Sabbatai Zevi

where Sabbatai Zevi supposedly lived Sabbatai Zevi was born in the Ottoman city of Smyrna, allegedly on Tisha B'Av, one of Judaism's fast days, during The Three Weeks in 1626. In Hebrew, Sabbatai means Saturn; in Jewish tradition, "the reign of Sabbatai," the highest planet, was often linked to the advent of the Messiah. Zevi's family were Romaniote Jews from Patras. His father, Mordecai, was a poultry dealer in the Morea. During the Ottoman–Venetian wars, Smyrna became the center of Levantine trade, and Mordecai became the Smyrnan agent of an English trading house, achieving some wealth in the process. His sister, Orah Gadol, was a learned woman in her own right, well known among the Jews of Smyrna. Following the prevailing Jewish custom of the time, Sabbatai's father had him study the Talmud. He attended a yeshiva under the chief rabbi of Smyrna, Joseph Escapa. Studies in halakha (Jewish law) did not appeal to him, but Zevi did attain proficiency in the Talmud. At the same time, he was fascinated by mysticism and Kabbalah and was influenced by Isaac Luria. Practical Kabbalah, whose devotees used asceticism to communicate with God and the angels to predict the future and perform miracles, was especially appealing to him. As well as Luria's writings, he read the Zohar and practiced asceticism and Kabbalistic purification exercises called tikkunim. ==Personal history==

Influence of English millenarianism During the first half of the 17th century, millenarian ideas about the approach of the Messianic Age were popular. They included ideas about 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 Menasseh 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." Scholars are still assessing how much influence English and Dutch Calvinist millenarianism had on the messianic movement that developed around Zevi's activities. Claims to being the expected Jewish Messiah Along with general messianic beliefs, there was another computation based on a passage in the Zohar, a famous Jewish mystical text, that the Israelites would be redeemed by the long-awaited Jewish Messiah in 1648. Shabbatai revealed his claim to being the Messiah early on to Isaac Silveyra and Moses Pinheiro, the latter the grandfather of the Italian rabbi Joseph Ergas. The Jewish community of Avignon, France, prepared to emigrate to the new kingdom in the spring of 1666. Samuel Primo, who became Sabbatai's secretary when he went to Smyrna, directed the following circular to all of the Jews in the name of the Messiah: Primo's message was considered blasphemous because Shabbatai wanted to celebrate his birthday rather than observe the significant holy day of mourning, Tisha B'Av. There was outrage and dissension in the communities, while many leaders sympathetic to the movement were shocked by such radical innovations. Solomon Nissim 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. Nehemiah reached Abydos, after a journey of three months at the beginning of September 1666. The meeting did not go well—Nehemiah declared Sabbatai an impostor. Some Sabbataians are said to have contemplated murdering Nehemiah as a rival. His biographer, Gershom Scholem, mentioned that his tomb was visited by Dönme pilgrims from Salonika until the early 20th century. == Legacy ==

, Montenegro By the 19th century, the Dönme had become prominent in the tobacco and textile trades. They established progressive schools, and some members became politically active. Many joined the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), the revolutionary party known as the Young Turks. With the major Dönmeh city of Selanik (now Thessaloniki) becoming part of Greece in 1912, Greece expelled the Muslims, including the Dönme, from its territory, with most migrating to Turkey. This was finalized with the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. By the mid-20th century, they had become highly assimilated. They have been described as presenting themselves as Muslim in public whilst practising their own forms of messianic/mystical Jewish beliefs in private. Some claim that Dönme still play a role in Turkish politics (one of interference), particularly some political parties in Turkey like the MHP. However, others dismiss it as an antisemitic conspiracy theory. The Dönme eventually split into three sects, each with quite different beliefs, as Ottoman Jewish scholars Abraham Danon and Joseph Nehama pointed out in French-language articles in the Jewish Studies journal over a hundred years ago. In the 1930s a comprehensive study on the history of the sects was also published in French by Abraham Galanté. More recently, Professor Cengiz Şişman has published a new study called The Burden of Silence. ==See also==