Transcript When Prophecy Fails - uni

Sabbateanism: Dramatis Personae
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Isaac Luria (1534-1572)
Shabbetai Zvi (1626-1676)
Nathan of Gaza (1643-1680)
Abraham Miguel Cardozo
Baruchiah Russo, oder Osman Baba
(1695-1740)
• Jacob Frank (1726-1791)
Zwei wichtige Sekte
• Dönmeh (wörtlich, „those who turn“ auf
Turkish): Muslim in public,
Jewish/Sabbatean in private (1666-early
20th)
• Frankists (followers of Jacob Frank):
Catholic in public, Jewish/Sabbatean in
private (1759-19th)
Key Dates in Sabbatean Movement
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1648:
First declaration of SZ’s messiahood
1650s:
SZ expelled by community of Izmir
1662:
Wanders, settles in J’lem
1664:
Marries orphan, prostitute Sarah.
1665 (May): Involvement of Nathan of Gaza; declares
SZ Messiah
1665 (Dec): SZ returns to Turkey, publically declares
Messiaship in synagogue in Izmir
1666 (Feb): SZ in Gefängnis
1666 (Jun): predicted date of redemption
1666 (Sep): Übertriit von SZ zum Isam
1676 (am Versöhnungstag): Tod von SZ
1683: conversion of several hundred Salonika families to
Islam “so as to conquer the kelipah from within”
(Scholem, “Redemption through Sin”, p. 114)
When Prophecy Fails
“The Sabbatean movement strikingly
illustrates the phenomenon we are
concerned with: when people are
committed to a belief and a course of
action, clear, disconfirming evidence may
simply result in deepened conviction and
increased proselytizing.”
(Zitat aus Leon Festinger, When Prophecy Fails, in Matt Goldish,
Sabbatean Prophets, p. 162)
Der Bräutigam ist angekommen
“And no sooner had Shabbathai declared himself
the Messiah, but Nathan discovers himself to be
his prophet, forbidding all the fasts of the Jews
of Jerusalem, and declaring that the Bridegroom
being come, nothing but joy and triumph ought
to dwell in their habitations…Nathan took the
courage and boldness to prophesy that in one
year [1666]…the Messiah was to appear before
the Grand Signior [i.e. the Sultan], and to take
from him his crown, and lead him in chains like a
captive.”
[aus Paul Rycaut]
Nathan von Gaza als Elias der Prophet?
“…because it was thought necessary,
according to Scripture and ancient
prophecies, that Elijah was to precede the
Messiah, as St. John Baptist was the
forerunner of Christ, Nathan thought no
man so proper to act the part of the
prophet as himself.”
[aus Paul Rycaut, History of the Turkish Empire]
Rabbi Isaac Luria
with the Sefirotic Tree
Shabbetai Zevi
False Messiah par excellence
Nathan of Gaza
The Dönmeh
Jacob Frank