He betook himself to Jerusalem, perhaps under the delusion that in

the Holy Land a miracle would take place to confirm his greatness.

The community at Jerusalem was at that time in every way poor and

wretched. Besides being ground down by the oppressions and extortions

of Turkish officials, it suffered because the supplies from Europe

were exhausted on account of the constant massacres of the Jews in

Poland. The consequence was that the best men emigrated, leaving the

government of the community to thorough-going Kabbalists, devoted

adherents of Lurya and Vital, or to a licentious set, who followed

the impulses of bare-faced selfishness. There were at that time very

few men of repute and authority in Jerusalem. A Marrano physician

named Jacob Zemach appears to have stood at their head. He had leapt,

so to speak, in one bound from a Portuguese church into the nest of

Kabbalists at Safet, and there, as later at Jerusalem, had become an

unconscious tool for the mystifications practiced by Vital. Abraham

Amigo, a Talmudist of the second or third rank, had similar aims. A man

of some importance, to be sure, was Jacob Chages (1620-1674), who had

migrated from Italy to Jerusalem, and who wrote Spanish well. Chages,

however, had no official position, but lived the life of a recluse in

an academy, which two brothers named Vega, of Leghorn, had founded for

him. The thoughtless credulity of the people of Jerusalem of that time

is instanced by the gross deception practiced upon them by Baruch Gad,

one of their alms-collecting emissaries, which they, the learned and

the unlearned, not only credited, but swore to as true. Baruch Gad had

gone on a begging journey to Persia, where he pretended that he had

experienced many adventures, and had been saved by a Jew of the tribe

of Naphtali, who had given him a Kabbalistic letter from one of the

"Sons of Moses" at the miraculous river Sabbation. It contained much

about the riches, splendor, and daily miracles of the Sons of Moses,

and said that they were momentarily awaiting the commencement of the

Messianic epoch as a signal for coming forth. This story, certified

by a circular, was brought by Baruch Gad to Jerusalem, where it found

unquestioning credence. When the community of Jerusalem had fallen

into great want in consequence of the Cossack massacre, ten so-called

rabbis, Jacob Zemach at their head, sent to Reggio to their envoy

Nathan Spira, of Jerusalem, a copy of this document from the Sons of

Moses, which was kept in careful custody. It was to serve as a bait to

draw more abundant alms.

The miracle which Sabbataï Zevi was expecting for himself in the

Holy City was present in the credulity and mania for miracles on the

part of the people of Jerusalem, who were inclined, like the lowest

savages, to accept any absurd message as a divine revelation, if only

it was brought before them in the right manner. At first the Smyrna

enthusiast kept himself quiet, and gave no offense. He lived according

to the precepts of the Kabbala, imposed the severest mortifications

on himself, and often stayed by the graves of pious men in order to

draw down their spirits. Thereby, aided by his pleasing, attractive,

and reverential behavior and taciturn manner, he gradually gathered

round him a circle of adherents who had blind faith in him. One of his

devoted followers related with credulous simplicity, that Sabbataï

Zevi shed floods of tears in prayer. He sang Psalms the whole night

with his melodious voice, while pacing the room now with short, now

with long strides. His whole conduct was out of the ordinary groove.

He was also wont to sing coarse love songs in Spanish, with a mystical

meaning, about the emperor's fair daughter Melisselda, with her coral

lips and milk-white skin, as she rose out of the bath. Sabbataï used

another means to win hearts. When he showed himself in the streets

he distributed sweet-meats of all sorts to the children, who in

consequence ran after him, and he thus gained the favor of their

mothers.

An incident brought his eccentric ideas nearer their realization. The

community at Jerusalem was sentenced by one of the pachas or some minor

official to one of those oppressive exactions which frequently carried

torture or death in their train. The impoverished members rested their

hopes solely on Raphael Joseph Chelebi at Cairo, known to have the

means and inclination to succor his afflicted brethren, especially the

saints of Jerusalem. A messenger was to be sent to him, and Sabbataï

Zevi was universally regarded as the most fitting, particularly as he

was a favorite with the Saraph-Bashi. He undertook this task willingly,

because he hoped to get the opportunity to play the part of saviour

of the Holy City. His worshipers date from this journey to Egypt the

beginning of his miraculous power, and assert that he accomplished

many miracles at sea. Sabbataï however traveled not by water, but by

land, by way of Hebron and Gaza, probably joining a caravan through

the desert. He excited so much attention that all the Jews of Hebron,

in order to observe him, refrained from sleep during the night of his

stay. Arrived at Cairo, he immediately received from Chelebi the sum

required for the ransom of the community at Jerusalem, and, besides, an

extraordinarily favorable opportunity presented itself to confirm his

Messianic dreams.

During the massacre of the Jews in Poland by Chmielnicki, a Jewish

orphan girl of about six was found by Christians, and put into a

nunnery. Her parents were dead, a brother had been driven to Amsterdam,

the whole community broken up and put to flight, and no one troubled

himself about the forsaken child, so that the nuns of the convent

regarded the foundling as a soul brought to them and gave her a

Christian conventual education. The impressions received in the house

of her parents were so lively, that Christianity found no entrance into

her heart; she remained faithful to Judaism. Nevertheless, her soul

was nourished by fantastic dreams induced by her surroundings, and her

thoughts took an eccentric direction. She developed into a lovely girl,

and longed to escape from the cloister. One day she was found by Jews,

who had again settled in the place, in the Jewish cemetery. Astonished

at finding a beautiful girl of sixteen lightly clad in such a position,

they questioned her, and received answer that she was of Jewish

extraction, and had been brought up in a convent. The night before, she

said, she had been bodily seized by her father's ghost, and carried out

of bed to the cemetery. In support of her statement, she showed the

women nail-marks on her body, which were said to come from her father's

hands. She appears to have learnt in the convent the art of producing

scars on her body. The Jews thought it dangerous to keep a fugitive

from the convent in their midst, and sent her to Amsterdam. There she

found her brother. Eccentric by nature and excited by the change in her

fortunes, she continually repeated the words, that she was destined to

be the wife of the Messiah, who was soon to appear. After she had lived

some years in Amsterdam under the name of Sarah, she came--it is not

known for what purpose--by way of Frankfort-on-the-Main to Leghorn.

There, as credible witnesses aver, she put her charms to immoral use,

yet continued to maintain that she was dedicated to the Messiah, and

could contract no other marriage. The strange history of this Polish

girl circulated amongst the Jews, and penetrated even to Cairo.

Sabbataï Zevi, who heard of it, gave out that a Polish-Jewish maiden

had been promised to him in a dream as his spiritual wife. He sent a

messenger to Leghorn, and had Sarah brought to Cairo.

By her fantastical, free, self-confident behavior and by her beauty,

Sarah made a peculiar impression upon Sabbataï and his companions. He

himself was firmly convinced of his Messiahship. To Sabbataï and his

friends the immoral life of this Polish adventuress was not unknown.

This also was said to be a Messianic dispensation; he had been

directed, like the prophet Hosea, to marry an unchaste wife. No one was

so happy as Raphael Joseph Chelebi, because at his house the Messiah

met his bride, and was married. He placed his wealth at the disposal

of Sabbataï Zevi, and became his most influential follower. The warm

adhesion of so dignified, respected, and powerful a man brought many

believers to Sabbataï. It was rightly said, that he had come to Egypt

as a messenger, and returned as the Messiah. For, from this second

residence at Cairo dates his public career. Sarah, also, the Messiah's

fair bride, brought him many disciples. Through her a romantic,

licentious element entered into the fantastic career of the Smyrna

Messiah. Her beauty and free manner of life attracted youths and men

who had no sympathy with the mystical movement. With a larger following

than when he started, Sabbataï returned to Palestine, bringing two

talismans of more effective power than Kabbalistic means--Sarah's

influence and Chelebi's money. At Gaza he found a third confederate,

who helped to smooth his path.

At Jerusalem there lived a man named Elisha Levi, who had migrated

thither from Germany. The Jews of the Holy City dispatched him to

all parts of the world with begging letters. Whilst he was roaming

through northern Africa, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Poland, his son

Nathan Benjamin Levi (1644-1680) was left to himself, or the perverse

education of that time. He developed, in the school of Jacob Chages,

into a youth with superficial knowledge of the Talmud, acquired

Kabbalistic scraps, and obtained facility in the high-sounding, but

hollow, nonsensical Rabbinical style of the period, which concealed

poverty of thought beneath verbiage. The pen was his faithful

instrument, and replaced the gift of speech, in which he had little

facility. This youth was suddenly raised from pressing poverty to

opulence. A rich Portuguese, Samuel Lisbona, who had moved from

Damascus to Gaza, asked Jacob Chages to recommend a husband for his

beautiful, but one-eyed daughter, and he suggested his disciple

Nathan Benjamin. Thus he became connected with a rich house, and in

consequence of his change of fortune, lost all stability, if he had

had any. When Sabbataï Zevi, with a large train of followers, came to

Gaza on his way back from Cairo, posing as the Messiah, and accepted

as such by the crowds gathering about him, Nathan Ghazati (_i.e._, of

Gaza) entered into close relationship with him. In what way their

mutual acquaintance and attachment arose is not explained. Sabbataï's

disciples declared that Nathan had dug up a part of the ancient

writing, wherein Zevi's Messiahship was testified. It is probably

nearer the truth, that Sabbataï, to convince Ghazati of his mission,

palmed off on him the spurious document received from Abraham Yachini.

At any rate Nathan became his most zealous adherent, whether from

conviction or from a desire to play a prominent part, can no longer be

discerned in this story, in which simple faith, self-deception, and

willful imposture, border so close on one another.

After Nathan Ghazati and Sabbataï had become acquainted, the former

a youth of twenty, the latter a man of forty, prophetic revelations

followed close upon one another. Ghazati professed to be the risen

Elijah, who was to pave the way for the Messiah. He gave out that

he had received a call on a certain day (probably the eve of the

Pentecost, 1665), that in a year and a few months the Messiah would

show himself in his glory, would take the sultan captive without arms,

only with music, and establish the dominion of Israel over all the

nations of the earth. The Messianic age was to begin in the year 1666.

This revelation was proclaimed everywhere in writing by the pretended

prophet of Gaza, with the addition of wild fantasies and suggestive

details. He wrote to Raphael Joseph acknowledging the receipt of the

moneys sent by him, and begging him not to lose faith in Sabbataï;

the latter would certainly in a year and some months make the sultan

his subject and lead him about as a captive. The dominion would be

entrusted to Nathan, until he should conquer the other nations without

bloodshed, warring only against Germany, the enemy of the Jews. Then

the Messiah would betake himself to the banks of the river Sabbation,

and there espouse the daughter of the great prophet, Moses, who at

the age of thirteen would be exalted as queen, with Sarah as her

slave. Finally, he would lead back the ten tribes to the Holy Land,

riding upon a lion with a seven-headed dragon in its jaws. The more

exaggerated and absurd Nathan's prophetic vaporings were, the more

credence did they find. A veritable fit of intoxication took possession

of nearly all the Jews of Jerusalem and the neighboring communities.

With a prophet, formerly a shy youth, proclaiming so great a message,

and a Messiah, more profoundly versed in the Kabbala than Chayim Vital,

who could venture to doubt the approach of the time of grace? Those who

shook their heads at this rising imposture were laughed to scorn by the

Sabbatians.

The rabbinical leaders of the Jerusalem community were unfavorably

struck by this Messianic movement, and sought to stifle it at its

birth. It was sufficient to prejudice them against Sabbataï that he

stood in the foreground, and put them in the shade. He is said to have

distributed the money from Egypt according to his own discretion, and

in the division to have unduly favored his own followers. Jacob Chages

and his college threatened him with the heaviest excommunication if

he should persist in his course. Sabbataï Zevi appears to have cared

little for this, especially as a ban could have no effect if the

community was on his side. Even Moses Galante, the son-in-law of Jacob

Chages, esteemed as an authority in the Holy Land, regarded him with

respect, although, as he afterwards declared, he did not believe in him

unconditionally. Sabbataï Zevi saw clearly that Jerusalem was not the

right place for his plans, as the rabbis would place obstacles in his

way. Nathan Ghazati thereupon proclaimed in an ecstasy that Jerusalem

had lost its importance as the sacred city, and that Gaza had taken

its place. At Smyrna, his native city--an important gathering-place

for Europeans and Asiatics--Sabbataï thought he could obtain

greater success. His rich brothers prepared a good reception for him

by the distribution of money amongst the poor and needy, and Nathan's

extravagant prophetic letters had kindled the imagination of the

people. But before he left Jerusalem, Sabbataï took care to dispatch

active missionaries of a fanatical and fraudulent character, to

predict his Messianic appearance, excite men's minds, and fill them

with his name. Sabbataï Raphael, a beggar and impostor from the Morea,

enlarged in mountebank fashion on the Messiah's greatness; and a German

Kabbalist, Matathias Bloch, did the same in blind simplicity.

Thus it came to pass that when Sabbataï Zevi left Jerusalem--of his

own accord, as he pretended, banished, as others said--he was at once

received in triumph in the large Asiatic community of Aleppo. Still

greater was the homage paid him in his native city (autumn 1665). The

ban pronounced against him was not remembered. He was accompanied by a

man of Jerusalem, Samuel Primo, who became his private secretary, and

one of his most zealous recruiting agents. Samuel Primo understood the

art of investing trifles with an air of official seriousness and by a

flowery style to give world-wide importance to the Messianic imposture.

He alone remained sober in the midst of the ever-increasing fanaticism,

and gave aim and direction to the enthusiasts. Primo appears to have

heralded Sabbataï's fame from conviction; he had a secret plan to

be accomplished through the Messiah. He appears to have made use of

Sabbataï more than to have been employed by him. Sabbataï had tact

enough not to announce himself at once at Smyrna as the Messiah; he

commanded the believing multitude not to speak of it until the proper

time. But this reserve, combined with other circumstances--the ranting

letters of Nathan, the arrival of some men of Jerusalem who brought

him the homage of the Holy City (though without being commissioned

to do so), the severe mortifications which the people inflicted on

themselves, to atone for their sins and become worthy of the coming

of the Messiah--all this worked upon the minds of the multitude, and

they could scarcely wait for the day of his revelation. He had the

Kabbalists on his side through his mystical utterances. At length

Sabbataï Zevi declared himself publicly in the synagogue, with blowing

of horns, as the expected Messiah (New Year, September, or October,

1665), and the multitude shouted to him, "Long live our King, our

Messiah!"

The proverb that a prophet is least honored in his own country was for

once belied. The madness of the Jews of Smyrna knew no bounds. Every

sign of honor and enthusiastic love was shown him. It was not joy, but

delirium to feel that the long-expected Messiah had at last appeared,

and in their own community. The delirium seized great and small. Women,

girls, and children fell into raptures, and proclaimed Sabbataï Zevi

in the language of the Zohar as the true redeemer. The word of the

prophet, that God at the end of the world will pour forth his spirit

upon the young, appeared fulfilled. All prepared for a speedy exodus,

the return to the Holy Land. Workmen neglected their business, and

thought only of the approaching kingdom of the Messiah. The confusion

in men's brains showed itself in the way in which the Sabbatians of

Smyrna strove to merit a share in the time of grace. On the one hand,

they subjected themselves to incredible penances--fasted several

days in succession, refrained from sleep for nights, in order that,

by Kabbalistic prayers (Tikkunim) at midnight, they might wipe away

their sins, and bathed in extremely cold weather, even with snow on the

ground. Some buried themselves up to the neck in the soil, and remained

in their damp graves until their limbs were stiff with cold. On the

other hand, they abandoned themselves to the most extravagant delight,

and celebrated festival after festival in honor of the Messiah,

whenever Sabbataï Zevi showed himself--always with a large train

of followers--or walked through the streets singing Psalms, "The

right hand of the Lord is exalted, the right hand of the Lord bringeth

victory," or preached in a synagogue, and proved his Messiahship by

Kabbalistic interpretations of Scripture. He showed himself only in

procession in public, waved a fan to cool himself, and whoever was

touched with it was sure of the kingdom of heaven. The delirious joy of

his followers knew no bounds. Every word of his was repeated a thousand

times as the word of God, expounded, exaggerated, and intensified.

All that he did was held as miraculous, published, and believed. The

madness went so far that his adherents in Smyrna and elsewhere, as at

Salonica, that Kabbalist hot-bed of old, married their children of

twelve, ten, and even younger, to one another--seven hundred couples

in all--that, according to Kabbalistic ideas, they might cause the

souls not yet born to enter into life, and thereby remove the last

obstacle to the commencement of the time of grace.

The activity of Sabbataï Zevi in electrifying the minds of simple

believers, now by public pomp and pageantry, now by silent retirement,

was supplemented by Sarah, his wife, who by her loose conduct worked on

the passions of the male population. The bonds of chastity, drawn much

tighter among Eastern Jews than in Europe, were broken. The assembling

of persons of both sexes in great multitudes, hitherto unheard of,

was a slight innovation. In Messianic transports of delight men and

women danced with one another as if mad, and in mystical fervor many

excesses are said to have been committed. The voice of censure and

caution was gradually silenced; all were drawn into the vortex, and

the unbelievers were rendered harmless. The rabbi Aaron de la Papa

(died 1674), an aged and respectable man, who at first spoke against

this Messianic madness, and pronounced the ban against its originator,

together with other rabbis, was publicly reviled in a sermon by

Sabbataï, removed from office, and obliged to leave Smyrna.

Most unworthy was the behavior of the rabbi Chayim Benvenisti

(1603-1673), a very considerable authority on the Talmud, and of

astonishing learning, who, because he was a literary opponent of De

la Papa, not only suffered the latter's removal from office, but

allowed himself to be appointed in his place by Sabbataï. Though at

first harshly disposed towards the new Messiah, he became a believer,

and led the multitude by his authority. The latter were instigated

by Sabbataï to bloodthirsty fanaticism. Because a noble, rich, and

respected man in Smyrna, Chayim Penya, who had liberally supported

Chayim Benvenisti, opposed the widespread delusion with obstinate

incredulity, he was suddenly attacked in the synagogue, persecuted,

and nearly torn to pieces by the raging multitude. Sabbataï Zevi, the

pretended incarnation of piety, commanded the synagogue to be broken

open and the vile heretic to be seized. But when Penya's daughters,

likewise attacked by the madness, fell into raptures, and prophesied,

the father had no choice but to put a good face upon the wretched

business. He also assumed the air of a zealous adherent. After Penya's

subjugation Sabbataï Zevi became sole ruler in the community, and could

lead the Jewish population at will for good or for evil. In this humor

which lasted for some months, the Jews of Smyrna feared their tyrants,

the Turkish cadis, very little; if they offered to check the prevailing

tendency, they were induced by rich presents to remain inactive.

These events in the Jews' quarter at Smyrna made a great sensation

in ever-widening circles. The neighboring communities of Asia Minor,

many members of which had betaken themselves to Smyrna, and witnessing

the scenes enacted in that town, brought home exaggerated accounts of

the Messiah's power of attraction and of working miracles, were swept

into the same vortex. Sabbataï's private secretary, Samuel Primo,

took care that reports of the fame and doings of the Messiah should

reach Jews abroad. Nathan Ghazati sent circulars from Palestine,

while the itinerant prophets, Sabbataï Raphael and Matathias Bloch,

filled the ears of their auditors with the most marvelous accounts

of the new redeemer. Christians also helped to spread the story. The

residents, the clerks of English and Dutch mercantile houses, and

the evangelical ministers, reported the extraordinary occurrences in

Smyrna, and though they scoffed at the folly of the Jews, could not

withhold half-credulous sympathy. Did they not see with their own eyes

the ecstasies, and hear with their own ears the predictions, of the

prophets and prophetesses of Sabbataï Zevi, the true redeemer? On the

exchanges in Europe men spoke of him as a remarkable personage, and

eagerly awaited news from Smyrna or Constantinople. At first the Jews

were dazed by the reports that suddenly burst upon them. Was the long

cherished hope, that one day the oppression and shame of Israel would

be removed, and that he would return in glory to his home, at length to

be realized? No wonder that nearly everywhere scenes similar to those

in Smyrna were repeating themselves, that men's minds were filled with

credulity, accepting mere rumors as accredited facts, or that wild

excitement, ascetic living, and almsgiving to the needy, by way of

preparation for the time of the Messiah, were followed here and there

by prophetic ecstasies. Not only the senseless multitude, but nearly

all the rabbis, and even men of culture and philosophical judgment,

fell a prey to this credulity.

At that time not a single man of weight and importance recognized that

the primary source of all these phenomena lay in the Kabbala and the

Zohar. Jacob Sasportas, originally from Africa, had lived in Amsterdam

and London and, at this time, was in Hamburg. He was born about 1620,

and died 1698. A man of courage and keen penetration, whose word had

weight through his Talmudical learning, Sasportas from the first

combated this Messianic rage with passionate warmth. He was unwearied

in sending letter after letter to the various communities and their

guides in Europe, Asia, and Africa, to unmask the gross deceptions

practiced, and to warn against the sad consequences. But even he was

entangled in the snares of the Kabbala, and adopted its principles.

On the ground of this spurious philosophy, thoroughgoing enthusiasts

were more in the right than half-hearted adherents. Spinoza, who might

have scattered this thick mist with his luminous ideas, was not only

estranged from Judaism and his race, but even hostile to them, and

regarded the prevailing perplexities with indifference or malice.

The accounts of Sabbataï Zevi and the Messianic excitement either came

direct, or in a roundabout way by Alexandria, to Venice, Leghorn, and

other Italian cities.

Venice was led by the bigoted Kabbalist Moses Zacut, Spinoza's very

uncongenial fellow-student, who had formed the design of migrating

from Amsterdam through Poland to Palestine, but stopped short in

Venice. Far from opposing the delusion of the multitude, he encouraged

it, as did the rabbinate of Venice. The news from Smyrna had most

striking effect upon the great and the lesser Jerusalem of the North.

The prophet of Gaza, who was not devoid of sober calculation, had

directed his propagandist circulars to the most considerable and the

richest communities--Amsterdam and Hamburg. These entered into close

relationship with the new Messianic movement. The Jews of Amsterdam and

Hamburg received confirmation of the extraordinary events at Smyrna

from trustworthy Christians, many of whom were sincerely rejoiced

thereat. Even Heinrich Oldenburg, a distinguished German savant in

London, wrote to his friend Spinoza (December, 1665):--

"All the world here is talking of a rumor of the return of the

Israelites, dispersed for more than two thousand years, to

their own country. Few believe it, but many wish it.... Should

the news be confirmed, it may bring about a revolution in all

things."

The number of believers in Amsterdam increased daily among the

Portuguese no less than among the Germans, and numbers of educated

people set the example; the rabbis Isaac Aboab and Raphael Moses

D'Aguilar, Spinoza's fellow-student Isaac Naar, and Abraham Pereira,

one of the capitalists of Amsterdam and a writer on morals in Spanish,

all became believers. Even the semi-Spinozist Dionysius Musaphia

became a zealous adherent of the new Messiah. In Amsterdam devotion

to the new faith expressed itself in contradictory ways--by noisy

music and dancing in the houses of prayer, and by gloomy, monkish

self-mortification. The printing presses could not supply enough copies

of special prayer-books in Hebrew, Portuguese and Spanish, for the

multitude of believers. In these books penances and formulas were given

by which men hoped to become partakers in the kingdom of the Messiah.

Many Sabbatian prayer-books (Tikkunim) printed Sabbataï's likeness

together with that of King David, also the emblems of his dominion, and

select sentences from the Bible. In confident expectation of speedy

return to the Holy Land, the elders of one synagogue introduced the

custom of pronouncing the priestly blessing every Sabbath.

At Hamburg, the Jews went to still greater lengths of folly, because

they wished to make a demonstration against the bigoted Christians,

who in many ways tormented them with vexatious restrictions, and when

possible compelled them to listen to Christian sermons. Whoever entered

the synagogue, and saw the Jewish worshipers hop, jump, and dance

about with the roll of the Law in their arms, serious, respectable men

withal, of Spanish stateliness, had to take them for madmen. In fact,

a mental disease prevailed, which made men childish; even the most

distinguished in the community succumbed to it.

Manoel Texeira, also called Isaac Señor Texeira, was born about 1630,

and died about 1695. Some months before the death of his father,

Diego Texeira, a Marrano nobleman who had emigrated from Portugal

and settled at Hamburg, Manoel became resident minister, banker, and

confidant of Christina, former queen of Sweden. She valued him on

account of his honesty, his noble bearing, and his shrewdness. She

exchanged letters with him on important affairs, conferred with him

on the political interests of Europe, and credited him with deep,

statesmanlike views. During her residence at Hamburg she took up

her abode in Manoel Texeira's house, to the vexation of the local

ecclesiastical authorities--who were hostile to the Jews--and

remained quite unconcerned, although the Protestant preachers censured

her severely from the pulpits. Men of the highest rank resorted to

Texeira's house, and played with him for high stakes. This Jewish

cavalier also belonged to Sabbataï's adherents, and joined in the

absurd dances; as also the skillful and famous physician Bendito

de Castro (Baruch Nehemiah), now advanced in years, for a time the

physician of the queen during her residence in Hamburg. De Castro was

at that time director of the Hamburg community, and by his order the

Messianic follies were practiced in the synagogue. Jacob Sasportas, who

because of the outbreak of the plague in London at that time resided

in Hamburg, used serious arguments and satire against this Messianic

delusion; but he could not make his voice heard, and only just escaped

rough handling by the Sabbatians. The community recently established in

London in the reign of Charles II, which had elected Jacob Sasportas

as chief rabbi, was no less possessed with this craze. It derived

additional encouragement from contact with Christian enthusiasts

who hoped to bring about the millennium. Curious reports flew from

mouth to mouth. It was said, that in the north of Scotland a ship had

appeared, with silken sails and ropes, manned by sailors who spoke

Hebrew. The flag bore the inscription, "The Twelve Tribes or Families

of Israel." Believers living in London in English fashion offered

wagers at the odds of ten to one that Sabbataï would be anointed king

at Jerusalem within two years, and drew formal bills of exchange upon

the issue. Wherever Jews dwelt, news of the Kabbalistic Messiah of

Smyrna penetrated, and everywhere produced wild excitement. The little

community of Avignon, which was not treated in the mildest manner by

the papal officers, prepared to emigrate to the kingdom of Judah in the

spring of the year 1666.

If Sabbataï Zevi had not hitherto firmly believed in himself and his

dignity, this homage from nearly the whole Jewish race must have

awakened conviction. Every day advices, messengers, and deputations

came pouring in, greeting him in most flattering terms as king of the

Jews, placing life and property at his disposal, and overwhelming

him with gifts. Had he been a man of resolute determination and

strength of will, he might have obtained results of importance with

this genuine enthusiasm and willing devotion of his believers. Even

Spinoza entertained the possibility, with this favorable opportunity

and the mutability of human things, that the Jews might re-establish

their kingdom, and again be the chosen of God. But Sabbataï Zevi was

satisfied with the savor of incense. He cherished no great design, or

rather, he lived in the delusion that men's expectations would fulfill

themselves of their own accord by a miracle. Samuel Primo and some of

his confidants appear, however, to have followed a fixed plan, namely,

to modify the Rabbinical system, or even to abolish it. That was in

reality implied in the reign of the Messiah. The fundamental conception

of the Zohar, the Bible of the Kabbalists, is that in the time of

grace, in the world of order (Olam ha-Tikkun), the laws of Judaism, the

regulations concerning lawful and forbidden things, would completely

lose their significance. Now this time, the Sabbatians thought, had

already begun; consequently, the minute ritualistic code of the

Shulchan Aruch ought no longer to be held binding. Whether Sabbataï

himself drew this conclusion, is doubtful. But some of his trusted

adherents gave this theory prominence. A certain bitterness towards the

Talmud and the Talmudic method of teaching prevailed in this circle.

The Sabbatian mystics felt themselves confined by the close meshes of

the Rabbinical network, and sought to disentangle it loop by loop. They

set up a new deity, substituting a man-god for the God of Israel. In

their wanton extravagance the Kabbalists had so entirely changed the

conception of the deity, that it had dwindled away into nothing. On the

other hand, they had so exalted and magnified the Messiah, that he was

close to God. The Sabbatians, or one of them (Samuel Primo?), built

on this foundation. From the Divine bosom (the Ancient of Days), they

said, a new divine personage had sprung, capable of restoring the order

in the world intended in the original plan of Divine Perfection. This

new person was the Holy King (Malka Kadisha), the Messiah, the Primal

Man (Adam Kadmon), who would destroy evil, sin, and corruption, and

cause the dried-up streams of grace to flow again. He, the holy king,

the Messiah, is the true God, the redeemer and saviour of the world,

the God of Israel; to him alone should prayers be addressed. The Holy

King, or Messiah, combines two natures--one male, the other female;

he can do more on account of his higher wisdom than the Creator of the

world. Samuel Primo, who dispatched circulars and ordinances in the

name of the Messianic king, often used the signature, "I, the Lord,

your God, Sabbataï Zevi." Whether the Smyrna fanatic authorized such

blasphemous presumptuousness cannot be decided, any more than whether

in his heart he considered the Jewish law null and void. For, although

some Sabbatians, who uttered these absurdities, pretended to have

heard them from his own lips, other disciples asserted that he was an

adherent of traditional Judaism.

The truth probably is that Sabbataï Zevi, absorbed in idle ruminating,

accepted everything which the more energetic among his followers

taught or suggested. They began the dissolution of Judaism by the

transformation of the fast of the tenth of Tebeth (Asara be-Tebeth)

into a day of rejoicing. Samuel Primo, in the name of his divinity,

directed a circular to the whole of Israel in semi-official form:

"The first-begotten Son of God, Sabbataï Zevi, Messiah and

Redeemer of the people of Israel, to all the sons of Israel,

Peace! Since ye have been deemed worthy to behold the great

day and the fulfillment of God's word by the prophets, your

lament and sorrow must be changed into joy, and your fasting

into merriment, for ye shall weep no more. Rejoice with song

and melody, and change the day formerly spent in sadness and

sorrow, into a day of jubilee, because I have appeared."

So firmly rooted in men's minds was faith in Sabbataï Zevi, that the

communities which the letter reached in time discontinued this fast,

although they believed that they could enter into the kingdom of the

Messiah only by strict abstinence. The staunch orthodox party, however,

was shocked at this innovation. They could not conceive the Messiah

as other than a pious rabbi, who, if possible, would invent fresh

burdens. A thousand times had they read in the Zohar, and repeated

to one another, that in the time of the Messiah the days of mourning

would be changed into days of feasting, and the Law in general would

be no longer binding; but when words were changed into deeds, horror

seized them. Those rabbis who before had regarded the movement half

incredulously, or had not interfered with the penances and deeds of

active benevolence to which many of the Sabbatians had felt prompted,

thereby giving silent assent, now raised their voice against the

law-destroying Messiahship. There began to be formed in every large

community a small party of unbelievers (Kofrim), chiefly men learned

in the Talmud, who desired to guard the established religion against

attacks and disruption.

Rabbinical Judaism and the Kabbala, hitherto in close confederation,

began to be at variance with each other; this doubtful ally showing

herself at last in her true form as the enemy of Rabbinism. But this

sobering discovery, that the Kabbala was a serpent nursed into life

by the rabbis themselves, was recognized only by a few. They still

remained true to her, imputing the growing hostility to the Shulchan

Aruch to Sabbataï and his aiders and abettors. It was too late, their

voices were drowned in shouts of joy. Solomon Algazi, and some members

of the Smyrna rabbinate who shared his opinions, tried to oppose the

abolition of the fast, but were nearly stoned to death by the multitude

of believers, and were obliged, like Aaron de la Papa, to leave the

city in haste.

But the Messiah was at last forced to tear himself out of his fool's

paradise and the atmosphere of incense in Smyrna, in order to

accomplish his work in the Turkish capital--either because his

followers compelled him to put his light, not under a bushel, but upon

it, that the world at large might see it, or because the cadi could

no longer endure the mad behavior of the Jews, and did not wish to

bear the sole responsibility. It is said that the cadi gave Sabbataï

Zevi three days to go to Constantinople and appear before the highest

Turkish authorities. In his delusion, Zevi perhaps believed that a

miracle would fulfill the prophecies of Nathan Ghazati and other

prophets, that he would easily be able to take the crown from the

sultan. He prepared for his journey. Before he left Smyrna, he divided

the world among his six-and-twenty faithful ones, and called them kings

and princes. His brothers, Elijah and Joseph Zevi, received the lion's

share; the former was named king of kings, the latter king of the kings

of Judah. To his other faithful followers he disclosed, in Kabbalistic

language, which soul of the former kings of Judah or Israel dwelt in

each of their bodies, that is, had passed into them by transmigration.

Among the better known names were those of the companion of his youth,

Isaac Silveira, and Abraham Yachini at Constantinople, who had imparted

to him the art of mysticism. Raphael Joseph Chelebi could least of all

be passed over; he had been the first firm supporter of the Messiah,

and was called King Joash. A Marrano physician, who had escaped from

Portugal, and was his devoted adherent, received the crown of Portugal.

Even his former opponent Chayim Penya received a kingdom of his own. A

beggar, Abraham Rubio of Smyrna, was likewise raised to a throne, under

the name of Josiah, and was so firmly convinced of his approaching

sovereignty that he refused large sums for his imaginary kingdom.

Sabbataï Zevi appears purposely to have started on his Messianic

journey to Constantinople exactly at the beginning of the mystic year

1666. He was accompanied by some of his followers, his secretary Samuel

Primo being in his train. He had announced the day of his arrival at

Constantinople, but circumstances proved false to him. The ship in

which he sailed had to contend with bad weather, and the voyage was

prolonged by weeks. Since the sea did not devour him, the Sabbatians

composed marvelous stories describing how the storm and the waves had

obeyed the Messiah. At some place on the coast of the Dardanelles the

passengers of the weather-beaten vessel were obliged to land, and there

Sabbataï was arrested by Turkish officers, sent to take him prisoner.

The grand vizir, Ahmed Coprili, had heard of the excitement of the

Jews in Smyrna, and desired to suppress it. The officers had strict

orders to bring the pretended redeemer in fetters to the capital, and

therefore hastened to meet the ship by which he came. According to

orders, they put him in fetters, and brought him to a small town in

the neighborhood of Constantinople, because the eve of the Sabbath was

near. Informed by a messenger of his arrival at Cheknese Kutschuk, his

followers hastened from the capital to see him, but found him in a

pitiable plight and in chains. The money which they brought with them

procured him some alleviation, and on the following Sunday (February,

1666), he was brought by sea to Constantinople--but in how different

a manner to what he and his believers had anticipated! However, his

coming caused excitement. At the landing-place there was such a crowd

of Jews and Turks who desired to see the Messiah, that the police were

obliged to superintend the disembarkation. An under-pasha commissioned

to receive him welcomed the man-god with a vigorous box on the ear.

Sabbataï Zevi is said, however, to have wisely turned the other cheek

to the blow. Since he could not play the part of the triumphant, he

at least wished to play that of the suffering Messiah with good grace.

When brought before the deputy-vizir (Kaimakam), Mustapha Pasha, he did

not stand the first test brilliantly. Asked what his intentions were,

and why he had roused the Jews to such a pitch of excitement, Sabbataï

is said to have answered that he was nothing more than a Jewish

Chacham, come from Jerusalem to the capital to collect alms; he could

not help it if the Jews testified so much devotion to him. Mustapha

thereupon sent him to a prison in which insolvent Jewish debtors were

confined.

Far from being disappointed at this treatment, his followers in

Constantinople persisted in their delusion. For some days they kept

quietly at home, because the street boys mocked them by shouting,

"Is he coming? is he coming?" (Gheldi mi, Gheldi mi.) But they soon

began again to assert that he was the true Messiah, and that the

sufferings which he had encountered were necessary, a condition to

his glorification. The prophets continued to proclaim the speedy

redemption of Sabbataï and of all Israel. A Turkish dervish filled the

streets of Constantinople with prophecies of the Messiah, whose enemies

said that Sabbataï's followers had bribed him. Thousands crowded

daily to Sabbataï's place of confinement merely to catch a glimpse

of him. English merchants whose claims were not satisfied by their

Jewish debtors applied to the Messiah. An order in his handwriting,

admonishing defaulters to do justice to their creditors, as otherwise

they would have no share in his joy and glory, had the best effect.

Samuel Primo took care that most fabulous accounts should reach the

Jews of Smyrna and those at a distance, of the reverence paid the

Messiah by the Turkish authorities. At heart, he wrote, they were all

convinced of his dignity. The expectations of the Jews were raised to

a still higher pitch, and the most exaggerated hopes fostered to a

greater degree. It was looked upon as a palpable miracle that summary

Turkish justice allowed him, the rebellious Jew, to live. Did not

this act of mercy prove that he was feared? The Turkish government in

fact seems to have stood in awe of the Jewish Messiah. The Cretan war

was impending, which demanded all the energy of the half-exhausted

Turkish empire. The prudent grand vizir, Ahmed Coprili, did not like

to sentence him to death, thus making a fresh martyr, and causing a

desperate riot among the Jews. Even the Turks, charmed by Sabbataï's

manner, and deceived by extraordinary miraculous manifestations,

especially by the prophecies of women and children, joined the ranks

of his worshipers. It seemed to Coprili equally dangerous to leave

Sabbataï, during his absence at the war, in Constantinople, where

he might easily add fuel to the ever-increasing excitement in the

capital. He therefore commanded, after Sabbataï had been imprisoned

in Constantinople for two months--from the beginning of February

to April 17--that he be taken to the castle of the Dardanelles at

Abydos, where state-prisoners were wont to be kept in custody. It was

a mild confinement; some of his friends, among them Samuel Primo, were

allowed to accompany him thither. The Sabbatians called this fortress

by a mystical name, the Tower of Strength (Migdal Oz).

If Sabbataï Zevi had doubted himself for a moment, his courage rose

through his change of abode, the respectful clemency shown him by

the divan, and the steady and increasing devotion of the Jews. He

felt himself the Messiah again. On his arrival at the castle of the

Dardanelles on April 19, the day of preparation for the Passover,

he slew a Paschal lamb for himself and his followers, and ate it

with the fat, which is forbidden by the laws of the Talmud. He is

said, while doing so, to have used a blessing which implied that the

Mosaic, Talmudic, and Rabbinical law was abrogated--"Blessed be

God, who hath restored again that which was forbidden." At Abydos he

held regular court with the large sums of money which his brothers

and his rich adherents sent him with lavish hand. His wife Sarah, who

was allowed to remain with him, demeaned herself as the Messianic

queen, and bewitched the multitude by her charms. From the Turkish

capital a number of ships conveyed his followers to the castle of the

Dardanelles. The fare on vessels rose in consequence daily. From other

countries and continents, too, crowds of Jews streamed to the place of

his captivity, in the hope to be deemed worthy of beholding him. The

governor of the castle reaped advantage thereby, for he charged the

visitors entrance money, and raised it to fifteen or thirty marks a

head. Even the inhabitants of the place profited, because they could

earn high prices for board and lodging. A veritable shower of gold

poured into Abydos. The impression which these facts, industriously

circulated and exaggerated, made on the Jews in Europe, Asia, and

Africa, and the effect which they produced, are indescribable. With

few exceptions all were convinced of Sabbataï's Messiahship, and of a

speedy redemption, in two years at the latest. They argued that he had

had the courage to go to the Turkish capital, although he had openly

proclaimed the dethronement of the sultan, yet had not forfeited his

life, but had been left in a sort of mock imprisonment. What more was

needed to confirm the predictions of prophets of ancient and modern

times? The Jews accordingly prepared seriously to return to their

original home. In Hungary they began to unroof their houses. In large

commercial cities, where Jews took the lead in wholesale business, such

as Amsterdam, Leghorn, and Hamburg, stagnation of trade ensued. In

almost all synagogues his initials, S and Z, were posted up with more

or less adornment. Almost everywhere a prayer for him was inserted in

the following form: "Bless our Lord and King, the holy and righteous

Sabbataï Zevi, the Messiah of the God of Jacob." In Europe the eyes

of all communities were directed to Amsterdam, the representatives of

which adhered to the movement most enthusiastically. Every post-day

which brought fresh letters was a holiday for them. The Amsterdam Jews

showed their joy openly, and were afraid neither of the Christian

population nor of the magistrates. Isaac Naar, of Amsterdam, and the

rich Abraham Pereira, prepared themselves for a journey to the Messiah,

and the former ironically announced it to the unbelieving Jacob

Sasportas. The Hamburg community always imitated that of Amsterdam,

or went beyond it. The council introduced the custom of praying for

Sabbataï Zevi, not only on Saturday, but also on Monday and Thursday.

The unbelievers were compelled to remain in the synagogue and join in

the prayer with a loud Amen. And all this was done at the suggestion

of the educated physician Bendito de Castro. The believers went so

far as to threaten their opponents if they ventured to utter a word

of censure against Sabbataï. At Venice, on the Sabbath, a quarrel

broke out between the Sabbatians and their opponents, and one of the

latter nearly lost his life. When Sabbataï was asked how the Kofrim

(unbelievers) should be dealt with, he, or Samuel Primo, answered

that they might be put to death without ado, even on the Sabbath;

the executors of such punishment were sure to enjoy eternal bliss. A

learned Talmudist at Buda, Jacob Ashkenazi of Wilna, whose son and

grandson became zealous persecutors of the Sabbatians, was guided by

the decision, and declared a member of the community worthy of death,

because he would not say the blessing for Sabbataï Zevi. In Moravia

(at Nikolsburg) there were such violent dissensions and tumults in

consequence of the craze about the Messiah, that the governor of the

province was obliged to post up notices to calm men's minds. At Salee,

in the north-western part of Africa, the ruling Emir Gailan (Gailand)

ordered a persecution of the Jews, because they too openly displayed

the hope of their coming redemption.

Many Christians shared the delusive faith in the new Messiah, and the

weekly tidings from the East concerning Sabbataï Zevi and his doings

made an overwhelming impression on them. At Hamburg, for example, pious

Protestants betook themselves to the proselytizing preacher Esdras

Edzard, and asked him what was to be done:

"We have certain accounts, not only from Jews, but also from

our Christian correspondents at Smyrna, Aleppo, Constantinople,

and other places in Turkey, that the new Messiah of the Jews

does many miracles, and the Jews of the whole world flock to

him. What will become of the Christian doctrine and the belief

in our Messiah?"

The attention bestowed by educated classes of Christians upon the

extraordinary events, which were published as news of the day, in turn

enhanced the credulity of the Jews. In short, every circumstance tended

to increase the deception. Only Jacob Sasportas raised his warning

voice against the imposture. He sent letters in all directions, here

to point out the absurdity of current rumors, there to collect exact

information. He failed to obtain striking evidence of Sabbataï's, or

Nathan's, roguery. Forged letters and documents were the order of the

day; conscientiousness and uprightness had utterly disappeared. Thus

the mist of false belief grew thicker and thicker, and one was no

longer able to get at the truth.

For three months, from April to July, Sabbataï had been leading the

life of a prince in the castle of the Dardanelles, intent only upon his

own apotheosis. Either from caprice or at Samuel Primo's suggestion, he

declared the fast of the 17th Tammuz to be abolished, because on this

day he had realized his Messianic character. Was this a mere freak,

or was it done with the intention of accustoming his adherents to the

abolition of Rabbinical Judaism? At all events, he appointed the 23d

of Tammuz (July 25th), a Monday, to be kept as a strict Sabbath. More

than four thousand Jews, men and women, who happened to be at Abydos,

celebrated this new Sabbath with great scrupulousness. Sabbataï, or

his secretary, sent circulars to the communities directing them to

celebrate the next fast, the ninth of Ab, his birthday, as a festival

by a special service, with Psalms specially chosen, with eating of

choice meats, and the sound of the harp and singing. He is said to have

contemplated the annulling of all the Jewish festivals, even the Day of

Atonement, and the introduction of others in their stead. But before

this could be done, he was guilty in his pride of an act of folly which

caused the whole fabric to collapse.

Among the many thousand visitors from far and near, two Poles from

Lemberg made a pilgrimage to him, to confirm their faith and feast on

his countenance. One was Isaiah, son of a highly-esteemed Rabbinical

authority, the aged David Levi (Ture Zahab), and grandson of the no

less celebrated Joel Serkes; the other, his half-brother, Leb Herz.

From these two Poles Sabbataï heard that in the distant land from which

they came, another prophet, Nehemiah Cohen, was announcing the approach

of the Messiah's kingdom, but not through Sabbataï. He gave Isaiah

Levi a laconic letter to take to his father, in which he promised

the Jews of Poland revenge for the massacre by the Cossacks, and

peremptorily ordered Nehemiah to come to him with all speed. He laid

so much stress on Nehemiah's coming, that he made his followers eager

for his arrival. The two Poles traveled back delighted to Lemberg,

and everywhere told of the splendor amid which they had seen the

Messiah. Nehemiah was ordered to hasten to Sabbataï, and he was not

deterred by the length of the journey. When he arrived at Abydos at

the beginning of September, he was immediately admitted to an audience

which lasted several days. The Polish prophet and the Smyrna Messiah

did not laugh in one another's faces, like two augurs, but carried

on a grave discussion. The subject of their mystical conversation

remained unknown, as may be imagined. It was said to concern the

forerunner of the Messiah--the Messiah of Ephraim--whether or not

he had appeared and perished, as had been predicted. Nehemiah was not

convinced by the long argument, and did not conceal the fact. On this

account, the fanatical Sabbatians are said to have secretly made signs

to one another to do away with this dangerous Pole. He fortunately

escaped from the castle, betook himself forthwith to Adrianople, to the

Kaimakam Mustapha, became a Mahometan, and betrayed the fantastic and

treasonable designs which Sabbataï Zevi cherished, and which, he said,

had remained unknown to the government, only because the overseer of

the castle of Dardanelles had an interest in the concourse of Jews.

The Kaimakam conveyed the intelligence to the sultan, Mahomet

IV, and the course to be pursued with regard to Sabbataï was

maturely considered, the mufti Vanni being also admitted to aid the

deliberations. To make short work with the rebellious schemer appeared

impracticable to the council, particularly as Mahometans also followed

him. If he should fall as a martyr, a new sect might arise, which would

kindle fresh disturbances. Vanni, a proselytizing priest, proposed that

an attempt be made to bring Sabbataï over to Islam. This advice was

followed, and the sultan's physician (Hakim Bashi), a Jewish renegade,

by name Guidon, was employed as the medium. A messenger suddenly

appeared at Abydos, drove away the Jews, who were besieging the Messiah

with homage, conveyed him to Adrianople, and brought him first to the

Hakim Bashi, who, as a former co-religionist, would be able to convert

him the more easily. The physician represented to him the dreadful

punishment that would inevitably befall him--he would be bound,

and scourged through the streets with burning torches, if he did not

appease the wrath of the sultan by adopting Islamism. It is not known

whether this call to apostatize from Judaism cost the conceited Messiah

great mental conflict. He had not much manly courage, and Judaism, in

its existing form, was perhaps dead for him. So he adopted Guidon's

advice. The following day (Elul 13, September 14, 1666) he was brought

before the sultan. He immediately cast off his Jewish head-dress, in

sign of contempt; a page offered him a white Turkish turban and a green

instead of the black mantle which he wore, and so his conversion to

the Mahometan religion was accomplished. When his dress was changed,

it is said that several pounds of biscuit were found in his loose

trousers. The sultan was highly pleased at this termination of the

movement, gave him the name of Mehmed Effendi, and appointed him his

door-keeper--Capigi Bashi Otorak--with a considerable monthly

salary; he was to remain near the sultan. The Messiah's wife, Sarah,

the Polish rabbi's fair daughter of loose behavior, likewise became a

Mahometan, under the name of Fauma Kadin, and received rich presents

from the sultana. Some of Sabbataï's followers also went over to Islam.

The mufti Vanni instructed them in the Mahometan religion. Sabbataï is

said to have married a Mahometan slave, in addition to his wife Sarah,

at the command of the mufti. Nehemiah Cohen, who had brought about this

sudden change, did not remain in Turkey, but returned to Poland, took

off the turban, and lived quietly without breathing a word of what

had happened. He disappeared as suddenly as he had come forward. The

ex-Messiah impudently wrote, some days after his conversion, to his

brothers at Smyrna: "God has made me an Ishmaelite; He commanded, and

it was done. The ninth day of my regeneration." Nearly at the same time

the rabbis and presidents of schools at Amsterdam assembled, and sent

a letter of homage to Sabbataï Zevi, to testify their belief in and

submission to him. The semi-Spinozist Dionysius (Benjamin) Musaphia,

vexed at not being invited, wrote a separate letter to Sabbataï Zevi,

signed by himself and two members of the school (Elul 24th). A week

later, twenty-four distinguished men of Amsterdam sent another letter

of homage to the apostate Messiah. At their head was Abraham Gideon

Abudiente. Did these letters reach the Mahometan Mehmed Effendi? At

Hamburg, where likewise his conversion was not suspected, the blessing

was five times pronounced over the renegade Sabbataï, on the Day of

Atonement (October 9, 1666).

But when the rumor of his apostasy went the rounds of the

communities, and could no longer be denied, confidence was succeeded

by a bewildering sense of disenchantment and shame. The highest

representative of Judaism had abandoned and betrayed it! Chayim

Benvenisti, the rabbi of Smyrna, who had invested the false Messiah

with authority from motives far from honorable, almost died of shame.

Mahometans and Christians pointed with scorn at the blind, credulous

Jews. The street boys in Turkey openly jeered at Jewish passers-by.

But this ridicule was not all. So widespread a commotion could not

die out and leave no trace. The sultan thought of destroying all the

Jews in his empire, because they had formed rebellious plans, and of

ordering all children under seven to be brought up in Islamism. The

newly converted Mahometan, Mehmed Effendi, in order to revenge himself,

is said to have betrayed his own plans, and the consent of the Jews

thereto. Two councilors and the sultana-mother are reported to have

dissuaded the sultan from his design by the observation that the

Jews ought to be regarded as having been misled. Fifty chief rabbis,

however, because they had neglected their duty in teaching the people,

were to be executed--twelve from Constantinople, twelve from Smyrna,

and the remaining twenty-six from the other communities in Turkey. It

was regarded as a special miracle that this resolution remained a dead

letter, and that the Jews did not even have to pay a fine. The division

in the communities might have had even worse consequences, if the

unbelievers had heaped scorn and mockery upon the late devotees. But

the colleges of rabbis in the East interposed, and sought to appease

and reconcile, and threatened to excommunicate any one who, by word or

deed, offended a former Sabbatian.

Although men's minds were calmed for the moment, it was long before

peace was restored. After the first surprise at Sabbataï's conversion

was over, his zealous followers, especially at Smyrna, began to

recover. They could not persuade themselves that they had really

been running after a shadow. There must be, or have been, some

truth in Sabbataï's Messianic claims, since all signs so entirely

agreed. The Kabbalists easily got over objections. Sabbataï had not

turned Mahometan; a phantom had played that part, while he himself

had retired to heaven or to the Ten Tribes, and would soon appear

again to accomplish the work of redemption. As at the time of the

origin of Christianity mystical believers (Docetæ) interpreted the

crucifixion of Jesus as a phantasm, so now thorough-going mystics

explained Sabbataï's apostasy from Judaism. Others, such as Samuel

Primo, Jacob Faliachi, Jacob Israel Duchan, who had designed, through

him, to bring about the fall of Rabbinical Judaism, and would not

abandon their plan lightly, still clung to him. The prophets, who

had been manifestly proved false through his conversion, were most

interested in remaining true to him. They did not care quietly to

renounce their functions and withdraw into obscurity, or be laughed

at. The prophets residing at Smyrna, Constantinople, Rhodes, and

Chios were silenced; but the itinerant prophets, Nathan Ghazati and

Sabbataï Raphael, did not choose to abdicate. The former had remained

in Palestine during Sabbataï's triumph in order to be paid homage

on his own account. After the deception was unmasked he regarded

himself as no longer safe; he made preparations to go to Smyrna, and

continued to send out his mystical, bombastic letters. From Damascus

he warned the Jews of Aleppo by letter not to allow themselves to be

discouraged by strange circumstances in their belief in the Messiah;

there was a deep mystery shortly to be revealed; but wherein the

mystery consisted could not yet be disclosed. By these circulars the

credulous were confirmed afresh in their delusion. In Smyrna many

synagogues continued to insert the blessing for Sabbataï in their

prayers. Hence the rabbis were obliged to interfere vigorously,

especially the rabbinate of the Turkish capital. They laid under a ban

all who should even pronounce the name of Sabbataï, or converse with

his followers, and threatened to hand them over to the secular arm.

Nathan Ghazati, in particular, was excommunicated, and everyone warned

against harboring him or approaching him (Kislev 12, December 9, 1666).

These sentences of excommunication were so far effectual that Nathan

could not stay anywhere for any length of time, and even in Smyrna he

could remain only a short time in secret at the house of a believer.

But the rabbis were not able entirely to exorcise the imposture. One

of the most zealous Sabbatians, probably Samuel Primo, who was ready

in invention, threw out a more effective suggestion than that of

the mock conversion. All had been ordained as it had come to pass.

Precisely by his going over to Islam had Sabbataï proved himself the

Messiah. It was a Kabbalistic mystery which some writings had announced

beforehand. As the first redeemer Moses was obliged to reside for some

time at Pharaoh's court, not as an Israelite, but to all appearance an

Egyptian, even so must the last redeemer live some time at a heathen

court, apparently a heathen, "outwardly sinful, but inwardly pure."

It was Sabbataï's task to free the lost emanations of the soul, which

pervade even Mahometans, and by identifying them with himself, as it

were, bring them back to the fountain-head. By redeeming souls in all

circles, he was most effectually furthering the kingdom of the Messiah.

This suggestion was a lucky hit; it kindled anew the flame of the

imposture. It became a watchword for all Sabbatians enabling them, with

decency and a show of reason, to profess themselves believers, and hold

together.

Nathan Ghazati also caught up this idea, and was encouraged to resume

his part as prophet. He had fared badly so far; he had been obliged

secretly to leave Smyrna, where he had been in hiding several months

(end of April, 1667). His followers, consisting of more than thirty

men, were dispersed. But by this new imposture he recovered courage,

and approached Adrianople, where Mehmed Effendi presided, attended by

several of his adherents, who as pretended Mahometans lived and made

fantastic plans with him. The representatives of the Jewish community

at Constantinople and Adrianople rightly feared fresh disturbances

from the presence of the false prophet, and desired to get rid of

him. Nathan Ghazati, however, relied on his prophecy, which might

possibly, he said, be fulfilled at the end of the year. He expected

the Holy Spirit to descend upon the renegade Mehmed on the Feast of

Weeks (Pentecost), and then he also would be able to show signs and

wonders. Until then, he defiantly replied to the deputies, he could

entertain no propositions. When the Feast of Weeks was over, the

people of Adrianople again urged him to cease from his juggleries.

After much labor they obtained only a written promise to keep at a

distance of twelve days' journey from the city, not to correspond with

Sabbataï, not to assemble people round him, and if by the end of the

year the Redeemer did not appear, to consider his prophecies false.

In spite of his written promise, this lying prophet continued his

agitation, and admonished the Sabbatians in Adrianople to make known

their continued adhesion by the suspension of the fast on the 17th

of Tammuz. In this city there was a Sabbatian conventicle under the

leadership of a former disciple, who stood in close connection with

Mehmed Effendi. The rabbinate of Adrianople did not know how to check

the mischievous course of this daring sect, and were obliged to have

recourse to falsehood. They announced that the renegade had suddenly

appeared before the Jewish communal council, had repented of his

imposture, and laid the blame on Nathan and Abraham Yachini, who had

made him their dupe. In this way the rabbinate succeeded in deceiving

the Sabbatians. The effect did not last long. Nathan on the one hand,

and Mehmed Effendi's circle on the other, awakened new hope, the number

of believers again increased, and they made a special point of not

fasting on the 9th of Ab, the birthday of their Messiah. The rabbinates

of Constantinople and Smyrna sought to repress this imposture by the

old means--excommunication and threats of punishment (end of July)--but

with little success. The Sabbatians had a sort of hankering after

martyrdom in order to seal their faith. The false prophet renewed his

propagandism. He still had some followers, including two Mahometans.

At Salonica, the home of a swarm of Kabbalists, he fared badly. The

more easily did he find a hearing in the communities of the islands of

Chios and Corfu. His hopes were however directed principally to Italy.

Here also confusion continued to reign. The first news of Sabbataï's

defection had not been confirmed, as in consequence of the war in

Crete the ships of the Christians had been captured by the Turks. Thus

the Sabbatians were left free to maintain their faith and denounce

the report as false, especially as encouraging letters arrived from

Raphael Joseph Chelebi of Cairo and others. The most absurd stories

of Sabbataï's power and dignity at the Porte were published in Italy,

and found credence. Moses Pinheiro, Sabbataï's old companion, Raphael

Sofino at Leghorn, and the Amsterdam fanatics, Isaac Naar and Abraham

Pereira, who had gone to Italy to search for the Messiah, had a special

interest in clinging to straws; they feared ridicule as dupes. The

ignorant mountebank and strolling prophet, Sabbataï Raphael, from the

Morea, then residing in Italy, was bent upon deception and fraud, and

appears to have reaped a good harvest there. When at last there could

be no doubt of Sabbataï's change of religion, Raphael turned his steps

to Germany, where, on account of defective postal arrangements and

the slight intercourse of Jews with the outer world, they had only a

vague idea of the course of events, and took the most foolish stories

for truth. Sabbataï Raphael was there regarded as a prophet; but, as

he expected greater gain from the rich Amsterdam community, he betook

himself thither (September, 1667). Here also the imposture continued.

Ashamed that they, the shrewd and educated Portuguese, should have

been so signally deceived, they at first placed no faith in the news

of Sabbataï's treachery. Even the rabbis Isaac Aboab, Raphael Moses

d'Aguilar, and the philosophical sceptic Musaphia, remained staunch.

Justly Jacob Sasportas laughed them to scorn, especially Musaphia, on

account of his present unshaken faith as contrasted with his former

incredulity.

Meanwhile Nathan Ghazati, the prophet of Gaza was pursuing his

mischievous course in Italy. Coming from Greece, he landed at Venice

(end of March, 1668), but the rabbinate and the council, who had had

warning of him, would not allow him to enter the Ghetto. A Sabbatian

interceded for him with some Christians of rank, and under such

protection he could not be expelled. To cure those who had shared in

the delusion, the rabbinate wrung from him a written confession, that

his prophecies of Sabbataï Zevi's Messiahship rested on a freak of

his imagination, that he recognized them as such, and held them to be

idle. This confession was printed with an introduction by the rabbinate

of Venice, in order at last to open the eyes of the Sabbatians in

Italy. But it was not of much avail. The delusion, resting as it did

on the Kabbala, was too deeply rooted. From Venice Ghazati was sent

to Leghorn, with the suggestion to render him innocuous there, where

Jews enjoyed more freedom; but Nathan Ghazati secretly escaped to Rome,

cut off his beard, disguised himself, and is said to have thrown notes

written in Chaldee into the Tiber, to bring about the destruction

of Rome. The Jews recognized him, and, since they feared danger

for themselves on papal soil from his fraudulent absurdities, they

procured his banishment. Then he went to Leghorn, and found followers

there also. Promising himself more honor and profit in Turkey, or

more opportunity to satisfy his restless mind, Nathan returned to

Adrianople. He did not pay great regard to word and oath. Nathan

Ghazati compiled much Kabbalistic nonsense, but acquired no fame. He is

said to have died at Sophia, and to have been laid in a vault dug by

himself (1680). Other men appeared at the head of the Sabbatians who

far surpassed him, and pursued a definite end.

Sabbataï, or Mehmed Effendi, at this time began his revolutionary

chimeras afresh. Immediately after his apostasy he was obliged, under

the direction of the mufti Vanni, to acquire Mahometan ways, and guard

carefully against any appearance of inclination to Judaism and the

Jews. He therefore figured as a pious Mahometan. Gradually he was

permitted greater freedom, and to give utterance to his Kabbalistic

views about God and the universe. Vanni, to whom much was new, heard

his expositions with curiosity, and the sultan also is said to have

listened to his words attentively. Probably Sabbataï won over some

Mahometans to his Kabbalistic dreams. Weary of quiet, and anxious to

play an active part again, he once more entered into close relations

with Jews, and gave out that he had been filled anew with the Holy

Spirit at Passover (end of March, 1668), and had received revelations.

Sabbataï, or one of his aiders and abettors, published a mystical work

("Five Evidences of the Faith," Sahaduta di Mehemnuta) addressed to

the Jews and couched in extravagant language, in which the following

fantastic views were set forth: Sabbataï had been and remained the

true Redeemer; it would be easy to prove himself such, if he had not

compassion on Israel, who would have to experience the same dreadful

sufferings as the Messiah; and he only persisted in Mahometanism in

order to bring thousands and tens of thousands of non-Jews over to

Israel. To the sultan and the mufti, on the other hand, he said that

his approximation to the Jews was intended to bring them over to

Islam. He received permission to associate with Jews, and to preach

before them at Adrianople, even in synagogues. Thus he played the part

of Jew at one time, of Mussulman at another. If Turkish spies were

present, his Jewish hearers knew how to deceive them. They threw away

their Jewish headdress, and put on the turban. It is probable that

many Jews were seriously converted to Islam, and a Jewish-Turkish sect

thus began to form round Sabbataï Zevi. The Jews who had hitherto

felt such horror of apostatizing, that only the outcasts amongst them

went over to Christianity or Islam, became less severe. They said

without indignation that so and so had adopted the turban. Through

such jugglery Sabbatians at Adrianople, Smyrna, Salonica, and other

cities, even in Palestine, allowed themselves to be confirmed in their

obstinate faith in the Messiah. Even pious men, learned in the Talmud,

continued to adhere to him.

As though this complication were to become more involved, and the

Kabbalistic-Messianic disorder were to be pursued to its utmost limits,

a Sabbatian champion unexpectedly appeared in a man of European

culture, not wanting in gifts, Abraham Michael Cardoso. He was an

original character, a living personification of the transformation of

the Portuguese Jews after their expulsion. Born of Marrano parents in

a small town of Portugal, Celarico, in the province of Beïra, Miguel

Cardoso, like his elder brother Fernando, studied medicine. While the

latter devoted himself earnestly to science, Miguel dawdled away his

days amidst the luxury of Madrid, sang love-songs with the guitar under

the balconies of fair ladies, and paid very little heed to Kabbala or

Judaism. What influenced him to leave Spain is not known. Perhaps his

more serious and thoughtful brother, who, after making a name in Spain

as a medical and scientific author, out of love to Judaism migrated to

Venice, where he plunged deeply into Jewish literature, infected him

with enthusiasm. Both brothers assumed Jewish names after their return

to the religion of their forefathers. The elder, Isaac Cardoso, gave up

his name Fernando; the younger took the name of Abraham in addition

to that of Miguel (Michael). Both composed verses in Spanish. While

the elder brother led a regular life, guided by moral principles and a

rational faith, the younger fell under the sway of extravagant fancy

and an eccentric manner of living. Isaac Cardoso (born 1615, died after

1680) conferred renown on Judaism, while Abraham Michael Cardoso (born

about 1630, died 1706) was a disgrace to it.

The latter lived as a physician at Leghorn, but not flourishing he

accepted the position of physician in ordinary to the Bey of Tripoli.

His warm-blooded, dissolute nature was a hindrance to his advancement.

Contrary to the custom of African Jews, he married two wives, and

instead of employing himself with his difficult science, he revolved

fantastical schemes. Cardoso appears to have been initiated into the

Kabbala and the Sabbatian delusion by Moses Pinheiro, who was living at

Leghorn.

He continually had dreams and visions, which increased in frequency

after the public appearance of Sabbataï at Smyrna and Constantinople.

He communicated his delusion to his wives and domestics, who likewise

pretended to have seen all sorts of apparitions. The apostasy of the

false Messiah from Judaism did not cure Cardoso of his delusion; he

remained a zealous partisan, and even justified the treachery of the

Messiah by saying that it was necessary for him to be counted among

sinners, in order that he might atone for Israel's sin of idolatry, and

blot it out. He sent circulars in all directions, in order to support

the Messianic claim of Sabbataï, and figure as a prophet. In vain his

more sober brother, Isaac Cardoso, warned and ridiculed him, asking

him ironically, whether he had received the gift of prophecy from his

former gallantries and from playing the guitar for the fair maidens of

Madrid. Abraham Cardoso's frivolity was in no way lessened, he even

assumed a didactic tone towards his grave elder brother, who despised

the Kabbala as he did alchemy and astrology, and sent him numberless

proofs, from the Zohar and other Kabbalistic writings, that Sabbataï

was the true Messiah, and that he must necessarily be estranged from

Judaism. By his zeal he gained many adherents for the Sabbatian

delusion in Africa; but he also made enemies, and incurred dangers. He

continued to prophesy the speedy commencement of the Messiah's reign,

although often proved false by reality. He put off the event from year

to year, performed Kabbalistic tricks, set up a new God for Israel,

and at last declared himself the Messiah of the house of Ephraim,

until he was rigorously prosecuted by an opponent of these vagaries.

Cardoso was driven back to his former uncomfortable position, forced to

lead an adventurer's life, and win bread for himself and his family,

so to speak, by his delusions, going through all sorts of jugglery,

at Smyrna, at Constantinople, in the Greek islands, and at Cairo, and

promoting the Sabbatian delusions with his abundant knowledge, eloquent

tongue, and ready pen. Thanks to his education in Christian schools, he

was far superior to other Sabbatian apostles, and knew how to give an

air of rationality and wisdom to nonsense, thus completely blinding the

biased, and stultifying even those averse to the Sabbatian movement.

Encouraged by the support of the Jews, continued in spite of his change

of religion, Sabbataï persisted in keeping up his character as Messiah,

and associated more and more with Jews. His weak brain had been turned

by the overwhelming rush of events, and he completely lost balance. At

one time he reviled Judaism and the God of Israel with foul words of

abuse, and is said even to have informed against Jews as blasphemers

of Islam before Turkish magistrates. At other times he held divine

service according to the Jewish ritual with his Jewish followers,

sang psalms, expounded the Zohar, ordered selections from the Torah

to be read on the Sabbath, and frequently chose seven virgins for

that purpose. On account of his constant intercourse with Jews, whom

he was not able to bring over wholesale to Mahometanism, as he may

have boastfully asserted, Mehmed Effendi is said to have fallen into

disfavor, forfeited his allowance and been banished from Adrianople to

Constantinople. He finally married another wife, the daughter of a man

learned in the Talmud, Joseph Philosoph of Salonica. The Turkish patrol

having surprised him in a village (Kuru Gisme) near Constantinople,

while singing psalms in a tent with some Jews, and the Bostanji Bashi

(officer) having reported it, the grand vizir commanded the Kaimakam to

banish him to Dulcigno, a small town in Albania, where no Jews dwelt.

There he died, abandoned and forsaken, it was afterwards said, on the

Day of Atonement, 1676.

Spinoza, who had likewise broken away from Judaism, may well

have looked with great contempt on this Messianic craze of his

contemporaries. If he had cared to dig the grave of Judaism and bury

it, he would have been obliged to recognize Sabbataï Zevi, his private

secretary, Samuel Primo, and his prophets, as allies and abettors. The

irrationality of the Kabbala brought Judaism much more effectually into

discredit than reason and philosophy. It is a remarkable fact that

neither the one nor the other could wean the numerous cultured Jews of

Amsterdam from the religion of their forefathers, so strongly was it

rooted in their hearts. At this time when two forces of Jewish origin

were antagonizing Judaism in the East and the West, the Portuguese

community, increased to the number of four thousand families, undertook

(1671) the building of a splendid synagogue, and after some years

finished the huge work, which had been interrupted by war troubles. The

dedication of the synagogue (Ab 10, August 2, 1675), was celebrated

with great solemnity and pomp. Neither the first Temple of Solomon, nor

the second of Zerubbabel, nor the third of Herod, was so much lauded

with song and eloquent speech as the new one at Amsterdam, called

Talmud Torah. Copper-plate engravings, furnished with inscriptions in

verse, were published. Christians likewise took part in the dedication.

They advanced money to the Jews in the times of need, and a poet,

Romein de Hooghe, composed verses in honor of the synagogue and the

Jewish people in Latin, Dutch, and French.

Spinoza lived to see this rejoicing of the community from which he had

become a pervert. He happened to be at Amsterdam just at the time.

He was engaged in seeing through the press a treatise (Ethics) which

reversed the views hitherto prevailing, and the second, enlarged

edition of his other work, chiefly directed against Judaism. He may

have laughed at the joy of the Amsterdam Jews, as idle; but the

building of this synagogue in a city which a hundred years before

had tolerated no Jews and had supported a Spanish Inquisition, was

loud testimony of the times, and contradicted many of his assertions.

He died not long afterwards, or rather, passed gently away as with

a divine kiss (February 21, 1677), about five months after Sabbataï

Zevi. Against his will he has contributed to the glory of the race

which he so unjustly reviled. His powerful intellect, logical acumen,

and strength of character are more and more recognized as properties

which he owed to the race from which he was descended. Among educated

Jews, Isaac Orobio de Castro alone attempted a serious refutation of

Spinoza's philosophical views. Though his intention was good, he was

too weak to break through the close meshes of Spinoza's system. It was

left to history to refute it with facts.