Sabbatai Zevi

Sabbatai Zevi (Hebrew: שַׁבְּתַי צְבִי‎, other spellings include Sabbatai Ẓevi, Shabbetai Ẓevi, Shabbeṯāy Ṣeḇī, Sabbatai Sevi, Shabsai Tzvi, and Sabetay Sevi in Turkish) (August 1, 1626 – c. September 17, 1676) was a Sephardic ordained Rabbi, though of Romaniote origin and kabbalist, active throughout the Ottoman Empire, who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Sabbatean movement.

In February 1666, upon his arrival in Constantinople, Sabbatai was imprisoned following orders issued by the grand vizier Ahmed Köprülü; in September of that same year, after being moved from different prisons around the capital to Adrianople (the imperial court's seat) for judgement on accusations of fomenting sedition, Sabbatai was given by Köprülü, in the name of the Sultan Mehmed IV, the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal, or of converting to Islam. Sabbatai seems to have chosen the latter by donning on his head from then on a Turkish 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. Some of his followers also converted to Islam—about 300 families who were known as the Dönmeh (converts).

Sabbatai Zevi was born in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (İzmir in present-day Turkey), on supposedly Tisha B'Av (the 9th of Av), 1626, the holy day of mourning. His name literally meant the planet Saturn, and in Jewish tradition "The reign of Sabbatai" (The highest planet) was often linked to the advent of the Messiah. Zevi's family were Romaniotes from Patras in present-day Greece; his father, Mordecai, was a poultry dealer in the Morea. During the war between Turkey and Venice, Smyrna became the center of Levantine trade. Mordecai became the Smyrna agent of an English trading house and managed to achieve some wealth in this role.

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