Lyn Julius
Sabbatai Zevi

Lyn Julius - Sabbatai Zevi

- Then I was going to say, I’m just having a look now just to welcome all our participants. Thanks for joining us. It is two minutes past the hour, and I’m going to hand over to you, thank you.

• Okay, well, thank you so much, Wendy. And thank you Trudy, thank you Shawna, and Judy, and Lauren, and all the team. And I’m delighted to be invited once again to give a talk, this time on Sabbatai Zevi. I’ll just try and share my screen here. Hang on one second. Just one second. It’s just that screen. There we go, okay. Right, so Sabbatai Zevi. Now, this talk does come with a bit of a health warning. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. You will be amazed, you will be amused, you will be shocked, you will be appalled. The 17th-century Sabbatean movement was the most important messianic movement in Judaism. It’s difficult to get an objective account about the false Messiah Sabbatai Zevi, because opinion was so divided about him. His opponents spread lies about him, while his followers might have had only good things to say. The pity is that we don’t have full documentation of what happened, as most reports were deliberately destroyed or accidentally went up in flames. And the only portrait we have is of this one, which was done by a Christian in 1665 in Smyrna. So, there’ve been many Messiahs in Jewish history. Jesus, Trudy’s mentioned the 16th century David Reubeni, and there were others, like Bar Kokhba, for instance, in the second century. And the most authoritative source on Sabbatai Zevi is this book here, by the expert on Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem. It took him 20 years to write.

And Scholem must have studied every single source about Zevi, and he brings it all together in this massive book. In fact, Zevi took the Jewish world by storm over the space of only one year, between 1665 and 1666. A messianic fever swept the Jewish world from Smyrna to Leghorn, known as Livorno today, to Venice, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Poland, and Morocco, even Persia and Yemen. Jews abandoned their families, sold their assets, packed their bags, and travelled to Palestine to greet the Messiah. He had amongst his followers not just ordinary people, but important rabbis. The trigger for the messianic outbreak was the 1648 Polish massacres, the Khmelnytsky Riots. As many as 300,000 Jews could have died. According to Jewish eschatology, the Messiah will emerge at the end of days after a terrible calamity, gather the Jewish people from the four corners of the Earth to Israel and save them. But the movement did not originate in Poland. And it was not just a response to despair. It enjoyed popularity in peaceful and prosperous centres of the Jewish world, too. His supporters were devastated, in September 1668, when Zevi was given the choice by the Ottoman sultan between conversion or death. He chose conversion. So who was Zevi? His family was Romaniote from Greece. They lived in Patras, which is the red triangle you see to the left of Athens. Patras was the largest Jewish community in the Peloponnese. Romaniote was the name given to the original Jewish community who settled in Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans at the time of the Roman Empire, before they were joined by Sephardim fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. Gershom Scholem thinks that Zevi is not a Sephardi name and that he may have had Ashkenazi roots, but this is not proven. Sabbatai’s father, Mordecai Zevi, moved to Smyrna, present-day Izmir, from Patras.

And you can see Izmir there on the Turkish coast. In fact, this map shows you all the places where Zevi either lived or visited during his life, ending with a village in Montenegro where he died. So, Izmir is the modern day name for Smyrna where Sabbatai grew up. And Sabbatai’s father, Mordecai Zevi, moved to Smyrna from Patras. Smyrna was a thriving trading port in the 17th century. Mordecai was a poulterer, an egg dealer, and commercial agent for a British trading house. He was very successful and became wealthy. He had three sons. Sabbatai was the middle one, Elijah the eldest, and Joseph the youngest. His brothers stood by him throughout and bankrolled him. We don’t know to which congregation Mordecai belonged and Sabbatai’s parents had died by the time the Sabbatean movement took off. Sabbatai was was born on Tisha B'Av, a significant date, probably in 1626. He received a traditional Jewish education. He showed signs of talent for rabbinical studies. He studied under Rabbi Joseph Escapa, one of the most illustrious of Smyrna rabbis who was later to excommunicate him. Sabbatai was ordained as ḥakham the name for a rabbi in the Sephardi world. He studied Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, after he was ordained. In the Ashkenazi tradition, you have to be over 40 to study Kabbalah, but there was never an age limit in the Sephardi tradition. Aged 18, Sabbatai became an ascetic, or Hasid. Like the early Kabbalists in Tzfat, or Safed, he would fast all day and go into the fields outside the city.

He had a dream, a flame descended on him and burnt his penis. We don’t know if this affected his marriages. He was three times married and supposedly didn’t consummate the marriages. Did he or did he not consummate the third marriage? We don’t really know. Apparently, he was tortured by sexual dreams from an early age. He married his first wife aged 22 and divorced her a few months later. The same happened with his second wife. We shall come back to his third wife, Sarah. So, to understand the intellectual underpinning of the Sabbatean movement, you have to understand Jewish mysticism. Kabbalah was systematised by Isaac Luria in Safed in the 16th century. You cannot grasp God’s essence, except through a network of symbolic representations. You can, however, approach God through his emanations, or sefirot, which you see here on the chart. Each sefira corresponds to a name of God and represents a divine attribute, like justice or mercy. Every act and every good deed or prayer brings up the divine presence to a higher spiritual realm. This is called the process of tikkun, bringing up divine sparks to a higher level. Essential to tikkun is reformation of the soul and individual repentance. When that is complete, the messianic age will begin. The messiah would reveal God’s name by reconnecting the four letters of his name. Fusing all the divine sparks together, God’s light would be manifest to all at the time of redemption and stream downwards. This would herald the end of oppression and exile. So what kind of personality did Sabbatai have? He alternated between periods of exaltation and elation, and periods of depression.

Those of you who are psychologists or psychiatrists will recognise the characteristics of a bipolar personality, or what we would call a manic depressive. In one period of elation, he even claimed he could fly. Quoting the verse from Isaiah, I will ascend above the the heights of the clouds, but nobody actually saw him do it. In moments of depression, he would say God’s face was hid from him. He would lock himself in a room, or retreat to the mountains or caves. He did not sleep regularly. Those who witnessed his periods of exaltation reported that his cheeks were red and his face glowed like a shining mirror. Like Moses, like the face of the sun. Even his opponents said that his face shined so brightly it was impossible to look into his face. In moments of exaltation, he performed strange acts, flouting the commandments of the Torah. His followers did not use terms such as illness, but theological explanations. It all began in 1648, that momentous year of the Khmelnytsky massacres by the Cossacks. When Sabbatai was walking along, meditating, and he heard the voice of God speaking to him. ‘Thou art the saviour of Israel, Messiah son of David, the anointed of the God of Jacob, thou art destined to redeem Israel to gather it from the four corners of the earth to Jerusalem.’ It was then he pronounced the ineffable name. Only the high priest, the kohen gadol, is allowed to say God’s name when he goes into the inner sanctum of the temple in Jerusalem, and only once a year, on Yom Kippur. Sabbatai considered that he had risen up the mystical ladder and was connecting the two halves of God’s name together. He uttered it frequently. The patriarchs of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had told him that he was destined to be the Messiah. 1648 is mentioned by the Kabbalah as the year of resurrection and the date of redemption.

Some people say that Sabbatai was influenced by English millenarianism which would’ve reached him through his father’s business contacts. But Gershom Scholem says he doubts whether Sabbatai came into contact with any British millenarians. Back in Smyrna, Sabbatai’s first public appearance declaring himself the Messiah caused a scandal. Nobody took him seriously. He was considered either ill, a fool, or a madman. He had covered himself in oils and emitted a strange smell. He claimed to be anointed by the patriarchs. The reaction was overwhelmingly negative. It was thought unseeming for a rabbi to use perfume. But he loved to sing and had a captivating voice. His followers attested to his charisma and quiet nobility. Soon after 1648, the story goes that he almost drowned in a whirlpool and was saved. This event came to be celebrated on the 16th of Kislev by his followers as the Sabbatean Purim. Another story has him trying to make the sun stand still at noon. This was too much for the religious establishment and he was summoned by his mentor, rabbi Eskopha, whose grave you see here. Sabbatai refused to appear. Eskopha threatened to excommunicate him. There began three years of persecution resulting in him being banished from Smyrna. He wandered around the Ottoman Empire. He first spent time in Salonica, known as little Jerusalem, since it had such a large Jewish community. In Salonica, he erected a chuppah, a marriage canopy and performed a marriage ceremony between himself and the Torah. This episode shocked the rabbis and caused another scandal. He then spent eight months in Constantinople. On one occasion, he bought a large fish, dressed it as a baby and put it into a cradle.

He explained it in terms of astrological redemption. The fish symbolised the sign of Pisces. In another episode, he celebrated the three pilgrim festivals in one week to atone for Israel’s sins. He was summoned by the Beth Din. He was flogged and excommunicated. It became his hallmark. Perversely to perform provocative acts. The opposite of the mitzvot. Sin became holy. In the Messianic age, everything forbidden becomes permitted. He returned to Smyrna after an exile of five years. When the great fire of 1660 broke out in the city, he said this was the finger of God calling his people to repentance. In Cairo, he met the head of the community, Rafael Joseph, a wealthy man who was Master of the mint and banking, known as generous and ascetic. Joseph was to become a supporter of Sabbatai. From Cairo, Sabbatai went to Jerusalem in 1662. The city was home to about 300 families. There he led the life of a pious ascetic wandering around the Judean desert. He gathered a circle of like-minded ascetics around him. At this time, the Turks levied extortionist taxes on the Jewish community in Jerusalem. In 1663 Sabbatai was sent down to Egypt to raise funds. He went there via Hebron. While in Hebron, he was clearly having one of his highs. He chanted Psalms all night long, fasted. His face was blazing, onlookers said it was like looking into fire. The fasting did not seem to affect him. He was of large build and strong and had a round beard. He arrived in Cairo and stayed for two years. In 1664, he married his third wife, Sarah.

She announced herself as the bride of the Messiah. Sarah had a strange background. She and her brother were both orphaned in the Khmelnytsky massacres of 1648. She claimed to have been forcibly converted to Catholicism and brought up in a Polish convent. After that, they fled to Amsterdam and then to Italy. There she gained a reputation for licentiousness. In other words, she was a prostitute, but others maintain that she was a virgin. Sabbatai married Sarah to fulfil the verse in Hosea, ‘take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.’ Rafael Joseph organised a grand wedding and donated his fortune to Sabbatai. During 1664, Sabbatai seems to have returned to a relatively normal life. He managed to collect a considerable sum for Jerusalem’s poor. It was back in Jerusalem in 1665 that he met a man who was to have a huge influence on the Messianic movement. Abraham Nathan, who would become known as Nathan of Gaza, and this is his portrait here. Nathan’s father had moved to Jerusalem from Poland or Germany. His name was Elisha Hayyim ben Jacob Ashkenazi. Jews who came from Europe bore the name Ashkenazi sometimes because they stood out as the exception in a majority Sephardi community and the majority of Jerusalem’s Jews were then Sephardi. Nathan’s father was a scholar and Kabbalist. He wandered around the Jewish world. From Poland and Germany he went to Italy. In Venice, he published Kabbalistic works. He died in Meknes in Morocco in 1673. Nathan himself was born in 1643. He was 20 years younger than Sabbatai, but proved to be his leading disciple. Nathan was a brilliant scholar.

He studied under a rabbi called Jacob Hagiz, whose son, ironically, became a fierce opponent of Sabbatai. Nathan was married off to the daughter of Samuel Lisabonna, a wealthy merchant with family in Gaza. Nathan moved to Gaza to continue his studies of Kabbalah. When they met, Sabbatai was having an ecstatic experience. This was in February or March 1665. It struck Nathan like a thunderbolt. He recognised Sabbatai as the true Messiah by the signs which the Kabbalist Isaac Luria had taught. God spoke to him and gave him a vision of the redeemer. He had been told to expect a great light, sometimes a human face. He saw Sabbatai’s face on the divine chariot. He said, ‘thus saith the Lord, behold your saviour, cometh, Sabbatai Zevi is his name.’ What was significant about Nathan of Gaza’s encounter with Sabbatai is that someone other than Sabbatai himself had validated his claim to be the Messiah. Nathan was John the Baptist and St. Paul rolled into one Gershom Scholem is as admiring of Nathan as he is disparaging of Sabbatai. Nathan was everything that Sabbatai was not.

Nathan was a great theologian, an original thinker. Without the ups and downs of manic depression. He had considerable literal ability. Whereas Sabbatai had not written a single book. Says Scholem, ‘Sabbatai was a poor leader, passive and prone to strange acts.’ The two men complemented each other. Without that combination, the Sabbatean movement would not have developed. From visionary prophet, Nathan moved on to become spiritual director. Here’s another picture of him, or doctor of souls. For those who sought tikun, that is to say reformation of their souls, which was a sort of prerequisite for the Messianic age. Nathan imposed penances on the Jews of Gaza. The two spent hours talking. They travelled together. In May 1665, Sabbatai revealed himself as the Messiah. On Shavuot 1665, which is when Jews stay up all night to study, Nathan fell into a trance and did an ecstatic dance, stripping himself of his clothing and then falling into a swoon. Sabbatai became known as Amira, a Hebrew acronym for our Lord and King, his majesty be exalted. He was addicted to gematria, which is adding up the numerical value of letters. His name, Sabbatai, spelled God’s name, he said. He wore three rings and signed with a crooked serpent on the end of his name. The word serpent had the same numerical value as Massiah and of course, he fitted the job description, being born on Tisha B'Av. The Messianic age would be revolutionary. It would usher in a time when all laws would be abjured and everything that was hitherto forbidden would be permitted. He abolished the fast of the 17th of Tammuz and replaced it with feasting and rejoicing in Gaza.

He wrote to other communities, forbidding all fasts. Most Jews in Gaza and Hebron joined the believers. He broke the laws of Kashrut by feeding the fat of the kidney, cheleb, to 10 Israelites, reciting ‘blessed art thou, Oh God, King of the Universe, who permit us that which is forbidden.’ Nathan continued to preach prayer and penitence. Here he is again, leading the tribes of Israel to the holy land. In Jerusalem, many rabbis opposed Sabbatai. They knew him well. They had had him flogged for blasphemy and they were shocked at Nathan’s endorsement. They mocked him. He went away to Egypt as a Shaleah and returned a Massiah. Some even accused him of keeping some of the money he had raised in Egypt. The rabbis announced him to the local Turkish Cadi, or judge, but the Cadi refused to intervene in the dispute. Sabbatai was acquitted. He even obtained permission to ride on horseback, seven times, through the city, in violation of the Dhimmi rules, which decreed that Jews could only ride mules, not horses. He wore a green mantle, the colour of paradise in Islam. The rabbis excommunicated him, although this news was not widely broadcast. Some rabbis did follow him. He was expelled from Jerusalem, but his following kept growing and growing. News of the Messiah reached Yemen. Even Christians became enthused . By 1666, the prayer that is recited to this day in synagogues, ‘he who grants dominion to kings and princes. May he keep and preserve whoever the ruler is,’ was altered to read, ‘King of Israel, the Sultan, Sabbatai Zevi.’ Had Sabbatai gone too far by setting himself up as a rival to the Sultan himself? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

We are still in August 1665. Sabbatai has left Palestine. He is given a rapturous welcome in Aleppo. His popularity is at its zenith. He moves onto Smyrna. In one of his highs, he pronounces God’s name. Eats forbidden fats and does other things against the law, pushing others to do likewise. He walks through fire without harm to himself or his clothing. There are rumours that Sarah, his wife, has committed adultery. The community is divided. 25 rabbis in Constantinople tell rabbis in Smyrna that Sabbatai deserves to die. When Sabbatai hears that the rabbis are plotting against him, he proclaims a day of public prayer. He changes the order of the service, ascends the steps to the arc, knocks seven times with his staff and commands the inevitable name be pronounced, sorry, the ineffable name be pronounced. He parades with much pomp, flanked by two rabbis holding the hem of his robe, doling out flowers and sweets. Here he is, proclaiming himself Messiah. On the 12th of December 1665, there occurred an event even more dramatic, this time at the Portuguese synagogue in Smyrna. The Portuguese synagogue was a stronghold of the unbelievers. It was the most influential synagogue in the city. The most prominent member was the wealthy merchant Chaim Penya Penya made offensive remarks about Sabbatai. One Sabbath, Sabbatai went to the Portuguese synagogue. Here it is. The crowd of Sabbatean supporters tried to break in and stone Penya. Some say Penya escaped over the roof or through a window.

Sabbatai found the doors locked. He asked for an axe and began to smash the doors down. He interrupted the prayers and preached a blasphemous sermon. ‘Today you are exempt from prayer.’ He declared to the congregation. First he called his brother Elijah to the law, although he was not a kohen, and he made him king of Turkey. Next he called his second brother, although he was not a Levite, and declared him King of Rome. He forced the congregation to say the ineffable name and gave them each kingdoms. The rabbis summoned him the next day, but he went to the Turkish Cadi, or judge, and gave him a gift or bribe. He insulted the rabbis and compared them to unclean animals. He threatened to excommunicate them. On the Monday he declared it was Shabbat. He took the scroll out, sang songs including Christian songs, saying that a Kabbalistic mystery was hidden in impure songs. He called women to the Torah, offending against the role of the sexes. He held a banquet with mixed dancing. The public paid him homage in the Portuguese synagogue, giving him charity. Unbelievers also gave charity, fearing violence if they did not. All night, he held a banquet and people kissed his feet. He distributed money and sweets and forced all to say the name of God, including gentiles. Even Turks started talking about Sabbatai, King of Israel. He was ready to go to Constantinople and be crowned the new Sultan. The sceptic Emmanuel Francis wrote this satirical poem. Is he the Lord’s Anointed one or a traitor? A wicked sinner and a fornicator. In public he the Sabbath desecrates, and of the synagogue he breaks the gates. To pronounce the name ineffable he dares. And with profanity he impiously swears. Forbidden women he embraces.

As for the one then the other he caresses. The foolish people gaping as spellbound, affirmed, this is a mystery profound. Once again, Sabbatai was summoned before the court of rabbis in Smyrna. He left the court in a violent rage. He went to a Turkish Cadi, or judge, who thought him a fool or a madman. Legend has it that he sat in the Cadi’s chair. A flame issued from his mouth and caught the Cadi’s beard. The Cadi was bribed to let him go. The rumour spread that he had not touched his wife Sarah. Consummation was now required for Messianic fulfilment. Evidence of Sarah’s virginity, despite her reputation as a harlot, was then presented to the crowd. Sabbatai announced that she had conceived a son. In fact, in October, 1666, she did have a son, Ishmael Mardochai, but he died in adolescence. Sabbatai announced that the first of Tevet, which falls in December, would be abolished. The rabbis who objected, fled, fearing they would be lynched. Reports of Messianic unrest reached Constantinople and spread to Greece. There were torchlight processions, with the crowd chanting, ‘long live the Messianic king.’ The Turkish sultan was getting increasingly anxious. Messianic fever was disrupting normality and trade. Sabbatai was expelled from Smyrna and arrested. He spent two months in jail in Constantinople. He could have bribed his way out of jail, but refused to do so. He was up to his antics again, causing torches to appear in the whole prison. He was allowed to immerse himself in the sea under guard. Then he was moved to a fortress in Gallipoli.

It was now Passover 1666. He sacrificed a Paschal lamb and roasted it with unkosher fat. ‘Blessed art thou who permittest that which is forbidden.’ By then, word of the Messiah had reached Italy and Amsterdam. Salonica became one of the most important centres. The movement had a great impact on the 60,000 Jews. Penitents buried themselves up to their necks. There were 700 marriages of young children because everyone had to be married in the Messianic age. Shops closed and the wealthy became impoverished. People fasted and mortified themselves. Some people died. In Gallipoli prison, the jailers made fortunes charging admission permits for visitors to visit Sabbatai. People streamed in by boat. Pilgrims came from Persia, Media, Babylonia, Morocco, Yemen, even France and Spain. Most Jews in Constantinople supported Sabbatai. Wealthy Jews sent him royal apparel and fabrics fit for a king. Sabbatai was accused of having relations with women while in jail. Sarah was there too. Perhaps his ascetic tendencies were corrupted under her influence. The movement reached its peak when Sabbatai abolished the fast of the ninth of Av, traditionally the day of mourning for all the calamities that had befallen the Jewish people. He proclaimed it as a festival. Even Muslims began to believe in Sabbatai, but the authorities became alarmed when he started prophesying the fall of the Turkish empire. Sabbatai expected a visit from Nathan.

Instead, an unknown rabbi pitched up. Rabbi Nehemiah Cohen’s appearance was the start of Sabbatai’s downfall. Cohen was a Kabbalist from Lvov in Poland, a pedant with no imagination, says Scholem. He came to verify that Sabbatai was indeed the Messiah. He said that he himself was a better candidate, as he was from the house of Joseph, and a survivor of the Khmelnytsky massacres. According to the prophecy, a Messiah would first arise from the house of Joseph after having avenged the blood of the dead. The matter of the house of Joseph Messiah became a burning issue in the Sabbatean movement. The Messiahs debated for three days. At the the end, Nehemiah was called an enticer and renegade. He ran away pretending to be a Muslim. Then he went back to Poland and repented. The advisor to the Sultan, The Grand Vizier, asked Nehemiah for his own version of events. He reported to the Sultan that Sabbatai was an imposter who was guilty of sedition. Sabbatai was taken from Gallipoli to the imperial capital, Adrianople. The Sultan ordered a meeting of his advisors. One was an Apostate Jewish physician. Sabbatai was presented with the choice, either be beheaded or take the turban, that is convert to Islam. Sabbatai Zevi chose to convert to Islam and took the turban. He was appointed the Sultan’s doorkeeper, treated as a VIP, and given a royal pension. Sarah also converted. Sabbatai was instructed by the Sultan to take a second wife.

Nathan became a fugitive and wandered through the Middle East until his death in 1680. Sabbatai was caught singing Psalms with the Jews and banished. He ended up in Montenegro. There is a statue of him. So this is what happened when Sabbatai converted to Islam. His opponents declared him a deceiver and a false Messiah, and former supporters did penance. You can see them being flayed by branches and other things. And this is his house in Smyrna, which was recently restored. You could see it’s quite a grand house. And this is his statue in this village in Montenegro where he died. It’s called Ulcinj, I think He’s sort of, he strikes a very swaggering pose, doesn’t he? He doesn’t look like a rabbi at all. And he is holding a kind of mini Torah in one hand, or maybe it’s a megillah. So other Messianic movements have arisen in Jewish history, but none has encompassed the entire Jewish people such as this one. The disappointment among his supporters when he took the turban was profound, but some clung tenaciously to their belief in him. 300 families, mostly in Salonica, chose to convert to Islam with Sabbatai. They became known as the Dönme, which means converts in Turkish. Just as the Crypto-Jews in Spain practised Judaism in secret, but were outwardly Catholic. The Dönme were meant outwardly to be Muslim and observe Jewish practises in private.

Over time, their culture became a kind of mishmash of Judaism, Islam, and Sophism. They maintained secret traditions and observed some Jewish festivals, but also Ramadan. They split into three sects, and some with quite different beliefs, and they married amongst themselves until quite recently. Some espoused liberal causes and were active in the revolutionary party known as the Young Turks. As people in the Muslim world do when they want to discredit a politician by calling him a Jew, their opponents held the Jewish origins of the Dönme against them, and spread conspiracy theories. With independence, Greece expelled the Muslims from its territory, including the Salonica Dönme, and most migrated to Turkey. Where by the middle of the century, they ceased to observe their traditions and became highly assimilated. There are probably 2,000 Dönme left today. We once knew a descendant of a Dönme. She was the granddaughter of a well-known newspaper editor who freely admitted to his Jewish roots, but she didn’t have much affinity with Jews. And I think her family really just thought of themselves as Turkish. There is an epilogue to this story. And this is the Dönme Mosque in Salonica which was built during the Ottoman Empire. The epilogue is, really, what was, was Mustafa Kemal, the founder of Modern Turkey? Was he a Dönme? We know that the family came from Salonica. He was taken out of an Islamic school and put into a European style school. And there’s a story about Mustafa Kemal, when he was serving in the Ottoman army in Jerusalem.

The son of Ben-Yehuda, who you will remember as the sort of pioneer of the revival of the Hebrew language. The son of Ben-Yehuda, a man called Ben-Avi, met Mustafa Kemal in the Kaminitz Hotel in Jerusalem one autumn night in 1911, when Mustafa Kemal was serving in the Ottoman army as a captain. Do you see that Turkish officer sitting there in the corner, the one with a bottle of Arak? The proprietor of the hotel asked Ben-Avi, He’s one of the most important officers in the Turkish army. What’s his name? Mustafa Kemal. I’d like to meet him, said Ben-Avi. Ben-Avi describes two meetings with Mustafa Kemal, who had not yet taken the name Ataturk, father of the Turks. Both meetings were conducted in French, were largely devoted to Ottoman politics and were doused with large amounts of Arak. In the first of these Kemal confided, ‘I’m a descendant of Sabbatai Zevi, not indeed a Jew anymore, but an ardent admirer of this prophet of yours. My opinion is that every Jew in this country would do well to join his camp.’ During their second meeting, held 10 days later in the same hotel, Mustafa Kemal said at one point, ‘I have at home a Hebrew Bible printed in Venice. It’s rather old, and I remember my father bringing me to a Karaite teacher who taught me to read it.

I can still remember a few words of it, such as Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad.’ That’s our most important prayer, Captain, said Ben-Avi. So was this story true? Was Mustafa Kemal really a Dönme? Well, Turks would deny that the father of the Turkish nation had Jewish roots. We may never know. So I’ll leave you to ponder that thought. Very happy to answer questions if I can. Thank you for listening.

Q&A and Comments:

Q: To start at the top there, Laurie asked, where or why did the concept of Messiah arise?

A: Well, I’m not an expert on religion, but I do believe the concept of a Messiah is very much part of Judaism. You know, it is said that a Messiah will arise, a descendant of King David and that will usher in a period of peace and harmony and the brotherhood of man. And of course Ezekiel talks about turning swords into plough shares and that kind of thing.

Q: Linda asks, was Rabbi Joseph Eskopha one of the most vehement opponents to Sabbatai Zevi?

A: Yes, he was.

Muriel Lichter, I’m sure you are a psychologist. He sounds like he was a homosexual who suffered from bipolar illness. He definitely did suffer from bipolar illness. We don’t know if he was a homosexual, but he certainly seemed to have sexual issues, don’t you think?

And thank you Marlene, for correcting my pronunciation of Khmelnytsky. Yeah, I think I did pronounce it once correctly. Frida. I very much advise you to read the book by Olga Tokarczuk, The book of Jacob. From this book, the writer got a Nobel.

Thank you very much Frida for that recommendation. Tokarczuk.

Anne. Oh, nice to see you Anne, thank you very much for your compliment. I’ve just tried to scroll down, just one second.

Sorry, Shawna, can you read out the next question? I think my. [Shawna] - Absolutely.

• Yeah, thank you.

• [Shawna] Let’s see.

• Sorry. Got a bit stuck.

Q: - [Shawna] Brian Conway would like to know where are the remnants of the Dönme now.

A: - Yeah, so they are in Turkey. They are no longer in Salonica ‘cause they were kicked out of Salonica. And I think they are mainly in Turkish cities like Istanbul. I think they’re very much part of the sort of liberal Western elite.

Q: - [Shawna] Esther Nussbaum is asking if you could define what Dönme means.

A: - So Dönme means convert in Turkish, but it also has connotations of being a turncoat and perhaps a traitor with everything that implies.

Yes, I think I can now scroll down. Thank you.

Q: Are there known descendants of Ataturk who could get genomic testing?

A: Well, that’s a good question, Zoom user. I don’t think we can help there.

Q: Where do Frankists fit in?

A: You’ll have to ask Trudy that, Dawn.

Christopher Boule. Merci, Madame. De rien, monsieur Fascinating talk.

It would be interesting to hear present day scholar discuss current understanding of the Messianic prophecy. Yes, I know my limitations when it comes to talking about religion. Harvard alumni. Sorry, I just scrolled down there.

Q: Can you tell us about the connection of Sabbatai and Hasidism?

A: Yes, Sabbatai did influence movements such as Hasidism. And of course, it is said that the Hasids declared, well, certainly Chabad declared Rabbi Schneersohn as their Messiah. Again, you’ll have to ask a sort of an expert, really, to give you more information about that. Sorry, slightly.

Thank you for your compliments, Abigail and Erica. Sorry, it keeps getting stuck. Can you just read out next question, Shawna?

Q: - [Shawna] Sure. Let’s see. Naomi Shari would like to know how do we know the exact dates mentioned in your talk that you referred to?

A: - Well, we do know the exact dates because it was quite well documented at this particular moment, 1665 and 1666. We don’t know other things like for instance, exactly when Sabbatai was born and that sort of thing. But I think, you know, his antics were quite well documented, whether by his opponents or by his followers. I mean, Gershom Scholem draws on a host of different sources to put together a picture of of what happened in those, you know, fateful years.

Q: - [Shawna] Faye Katzman would like to know, do you know approximately how many names of false Messiahs have been recorded?

A: - I don’t know that. You could look it out on Wikipedia or ask an expert. I’m sure the rabbis would be able to answer that. Or historians.

• [Shawna] Lorna.

• Sorry.

Q: - [Shawna] Lorna thanks you for your excellent presentation, Lynne, she’d like to know how was he able to travel from country to country, who funded him?

A: - Well, money didn’t seem to be a problem for him. You know, you could see from his house that, he had a very grand looking house. He came from a wealthy family. He was given money by people like Rafael Joseph, who was a Kabbalist in Egypt. So money was not an issue. And it’s amazing how people did travel far and wide in those times. They went the length and breadth of the Ottoman Empire and they came from Poland to Jerusalem and that sort of thing. It is amazing how people did get around.

Q: - [Shawna] Richard Caulker would like to know over how many years did the movement that he sparked last?

A: - So, the peak of it was during that year, between 65 and and 66, 1666. But if you are talking about the Dönme, well obviously they survived until the present day and their descendants still live in Turkey. And they still practise sort of bits of his whole philosophy. And as somebody pointed out, obviously, Sabbateanism did influence Hasidism. So you can say that it kind of lasted. There was a kind of legacy there. Yeah.

Q: - [Shawna] Hunley would like to know, the Amsterdam Sephardic community is reputed to have provided a lot of financial backing between 1665 to 66. Are there any records regarding that?

A: - I wouldn’t know about that in particular, but certainly, people contributed from all over the Jewish world to fund his movement. So I’m not surprised if Amsterdam did contribute as well. You’ve got to realise that this actually took the whole Jewish world by storm. And perhaps the majority of Jews believed in him at one point.

Q: - [Shawna] So we have a question from Donne. She’d like to know how did the Jewish community respond to his conversion?

A: - Well, they were hugely disappointed. But, obviously, they began to think that they’d been deceived by him. And that’s why only a minority really decided to follow him. 300 families in Salonica. The rest realised that they’ve made a terrible mistake. I think that’s really the answer.

• [Shawna] Those are all the questions for today, Lynn.

• That’s it? Okay. Well, thank you very much.

• [Shawna] Take care, everyone. Have a lovely afternoon and we’ll see you back at two o'clock. Take care.