Amsterdam and Hamburg--the two wealthiest communities--receiving
constant prophetic messages from Nathan of Gaza, became eager
participators in the coming Kingdom. In the Dutch capital, the houses
of prayer grew riotous with music and dancing, the dwelling-houses
gloomy with penitential rigors. The streets were full of men and women
prophesying spasmodically, the printing presses panted, turning out
new prayer-books with penances and formulæ for the faithful. And in
these _Tikkunim_, starred with mystic emblems of the Messiah's
dominance, the portrait of Sabbataï appeared side by side with that of
King David. At Hamburg the Jews were borne heavenwards on a wave of
exultation; they snapped their fingers at the Christian tormentor,
refused any longer to come to the compulsory Christian services. Their
own services became pious orgies. Stately Spanish Jews, grave
blue-blooded Portuguese, hitherto smacking of the Castilian hidalgo,
noble seigniors like Manuel Texeira, the friend of a Queen of Sweden,
erudite physicians like Bendito de Castro, president of the
congregation, shed their occidental veneer and might have been seen in
the synagogue skipping like harts upon the mountains, dancing wild
dances with the Holy Scroll clasped to their bosoms.
"_Hi diddi hulda hi ti ti!_" they carolled in merry meaninglessness.
"Nay, but this is second childhood," quoth the venerable Jacob
Sasportas, chief Rabbi of the English Jews, as he sat in the
presidential pew, an honored visitor at Hamburg. "Surely thy flock is
demented."
De Castro's brow grew black.
"Have a care, or my sheep may turn dog. An they overhear thee, it were
safer for thee even to go back to thy London."
Sasportas shook his head with a humorous twinkle.
"Yea, if Sabbataï will accompany me. An he be Messiah let him face the
Plague, let him come and prophesy in London and outdo Solomon Eagle;
let him heal the sick and disburden the death-carts."
"He should but lay his hands on the sick and they were cured!"
retorted De Castro. "But his mission is not in the isles of the West;
he establisheth the throne in Zion."
"Well for thee not in Hamburg, else would thy revenues dwindle, O wise
physician. But the Plague is wellnigh spent now; if he come now he may
take the credit of the cure."
"Rabbi as thou art, thou art an Epicurean; thou sittest in the seat of
the scorner."
"'Twas thou didst invite me thereto," murmured Sasportas, smiling.
"The Plague is but a sign of the Messianic times, and the Fire that
hath burnt thy dwelling-place is but the castigation for thine
incredulity."
"Yea, there be those who think our royal Charles the Messiah, and
petition him to declare himself," said Sasportas, with his genial
twinkle. "Hath he not also his Melisseldas?"
"Hush, thou blasphemer!" cried De Castro, looking anxiously at the
howling multitude. "But thou wilt live to eat thy words."
"Be it so," said Sasportas, with a shrug of resignation. "I eat
nothing unclean."
But it was vain for the Rabbi of the little western isle to contend by
quip or reason against the popular frenzy. England, indeed, was a
hotbed of Christian enthusiasts awaiting the Jewish Millennium, the
downfall of the Pope and Anti-Christ, and Jews and Christians caught
mutual fire.
From the far North of Scotland came a wonderful report of a ship with
silken sails and ropes, worked by sailors who spoke with one another
in the solemn syllables of the sacred tongue, and flying a flag with
the inscription, "The Twelve Tribes of Israel!" And a strange rumor
told of the march of multitudes from unknown parts into the remote
deserts of Arabia. Fronted with sceptics, believers offered wagers at
ten to one that within two years Sabbataï would be anointed King of
Jerusalem; bills of exchange were drawn in Threadneedle Street upon
the issue.
And, indeed, Sabbataï was already King of the Jews. From all the lands
of the Exile crowds of the devout came to do him homage and tender
allegiance--Turkish Jews with red fez or saffron-yellow turban;
Jerusalem Jews in striped cotton gowns and soft felt hats; Polish Jews
with foxskin caps and long caftans; sallow German Jews, gigantic
Russian Jews, high-bred Spanish Jews; and with them often their wives
and daughters--Jerusalem Jewesses with blue shirts and head-veils,
Egyptian Jewesses with sweeping robes and black head-shawls, Jewesses
from Ashdod and Gaza, with white visors fringed with gold coins,
Polish Jewesses with glossy wigs, Syrian Jewesses with eyelashes black
as though lined with kohl, fat Jewesses from Tunis, with clinging
breeches interwoven with gold and silver.
Daily he held his court, receiving deputations, advices, messengers.
Young men and maidens offered him their lives to do with as he would;
the rich laid their fortunes at his feet, and fought for the honor of
belonging to his body-guard. That abstract deity of the Old
Testament--awful in His love and His hate, without form, without
humanity--had been replaced by a Man, visible, tangible, lovable; and
all the yearning of their souls, all that suppressed longing for a
visual object of worship which had found vent and satisfaction in the
worship of the Bible or the Talmud in its every letter and syllable,
now went out towards their bodily Redeemer. From the Ancient of Days
a new divine being had been given off--the Holy King, the Messiah, the
Primal Man, Androgynous, Perfect, who would harmonize the jarring
chords, restore the spiritual unity of the Universe. Before the love
in his eyes sin and sorrow would vanish as evil vapors; the frozen
streams of grace would flow again.
"I, the Lord your God, Sabbataï Zevi!"
Thus did Secretary Samuel Primo sign the Messianic decrees and
ordinances.