Editing Sabbateans

{{short description|Followers of Sabbatai Zevi}}
{{distinguish|Sabbatarianism}}
[[File:Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia e13 783-0.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration of Sabbatai Zevi from 1906 ([[Joods Historisch Museum]])]]
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar}}
{{Jewish mysticism}}

The '''Sabbateans''' (or '''Sabbatians''') are a variety of [[Jews|Jewish]] followers, disciples, and believers in [[Sabbatai Zevi]] (1626–1676),<ref name="Britannica">
{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Judaism - The Lurianic Kabbalah: Shabbetaianism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala#ref35335 |date=23 January 2020 |access-date=6 October 2020 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |quote=Rabbi [[Sabbatai Zevi|Shabbetai Tzevi]] of [[İzmir|Smyrna]] (1626–76), who [[List of Jewish messiah claimants|proclaimed himself messiah]] in 1665. Although the “messiah” was [[Forced conversion#Ottoman Empire|forcibly converted to Islam]] in 1666 and ended his life in exile 10 years later, he continued to have faithful followers. A sect was thus born and survived, largely thanks to the activity of [[Nathan of Gaza]] (c. 1644–90), an unwearying propagandist who justified the actions of Shabbetai Tzevi, including his final apostasy, with theories based on the [[Lurianic Kabbalah|Lurian doctrine of “repair”]]. Tzevi’s actions, according to Nathan, should be understood as the descent of the just into the abyss of the “shells” in order to liberate the captive particles of divine light. The Shabbetaian crisis lasted nearly a century, and some of its aftereffects lasted even longer. It led to the formation of sects whose members were externally converted to Islam—e.g., the [[Dönmeh]] (Turkish: “Apostates”) of [[Thessaloniki|Salonika]], whose descendants still live in [[Turkey]]—or to [[Roman Catholicism]]—e.g., the [[Frankism|Polish supporters]] of [[Jacob Frank]] (1726–91), the self-proclaimed messiah and [[Catholic converts|Catholic convert]] (in [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1648–1867)|Bohemia-Moravia]], however, the Frankists outwardly remained Jews). This crisis did not discredit Kabbalah, but it did lead Jewish spiritual authorities to monitor and severely curtail its spread and to use censorship and other acts of repression against anyone—even a person of tested piety and recognized knowledge—who was suspected of Shabbetaian sympathies or messianic pretensions.}}</ref><ref name="AICE">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Karp |first=Abraham J. |year=2017 |title="Witnesses to History": Shabbetai Zvi - False Messiah (Judaic Treasures) |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shabbetai-zvi-false-messiah-judaic-treasures |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |publisher=American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) |access-date=6 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016113117/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shabbetai-zvi-false-messiah-judaic-treasures |archive-date=16 October 2017 |url-status=live |quote=Born in Smyrna in 1626, he showed early promise as a [[Talmudic scholar]], and even more as a student and devotee of [[Kabbalah]]. More pronounced than his scholarship were his strange mystical speculations and religious ecstasies. He traveled to various cities, his strong personality and his alternately [[Asceticism#Judaism|ascetic]] and [[Self-indulgence|self-indulgent]] behavior attracting and repelling rabbis and populace alike. He was expelled from Salonica by its rabbis for having staged a wedding service with himself as bridegroom and the [[Torah]] as bride. His erratic behavior continued. For long periods, he was a respected student and teacher of Kabbalah; at other times, he was given to messianic fantasies and bizarre acts. At one point, living in [[Jerusalem]] seeking "peace for his soul," he sought out a self-proclaimed "man of God," [[Nathan of Gaza]], who declared Shabbetai Zvi to be the Messiah. Then Shabbetai Zvi began to act the part [...] On September 15, 1666, Shabbetai Zvi, brought before the sultan and given the choice of death or apostasy, prudently chose the latter, setting a turban on his head to signify his conversion to Islam, for which he was rewarded with the honorary title "Keeper of the Palace Gates" and a pension of 150 piasters a day. The apostasy shocked the Jewish world. Leaders and followers alike refused to believe it. Many continued to anticipate a second coming, and faith in false messiahs continued through the eighteenth century. In the vast majority of believers revulsion and remorse set in and there was an active endeavor to erase all evidence, even mention of the pseudo messiah. Pages were removed from communal registers, and documents were destroyed. Few copies of the books that celebrated Shabbetai Zvi survived, and those that did have become rarities much sought after by libraries and collectors.}}</ref><ref name="JE 1906">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13480-shabbethai-zebi-b-mordecai |title=Shabbetai Ẓevi |last1=Kohler |first1=Kaufmann |last2=Malter |first2=Henry |author1-link=Kaufmann Kohler |author2-link=Henry Malter |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |year=1906 |access-date=6 October 2020 |quote=At the command [of the sultan], Shabbetai was now taken from [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydos]] to [[Edirne|Adrianople]], where the sultan's physician, a former Jew, advised Shabbetai to embrace Islam as the only means of saving his life. Shabbetai realized the danger of his situation and adopted the physician's advice. On the following day [...] being brought before the sultan, he cast off his Jewish garb and put a Turkish turban on his head; and thus his conversion to Islam was accomplished. The sultan was much pleased, and rewarded Shabbetai by conferring on him the title (Mahmed) "Effendi" and appointing him as his doorkeeper with a high salary. [...] To complete his acceptance of Mohammedanism, Shabbetai was ordered to [[Polygyny in Islam|take an additional wife]], a Mohammedan [[Slavery in Islam|slave]], which order he obeyed. [...] Meanwhile, Shabbetai secretly continued his plots, playing a double game. At times he would assume the role of a pious Mohammedan and revile Judaism; at others he would enter into relations with Jews as one of their own faith. Thus in March, 1668, he gave out anew that he had been filled with the [[Holy Spirit in Judaism|Holy Spirit]] at [[Passover]] and had received a revelation. He, or one of his followers, published a mystic work addressed to the Jews in which the most fantastic notions were set forth, e.g., that he was the true Redeemer, in spite of his conversion, his object being to bring over thousands of Mohammedans to Judaism. To the sultan he said that his activity among the Jews was to bring them over to Islam. He therefore received permission to associate with his former coreligionists, and even to preach in their synagogues. He thus succeeded in bringing over a number of Mohammedans to his [[Kabbalah|cabalistic views]], and, on the other hand, in converting many Jews to Islam, thus forming a Judæo-Turkish sect (see [[Dönmeh]]), whose followers implicitly believed in him [as the [[Messiah in Judaism|Jewish Messiah]]]. This double-dealing with Jews and Mohammedans, however, could not last very long. Gradually the Turks tired of Shabbetai's schemes. He was deprived of his salary, and banished from Adrianople to [[Constantinople]]. In a village near the latter city he was one day surprised while [[Psalms|singing psalms]] in a tent with Jews, whereupon the grand vizier ordered his banishment to [[Dulcigno]], a small place in [[Albania under the Ottoman Empire|Albania]], where he died in loneliness and obscurity.}}</ref> an [[Ottoman Jewish]] [[rabbi]] and [[Kabbalah|Kabbalist]] who was [[List of Jewish messiah claimants|proclaimed to be the Jewish Messiah]] in 1666 by [[Nathan of Gaza]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="AICE"/>

Vast numbers of Jews in the [[Jewish diaspora]] accepted his claims, even after he outwardly became an [[Apostasy in Judaism|apostate]] due to his [[Forced conversion#Ottoman Empire|forced conversion to Islam]] in the same year.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="AICE"/><ref name="JE 1906"/> Sabbatai Zevi's followers, both during his proclaimed messiahship and after his forced conversion to Islam, are known as Sabbateans.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="JE 1906"/>

In the late 17th century, northern Italy experienced a surge of Sabbatean activity, driven by the missionary efforts of [[Abraham Miguel Cardoso]]. Around 1700, a radical faction within the [[Dönmeh]] movement, led by Baruchiah Russo, emerged, which sought to abolish many [[Biblical commandment|biblical prohibitions]]. During the same period, Sabbatean groups from Poland migrated to the [[Land of Israel]]. The Sabbatean movement continued to disseminate throughout central Europe and northern Italy during the 18th century, propelled by "prophets" and "believers." Concurrently, anti-Sabbatean literature emerged, leading to a notable dispute between Rabbi [[Jacob Emden]] (Ya'avetz) and [[Jonathan Eybeschutz|Jonathan Eybeschuetz]]. Additionally, a successor movement known as [[Frankism]], led by [[Jacob Frank]], began in Eastern Europe during this century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Historical Atlas of the Jewish People |publisher=Hutchinson |year=1992 |isbn=0-09-177593-0 |editor-last=Barnavi |editor-first=Eli |pages=148–149 |chapter=The Era of False Messiahs}}</ref> Part of the Sabbateans lived on until well into 21st-century [[Turkey]] as descendants of the Dönmeh. <ref name="Britannica" /> 

==Sabbatai Zevi==
{{main|Sabbatai Zevi}}
Sabbatai Zevi was a [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] ordained [[rabbi]] from [[Smyrna]] (now [[İzmir]], Turkey).<ref>Scholem, ''op. cit.'', p. 111, mentions, among other evidence of Sabbatai's early rabbinic training and [[semikhah]] by Rabbi Joseph Eskapha of his native town of Smyrna: "According to the testimony of Leib b. Ozer, the notary of the notary of the Ashkenazi community of Amsterdam ..., Sabbatai was eighteen years old when he was ordained a ''[[hakham]]''." Scholem also writes, in the previous sentence: "Thomas Coenen, the Protestant minister serving the Dutch congregation in Smyrna, tells us ... that he received the title ''hakham'', the Sephardi honorific for a rabbi, when still an adolescent."</ref><ref name=wigoder>{{cite book |last1=Wigoder |first1=Geoffrey |title=Jewish Art and Civilization |date=1972 |page=44}}</ref> A [[Kabbalah|kabbalist]] of [[Romaniote Jews|Romaniote origin]],<ref>Goldish, M. Jewish Questions: Responsa on Sephardic Life in the Early Modern Period, esp. p. Introduction XXXI, 2008 (The author describes him as a Romaniote Jew)</ref> Zevi, who was active throughout the [[Ottoman Empire]], claimed to be the long-awaited [[Messiah in Judaism|Jewish Messiah]]. He was the founder of the Sabbatean movement, whose followers subsequently were to be known as [[Dönmeh]] "converts" or crypto-Jews.<ref>Rifa N. Bali (2008), pp. 91-92</ref>

==Conversion to Islam==
{{main|History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire}}
[[File:Shabbatai4.jpg|thumb|right|Former followers of Sabbatai do penance for their support of him.]]

In February 1666, upon arriving in [[Constantinople]], 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 [[Adrianople]] (the imperial court's seat) for judgment on accusations of fomenting [[sedition]], Sabbatai was given by the Grand Vizier, in the name of the [[Sultan of the Ottoman Empire]], [[Mehmed IV]], the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal, or of [[forced conversion|converting to Islam]]. Sabbatai seems to have chosen the latter by donning from then on a [[turban]]. He was then also rewarded by the heads of the Ottoman state with a generous pension for his compliance with their political and religious plans.<ref>Scholem, ''op cit.'', pp. 678–681; Scholem, Gershom. "Shabbetai Zevi." Encyclopaedia Judaica, pp. 348–350</ref>

Sabbatai's conversion to Islam was extremely disheartening for the world's Jewish communities. In addition to the misery and disappointment from within, Muslims and Christians jeered at and scorned the credulous and duped Jews.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah|last=Scholem|first=Gershom|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1973|pages=821–828}}</ref>

In spite of Sabbatai's apostasy, many of his adherents still tenaciously clung to him, claiming that his conversion was a part of the Messianic scheme.<ref name=":2" /> This belief was further upheld and strengthened by the likes of Nathan of Gaza and [[Samuel Primo]], who were interested in maintaining the movement.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kahana|first=Maoz|year=2012|title=The Allure of Forbidden Knowledge: The Temptation of Sabbatean Literature for Mainstream Rabbis in the Frankist Moment, 1756–1761|jstor=41681764|journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review|volume=102 |issue=4 |pages=589–616 |doi=10.1353/jqr.2012.0033 |s2cid=162409618 }}</ref>

Many within Zevi's inner circle followed him into Islam, including his wife [[Sabbatai Zevi#Marriage to Sarah|Sarah]] and most of his closest relatives and friends.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} [[Nathan of Gaza]], the scholar closest to Zevi, who had caused Zevi to reveal his Messiahship and in turn became his prophet, never followed his master into Islam but remained a Jew, albeit excommunicated by his Jewish brethren.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zinberg |first=Israel |url=https://www.google.co.il/books/edition/A_History_of_Jewish_Literature_The_Jewis/XaYeSoPbrPMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA153&printsec=frontcover |title=A History of Jewish Literature: The Jewish center of culture in the Ottoman empire |date=1972 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc. |isbn=978-0-87068-241-4 |language=en}}</ref>

After Sabbatai Zevi's apostasy, many Jews, although horrified, clung to the belief that Zevi could still be regarded as the true [[Messiah in Judaism|Jewish Messiah]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="AICE"/><ref name="JE 1906"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah|last=Scholem|first=Gershom|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1973|pages=687–693}}</ref> They constituted the largest number of Sabbateans during the 17th and 18th centuries. By the 19th century, Jewish Sabbateans had been reduced to small groups of hidden followers who feared being discovered for their beliefs, that were deemed to be entirely [[Heresy in Judaism|heretical]] and antithetical to [[Rabbinic Judaism]]. These very Jews fell under the category of "sectarian" Sabbateans, which originated when many Sabbateans refused to accept that Zevi's feigned apostasy might have been indicative of the fact that their faith was genuinely an illusion.<ref name=":0" />

Another large group of Sabbateans after Zevi's apostasy began to view Islam in an extremely negative light.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Jacobs|first=Martin|year=2007|title=An Ex-Sabbatean's Remorse? Sambari's Polemics against Islam|jstor=25470213|journal= The Jewish Quarterly Review|volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=347–378 |doi=10.1353/jqr.2007.0038 |s2cid=162896245 }}</ref> [[Criticism of Islam|Polemics against Islam]] erupted directly after Zevi's forced conversion. Some of these attacks were considered part of a largely anti-Sabbatean agenda.<ref name=":1" /> Accusations coming from anti-Sabbatean Jews revolved around the idea that Sabbatai Zevi's feigned conversion to Islam was rightfully an indicator of a false claim of Messianship.<ref name=":1" />

Inside the [[Ottoman Empire]], those followers of Zevi who had converted to Islam but who secretly continued Jewish observances and [[brit milah]] became known as the [[Dönmeh]] ({{langx|tr|dönme}} "convert"). There were some internal sub-divisions within the sect, according to the geographical locations of the group, and according to who the leaders of these groups were after the death of Sabbatai Zevi.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/01/26/97064150.pdf | work=The New York Times | title=A Strange Sect in Saloniki | date=January 26, 1919}}</ref>

==Sabbatean-related controversies in Jewish history==
[[File:Shabbatai2.jpg|thumb|right|Sabbatai Zevi "enthroned" as the [[Messiah in Judaism|Jewish Messiah]], from ''Tikkun'', [[Amsterdam]], 1666]]

===The Emden-Eybeschutz controversy===
{{main|Jacob Emden|Jonathan Eybeschutz}}
The [[Emden-Eybeschutz Controversy|Emden-Eybeschutz controversy]] was a serious rabbinical disputation with wider political ramifications in Europe that followed the accusations by Rabbi [[Jacob Emden]] (1697–1776), a fierce opponent of the Sabbateans, against Rabbi [[Jonathan Eybeschutz]] (1690–1764) whom he accused of being a secret Sabbatean.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

The Emden-Eybeschutz controversy arose concerning the [[amulet]]s which Emden suspected Eybeschutz of issuing. It was alleged that these amulets recognized the messianic claims of Sabbatai Zevi.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} Emden then accused Eybeschutz of heresy. Emden was known for his attacks directed against the adherents, or those he supposed to be adherents, of Sabbatai Zevi. In Emden's eyes, Eybeschutz was a convicted Sabbatean.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} The controversy lasted several years, continuing even after Eybeschutz's death.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

Emden's assertion of [[Heresy in Judaism|heresy]] was chiefly based on the interpretation of some amulets prepared by Eybeschutz, in which Emden professed to see Sabbatean allusions. Hostilities began before Eybeschutz left [[Prague]]; when Eybeschutz was named chief rabbi of the three communities of [[Altona, Hamburg|Altona]], [[Hamburg]], and [[Wandsbek]] in 1751, the controversy reached the stage of intense and bitter antagonism. Emden maintained that he was at first prevented by threats from publishing anything against Eybeschutz. He solemnly declared in his synagogue the writer of the amulets to be a Sabbatean heretic and deserving of [[Herem (censure)|''ḥerem'' (excommunication)]].{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

The majority of the rabbis in [[Poland]], [[Moravia]], and [[Bohemia]], as well as the leaders of the Three Communities, supported Eybeschutz:{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} the accusation was "utterly incredible".

In July 1725, the Ashkenazic [[beth din]] of Amsterdam had issued a ban of excommunication on the entire Sabbatian sect ({{transliteration|he|kat ha-ma’aminim}}). Writings of Sabbatian nature found by the beit Din at that time were attributed to Eybeschutz.<ref>Emden, Beit Yehonatan ha-Sofer, fol. 4.</ref> In early September, similar proclamations were issued by the ''batei din'' of Frankfurt and the triple community of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck. The three bans were printed and circulated in other Jewish communities throughout Europe.<ref>Excerpts from the testimonies were printed by Emden in his Beit Yehonatan ha-Sofer, Altona 1762, fol. 4v; the full text of the testimonies, letters, and proclamations pertaining to the investigation can be found in [Josef Prager], Gahalei Esh, Oxford, Bodleian Library. Ms. 2186, Vol. I, fols. 70r -129</ref> [[Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen|Rabbi Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen]], the chief rabbi of the Triple Community and [[Moses Hagiz|Rabbi Moses Hagiz]]<ref name="Gahalei Esh, Vol. I, fol. 54">Gahalei Esh, Vol. I, fol. 54</ref> were unwilling to attack Eybeschütz publicly, mentioning that "greater than him have fallen and crumbled" and that "there is nothing we can do to him".<ref name="Gahalei Esh, Vol. I, fol. 54"/> However, Rabbi Katzenelenbogen stated that one of the texts found by the Amsterdam beit din ''Va'avo Hayom el Ha'Ayin'' "And I Came This Day into the Fountain" was authored by Jonathan Eybeschütz and declared that the all copies of the work that were in circulation should be immediately burned.<ref>Prager, Gahalei Esh, Vol. I, fol. 54v.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maciejko |first1=Paweł |title=The Rabbi and the Jesuit: On Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschütz and Father Franciscus Haselbauer Editing the Talmud |journal=Jewish Social Studies |date=2014 |volume=20 |issue=2 |page=147 |doi=10.2979/jewisocistud.20.2.147 |s2cid=161462387 }}</ref> Emden later suggested that the rabbis decided against attacking Eybeschutz out of a reluctance to offend his powerful family and a fear of rich supporters of his living in their communities.<ref>Emden, Sefer Hitabbkut, fos. 1v-2r</ref> As a result of Eybeschutz and other rabbis in Prague formulating a new (and different) ban against Sabbatianism in September of that year his reputation was restored and Eybeschutz was regarded as having been totally vindicated.<ref>[Prager], Gahalei Esh, fol.112r</ref> The issue was to arise again, albeit tangentially, in the 1751 dispute between Emden and Eybeschutz.

The controversy was a momentous incident in [[Jewish history]] of the period, involving both [[Yechezkel Landau]] and the [[Vilna Gaon]], and may be credited with having crushed the lingering belief in Sabbatai current even in some Orthodox circles. In 1760 the quarrel broke out once more when some Sabbatean elements were discovered among the students of Eybeschutz' [[yeshiva]]. At the same time his younger son, Wolf, presented himself as a Sabbatean prophet, with the result that the yeshiva was closed.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

===Sabbateans and early Hasidism===
Some scholars see seeds of the [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic movement]] within the Sabbatean movement.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= Bezalel Naor (Rav Kook on Sabbatianism) |date= December 12, 2006 |title= Post Sabbatian Sabbatianism |url= http://www.orot.com/rksabbbath.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061205041939/http://orot.com/rksabbbath.html |archive-date= December 5, 2006 }}</ref> When Hasidism began to spread its influence, a serious schism evolved between the Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews. Those who rejected the Hasidic movement dubbed themselves as ''[[misnagdim]]'' ("opponents").

Critics of Hasidic Judaism{{Who|date=April 2015}} expressed concern that Hasidism might become a messianic sect as had occurred among the followers of both [[Sabbatai Zevi]] and [[Jacob Frank]]. However the [[Baal Shem Tov]], the founder of Hasidism, came at a time when the Jewish masses of Eastern Europe were reeling in bewilderment and disappointment engendered by the two Jewish [[false messiah]]s Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676) and Jacob Frank (1726–1791) in particular.

===Sabbateans and modern secularism===
{{See also|Conspiracy theories in Turkey}}
Some scholars have claimed that the Sabbatean movement in general fostered and connected well with the principles of modern [[secularism]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher= M. Avrum Ehrlich |date= December 12, 2006 |title= Sabbatean Messianism as Proto Secularism |url= http://www.avrumehrlich.net/sabbatean.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070114005821/http://www.avrumehrlich.net/sabbatean.htm |archive-date= January 14, 2007 }}</ref> 

==Rabbis who opposed the Sabbateans==
* [[Joseph Escapa]] (1572–1662) was especially known for having been the teacher of Zevi and for having afterward excommunicated him.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Goldstein|first1=M.B.|title=The Newest Testament: A Secular Bible|date=2013|publisher=Archway Publishing|isbn=9781480801554|page=468|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQmAAQAAQBAJ}}</ref>
* [[Aaron Lapapa]] (1590–1674) was the  rabbi at [[Smyrna]] in 1665, when Zevi's movement was at its height there. He was one of the few rabbis to oppose and  [[excommunicate]] Zevi. Zevi and his adherents retorted by deposing him and forcing him to leave the city, and his office was given to his colleague, Hayyim Benveniste, at that time one of Sabbatai's followers. After Sabbatai's conversion to [[Islam]], Lapapa seems to have been reinstated.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}
* [[Jacob ben Aaron Sasportas]] (1610–1698) was one of the fiercest opponents of the Sabbatean movement. He wrote many letters to various communities in Europe, Asia, and Africa, exhorting them to unmask the impostors and to warn the people against them. He documented his struggle in his book ''Tzitzat Novel Tzvi'', the title being based on Isaiah 28:4. He wrote a number of works, such as ''Toledot Ya'akob'' (1652), an index of Biblical passages found in the ''haggadah'' of the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], similar to Aaron Pesaro's ''Toledot Aharon'', which relates to the Babylonian [[Talmud]] only; and ''Ohel Ya'akov'' (1737), a volume of halachic [[Responsa in Judaism|responsa]] which includes polemical correspondence against Zevi and his followers.
* [[Jacob Hagis]] (1620–1674) was one of Zevi's chief opponents, who put him under the [[Herem (censure)|ban]]. About 1673 Hagis went to [[Constantinople]] to publish his ''Lehem ha-Panim,'' but he died there before this was accomplished. This book, as well as many others of his, was lost.
* [[Naphtali Cohen]] (1649–1718) was a [[kabbalist]] who was tricked into giving an [[wikt:approbation|approbation]] to a book by the Sabbatean [[Nehemiah Hayyun]]. Provided with this and with other recommendations secured in the same way, Hayyun traveled throughout [[Moravia]] and [[Silesia]], propagating everywhere his Sabbatean teachings. Cohen soon discovered his mistake, and endeavored, without success, to recover his approbation, although he did not as yet realize the full import of the book. It was in 1713, while Cohen was staying at [[Breslau]] (where he acted as a rabbi until 1716), that Haham [[Tzvi Ashkenazi]] of [[Amsterdam]] informed him of its tenets. Cohen thereupon acted rigorously. He launched a ban against the author and his book, and became one of the most zealous supporters of Haham Tzvi in his campaign against Hayyun.
* [[David Nieto]] (1654–1728) was the ''[[Hakham|haham]]'' of the [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews|Spanish and Portuguese Jewish]] community in [[London]]. He waged war untiringly on the Sabbateans, which he regarded as dangerous to the best interests of Judaism, and in this connection wrote his ''Esh Dat'' (London, 1715) against [[Nehemiah Hayyun]] (who supported Zevi).
* [[Tzvi Ashkenazi]] (1656–1718) known as the ''Chacham Tzvi'', for some time [[rabbi]] of [[Amsterdam]], was a resolute opponent of the followers of Sabbatai Zevi. In Salonica he also witnessed the impact of the [[Sabbatai Zevi]] movement on the community, and this experience became a determining factor in his whole career. His son [[Jacob Emden]] served as rabbi in [[Emden]] and followed in his father's footsteps in combating the Sabbatean movement.
* [[Moses Hagiz]] (1671 – c. 1750) was born in [[Jerusalem]] and waged a campaign against [[Sabbatean]] emissaries during 1725–1726.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}
* [[Jacob Emden]] (1697–1776) was [[Talmud]]ic scholar and leading opponent of the [[Sabbatai Zevi|Sabbatians]]. He is best known as the opponent of Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz, whom he accused of being a Sabbatean during [[Jacob Emden#Emden-Eybeschütz controversy|The Emden-Eybeschütz Controversy]].

==See also==
* [[Crypto-Judaism]]
* [[Frankism]]
* [[Islam and Judaism]]
* [[Jewish schisms]]
* [[Johan Kemper]] 
* [[List of messiah claimants]]
* [[Messianism]]
* [[Behr Perlhefter]]
* [[Joshua Heschel Zoref]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{wiktionary|Sabbatianism}}
* Cengiz Sisman, "The Burden of Silence: Sabbatai Sevi and the Evolution of the Ottoman-Turkish Donmes", New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110620033822/http://www.languages.utah.edu/kabbalah/protected/download.html ''The Collection of the Words of the Lord''], by Sabbatean leader [[Jacob Frank]].  Edited, translated, annotated and with an introduction by [[Harris Lenowitz]].
*[http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=5&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=253&PID=0&IID=1669&TTL=The_D%C3%B6nmes:_Crypto-Jews_under_Turkish_Rule The Dönmes: Crypto-Jews under Turkish Rule] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205123210/http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=5&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=253&PID=0&IID=1669&TTL=The_D%C3%B6nmes:_Crypto-Jews_under_Turkish_Rule |date=2010-12-05 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110526163308/http://www.kulanu.org/newsletters/2008-winter.pdf The Donmeh: True Believers, Jewish Heretics or Untrustworthy Moslem Converts?]
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1353/jwh.2007.0009 |jstor=20079421|title=Globalization, Cosmopolitanism, and the Dönme in Ottoman Salonica and Turkish Istanbul |year=2007 |last1=Baer |first1=Marc. |journal=Journal of World History |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=141–170 |s2cid=143494298 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091129071822/http://www.cryptojews.com/messianic_epiphany.lbi A Messianic Epiphany: The Conversion of the Dönme Sabbateans]
*{{cite book |last=Sisman |first=Cengiz |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrANyYkH0mwC&dq=The+History+of+Naming+the+Ottoman%2FTurkish+Sabbatians&pg=PA37 |chapter=The History of Naming the Ottoman/Turkish Sabbatians |title=Studies on Istanbul and Beyond |editor=Robert G. Ousterhout |location=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2007|isbn=9781934536018 }}
*{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/790141 |title=The Jews' entry into public sphere: the Emden-Eibeschütz controversy reconsidered|last1=MacIejko |first1=Pawel |journal=Simon Dubnow Institute Yearbook |volume=6 |year=2007 |pages=135–154}}

{{Sabbateanism}}
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