Sabbateans

10:10 AM | BY ZeroDivide EDIT
Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism
Star of David
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]

Sabbateans who remained Jews[edit]

Sabbatai Zevi "enthroned" as theJewish Messiah, from Tikkun, Amsterdam, 1666.
In Jewish history during the two centuries after Zevi's death in 1676, many Jews (including some Jewish scholars) who were horrified[citation needed] by Zevi's personal conversion to Islam nevertheless clung to the belief that Zevi was still the true Jewish Messiah. They constituted the largest number of Sabbateans during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They were vigorously opposed and were eventually forced into hiding their beliefs by the methodical opposition of almost all the leading rabbis who were determined to root out Zevi's kabbalistically derived anti-traditional teachings and his influence upon the Jewish masses. By the nineteenth century Jewish Sabbateans had been reduced to small groups of hidden followers who feared being discovered for their beliefs that were deemed to be entirely heretical and antithetical to classical Judaism (particularly since the head of the movement, Zevi, had become an openly practicing Muslim for the last ten years of his life until the time of his mysterious and premature death at the age of fifty.)
When the founder of Hasidic Judaism, Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760), emerged and made his teachings and influence felt through his own disciples, many rabbinical opponents of Hasidism were suspicious that he and his Hasidim were a class of Sabbateans.[citation needed] Some historians[who?] have written that many Sabbateans became followers of Hasidism,[citation needed] which unlike Zevi's movement, followed Halakha (Jewish law) and eventually opponents of Hasidism were convinced that the Hasidim were not Sabbateans.[citation needed]

Sabbatai Zevi's conversion to Islam[edit]

Jewish historians[who?] have stated that it is hard to describe the national sense of shock and trauma that set in when the masses of Jews all over the world learned that someone as famous as Sabbatai Zevi had officially abandoned his faith for Islam. However, the fact remains that Zevi is the most famous Jew to have become a Muslim, which is also what the term Sabbatean has come to denote. Many within Zevi's inner circle followed him into Islam, including his wife Sarah and most of his closest relatives and friends.[citation needed] Nathan of Gaza, the scholar closest to Zevi, who had caused Zevi to reveal his Messiahship and in turn became his prophet, never followed his master into Islam but remained a Jew, albeit excommunicated by his Jewish brethren.[citation needed]

Sabbatean – Sufi similarities[edit]

Claims of ties between Sabbatean Kabbalah and Sufism go back to the days of Sabbatai Zevi.[2][citation needed] This is largely based on the contention that Zevi's exile in the Balkans brought him into close contact with several forms of unorthodox Sufism which existed in the region. The Dönme community of Salonika came to play a significant role in the Sufi life of the region and its members actively involved with a number of Sufi orders, particularly the Mevlevi. Some alleged similarities between Dönme and unorthodox Sufi practice seem[original research?] to exist, including the violation of kashrut/halal, sexual license, ecstatic singing, mystical interpretations of sacred scripture, and the practice of ritual meals. However, confirmed direct ties between Sabbatai Zevi and any Sufi order are conjectural and hearsay. The often claimed connection between the movement and Bektashi Sufism relies merely on circumstantial evidence and coincidence rather than any concrete substantiation. During Zevi's lifetime the Bektashi order had yet to attain widespread popularity in the Balkans; it came to dominate southern Albania only in the late 19th century. Nevertheless, there were a number of other heterodox Sufi movements in the region in the mid-17th century, including the Hamzevis, Melamis and Qalandars.[citation needed]

The Dönme[edit]

Main article: Dönmeh
Inside the Ottoman Empire, those followers of Zevi who had converted to Islam but who secretly continued Jewish observances became known as theDönme (Turkish: dönme "convert").

Sabbatean-related controversies in Jewish history[edit]

Jewish mysticism
Dead Sea Enoch Scroll c.200-150 BCE

The Emden-Eybeschutz controversy[edit]

Main articles: Jacob Emden and Jonathan Eybeschutz

The Emden-Eybeschutz controversy was a serious rabbinical disputation with wider political ramifications in Europe that followed the accusations by Rabbi Jacob Emden (1697–1776) who was a fierce opponent of the Sabbateans, against Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz (1690–1764) whom he accused of being a secret Sabbatean.[citation needed]
The Emden-Eybeschutz controversy arose concerning the amulets which Emden suspected Eybeschutz of issuing. It was alleged that these amulets recognized the messianic claims of Sabbatai Zevi.[citation needed] Emden then accused Eybeschutz of heresy. Emden was known for his attacks directed against the adherents, or those he supposed to be adherents, of Sabbatai Zevi. In Emden's eyes, Eybeschutz was a convicted Sabbatean.[citation needed]The controversy lasted several years, continuing even after Eybeschutz's death.[citation needed]
Emden's assertion of heresy was chiefly based on the interpretation of some amulets prepared by Eybeschutz, in which Emden professed to see Sabbatean allusions. Hostilities began before Eybeschutz left Prague; when Eybeschutz was named chief rabbi of the three communities of Altona,Hamburg, and Wandsbek (1751), the controversy reached the stage of intense and bitter antagonism. Emden maintained that he was at first prevented by threats from publishing anything against Eybeschutz. He solemnly declared in his synagogue the writer of the amulets to be a Sabbathean heretic and deserving of cherem (excommunication).[citation needed]
The majority of the rabbis in Poland, Moravia, and Bohemia, as well as the leaders of the Three Communities, supported Eybeschutz:[citation needed] the accusation was "utterly incredible" - in 1725, Eybeschutz was among the Prague rabbis who excommunicated the Sabbatean sect.[citation needed](Others[who?] suggest that the rabbis issued this ruling because they feared the repercussions if their leading figure was found to be a Sabbatean[citation needed]).
The controversy was a momentous incident in Jewish history of the period, involving both Rabbi Yechezkel Landau and the Vilna Gaon, and may be credited with having crushed the lingering belief in Sabbatai current even in some Orthodox circles. In 1760 the quarrel broke out once more when some Sabbatean elements were discovered among the students of Eybeschutz' yeshivah. At the same time his younger son, Wolf, presented himself as a Sabbatean prophet, with the result that the yeshivah was closed.[citation needed]

Sabbateans and early Hasidism[edit]

Some scholars see seeds of the Hasidic movement within the Sabbatean movement.[2] When Hasidism began to spread its influence, a serious schism evolved between the Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews. The Hasidim dubbed any Jews who rejected the Hasidic movement as misnagdim ("opponents").
Critics of Hasidic Judaism[who?] expressed concern that Hasidism might become a messianic sect as had occurred among the followers of both Sabbatai Zevi and Jacob Frank. However The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, came at a time when the Jewish masses of Eastern Europe were reeling in bewilderment and disappointment engendered by the two Jewish false messiahs Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676) and Jacob Frank (1726–1791) in particular.

Sabbateans and modern secularism[edit]

Some scholars have noted that the Sabbatean movement in general fostered and connected well with the principles of modern secularism.[3] Related to this is the drive of the Donmeh in Turkey for secularizing their society just as European Jews promoted the values of Age of Enlightenment and its Jewish equivalent the haskalah.[citation needed]

Abraham Miguel Cardozo

4:47 PM | BY ZeroDivide EDIT
Abraham Miguel Cardozo (also Cardoso; c. 1626–1706) was a Sabbatean prophet and physician born in Rio Seco, Spain.[1] A descendant of Marranos from around the city of Celorico, in the province of Beira, Portugal, he studied medicine at the University of Salamanca together with his older brother Fernando Isaac, and while the latter was given to his studies, Michael spent his time in singing serenades under ladies' balconies. After having completed his education, he left Spain for Venice. There, probably at the instigation of his brother, he embraced Judaism and received the name "Abraham". Later he established himself as a physician atLivorno, but did not meet with much success until his recommendation by the Grand Duke of Tuscany to Othman, the bey of Tripoli.
Becoming thereafter fairly prosperous, Cardoso married two wives, and began to devote himself to kabbalistic speculations, in which he appears to have been previously initiated at Livorno by Moses Pinheiro. With the appearance of the Shabbethaian movement, he assumed the character of a prophet, pretending to have had dreams and visions, and sent circulars in all directions to support the Messianic claim of Sabbatai Zevi. Cardoso's pretended or actual belief in the Messiah was not renounced even when Zevi embraced Islam; he justified the latter on the plea that it was necessary for him to be counted among the sinners, in order that he might atone for Israel's sins, in a common messianic interpretation to Isaiah LIII that resembles in many ways the early Christian messianic interpretation of that chapter. Later Cardoso gave himself out as "Messiah ben Ephraim", asserting that the Messiah is he who teaches the true conception of God. This conception Cardoso expounded in nearly all his writings: that the true God is not the "En-Sof", but the "Keter 'Elyon", the first being a passive power which has no connection with the world.

Life[edit]

Being endowed with great eloquence, Cardoso had many followers, but many enemies as well. An influential personage, Isaac Lumbroso, by spending much money, obtained his banishment from Tripoli. Cardoso then wandered from place to place, trying to lead people astray by his prophecies and visions, but meeting no success, as the rabbis had issued warnings against his vagaries. In 1703 he settled at Cairo and became the physician of the pasha of Egypt. Three years later, in 1706, he was assassinated by his nephew during a discussion on money matters.

4000 YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY

4:41 PM | BY ZeroDivide EDIT
4000 YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY
From 'A History of the Jews'
By Paul Johnson (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1987)

Writing this epic history covering 4,000 years
Paul Johnson starts with a Prologue explaining
why he, a Christian, decided to write this epic.
His Epilogue is what he found out


Prologue

Why have I written a history of the Jews? There are four reasons. The first is sheer curiosity. When I was working on my History of Christianity, I became aware for the first time in my life of the magnitude of the debt Christianity owes to Judaism. It was not, as I had been taught to suppose, that the New Testament replaced the Old; rather, that Christianity gave a fresh interpretation to an ancient form of monotheism, gradually evolving into a different religion but carrying with it much of the moral and dogmatic theology, the liturgy, the institutions and the fundamental concepts of its forebear. I thereupon determined, should opportunity occur, to write about the people who had given birth to my faith, to explore their history back to its origins and forward to the present day, and to make up my own mind about their role and significance. The world tended to see the Jews as a race which had ruled itself in antiquity and set down its records in the Bible; had then gone underground for many centuries; had emerged at last only to be slaughtered by the Nazis; and, finally, had created a state of its own, controversial and beleaguered. But these were merely salient episodes. I wanted to link them together, to find and study the missing portions, assemble them into a whole, and make sense of it.

My second reason was the excitement I found in the sheer span of Jewish history. From the time of Abraham up to the present covers the best part of four millennia. That is more than three-quarters of the entire history of civilized humanity. I am a historian who believes in long continuities and delights in tracing them. The Jews created a separate and specific identity earlier than almost any other people which still survives. They have maintained it, amid appalling adversities, right up to the present. Whence came this extraordinary endurance? What was the particular strength of the all-consuming idea which made the Jews different and kept them homogeneous? Did its continuing power lie in its essential immutability, or its capacity adapt, or both? These are sinewy themes with which to grapple.

My third reason was that Jewish history covers not only vast tracts of time but huge areas. The Jews have penetrated many societies and left their mark on all of them. Writing a history of the Jews is almost like writing a history of the world, but from a highly peculiar angle vision. It is world history seen from the viewpoint of a learned and intelligent victim. So the effort to grasp history as it appeared to Jews produces illuminating insights. Dietrich Bonhoeffer noticed this same effect when he was in a Nazi prison. 'We have learned', he wrote in 1942, 'to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of those who are excluded, under suspicion, ill-treated powerless, oppressed and scorned, in short those who suffer.' He found it, he said, 'an experience of incomparable value'. The historian finds a similar merit in telling the story of the Jews: it adds to history the new and revealing dimension of the underdog.

Finally the book gave me the chance to reconsider objectively, in light of a study covering nearly 4,000 years, the most intractable of human questions: what are we on earth for? Is history merely a series of events whose sum is meaningless? Is there no fundamental moral difference between the history of the human race and the history, say of ants? Or is there a providential plan of which we are, however humbly, the agents? No people has ever insisted more firmly than the Jews that history has a purpose and humanity a destiny. At a very early stage in their collective existence they believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot. They worked out their role in immense detail. They clung to it with heroic persistence in the face of savage suffering. Many of them believe it still. Others transmuted it into Promethean endeavours to raise our condition by purely human means. The Jewish vision became the prototype for many similar grand designs for humanity, both divine and man-made. The Jews, therefore, stand right at the centre of the perennial attempt to give human life the dignity of a purpose. Does their own history suggest that such attempts are worth making? Or does it reveal their essential futility? The account that follows, the result of my own inquiry, will I hope help its readers to answer these questions for themselves.


Epilogue  Top

In his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus describes Abraham as 'a man of great sagacity' who had 'higher notions of virtue than others of his time'. He therefore determined to change completely the views which all then had about God'. One way of summing up 4,000 years of Jewish history is to ask ourselves what would have happened to the human race if Abraham had not been a man of great sagacity, or if he had stayed in Ur and kept his higher notions to himself, and no specific Jewish people had come into being. Certainly the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might eventually have stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they have been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person; of the individual conscience and so of personal redemption; of the collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without the Jews it might have been a much emptier place.

↑