[edit]

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 Zevi," in Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Farmington Hills, Michigan, 2007, vol. 18, pp. 340–359. ISBN 978-0-02-865946-6.
David J. Halperin (ed.), Sabbatai Zevi. Testimonies to a fallen Messiah texts translated with notes and introductions, Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2007.
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. 183–211).

Notes[edit]

Jump up^ Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah: 1626–1676, pp. 103–106 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.
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."
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d Adam Kirsch, "The Other Secret Jews", review of Marc David Baer, The Dönme: Jewish Converts, Muslim Revolutionaries, and Secular Turks, The New Republic, 15 Feb 2010, accessed 20 Feb 2010
Jump up^ The mixed multitude:Jacob Frank and the Frankist movement, Pawel Maciejko, University of Pennsylvania Press, Mar 8, 2011, Page 45.
Jump up^ "SHABBETHAI ẒEBI B. MORDECAI", by Kaufmann Kohler and Henry Malter, Jewish Encyclopedia (refers to Grätz, "Gesch." x., note 3, pp. xxix. et seq.), accessed 9 Apr 2011
Jump up^ A dictionary of Albanian religion, mythology and folk culture by Robert Elsie Edition illustrated Publisher C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2001 ISBN 1-85065-570-7, ISBN 978-1-85065-570-1 page 141

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shabbatai Tzvi.

Dr. Henry Abramson's Video Lecture on Shabbetai Tsvi
Sabbatai Zevi, Jewish Encyclopedia
In search of followers of the false messiah, Haaretz
Shabbetai Zvi Jewish Virtual Library
"Sabbateanism: a mysterious heritage from the Ottoman Empire", Todays Zaman, 2008
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Kaufmann Kohler & Henry Malter (1901–1906). "SHABBETHAI ẒEBI B. MORDECAI". Jewish Encyclopedia.

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Sabbatai Zevi : Sabbateans and Dönmeh : Jews, Messiah claimants, Millennialism

Sabbatai Zevi

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In Salonika, Cairo, and Jerusalem[edit]

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Nathan of Gaza[edit]

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Mehmet Karakaşzade Rüştü[edit]

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