Converting to Ottoman world: False messiah Sabbatai Zevi

The 17th century is also known as the “Age of Crisis” by many scholars, as it witnessed global-scale climate problems, civil uprisings, conflicts and massacres. These crises also paved the way for expectations for apocalypse and the arrival of the messiah in both Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

However, none of these expectations was more influential or famous than the global scale Jewish Sabbatai Zevi movement of 1666, which led to the formation of a new crypto-Judaic group in the Ottoman Empire, called “dönme,” or renegade. The history of Sabbatai and his posthumous followers attracted high attention and paved the way for conspiracy theories. Although his messianic claims created a great deal of upheaval, his memory gradually began to fade from collective consciousness. This is the history of Sabbatai Zevi.

An eccentric rabbi

Unlike in many other parts of the world, Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire enjoyed relative peace and stability under the Islamic dhimmi system. Most of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire were migrants following the expulsion from Spain in 1492. Throughout history, Jews were repeatedly persecuted or expelled by their Christian rulers, and these sufferings were often interpreted as divine punishment for their sins. However, a Jewish Kabbalist (mystic) in the second half of the 16th century, Isaac Luria, reinterpreted these tribulations as part of a cosmic plan for the ultimate salvation of the Jewish people and the arrival of the messiah, who would lead the Jews to the “Promised Land.” His ideas spread rapidly throughout the J