Jan 1
TIL apparently Candace Owens thinks Shabtai Tzvi is an important figure in Jewish mysticism? What?
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TIL apparently Candace Owens thinks Shabtai Tzvi is an important figure in Jewish mysticism? What?
Simchat Torah: Arise, arise, bridegroom of the Torah!
*Shabtai Tzvi has entered the chat*
Tikkun keriah lekhol lailah vayom ('Supplications for day and night'). Amsterdam: David de Castro Tartas, 1666.
The engraving on the title page shows Sabbatai Zvi seated as a Messiah on a royal lions throne. The date is given in the form of a chronogram ('Lo, I shall rescue my people'), which also refers to the Messiah
17 Sivan - Shabtai Tzvi - 1665
On this day in the year 1665 Shabtai Tzvi announced that he was the Jewish Messiah. Originally from Smyrna, he became interested in Kabbalah at a young age. By the age of 22, he was already making claims that he was the messiah. His initial claims were met with much resistance, and he and his early followers were excommunicated. He then went to Constantinople, Salonica, Cairo, and eventually Jerusalem.
According to historians, Shabtai Tzvi was a manic depressive. Seeking help for his tormented soul, he went to visit a Kabbalist named Nathan of Gaza. When Nathan saw Tzvi, he dropped to the ground proclaiming that this was the Messiah of whom he had had visions. Having started to doubt his original messianic claims, Shabtai Tzvi now was reinvigorated and their movement began. Nathan and Shabtai Tzvi then traveled far and wide spreading Shabateism. Estimates are that close to one-third of the Jewish world became believers in Shabtai Tzvi.
Shabtai Tzvi would start to lose the support of most Rabbis when he proclaimed that commandments in the Torah did not apply anymore. He even canceled the fast days on the Jewish calendar. Eventually, the Sultan had enough of Tzvi’s antics. He was arrested and given the choice of his head or the turban. He chooses the latter and with that became a Muslim. The movement and its aftermath threw the Jewish people into a state of national depression.
Rabbi Pinchas L. Landis