Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676)
Zevi was a Sephardic Rabbi who taught throughout what was at the time the Ottoman Empire. He also practiced Kabbala and through it claimed the ability to achieve miracles as well as talk directly to God and accurately predict the future. He was named for the planet Saturn, his name translates as Saturn. By the time was 22 he had a following in Smyrna, to whom he declared himself to be the messiah, which brought him to the attention of the Jewish authorities, who gradually came to believe him to be of negative influence and a threat to their authority. Zevi was in effect excommunicated by the rabbinical authorities in Smyrna.
In the early 1650s, the actual year of the event being disputed by scholars, Zevi and his followers were banished. Forced to leave Smyrna his wanderings for some time are undocumented. In 1658 he was in Constantinople, where he met with a forger who produced for him a document which using lettering no longer in common use established Zevi’s credentials as the messiah. The manuscript was a testimony entitled The Great Wisdom of Solomon. Using the document Zevi went to Salonica, where proclaiming himself as the messiah he gained a following and once again the disapproval of local rabbinical authority. He was banished from Salonica, roamed about for a time and settled in Cairo.
When Zevi heard the story of an orphan girl who had been forced into a life of prostitution, he had the girl brought to him in Cairo. Informing his followers that it had been revealed to him in a dream that the messiah was to marry such a girl, as scripturally foretold. The girl, called Sarah, and Zevi were wed, further confirming among his followers that he was the true messiah. As his fame and claims spread the number of his followers and his influence increased, and by 1665 he was back in Smyrna, with cheering crowds hailing him as their king and messiah.
Messiah or not, Zevi was imprisoned in Constantinople by authorities concerned over activities they considered seditious. While imprisoned Zevi confronted another self-proclaimed messiah and after failing to convince the man of the error of his claim denounced him to his followers. Zevi then converted to Islam, motivated by his captor’s offer of allowing him to escape death if he would convert. They offered to shoot him with bows and arrows, if the arrows missed his divinity would be proved. Zevi chose conversion not only for himself but for his wife and for as many of his followers as he could convince. Most of his followers were disillusioned with their messiah.
Zevi continued to practice kabbala as a Muslim, for which he drew increasingly harsh punishments from the authorities, including banishment from areas of Constantinople, then from the city itself. Those whom he converted and other Muslims continued to follow him, though his messianic claims seem to have ceased in the later years of his life. He appeared in public as a Muslim, yet was said to sing Psalms in private, and he read Jewish books. There are still followers of Zevi in Turkey today, known as Donme, who offer the appearance of being Muslim in public, but practice both messianic and mystical Judaism privately. Several of his followers later claimed to be the messiah.