Sabbatai Sevi and Sabbateans (or Dönme)
Sabbateanism, a movement that began 400 years ago in the Ottoman Empire, is the subject of some of the most popular conspiracy theories in Turkey [JW: about Jews masquerading as Muslims and infiltrating Turkish society and politics.]…
Historian Cengiz Sisman [has] studied the subject for his doctoral thesis at Harvard University and recently published a book on the subject in Turkish titled “Sabatay Sevi ve Sabataycilar: Mitler ve Gerekler” (Sabbatai Sevi and Sabbateans: Myths and Realities).
Sabbatai Sevi was born to a Jewish family in Izmir in 1626. In his early youth he was interested in mysticism and he became a rabbi at the age of 18. In 1648 he announced that he was the long-awaited Jewish messiah. Although he had supporters within the Jewish community, he was expelled from Izmir, following which he lived in Salonica, Istanbul, Aleppo, Jerusalem and Cairo. In 1665 he returned to Izmir, where he was greeted with joy by his followers and with hostility from most of the rabbis. The Jewish community split into two over his controversial status. Eventually the Ottoman rulers summoned him to Istanbul, where he was sentenced to imprisonment in Canakkale. Because he continued to attract supporters during his exile, the sultan himself gave him the choice of converting to Islam or execution. He changed his name to Aziz Mehmet Efendi and pursued a thorough education in the Islamic sciences. He helped the Ottomans in the conversion of many Jews to Islam. In 1673, however, he was caught in the middle of a ceremony holding a Quran in one hand and a Torah in the other. He was exiled to the Balkans, where he eventually died in 1676 at the age of 50…
In modern times Sabbateans have been used as scapegoats to explain the successes and failures of the Turkish Republic by left and right-wing nationalists and “Islamists.” … [Sisman:] “Turkay Nefes at the University of Kent is doing his doctoral work specifically on this very relation between Sabbateanism and conspiracy theories…”
Sisman… explains that during the Turkish-Greek population exchange of 1923, 10,000-12,000 Sabbateans came to Turkey. They had natural advantages, such as coming from cosmopolitan port cities like Salonika, and having received good educations. With the population exchange, the Christian population in Turkey decreased and the Sabbateans stepped into the place of the Christians in the merchant class.
(for full article, click here)
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment