400 A History of Judaism
messages about the Messiah being promulgated by Nathan. It was hard
to stand up to the enthusiasm of Sabbetai Zevi’s followers, and Nathan’s
call on all Israel to repent in order to bring about the imminent redemp-
tion was calculated to persuade rabbis to give the movement their
support. How could enthusiasts engaged in fasts and other forms of
asceticism not be considered pious?
Once allegiance to the new Messiah had been pledged, it was hard to
retract, even if the message about the significance of Sabbetai Zevi kept
changing with each new revelation to Nathan. In September 1665
Nathan wrote to a leading figure in the Cairo Jewish community to tell
him that the time had come for redemption and that any who opposed
it would be harmed. In the hidden world the holy sparks were no longer
under the control of evil. In the near future Sabbetai Zevi would become
king in place of the Ottoman sultan, unleashing a series of events which
would include the ‘birth pangs of redemption’ in which there would be
great suffering. In the meantime, all should repent, with fasting and
prayer.^31
Rumours of dramatic events in the Holy Land had reached as far
north as England by the summer of 1665, but it was early October by
the time that the full story was being told, in suitably embroidered form,
throughout Europe. By then Sabbetai Zevi had travelled to Smyrna, his
birthplace. He created turmoil in some of the places through which he
passed on his way, with many, both male and female, driven to proph-
esying in what, according to Baruch of Arezzo, became a standard
fashion:
This was the manner of prophesying in those days: people would go into
a trance and fall to the ground as though dead, their spirits entirely gone.
After about half an hour they would begin to breathe and, without moving
their lips, would speak scriptural verses praising God, offering comfort.
All would say: ‘Sabbetai Zevi is the messiah of the God of Jacob.’ Upon
recovering, they had no awareness of what they had done or said.Notable rabbis were caught up in the excitement as much as the ordin-
ary populace.^32
Nathan had stayed behind in Gaza, although he continued to pro-
claim the news of the coming redemption. The change in Sabbetai Zevi’s
message and behaviour in Smyrna at the end of 1665 can only be
explained by his own self- belief. After months of ascetic behaviour and
pious prayer, he began to contravene the halakhah in public in deliber-
ately conspicuous fashion, as Baruch was to record: