with rabbinic literature, he studied the Zohar in Egypt. He married twice, in
1646 and 1650, but was unable to consummate either marriage. In 1658, he
made his way to Istanbul, trying to rid himself of demonic obsessions. At that
time, he began to engage in antinomian behavior, such as observing three
Jewish holidays at once, and declaring the abolition of the commandments.
In 1665, he heard of a man in the Land of Israel named Nathan of Gaza,
who had a reputation of being able to help people achieve spiritual perfection
and exorcize demons, and he went to see him. Meanwhile, Nathan had a
vision of Shabbetai Zvi as the Messiah, and then tried to convince Shabbetai
Zvi that this vision was true. On May 31, 1665, Shabbetai Zvi proclaimed
himself Messiah (or, according to some accounts, Nathan proclaimed him the
Messiah). At this point, Nathan became Shabbetai Zvi’s prophet/publicist,
and declared the seventeenth day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz – tradi-
tionally a fast day commemorating the first stage of the Babylonian conquest
of Jerusalem – a day of celebration.
In September 1665, Nathan wrote a letter announcing what would happen
next. First, Shabbetai Zvi would dethrone the sultan – a necessary step toward
restoring an independent Jewish kingdom in the Ottoman-controlled Land of
Israel – and make him his servant. He would then travel to the mythical
River Sambatyon, and retrieve the lost ten tribes; and then marry Rebecca, the
13-year-old daughter of the resurrected Moses. These “birth pangs of the mes-
sianic age” (Hevlei ha-Mashiach), Nathan announced, would take four years.
At this point, a few Jews doubted the veracity of Shabbetai Zvi and
Nathan, notably Rabbi Jacob Sassportas. Many, though, began to make
arrangements to follow the Messiah back to the Land of Israel, some even sell-
ing their property. Most Jews held their breath and awaited the outcome.
Upon his arrival in Istanbul, the sultan presented Shabbetai Zvi with a
choice of proving his messiahship to be true or suffering dire consequences. In
response, Shabbetai Zvi accepted the sultan’s offer to convert to Islam and be
spared execution. At this point, most of his believers were severely disillu-
sioned, but found solace in the theological safety net that rabbinic tradition
had erected to deal with the false messiahs of the past: the time was right for
the Messiah to come, but the Jews were not worthy. This ended the first stage
of Shabbetai Zvi’s career as Messiah.
A minority of Jews, however, continued to believe that Shabbetai Zvi was
the Messiah even after he converted. They called themselves Ma’aminim
(believers). To be sure, Sabbatean belief was heresy, since the rabbinic estab-
lishment had declared Shabbetai Zvi to be a false messiah. These Jews were
called Sabbateans by their opponents.
For Sabbateans, the Messiah who converted to Islam posed a quandary,
similar to the paradox that early Christians faced in the first century: the
Messiah who deviates from the traditional rabbinic notions regarding the
Messiah and the messianic age. In the same way that early Christians such as
128 World Jewry in flux, 1492–1750