Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626-1676A richly detailed account of the only messianic movement ever to engulf the entire Jewish world. The twentieth century produced a galaxy of extraordinary Jewish historians. Gershom Scholem stands out among them for the richness and power of his historical imagination. Born in Berlin in 1897, Scholem became a Zionist as a young student in a revolt against his family's bourgeois and assimilated life. He learned Hebrew and studied Kabbalah, the world of mystical teachings that had become marginalized--indeed stigmatized--within the mainstream rationalist Jewish tradition. In 1923, Scholem emigrated to Palestine and eventually joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, publishing groundbreaking studies in the field of Jewish mysticism. In the 1930s, Scholem's scholarship turned to an obscure kabbalist rabbi of seventeenth-century Turkey, Sabbatai Ṣevi, who aroused a fervent following that spread over the Jewish world after he declared himself to be the Messiah. The movement suffered a severe blow when Ṣevi was forced to convert to Islam, but a clandestine sect survived. A Bollingen Foundation grant enabled Scholem to complete the original Hebrew edition of his biography in 1957. Bollingen also supported R. J. Zwi Werblowsky's masterful English translation. A monumental and revisionary work of Jewish historiography, Sabbatai Ṣevi stands out for its combination of philological and empirical authority and for its passion. It is widely esteemed as one of Scholem's masterworks. The author himself always regarded the Princeton/Bollingen edition as a highlight of his scholarship. |
Contents
THE BACKGROUND OF THE SABBATIAN MOVEMENT | 1 |
the catastrophicutopian and the rationalistic forms | 8 |
III The messianic idea in the kabbalah | 15 |
IV Lurianic kabbalah and its myth of exile and redemption | 22 |
V The historical role and social significance of Lurianic kabbalah | 44 |
VI The spread of Lurianic kabbalah until 1665 | 66 |
VII Kabbalism in Poland The messianic expectations for the year 1648 Contemporary reactions to the great massacres of that year | 77 |
chiliasm and millenarian movements | 93 |
III Amsterdam | 518 |
IV The Jewish communities in the German lands | 546 |
V Hamburg Jacob Sasportas and his Sisath Nobel Sevi Moses Abudiente and his Fin de los Dias | 566 |
VI Poland | 591 |
THE MOVEMENT IN THE EAST AND THE CENTER AT GALLIPOLI UNTIL SABBATAIS APOSTASY 1666 | 603 |
II New festivals and the abolition of traditional fasts The visit of the Polish emissaries | 613 |
III The spread of the movement in Turkey Egypt and North Africa Abraham Miguel Cardozo | 633 |
IV The movement in Yemen | 651 |
THE BEGINNINGS OF SABBATAI SEVI 16261664 | 103 |
its nature and significance | 125 |
III Sabbatais first manifestation and his banishment from Smyrna | 138 |
IV His wanderings in Turkey Abraham Yakhini and David Habillo | 152 |
V Sabbatai Sevi in Jerusalem | 177 |
VI His sojourn in Jerusalem and mission to Egypt His marriage to Sarah 166464 | 180 |
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MOVEMENT IN PALESTINE 1665 | 199 |
II The apocalypse The Vision of R Abraham | 223 |
III Sabbatai Sevi in Gaza and his excommunication by the rabbis of Jerusalem | 233 |
IV Sabbatas travels through Safed and Aleppo to Smyrna The mnessianic agitation in Gaza after Sabbatais departure | 251 |
V The prophet Nathans letter to the chelebi Raphael Joseph in Egypt Significance of the letter | 267 |
VI Nathans Treatise on the Dragons and its principal doctrines | 290 |
VII Nathans Treatise on the Dragons and its principal doctrines | 297 |
THE MOVEMENT UP TO SABBATAIS IMPRISONMENT IN GALLIPOLI 16651666 | 327 |
II Rumors of conquests by the armies of the Ten Tribes in Persia Arabia and North Africa | 332 |
III The movement in Palestine after Sabbatais departure from autumn 1665 to early spring 1666 | 354 |
IV The movement in smyrna until December 1665 | 371 |
V Sabbatai gains control over the community in Smyrna The events of December 1665 | 389 |
VI Mass prophecy and the appointment of the kings by the messiah Sabbatais departure for Constantinople | 417 |
VII The movement in Constantinople FebruaryApril 1666 and his removal of Gallipoli | 433 |
THE MOVEMENT IN EUROPE 1666 | 461 |
II Italy Allegations regarding a reign of terror in the Italian communities | 477 |
V Nehemiah Kohen and his visit to Sabbatai Sevi | 658 |
VI Complaints to the Turkish authorities regarding an alleged Jewish revolt Sabbatais appearance before the sultan and his apostasy in September 1666 | 668 |
AFTER THE APOSTASY 16671668 | 687 |
II The rabbis of Constantinople attempth to calm the public | 693 |
III Nathans departure of Palestine Steps by the rabbis of Constantinople against Nathan and the Sabbatian believers | 705 |
IV Nathans travels in Asian Minor and his attempts to meet Sabbatai in Adrianople Sabbatai Sevi during 1667 Nathans travels in Greece | 718 |
V Believers and infidels after the apostasy in Europe especially in Italy and Holland | 749 |
VI Nathans journey to Italy in 1668 His examination by the rabbinic court at Venice and his mystical mission to Rome His return to the Balkans and r... | 764 |
VII The prophet Sabbatai Raphael and his travels in Europe | 781 |
VIII The theology of the Sabbatian believers after the apostasy | 792 |
IX The doctrine of the apostate messiah and of the significance of the Law according to the writings of Nathan Gaza | 802 |
X The letter Magen Abraham by Abraham Miguel Cardozo | 814 |
THE LAST YEARS OF SABBATAI SEVI 16681676 | 821 |
II The revelations of the year 1668 and the tract The Testimony of the Faith Sabbatai Sevi and his circle until 1672 | 828 |
III The doctrines of the Sabbatian circle Israel Hazzans commentary of the Psalms | 856 |
IV The imprisonment and trial of Sabbatai Sevi in 1672 | 872 |
V Sabbatais banishment to Dulcigno The messianic revival in the years 167475 in Amsterdam and in North Africa | 882 |
VI Sabbatais last years His Myster of the Godhead and the tract The Mystery of the Faith | 899 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 931 |
957 | |
Other editions - View all
Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626-76 Gershom Scholem,R. J. Zwi Werblowsky No preview available - 1975 |