Shabbetai Tzvi's False Messiahs

Shabbetai Tzvi is one of the most well-known false Messiahs in Jewish history. He was born in Smyrna, Turkey in 1626. He is said to have been born on the ninth of Av, which coincides with the date the Messiah is predicted to be born on as it is the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction. Some say his birthdate was manipulated to align with this prediction. Shabbetai Tzvi was extremely studious and mastered the Bible and Talmud by age fifteen. He was a chacham at eighteen and announced himself as the Messiah when he was twenty. He taught religious beliefs, though he also fancied secular activities. He suffered from a type of manic depressive disorder in which he had periods of “illumination”, “fall”, and “hiding of the face”. These are biblical
He was able to draw people into a mystical aspect of their religion they may not have fully understood. At the time of Shabbetai Tzvi, Lurianic Kabbalah was a fairly new Kabbalah practice in which the relationship between religious activity and the Messiahship is a key aspect. According to Lurianic Kabbalah, the way to achieve the original Divine soul is to redeem it from evil power. Kabbalah dictates that redemption can only occur with the collective work of many people doing many projects to restore the world to its harmonious and peaceful state. These are the first ideas of Tikkun Olam. Shabbetai Tzvi used these ideas in his Messianic expedition, evident in his charitable campaign for the impoverished Palestinian community. However, Shabbetai Tzvi did not always use Kabbalah in a way that was for the benefit for his followers. He once invited rabbis and all of his friends to a banquet, at which he married a Torah in a “mystic marriage ceremony”. The marriage was annulled as it was never consummated. The popularity of Lurianic Kabbalah is strongly based on the use of it in the Sabbatean movement, which shows how influential and effective the movement was. However, when Shabbetai Tzvi was revealed to be a false Messiah, some backlash ensued for Kabbalists, who were blamed for the false hope the Jews had collectively gathered as well as the financial strain laid upon the Jews
Shabbetai Tzvi’s strongest believer was Nathan of Gaza. Nathan of Gaza was already known for his religiosity and visionary powers when he met Shabbetai Tzvi in 1663. Nathan had a vision of Shabbetai Tzvi as the Messiah and one Shavuot, he fell into a trance and publically announced Shabbetai Tzvi as the Messiah. Nathan spread the word of coming redemption to Jewish communities all over Europe. In a prophetic dream, he saw the year 1666 as being the year of redemption. After Shabbetai Tzvi’s impromptu conversion to Islam, Nathan worked tirelessly to keep the Sabbatean ideologies alive for years to come. Raphael Joseph Chelebi was a very wealthy and pious Jew living in Cairo in the time of Shabbetai Tzvi. He held the prestigious Turkish title of chelebi, meaning gentleman. He became one of Shabbetai Tzvi’s most prominent supporters, going as far as to house the latter for two years. While Nathan of Gaza and Raphael Joseph Chelebi are examples of believers in Shabbetai Tzvi as the Messiah since the beginning, some followers came to be through other means. Chaim Pegna was a vocal disbeliever in Shabbetai Tzvi who was almost killed by an angry mob of believers. He eventually changed his loyalties when his daughter had a vision of Shabbetai Tzvi’s Messianic power. Shabbetai Tzvi’s movement gained so much momentum that at times, people could not