The
17th-century personality is very well-known, although this story is
not. His name was Shabbetai Zevi, and he is known as The False Messiah.
Here's his biography followed by a very strange story told by the
great scholar of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem.
Biography:
Shabbetai Zevi (1626-1676)
The mystic Shabbetai Zevi was born in Smyrna in Asia Minor in 1626 and
was ordained as a rabbi when he was 18. During adolescence he began
to study the Kabbalah (mystical teachings), to compose songs (he was
very gifted musically), and to speak of a redemption that would be effected
by mystical means.
When
Shabbetai Zevi proclaimed himself the Messiah in 1654, the rabbis of
Smyrna banished him and he became a wanderer, advocating the abolition
of God's commandments. He traveled in a persistent melancholic state
to Greece, Thrace, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Cairo. During his
visit to the Holy Land, he made the acquaintance of the charismatic
rabbi Nathan of Gaza who claimed to have had a vision of Shabbetai Zevi
as Messiah. Nathan of Gaza became his prophet, spreading the messianic
tidings throughout the Jewish world, and making promises of miracles
that would soon take place.
Nathan of Gaza began to circulate letters in Italy, Holland, Germany
and Poland announcing the Messiah. Hysteria crisscrossed country after
country, as hundreds of letters flooded the Jewish world. In delirious
expectation, many Jews began to sell off their property and to prepare
for the trip to the Holy Land. News of the Jewish Messiah spread to
Christian circles as well, with pamphlets appearing in English, Dutch,
German and Italian.
The Turkish authorities grew suspicious of Shabbetai’s eccentric
behavior and bold proclamations, and by the divisiveness his presence
caused among the Jews of the Ottoman Empire. He was arrested and tried
in the presence of the Sultan and given the choice of immediate death
or conversion to Islam. He chose Islam and was given a royal pension
for the remainder of his life. He died suddenly on September 17, 1676
on the Day of Atonement at the age of 50.
Although, in general, a shameful silence fell upon Shabbetai Zevi’s
movement, small secret circles of his followers persisted throughout
the Mediterranean area and in Europe for some hundred years. The reverberations
of his activities significantly influenced the development of various
Christian and Jewish religious movements.
Shabbetai's
stay in Constantinople in 1658 (by Prof. Gershom Scholem)
Shabbetai was undoubtedly a well-educated and competent, though in no
way outstanding scholar. His intellectual capacities were well-developed
but by no means extraordinary. He was not intellectually creative or
original, and he was completely devoid of literary talent... His emotional
life, however, was intense and stormy. He had a gift for music and loved
music and song. But even apart from his musical gifts, Shabbetai must
have possessed a very real personal charm. This is attested by all witnesses.
The Christian writers who lived in Turkey speak of his wonderful power
in gaining the hearts of men.
In spite of his charm, however, Shabbetai did not succeed in establishing
around himself a permanent circle of obedient followers and companions,
obviously because of his psychopathological traits. In Salonika, he
invited the most prominent rabbis to a banquet, he erected a bridal
canopy, had a Torah scroll brought in, and performed the marriage ceremony
between himself and the Torah.... This kind of behavior was to be repeated
more than once, and we may well understand the reaction of the rabbis:
they considered him mad.
His rovings continued until 1658, when he arrived in Constantinople.
His stay there lasted about eight months and ended with a scandal....
Shabbetai, it appears, arrived in Constantinople well-provided with
means, was well received by the scholars, and generally moved in better
circles. Again he underwent periods of depression and illumination,
and he acquired some notoriety by his "strange actions" which,
however, were attributed at first to mere folly.
As
time went on his behavior became more bizarre and provocative. One day
he bought a very large fish, dressed it up like a baby, and put it into
a cradle. The rabbis who heard of this incident were much amazed and
saddened at the mental derangement [bouleversement de la cervelle]
of such a scholar. However, it was not the incident of the fish that
led to his later persecution by the rabbis. For the time being, Shabbetai's
queerness was simply attributed to mental illness. He himself explained
his last performance in terms of astrological symbolism. The redemption
of Israel — which appears to have occupied
him at the time — would take place under the
sign of Pisces. The idea can be found in earlier Jewish tradition, but
for Shabbetai the cradle evidently symbolized the slow growth toward
the fullness of Israel's redemption; the fish in the cradle served as
a grotesque illustration of rabbinic sayings to that effect.
When the rabbis realized "that some new sect, which might confuse
minds, was fermenting in his brain, they did not act like the rabbis
of Salonika who expelled him, but dispatched an officer of the rabbinic
court who gave him forty stripes, and forbade his company to all Jews
on pain of penalty," that is, they excommunicated him....
[Based on certain testimonies, we can assume that when] Shabbetai was
in Constantinople in the year 1658, the strange act of celebrating the
three pilgrim festivals all in one weeks must have occurred. This was
strong stuff indeed and far more provocative than the incident with
the fish, which could, if necessary, be dismissed a puerile and harmless
folly. This time, resolute punitive action was required of the rabbinic
court. The provocation displayed some of the most characteristic features
of Shabbetai's strange behavior pattern, for throughout his career he
exhibited a predilection for shifting dates, changing fixed times, and
moving Sabbaths and holy days to other days. The celebration of the
festivals in one week was merely the first installment in a long series
of similar ceremonies reported by the most diverse sources. Half a year
before his death, he again celebrated the feasts of Tabernacles and
Pentecost in one week, in his place of exile, Dulcigno.
When
Shabbetai Zevi proclaimed himself the Messiah in 1654, the rabbis of
Smyrna banished him and he became a wanderer, advocating the abolition
of God's commandments. He traveled in a persistent melancholic state
to Greece, Thrace, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Cairo. During his
visit to the Holy Land, he made the acquaintance of the charismatic
rabbi Nathan of Gaza who claimed to have had a vision of Shabbetai Zevi
as Messiah. Nathan of Gaza became his prophet, spreading the messianic
tidings throughout the Jewish world, and making promises of miracles
that would soon take place.
As
time went on his behavior became more bizarre and provocative. One day
he bought a very large fish, dressed it up like a baby, and put it into
a cradle. The rabbis who heard of this incident were much amazed and
saddened at the mental derangement [bouleversement de la cervelle]
of such a scholar. However, it was not the incident of the fish that
led to his later persecution by the rabbis. For the time being, Shabbetai's
queerness was simply attributed to mental illness. He himself explained
his last performance in terms of astrological symbolism. The redemption
of Israel — which appears to have occupied
him at the time — would take place under the
sign of Pisces. The idea can be found in earlier Jewish tradition, but
for Shabbetai the cradle evidently symbolized the slow growth toward
the fullness of Israel's redemption; the fish in the cradle served as
a grotesque illustration of rabbinic sayings to that effect.
