El Prezente

Journal for Sephardic Studies

Jurnal de estudios sefaradis

El Prezente, Vol. 12-13

2018-2019

Ben-Gurion University Moshe David Gaon Center

of the Negev for Ladino Culture
 El Prezente - Journal for Sephardic Studies
A peer-reviewed scientific journal, published annually by the
Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Direct all editorial correspondence to: gaon@bgu.ac.il

Editors
Eliezer Papo • Tamar Alexander • Jonatan Meir

Editorial Council: David M. Bunis, Center for Jewish Languages and Literatures, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Paloma Díaz-Mas, CSIC, Madrid; Jelena Erdeljan, Center
for the Study of Jewish Art and Culture, University of Belgrade; Mladenka Ivanković,
Institute for Recent History of Serbia, Belgrade; Nenad Makuljević, Department of History
of Art, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade; Alisa Meyuhas Ginio, Department
of History, Tel Aviv University; Devin Naar, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, University
of Washington, Seattle; Aldina Quintana Rodriguez, Department of Spanish and Latin
American Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Shmuel Rafael, Department
of Literature of the Jewish People, Bar-Ilan University; Aron Rodrigue, Department of
History, Stanford University; Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald, Department of Hebrew and
Semitic Languages, Bar-Ilan University; Edwin Seroussi, Musicology Department, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Cengiz Sisman, Department of History, University of
Houston-Clear Lake; Katja Šmid, CSIC, Madrid; Michael Studemund-Halévy, Institute
for History of the German Jews, University of Hamburg; Jagoda Večerina Tomaić,
Department of Judaic Studies, University of Zagreb.

Editorial Coordinator: Avishag Ben-Shalom

Language Editors: Dina Hurvitz (Hebrew), Shaul Vardi (English)
Graphic Design: Studio Sefi Designs
Print: BGU Print Unit
Cover photos
Hebrew side: “A picture of the awaited new Jewish king SABETHA SEBI…”
English side: “… with his accompanying Prophet”.
A Dutch broadside published in the spring of 1666. Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, Amsterdam.

Published with the support of

Autoridad Nasionala del Ladino
Center for Sabbatean Sephardic Culture
Mr. Jim Blum, Baltimore USA
Mr. Mishael Ben-Melech - in memory of his parents, Yitzhak & Menora Ben-Melech

ISSN 2518-9883
© All rights reserved
Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Israel 2019
 Photo: Tal Levin

Dr. Tali Latowicki

1976-2019
 Photo: Yoav Pichersky

Dr. Yael Levi-Hazan

1978-2017
 Table of Contents

Preface 9

Jacob Barnai
The Image of Nathan of Gaza in Jewish Consciousness and
Historiography 17

David M. Bunis
The Language and Personal Names of Judezmo Speakers
in Eres¸ Israel during the Time of Nathan of Gaza: Clues from
Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Rabbis 31

Noam Lev El
The Epistle of Nathan of Gaza to Raphael Joseph and the Issue
of the Lurianic Prayer Intentions 73

Elliot R. Wolfson
Hypernomian Piety and the Mystical Rationale of the
Commandments in Nathan of Gaza’s Sefer Haberiya 90

Noam Lefler
A Prophet of an Absent Messiah 154

Dor Saar-Man
The Attitudes of Samuel Primo and Abraham Cardoso towards
Nathan of Gaza 177

Avinoam J. Stillman
Nathan of Gaza, Yacaqov Koppel Lifshitz, and the Varieties
of Lurianic Kabbalah 198

Jonatan Meir
Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature 228

Gordana Todorić
Political Discourse as a Field of Deconstruction of the Figure 242
of a Prophet

Contributors 258

A Brief Guide to Preparing your Manuscript for Submission 259

Hebrew Section ‫א‬

228 | Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

Jonatan Meir
Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The international conference “Gaza to Skopje: Nathan, the Prophet of

Sabbatianism, in History, Literature and Philosophy” (Macedonian Academy
of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, July 2018) was the first academic gathering of
its kind dedicated to Nathan of Gaza. This is not incidental, as the figure
of Nathan of Gaza has long been absorbed within the figure of Shabbetai
S˝evi. Indeed, he has been portrayed as the “shadow” of Shabbetai S˝evi, with
the pair transformed into two faces of one idea. The Sabbatians agreed with
this assumption, as did “non-believers” (the anti-Sabbatians), as well as some
scholars. The degree to which the figure of Nathan was understood to be
critical is indicated by an image drawn in Holland in 1685, on the basis of
Thomas Coenen’s book (Ydele Verwachtinge der Joden getoont in den persoon
van Sabethai Zevi, Haren Laetsten Vermeynden Messias, Amsterdam 1669),
which included Nathan in a procession in Izmir, even though they knew that
he was not there at the time (Nathan is numbered 8 and Shabbetai S˝evi 1).1
Could the Messiah walk through Izmir without his prophet by his side?

1 First printed in J.A. [Johannes Aysma], Spiegel der Sibyllen, van Vierderley Vertooningen,
Uyt dewelke, Wegens de daar in Schijnende Straalen van het klaare Goddelijke Licht, een
Heerlijke Weer-schijn des Throons der Majesteyt in de Hemelen, en een helder-blinkende
Glans der Zaligmakende Waarheyt, op verscheyde wyse, voor allerley Aanschouwers, over
den gantschen Aardbodem, krachtiglijk schittert, Amsterdam 1685, pp. 428-429. On the
history of this picture see Gershom Scholem, History of the Sabbatian Movement: Lectures
given at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1939-1940 [in Hebrew], eds. Jonatan Meir,
Shinichi Yamamoto, Schocken Institute for Jewish Research and Schocken Books,
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv 2018, pp. 403-407.

228 |
 Jonatan Meir | 229

While scholars have questioned assumptions of this kind and have

begun to see Shabbetai S˝evi as independent (with his strange personal
theology)—Nathan’s character has remained in the shadows. His writings
are abandoned and unstudied (although some important studies have
been authored by Isaiah Tishby, Meir Benayahu, Avraham Elqayam, and
others).2 His letters and manuscripts lie scattered. There are not even solid
facts concerning the end of his life—just a range of fantastic stories. For
this reason alone, this conference has been of great importance—it is a
small act of redemption for the great fallen prophet.

[1]
My remarks concern the connection between hagiography, polemics, and
scholarship in relation to Nathan, and is based on extensive citations from
an unknown manuscript. I would like to first begin, however, with an
excerpt from Gershom Scholem—one page to be precise—which was
written as a draft for the book Sabbati S˝evi and the Sabbatian Movement
during His Lifetime, and for unknown reasons was not included in the
printed version:
There is no doubt that the “career” of the prophet of Sabbatianism is
one of the most attractive and arousing and appalling things in this
whole history. How great and powerful was his talent, how faithful his

2 See four comprehensive surveys recently published which include discussion of

the shifting aims and objectives of the discipline, Yaacob Dweck, “Introduction”,
in Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai S˝evi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626-1676, trans. R. J.
Zwi Werblowsky, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1973, pp. xxix-lxv;
Paweł Maciejko (ed.), Sabbatian Heresy: Writings on Mysticism, Messianism and the
Origins of Jewish Modernity, Brandeis University Press, Waltham, MA 2017, pp. xi-
xxxiii; Jonathan Meir & Shinichi Yamamoto, “The Open Book: Gershom Scholem
and the Research of Sabbatianism” [in Hebrew], in Gershom Scholem, History of
the Sabbatian Movement, pp. 9-43; Avi Elqayam, “Introduction” [in Hebrew], in
Gershom Scholem, Parashat ha-Shabtaut, annotated and introduced by Avi Elqayam,
Cherub Press, Los Angeles 2019, pp. 8-56.
230 | Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

yearnings and how diligent his desire, which was not shaken by any
obstacle, even by an action which appears to us as reprehensible and
which in his eyes was just a natural thing that flowed from the depths
of faith, such as those forgeries of which he is guilty. His life was short
and full of aggravation but his creations were mighty! What wondrous
ancient triumph and what a focused project! At twenty years old he
opened his heart to the ancient secrets and mysteries of the world. At
twenty-two he received the uplift and message of the movement which
he announced and whose path he traced, and he was only thirty-five at
his death. What a rich productivity of unbelievable wealth happened
over those few years. His intellect raced away. Isaac Luria died at thirty-
eight years old and did not leave anything behind him except the great
impression of an oral teaching. But here—a whole literature of a new
construction which does not fall short in its use and in the flight of the
wings of its idea.
He was pushed away from walking on the streets, almost all his
activities were in secret and underground after 1666, he wandered the
earth most of the time and nevertheless: what a huge literary activity!
He intimidated the great men of his generation until they opposed
him with their heaviest weaponry in order to prevent him from having
any influence. He was the prophet, the messenger, the pathbreaker and
the defender, the thinker and the summarizer, he was the head of the
underground and its main organizer without a doubt—all this: the
work of a youth, almost a child, who had no title and no glory, unlike
Shabbetai S˝evi his Messiah, just the opposite—a man who, according
to those who recorded their memories of him, was ugly, had none of
the sweetness of speech or attractive power to find favor in others’ eyes
which had so amazed the sages who testified about Shabbetai S˝evi to
R. Leyb ben Ozer.3

3 Gershom Scholem, “Notes on Sabbatianism” (MS) [in Hebrew], The National Library
of Israel, Gershom Scholem Archive, 401599, Series 04, Folder 113. See Leib ben R.
Ozer, The Story of Shabbetay Tsevi [Yiddish and Hebrew], trans. Zalman Shazar, ed.
Shlomo Zucker and Rivka Plesser, Merkaz Zalman Shazar, Jerusalem 1978).
 Jonatan Meir | 231

Setting aside the matter of Nathan’s ugliness, we will also disregard the
manner in which Scholem depicted Nathan—although it is interesting
and important in its own right. I wish merely to recall that Scholem
described Nathan’s journeys up until his death at great length in his
book on Shabbetai S˝evi (the book ends, in fact, with Nathan and not
with Shabbetai S˝evi).4 But this is not the whole story. Scholem planned to
write extensively on Nathan’s theology in the second unfinished volume
on Late Sabbatianism, devoted to the “development of Sabbatianism in its
heretical forms after the death of Shabbetai S˝evi” (“The Later Sabbatian
Movement: From the Death of Shabbetai S˝evi to the Frankist Decline”).5
His lectures from 1960-1961 on Late Sabbatianism deal with this at length
and will soon be published).6 Scholem also prepared—together with his
students—critical additions of most of Nathan’s manuscripts. It was a
large project, never published. The small book titled Beciqvot Mašiah˝—

4 Gershom Scholem, Sabbati S˝evi and the Sabbatian Movement during his Lifetime
[in Hebrew], Am Oved, Tel Aviv 1957, 2, pp. 785-796; idem, Sabbatai S˝evi: The
Mystical Messiah, pp. 915-929.
5 Scholem Archive, Folder 117 (title); Folders 144, 148 (table of contents). Various
drafts of writings on late Sabbatianism are preserved in Scholem Archive, Folders
117, 119.2, 120, 127, 130, 141, 144, 148, 230; Many other folders contain material
relevant to Cardoso and the aftermath of Frankism. Of particular importance are
folders pertaining to Jacob Frank (Folders 152, 153, 158, 159, 160), which contain
late work from Scholem. See Margot Cohen and Rivka Plesser (eds.), Gershom
Scholem: Commemorative Exhibition, Jewish National and University Library,
Jerusalem 1988, p. 28.
6 Gershom Scholem, Lectures on Late Sabbatianism, 1960-1961, National Library of
Israel, Gershom Scholem Archive, 401599, Series 11, Folder 14 (163 pages written
by Ehud ben Ezer). See also Jacob Barnai, “Sabbatianism after the Death of Sabbatai
Sevi: Gershom Scholem’s Lectures from the Hebrew University, 1960-1961 from the
Notebooks of Zalman Shazar”, Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts
35 (2006), pp. 205-226; Jonatan Meir, “Messianic Movements: Unknown Lectures
by Gershom Scholem from 1947” [in Hebrew], Dehak: Journal of Hebrew Literature
10 (2018), pp. 395-459.
232 | Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

published in 1944—was only a small selection.7 But I wish to return to

the literature which contributed to the formation of Nathan’s historical
image—Sabbatian hagiography and polemical literature.

[2]
There is much material here, but I wish to emphasize just one point, namely
the critical moment of “disappearance” (the death of Shabbetai S˝evi) and
the emptiness which was filled by words. This was a very unclear moment
for all involved. It was the moment of the formation of Sabbatian legends
and the instance in which the praises of Shabbetai S˝evi and Nathan of Gaza
began to be spread. The most important Sabbatian book of this genre was
Zikaron Livne Yisrael by Barux ben Geršon of Arezzo (composed in Italy
between 1680-1685).8 Polemical literature emerged at this time, as well. The
majority of the population—including the Sabbatians themselves—had no
idea what happened to Nathan of Gaza at the end of his life, nor even what
happened to Shabbetai S˝evi himself. This literature came to fill this lacuna.9

[3]
As an example of this type of literature I wish to discuss the book Me’ora’ot
S˝evi, “The Events of Shabbetai S˝evi”, or by its full name: Sippur H˛alomot

7 Gershom Scholem, Beciqvot Mašiah˝ [in Hebrew], Sifre Taršiš, Jerusalem 1944. See
Jonatan Meir, “Beciqvot Mašiah by Gershom Scholem” [in Hebrew], in Ada Vardi,
Ariel Vardi, and Meron Eren (eds.), The Story of Moshe Spitzer and his Publishing
House Tarshish, Mineged, Jerusalem 2015, pp. 96-101.
8 The book was printed (with errors) in Aharon Freiman (ed.), Injane Sabbatai Zewi
[in Hebrew], Verein Makize Nirdamim, Berlin 1912, pp. 41-69; There are several
manuscript copies of Zikaron Livne Yisrael, See Sabbatai Zevi: Testimonies to a Fallen
Messiah, translated, with notes and introductions, by David J. Halperin, Littman
Library of Jewish Civilization, Oxford 2007, pp. 21-101.
9 Zeev Gries, “Hagdarat Sifrut Ševah˝im HaŠabbeta’it” [in Hebrew], in idem, Hebrew
Book: An Outline of Its History, Mossad Bialik, Jerusalem 2015, pp. 110-121.
 Jonatan Meir | 233

Qes¸ Hapela’ot, “The Tale of the Dreams of the End of Wonders”.10 This
book was first printed by Israel Jaffe in Kopust in 1814 (in the same year
he printed, as well, the famous work Šivh˝e Habešt˝, “In Praise of the Ba’al
Shem Tov”.)11 The title page of the first edition reads:
The Tale of Dreams: The End of Wonders which was taken directly from
the books of the sages of the earlier generations. These include: the
letter of Rabbi Jacob Sasportas who lived in the time of the false messiah
Shabbetai S˝evi (may his name be blotted out); the book of the great
H˛axam S˝evi (may he continue to live); and the book of Rabbi Moses
H˛agiz; and from others who were from the time. Also, small selections
from the many writings of the sages of the generation in Asia, who
were there in the days of this Shabbetai [S˝evi], [and] who sent their
letters to the sages of that generation in Europe. They chased after that
broken deer [s¸evi], and these [writings] were hidden in their chambers.
We have now brought them to press to arouse and to strengthen the
hearts of our nation, the children of Israel, so that they not stray at all
from our commandments and laws and our Torah, and not heed the
false words which oppose our holy Torah.12

10 Sippur H˛alomot Qes¸ Hapela’ot [in Hebrew], Israel Jaffe, Kopys 1814. A year later, it
was printed there again, this time with corrections, additions, and drastic changes.
Some scholars mistakenly wrote that the book was first printed in Lemberg in 1804,
but this is a later edition printed in 1834. The title page was forged due to the
censor. See Shmuel Werses, Haskalah and Sabbatianism: The Story of a Controversy [in
Hebrew], Shazar Center, Jerusalem 1988, pp. 220-226.
11 On Sefer Šivh˝e Habešt˝, see Moshe Rosman, Stories That Changed History: The Unique
Career of Shivhei ha-Besht, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse NY 2007; idem, “The
History of a Historical Source: On the Editing of Shivhei Ha-Besht”, Zion 58 (1993),
pp. 175-214; Jonatan Meir, “Jewish Hagiography in Context: Sefer Shivhei ha-Besht
and the Formation of the Hasidic Movement” [in Hebrew], in Avriel Bar-Levav,
Oded Yisraeli, Rami Reiner, Jonatan Meir (eds.), The Way of the Book: A Tribute to
Zeev Gries, Carmel, Jerusalem 2020, pp. 175-201; Jonatan Meir, “The Lost Yiddish
Editions of Shivhei Ha-Besht (1815-1817)” [in Hebrew], Kabbalah: Journal for the
Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 39 (2017), pp. 249-271.
12 Sippur H˛alomot, title page.
234 | Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

According to its title page, the book contained the story of Shabbetai
S˝evi, based on the writings of Moses H˛agiz, Jacob Sasportas, and Tsevi
Hirsch Ashkenazi, known as the H˛axam S˝evi.13 However, this work was
much more than a simple anti-Sabbatian anthology. Its contents and
literary style clearly indicate that its anonymous author had other sources
at his disposal. While the book is characterized by a negative attitude
to Sabbatianism—even if it lacks the types of curses that Jacob Emden
heaped on his opponents—the author displays a deep understanding of
the messianic phenomenon and the secret of its phenomenal influence.
Me’ora’ot S˝evi was a very popular book, and for many people in Eastern
Europe it was their sole source of information about the events of the
Sabbatian movement. The book contained genuine narrative depth, and
some scholars have even seen it as the first Hebrew novel.14 Although the
author remained anonymous, this did not prevent the spread of his book.
It may have even helped its reception.15 The book became a best-seller. It
was printed tens of times, was translated into Yiddish and Ladino, and was
copied from print in several manuscripts.
I have recently discovered a manuscript—which was the basis for the
printed book—and it is completely different, as is evident already from the
title. The manuscript’s title page reads as follows:

13 As I will show below, Israel Jaffe made drastic edits to the manuscript of the book and
accommodated it to his Hasidic readers. Thus, even though the book’s contents did
not originate with Moses H˛agiz or the H˛axam S˝evi, Jaffe added their names to the
title page in order to promote the book and to give it a stronger anti-Sabbatian tone.
14 Scholem, History of the Sabbatian Movement, p. 100. Scholem, Sabbatai S˝evi, pp.
124, 757.
15 For example, Abraham Shalom Friedberg, Zadon Umšuga: Sippur Yesodato Bedivre
Hayamim Bime Shabbetai S˝evi [in Hebrew], Itzkevsky, Berlin 1897; Micha Josef
Berdechewski, Meos˝ar Ha’aggada [in Hebrew], vol. 2, Ahisefer, Berlin 1914, pp. 159-
176. The influence of Me’ora’ot S˝evi on Hebrew and Yiddish literature requires an
additional study; it left traces on the writings of Abraham Mapu, S.Y. Agnon, Uri Zvi
Greenberg, Abraham Shmuel Stein, Isaac Bashevis Singer (particularly in his early
Yiddish writings), and others; passages from it also entered into Hasidic hagiographic
literature over the course of the nineteenth century.
 Jonatan Meir | 235

The Book of Dreams: The End of Wonders, which is called the second Epistle
of Purim / collected and excerpted by the students and the students of
the students of the divine, our honored master and rabbi Joseph Eskapa
the judge of Izmir and his companions / with the students and the
students of the students of the divine, our honored master and rabbi
Jacob H˛agiz, head of the rabbinical court, among the pious of Jerusalem
may it be rebuilt quickly in our days amen, and his companions / from
the scant notes and writings that were at that time found hidden in the
countries of the east, as well as comments from letters and stories from
the provinces of the west / printed for the first time in the provinces of
the east and a second time in the provinces of the west.16
It seems that it is not just a polemical story in the spirit of Jacob Emden
but rather a complex narrative which can be dated to 1750-1760 and
most likely written in Amsterdam, although it is difficult at this stage to
unequivocally determine the author. The manuscript somehow made its
way to Eastern Europe, where the printer used it as raw material to form a
completely different book.17
The manuscript depicts a rather wild series of events as a sort of
alternative to Sabbatian discourse—especially to the traditions of the
Dönme. It makes sophisticated use of internal Sabbatian traditions,
letters, and manuscripts.18 For example, it contains a long antinomian

16 Sippur H˛alome Qes¸ Pela’ot (manuscript), JTS, New York, MS2206; this manuscript is
available in microfilm at the National Library of Israel, F11304.
17 See Jonatan Meir, “Sefer H˛alome Qes¸ Pela’ot (Me’ora’ot S˝evi 1814) and the Image of
Sabbatianism in the 18th and 19th Centuries” [in Hebrew], Jewish Thought: Journal
of the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, 1 (2019), pp. 125-
167; idem, “Meoraot Zevi and the Construction of Sabbatianism in the Nineteenth
Century”, in Pawel Maciejko, Scott Ury (eds.), Israel Bartal Jubilee Volume, Brill,
Leiden and Boston 2020.
18 In this context, one could point to the similarity in form and content between part of the
manuscript and the Sabbatian manuscript of “The Chronicle of What Happened Here in
Adrianople” by Jacob Najara, Abraham Amarillo, “Sabbatian documents from the Saul
Amarillo Collection”, Sefunot 5 (1961), pp. 254-262. Clarifying these literary connections
might help identify the author of the manuscript and the location of its composition.
236 | Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

speech delivered by Ishmael, Shabbetai S˝evi’s son, which elucidates the

Ten Commandments and the Thirteen Articles of Faith. This was a playful
parody of the traditions of the Dönme and the Eighteen Commandments
which they attributed to Nathan of Gaza.19 It is of some interest, as
demonstrated by these typical quotes:
We are the forefathers of the Spirit, who I must serve and to whom
I must bow, for they saved me from the exile of my soul: These are
the three knots of faith, and anyone who serves and bows to the First
Cause is like one who serves chaos and waste [….] / Do not kill a
believer in the new Torah, but it is permitted to <kill> one of the mixed
multitude, even if he is wise and learned in all seven wisdoms, and has
read and reviewed much […] / Do not kidnap people to sell them for
money, but it is permitted if you intend to teach them and bring them
into the covenant of the new Torah, and even by vows it is permitted:
/ Do not testify falsely against your friend who is like you, but it is
permitted to <testify against> one of the mixed multitude: / Do not
desire the Torah of Moses, the Prophets, the Writings, a stillborn, a
suckling child, a male and female baby, an elderly man and elderly
woman, and it is permitted to <desire> my mother, my sister, my sister-
in-law and mother-in-law, my fellow’s wife, his servant, from him, his
ox, his donkey, and all that belongs to my fellow, to sanctify me and to
bring the sparks of holiness out of the husk.20
While these are the remarks concerning the Ten Commandments, there
are similar speeches, as well, about the Thirteen Articles of Faith and the
Sabbatian festivals.21

19 See Gershom Scholem, “The Sprouting of the Horn of the Son of David: A New
Source from the Beginnings of Dönme Sect in Salonica” [in Hebrew], Tarbiz˝ 32
(1963), pp. 67-79.
20 Sippur H˛alome Qes¸ Pela’ot (MS), 43b-44b. In the second printing (Kopys 1815) this
speech is omitted in its entirety.
21 The first to note similarities between Me’ora’ot S˝evi and Sabbatian hagiographies was
Israel Zinberg, Toledot Sifrut Yisrael, vol. 3, Y. Sherbrek, Tel Aviv 1958, pp. 142-143,
350.
 Jonatan Meir | 237

In the manuscript, Shabbetai S˝evi is depicted not as a false messiah—

but rather as a magician (he is called “the great Amagushi”) who fell victim
to the forces of the evil of the Other Side. Nathan of Gaza is likewise
depicted here at considerable length. Long visions and dreams of his are
presented. Nor is he not depicted as a false prophet, but rather as a prophet
who stumbled and mistook his vision. The history of Sabbatianism is a
tragedy, in which Shabbetai S˝evi and Nathan fall to impure magical forces,
and everything is described in vivid colors and shaped into a twisted and
lengthy plot.

[4]

The manuscript includes, among other things, alternative stories of the

deaths of Shabbetai S˝evi, Nathan of Gaza, and Abraham Miguel Cardoso.
Per this account, two of them were murdered on the orders of the rabbis
while the other died a very strange death. Here, in short, is the description
of the death of Shabbetai S˝evi, who is referred to in the text as “The King
Messiah”:
The King Messiah […] pained himself and fell to bed with fluid in his
lungs. In the month of Tammuz he became sick in his head, and on
the 8th of Av his head sickness left him, but his brain fluids went out
of their place and went into his two ears and he became deaf. When
the doctors saw that he would not live and would surely die, they
commanded that the Turkish priests be called, and Sarah and Gertrude
<his second wife> called for them and they came. They circled his bed
and sang songs according to the custom of the Turks. Each verse in the
song ended with the words “God is One and God’s Name is One”, but
the sick Effendi <Shabbetai S˝evi> did not hear what they sang due to
his deafness, until on the night of the 9th of Av his soul left him.
The priests saw at the moment that his soul left and that whole night
several red faces burned like fire around the castle of Gallipoli, and they
deliberated and decided to put him in perfumed water so he would not
rot, and to bring him to Mecca and bury him there. […] On the 12th
238 | Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

of Av two Turkish priests went up with his coffin on a boat and came
to the land of Arabia. They took a new wagon and put his coffin on
it and brought him to the graves of Amar and buried him there. That
same night after they buried him Mehmet Effendi came to them in a
dream at night and a burning fire surrounded him, and he said “Well
done, for you buried me in a holy place”.22
This story is, of course, far removed from the historical facts! Afterwards,
the author proceeds to describe the legends which the Sabbatians spread
(that he was buried on the day before Yom Kippur next to the ocean, that
he went to visit the Ten Tribes, and many other legends known from the
book Zikaron Livne Yisrael).
I will now present, in short, the description of the murder of Cardoso,
carried out under the direct orders of Rabbi Jacob H˛agiz:
On the night of the 3rd of Nissan, 1671 on the night of the great lights,
Mah˝la and Binna <his wife and daughter> prepared a fancy banquet.
Zimri his son-in-law and some of the members of the Charitable
Society were invited, and they ate delicacies and drank aged wine, and
their hearts became merry, and they became drunk with him. In the
middle of the second watch the host of the banquet, Cardoso, said: “I
cannot stop you anymore for I am drunk, and sleep is overcoming me.
It would make me happy if you ate and drank and rejoiced until the
morning”, and he went to his bed to sleep. Mah˝la and Binna went up
to the room and closed the door after them, and they cried like soft-
hearted females. Immediately afterwards Zimri went up to his father-
in-law’s room and found him drunk and sleeping like an animal. He
took out a rope and put it around his father-in-law’s neck and strangled
him and he died at that moment. At the moment that his soul left his
body there was a great noise in the whole house, and not even one
vessel stayed in its place, some that were made of wood, stone, or clay
broke, and the metal ones were damaged.23

22 Sippur H˛alome Qes¸ Pela’ot (MS), 44b, 46b-47a.

23 Sippur H˛alome Qes¸ Pela’ot (MS), 44b.
 Jonatan Meir | 239

Nathan’s end, of course, is of greater concern. The following account is set

immediately following Nathan’s return from Rome, where he performed a
particular magical act:
Nathan returned from the Italian states, <and wandered> from place to
place and from rejection to rejection, until he came in [5]431 <1671> to
the land of the Philistines. In every place in which he walked he secretly
encouraged all of the believers and spurred them on with gematriyot
and acronyms comprised from the beginnings and ends of words, and
he did not follow his vow and signature which he vowed and signed
in Venice. When the Holy Society in Jerusalem, and particularly the
divine elder <Jacob> H˛agiz, heard that he had not turned back from
his activities and still inflamed and misled the masses, they allowed
him to be killed. They sent after him two men, bitter-souled Turks,
and two strong Jewish men, who came as emissaries of the nobles of
Constantinople, and they went to the land of the Philistines.
On the first holiday of the prophecy, which is the fast of the 10th of
T˛evet, Nathan’s wife made a large banquet in honor of the holiday, and
they ate and drank and rejoiced until the second watch, and they went
to sleep in their drunkenness, happy and good-hearted. In the third
watch as they were silently asleep, the two Turks made their way into the
house suddenly and strangled him with a rope in his bed and he died.
They carried him out of the city without anyone knowing. The two Jews
carried him to the forest and buried him under a cypress, and they made
a monument with that cypress, a memorial to the rebellious sons.24
Scholars who viewed these texts (according to the corrupted printed version)
claimed that they were unreliable due their lack of historical accuracy. Of
course they are not historically accurate! The polemical authors did not
sit in a seminar with Scholem, they did not write in order to reach the
“historical truth”. Their goal was different—to present an alternative to
the stories spread by the Sabbatians. They sought to defeat Sabbatianism
with stories, and not just with curses, as was commonplace. They displayed

24 Sippur H˛alome Qes¸ Pela’ot (MS), 42b.

240 | Sabbatian Hagiography and Jewish Polemical Literature

a deep understanding of the power of text to change reality, but also a

deep understanding of the ways in which Sabbatianism spread and enlisted
new believers. They needed to make their way into the world of Sabbatian
hagiography, transform them from within, and create an alternative.
It comes as no surprise that the printer of the manuscript in 1814 did
not understand the text at all—he was more concerned about the image
of Hasidism, after all—leading him to excise whole passages, change the
content, and turn it into a story of the Emden genre.25

[5]

The case of Meora’ot S˝evi is just one example of an entire body of literature
which has not been studied; a collection of writings which seek, as well,
to shape the image of Nathan of Gaza. A monograph on Nathan of Gaza
remains a desideratum, and all of Nathan’s writings should doubtlessly
be printed. We must complete Scholem’s unfinished project. Yet we need
a new history, as well. A history which does not twist or ignore sources
in light of a positivist perspective, which does not try to extract sparks
of reality from fiction. This would be a history of images—or, perhaps,
a history of the politics of fiction. Through the politics of legends, we
may shed new light not only on the character of Nathan of Gaza, but
better understand, as well, the tangled history of Sabbatianism across the
eighteenth century and the secret of its influence. We hold the keys—we
just have to open the doors.

25 See Meir, “Sefer H˛alome Qes¸ Pela’ot”, 125-167.

 Jonatan Meir | 241

Johannes Aysma, Spiegel der Sibyllen, van Vierderley Vertooningen, Uyt dewelke, Wegens
de daar in Schijnende Straalen van het klaare Goddelijke Licht, een Heerlijke Weer-schijn
des Throons der Majesteyt in de Hemelen, en een helder-blinkende Glans der Zaligmakende
Waarheyt, op verscheyde wyse, voor allerley Aanschouwers, over den gantschen Aardbodem,
krachtiglijk schittert, Amsterdam