Sabbatai Zevi | |
---|---|
שַׁבְּתַי צְבִי | |
![]() Etched portrait of Sabbatai Zevi from 1666 | |
Personal | |
Born | |
Died | c. September 17, 1676 | (aged 50)
Religion | Judaism, later Islam |
Nationality | Ottoman |
Organization | |
Founder of | Sabbateanism |
Sabbatai Zevi[1] (Hebrew: שַׁבְּתַי צְבִי, romanized: Šabbĕṯai Ṣĕḇî; Turkish: Sabetay Sevi; August 1, 1626 – c. September 17, 1676)[2] was an Ottoman Jewish mystic, and ordained rabbi from Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey).[3][4] His family origins may have been Ashkenazi or Spanish. Active throughout the Ottoman Empire, Zevi claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah and founded the Sabbatean movement.[5]
Upon arriving in Constantinople in February 1666, Sabbatai was imprisoned on the order of the grand vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha. In September of that same year, after being moved from different prisons around the capital to the imperial courts' seat in Adrianople (now Edirne), he was judged on accusations of fomenting sedition. Sabbatai was given the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal or of converting to Islam by the Grand Vizier representing Sultan Mehmed IV. He seems to have chosen the latter course, donning a turban from that time on. The heads of the Ottoman state then rewarded him with a generous pension for complying with their political and religious plans.[6][7] About 300 families who followed Zevi also converted to Islam and became known as Dönme.[8]
Subsequently, the Ottomans banished him twice, first to Constantinople, and, when he was heard singing Psalms with Jews, to a small town known today as Ulcinj in present-day Montenegro. He later died in isolation.[9][10]
Scholem
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Elsie-2010
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).KohlerMalter1905
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search