Scholem, G - The Holiness of Sin

8/11/2019 Scholem, G - The Holiness of Sin

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Full text of "Gershom Scholem: Studies in

Kabbalah"The Holiness of Sin

Gershom Scholem

Since its original appearance in Hebrew in the mid-30's under the title "Mitzah

ha-!a'ah

ba-erah#' Gershom Scholem's stud$ of those %ews of the &th and &(th centuries

who clung

to their belief in the Messiahship of Sabbatai )ei een after his conersion to

*slam+ has

been widel$ regarded as one of the classics of modern %ewish scholarship and one

of the

great wor,s of the historical imagination in our time .hat follows is the first

translation of

that essa$ into /nglish+ done b$ Hillel Hal,in the te1t has not been cut oraltered in an$

wa$ e1cept for the elimination of certain footnote references The essa$ will

also be included

2with the footnotes retained under the title "4edemption Through Sin" in The

Messianic

*dea in %udaism and 5ther /ssa$s on %ewish Spiritualit$ which Schoc,en !oo,s

will be

issuing shortl$

mong Gershom Scholem's other boo,s which hae been translated into /nglish are

Ma6or

Trends in %ewish M$sticism and 5n the 7abbalah and *ts S$mbolism 4eaders of the

presentessa$ will be particularl$ interested to learn that 8rofessor Scholem's two-

olume wor, on

Sabbatai )ei+ published about ten $ears ago in Hebrew+ is being readied b$ the

8rinceton

9niersit$ 8ress for publication in an /nglish translation within the coming

months

:o chapter in the histor$ of the %ew-

ish people during the last seeral

hundred $ears has been as shrouded in m$ster$

as that of the Sabbatian moement 5n one point+at least+ there is no longer an$ disagreement; the

dramatic eents and widespread religious reial

that preceded the apostas$ oi Sabbatai )ei in
https://archive.org/details/GershomScholem_201310https://archive.org/details/GershomScholem_201310https://archive.org/details/GershomScholem_201310https://archive.org/details/GershomScholem_201310


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&


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@op$right A &(B& b$ Schoc,en !oo,s *nc

C&

CD#@5MM/:T4E %:94E &(B&

people tor appro1imatel$ one hundred and fift$

$ears after Sabbatai )ei's conersion *n a num-

ber of countries it grew to be powerful+ but for

arious reasons+ internal as well as e1ternal+ its

affairs were deliberatel$ hidden from the public

e$e *n particular+ its spo,esmen refrained from

committing their beliefs to print+ and the few

boo,s that the$ actuall$ published concealed

twice what the$ reealed The$ did+ howeer+produce a rich literature+ which circulated onl$

among groups of "belieers" 2ma'aminimF the

term b$ which Sabbatian sectarians generall$

chose to refer to themseles+ down to the last of

the >onmeh in Saloni,a and the last ran,ists in

the ustro-Hungarian /mpire s long as Sabba-

tianism remained a ital force within the %ewish

ghetto+ threatening to undermine the er$ e1is-

tence of rabbinic %udaism+ its opponents labored

ceaselessl$ to root it out and s$stematicall$ de-

stro$ed whateer of its writings came into their

possession+ "including eenI the sacred names

of God az,aroiI which the$ contain+" as thebans upon them read s a result man$ of their

writings were lost without a trace+ and had it

been left solel$ up to the rabbinical authorities

nothing would hae come down to us at all e1cept

for certain tendentiousl$ chosen fragments =uoted

in anti-Sabbatian polemics *n addition+ although

an e1tensie religious literature was still to be

found in the hands of ran,ists in Moraia and

!ohemia at the beginning of the &(th centur$+

the children and grandchildren of these "belie

ers" in 8rague and other %ewish centers them-

seles attempted to obliterate eer$ shred of ei-

dence bearing on their ancestors' beliefs and prac-tices The well-,nown philosopher and historian

of atheism ritz Mauthner has presered the fol-

lowing interesting stor$ in his memoirs; in the

declining da$s of the moement in !ohemia+

ran,ist "emissaries" came to his grandfather

2and undoubtedl$ to other members of the sect

as well and re=uested that he surrender to them

a picture of "the Jad$" and "all ,inds of writ-

ings" which he had in his possession The emis-

saries too, them and left The incident too, place

sometime during the &D0's or &30's *n spite of

all this+ at least two large manuscripts from these

circles hae suried

5ne must therefore bear in mind in dealing

with the histor$ of Sabbatianism that powerful


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interests and emotions hae often been at sta,e

/ach for reasons of his own+ all those who hae

written on the sub6ect in the past shared one be-

lief; the less importance attributed to the Sabba-

tian moement+ the better

9TH54S :> H*ST54*:S of the 5r-

thodo1 camp+ for their part+ hae

been an1ious to belittle and een distort the oer-

all role of Sabbatianism in order to safeguard the

reputations+ as the$ hae conceied of them+ of

certain honored religious figures of the past Such

apologetics hae had their ineitable effect upon

the writing of histor$+ as has the fundamental

outloo, of their proponents+ tending as it does to

idealize religious life in the ghetto at the e1pense

of completel$ ignoring the deep inner conflicts

and diisions to which not een the rabbis were

necessaril$ immune To ac,nowledge the Sabba-tianism of eminent rabbis in %erusalem+ driano-

ple+ @onstantinople+ or *zmir+ 8rague+ Hamburg+

or !erlin+ has been in the e$es of such authors

openl$ to impeach the integrit$ of an entire bod$

of men who were neer supposed to be other

than learned and irtuous defenders of %ewish

tradition Gien such an attitude+ it is hardl$ to

be wondered at that one should instinctiel$

aoid the ,inds of in=uir$ that might lead to the

discoer$ of heretical opinion+ to sa$ nothing of

actual licentiousness+ in the most unli,el$ places

5ne might cite endless e1amples of this ,ind of

mentalit$ in historical literature dealing with rab-binical and congregational life in the &th cen-

tur$+ and in at least one case+ J rum,in's

Historical ccount of the Scholars of %erusalem

2in Hebrew+ the author goes so far as to ''ac=uit"

some of the most dedicated Sabbatians of the

"scandal" of heterodo1$K

Secularist historians+ on the other hand+ hae

been at pains to deemphasize the role of Sabba-

tianism for a different reason :ot onl$ did most

of the families once associated with the Sabbatian

moement in .estern and @entral /urope con-tinue to remain afterward within the %ewish fold+

but man$ of their descendants+ particularl$ in

ustria+ rose to positions of importance during

the &( th centur$ as prominent intellectuals+ great

financiers+ and men of high political connections

Such persons+ needless to sa$+ could scarcel$ hae

been e1pected to approe of attempts to "e1pose"

their "tainted" lineage+ and in iew of their stat-

ure in the %ewish communit$ it is not surprising

that their wishes should hae carried weight ur-

thermore+ in an age when %ewish scholarship it-

self was considered to be in part an e1tension of

the struggle for political emancipation+ the cli-mate for research in so sensitie an area was b$

no means generall$ faorable *n conse=uence+

those %ewish scholars who had access to the


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wealth of Sabbatian documents and e$ewitness

reports that were still to be found earl$ in the

centur$ failed to ta,e adantage of the oppor-

tunit$+ while b$ the time a later generation ar-

ried on the scene the sources had been destro$ed

and were no longer aailable een to an$one who

might hae desired to ma,e use of them

The suriors of the ran,ists in 8oland and of

>onmeh or "apostates" in Saloni,a formed $et

a third group haing a direct interest in dis-

guising the historical facts These two Sabbatian

sects+ both of which formall$ renounced the %ew-

ish religion 2the >onmeh conerting to *slam in

&onmeh+ in fact+ did not disappear until the

present generation+ while in the case of the ran,-

ists+ whose histor$ in the course of the &(th cen-

tur$ is obscure+ it is impossible to determine at

e1actl$ what point in time the$ were finall$

swallowed up b$ the rest of 8olish societ$ There

is reason to suspect that until the ee of .orld

.ar * man$ original manuscripts and documents

were presered b$ both these groups+ particularl$

b$ a number of ran,ist families in .arsaw buthow much of this material ma$ $et be uncoered+

and how much has been purposel$ destro$ed b$

its owners in order to conceal foreer the secret of

their descent+ is in no wa$ ascertainable

:eertheless+ the total picture is not as dar, as

it ma$ seem to hae been painted; despite the

man$ efforts at suppression+ which supplemented+

as it were+ the ineitable "selectie" process of

time itself+ a considerable amount of aluable ma-

terial has been saed Man$ of the accusations

made against the "belieers" b$ their opponents

can now be weighed 2and more often than notconfirmedK on the basis of a number of the "be-

lieers' " own boo,s which were not allowed to

perish Jittle b$ little our ,nowledge has grown+

and although man$ of the historical details we

would li,e to ,now will undoubtedl$ neer come

to light at all+ there is reason to hope that this im-

portant chapter in %ewish histor$ will $et be full$

written *n an$ eent+ it is clear that a correct un-

derstanding of the Sabbatian moement after the

apostas$ of Sabbatai )ei will proide a new clue

toward understanding the histor$ of the %ews in

the &th centur$ as a whole+ and in particular+ the

beginnings of the Has,alah 2/nlightenmentmoement in a number of countries

* do not propose in this essa$ to trace the out-


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ward histor$ of Sabbatianism in its seeral mani-

festations oer the centur$ and a half in which it

retained its italit$+ nor 2although * can hardl$

conceal m$ opinion that the entire moement was

far more widespread than is generall$ conceded

een toda$ do * mean to debate the =uestion of

whether this or that particular indiidual was or

was not a Sabbatian himself Suffice it to sa$ that

the sources in our possession+ meager as the$ are+

ma,e it perfectl$ clear that the number of Sabba-

tian rabbis was far greater than has been com-

monl$ estimated+ greater een than was belieed

b$ that anti-Sabbatian zealot 4abbi %acob /mden+

who has almost alwa$s been accused of e1aggera-

tion *n the present essa$+ howeer+ * shall put

such =uestions aside and limit m$self to the area

that has been the most sadl$ neglected in the en-

tire field+ namel$+ the origins and deelopment of

Sabbatian thought per se

*f one accepts what Heinrich Graetz and >aid

7ahana hae to sa$ on the sub6ect of Sabbatiantheolog$+ it is impossible to understand what its

essential attraction eer was indeed+ if it is true+

as both these writers claim+ that the entire moe-

ment was a colossal hoa1 perpetrated b$ degener-

ates and frauds+ one might well as, wh$ a serious

historian should bother to waste his time on it in

the first place nd if this is the case with Sab-

batianism in general+ how much more so when

one entures to consider what is undoubtedl$ the

most tragic episode in the entire drama+ that ofthe ran,ists+ the ps$chological barriers to the

understanding of which are incomparabl$ greater

How+ for instance+ can one get around the histori-

cal fact that in the course of their public disputa-

tion with %ewish rabbis in Jo in &BL( the mem-

bers of this sect did not een shrin, from resort-

ing to the notorious blood libel+ an accusation far

more painful to %ewish sensitiities than an$ of

their actual beliefs? great deal has been written

about this incident+ particularl$ b$ the eminent

historian Meir !alaban+ in whose boo,+ 5n the

Histor$ of the ran,ist Moement 2in Hebrew+

it is dealt with e1haustiel$ !alaban+ who ma,esthe Jo libel a starting point for his oerall in-

=uir$+ reaches the significant conclusion that

there was no organic connection between it and

the ran,ist "articles of faith" presented at the

disputation The members of the sect+ in fact+

were reluctant to ma,e the accusation at all+ and

did so onl$ at the instigation of the @atholic

clerg$+ which was interested in using them for

purposes of its own+ haing nothing to do with

their Sabbatian bac,ground That the$ finall$

agreed to collaborate in the scheme can be e1-

plained b$ their desire to wrea, engeance on

their rabbinical persecutors

Thus+ though the behaior of the

ran,ists at Jo must certainl$ be


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6udged harshl$ from both a uniersal-ethical and

a %ewish-national point of iew+ it is important

to ,eep in mind that the blood libels against the

%ews 2the indications are that there was more

than one do not in themseles tell us an$thing

about the inner spiritual world of the sect+ in all

of whose literature 2written one and two genera-

tions after the Jo disputation not a single al-

lusion to such a belief is to be found The trul$

astonishing thing is that although seeral impor-

tant te1ts of ran,ist teachings actuall$ do e1ist+

not a single serious attempt has so far been made

to anal$ze their contents The reason for this is

simple Graetz and 7raushar+ two reputable

scholars+ one of whom wrote a full-length stud$ of

%acob ran, and his 8olish followers+ were both

of the opinion that there was no such thing as a

ran,ist "creed+" and that The Sa$ings of the

Jord+ which has come down to us in a 8olish

ersion alone+ was incoherent nonsense c-

cording to 7raushar+ ran,'s sa$ings are "gro-

tes=ue+ comical+ and incomprehensible+" whileGraetz+ whose attitude toward all forms of m$sti-

cism is well ,nown+ could hardl$ hae been e1-

pected to show much insight into the religious

motiations of the sect !alaban+ on the other

CC#@5MM/:T4E %:94E &(B&

hand+ is mainl$ concerned with the outward his-

tor$ of the ran,ists up to the time of their massconersion+ and his reconstruction of their theol-

og$ is based solel$ on the positions publicl$ ta,en

b$ them in their disputations with the rabbis *t is

his reliance on these "articles of faith+" in fact+

which were actuall$ far from accurate reflections

of the ran,ists' true beliefs+ that leads him to

conclude that after &BL( the histor$ of the sect

was "determined more b$ the personalities of

%acob ran, and his disciples than b$ an$ intrin-

sic religious relationship to %udaism"

* m$self cannot agree with !alaban on this

point+ and in the following pages * shall attemptto show+ at least summaril$+ that Sabbatianism

must be regarded not onl$ as a single continuous

deelopment which retained its identit$ in the e$es

of its adherents regardless of whether the$ them-

seles remained %ews or not+ but also+ parado1i-

cal though it ma$ seem+ as a specificall$ %ewish

phenomenon to the end * shall endeaor to show

that the nihilism of the Sabbatian and ran,ist

moements+ with its doctrineF so profoundl$ shoc,-

ing to the %ewish conception of thingsF that the

iolation of the Torah could become its true ful-

fillment 2bittulah shel torah zehu ,i$$umah+

was a dialectical outgrowth of the belief in theMessiahship of Sabbatai )ei+ and that this ni-

hilism+ in turn+ helped pae the wa$ for the

Has,alah and the 4eform moement of the &(th


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centur$+ once its original religious impulse was

e1hausted !e$ond this+ * hope to ma,e the

reader see how within the spiritual world of the

Sabbatian sects+ within the er$ sanctum sanc-

torum of 7abbalistic m$sticism+ as it were+ the

crisis of faith which oertoo, the %ewish people

as a whole upon its emergence from its medieal

isolation was first anticipated+ and how groups of

%ews within the walls of the ghetto+ while still

outwardl$ adhering to the practices of their fore-

fathers+ had begun to embar, on a radicall$ new

inner life of their own 8rior to the rench 4eo-

lution the historical conditions were lac,ing

which might hae caused this upheaal to brea,

forth in the form of an open struggle for social

change+ with the result that it turned further in-

ward upon itself to act upon the hidden recesses

of the %ewish ps$die but it would be mista,en to

conclude from this that Sabbatianism did not per-

manentl$ affect the outward course of %ewish his-

tor$ The desire for total liberation which pla$edso tragic a role in the deelopment of Sabbatian

nihilism was b$ no means a purel$ self-destructie

force on the contrar$+ beneath the surface of

lawlessness+ antinomianism+ and catastrophic ne-

gation+ powerful constructie impulses were at

wor,+ and these+ * maintain+ it is the dut$ of the

historian to uncoer

9ndeniabl$+ the difficulties in the face of this

are great+ and it is not to be wondered at that

%ewish historians until now hae not had the

inner freedom to attempt the tas, *n our own

times we owe much to the e1perience of )ionism

for enabling us to detect in Sabbatianism's throes

those gropings toward a healthier national e1is-

tence which must hae seemed li,e an undiluted

nightmare to the peaceable %ewish bourgeois of

the &(th centur$ /en toda$+ howeer+ the writ-

ing of %ewish histor$ suffers undul$ from the in-

fluence of &(th-centur$ %ewish historiograph$

To be sure+ as %ewish historians we hae clearl$

adanced be$ond the antage point of our prede-

cessors+ haing learned to insist+ and rightl$ so+

that %ewish histor$ is a process that can onl$ be

understood when iew r ed from within but in

spite of all this+ our progress in appl$ing this

truth to concrete historical situations+ as opposed

to general historiosophical theories+ has been slow

9p to the present &(3LF /dI onl$ two men+

Siegmund Hurwitz in his from .hither to .here


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parado1es+ this =uestion is crucial indeed .hat-

eer we ma$ thin, of Sabbatai )ei and %acob

ran,+ the fact is; their followers+ while the$ were

certainl$ not "innocents"F if there was one thing

lac,ing in the parado1ical religion of the Sab-

batians+ it was innocenceKF were sincere in their

faith+ and it is the nature of this faith+ which pen-

etrated to the hidden depths and ab$sses of the

human spirit+ that we wish to understand

**

s a m$stical heterodo1$ Sabbatian-

ism assumed different and changing

forms; it splintered into man$ sects+ so that een

from the & polemical writings against it we learn

that the "heretics" =uarreled among themseles

oer practicall$ eer$thing The word "practical-

l$#' howeer+ must be stressed+ for on one essen-

tial+ the underl$ing ground of their "hol$ faith+"

as the$ called it+ the "belieers" all agreed Jet us

proceed then to e1amine this common ground offaith as it manifested itself both ps$chologicall$

and dogmaticall$

!$ all accounts+ the messianic reial of &


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was to follow upon its heels added new contents

and dimensions to the popular messianic fol,-

m$th of a con=uering national hero+ raising it to

the leel of a supreme cosmic drama; the redemp-

tie process was now no longer conceied of as

simpl$ a wor,ing-out of *srael's temporal emanci-

pation from the $o,e of the Gentiles+ but rather as

a fundamental transformation of the entire @rea-

tion+ affecting material and spiritual worlds ali,e

and leading to a rectification of the primordial

catastrophe of the "brea,ing of the essels"

2sheirat ha-,elim+ in the course of which the

diine worlds would be returned to their original

unit$ and perfection !$ stressing the spiritual

side of the redemption far more than its outward

aspect+ the 7abbalists of the Jurianic school+

though b$ no means oerloo,ing the latter+ grad-

uall$ conerted it into a s$mbol of purel$ spir-

itual processes and ends s long as the messianic

e1pectancies the$ encouraged were not put to the

test in the actual crucible of histor$+ the dangers

inherent in this shift of emphasis went unnoticed+for the 7abbalists themseles neer once imag-

ined that a conflict might arise between the s$m-

bol and the realit$ it was intended to represent

To be sure+ Jurianic 7abbalah had openl$ edu-

cated its followers to prepare themseles more for

an inner than for an outer renewal but inasmuch

as it was commonl$ assumed that the one could

not ta,e place without the other+ the procedure

seemed in no wa$ =uestionable 5n the contrar$;

the spread of Jurianic teachings+ so it was

thought+ was in itself bound to hasten the com-

ing of the historical 4edeemer

The appearance of Sabbatai )ei and the

growth of popular faith in his mission caused this

inner sense of freedom+ of "a world made pure

again#' to become an immediate realit$ for thou-

sands This did not of course mean that Sabbatai

)ei himself was no longer e1pected to fulfill the

arious messianic tas,s assigned him b$ %ewish

tradition+ but in the meantime an irreersible

change had ta,en place in the souls of the faith-

ful .ho could den$ that the She,hinah+ the

earthl$ presence of God+ had risen from the dust?

"Heretical" Sabbatianism was born at the mo-ment of Sabbatai )ei's totall$ une1pected con-

ersion+ when for the first time a contradiction

appeared between the two leels of the drama of

redemption+ that of the sub6ectie e1perience of

the indiidual on the one hand+ ancl that of the

ob6ectie historical facts on the other The con-

flict was no less intense than unforeseen 5ne

had to choose; either one heard the oice of God

in the decree of histor$+ or else one heard it in

the newl$ reealed realit$ within "Heretical"

Sabbatianism was the result of the refusal of large

sections of the %ewish people to submit to the

C


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sentence of histor$ b$ admitting that their own

personal e1perience had been false and untrust-

worth$

Thus+ the arious attempts to construct a Sab-

batian theolog$ were all motiated b$ a similar

purpose+ namel$+ to rationalize the ab$ss that had

suddenl$ opened between the ob6ectie order of

things and that inward certaint$ which it could

no longer sere to s$mbolize+ and to render the

tension between the two more endurable for those

who continued to lie with it The sense of con-

tradiction from which Sabbatianism sprung be-

came a lasting characteristic of the moement

following upon the initial parado1 of an apostate

Messiah+ parado1 engendered parado1 boe all+

the "belieers+" those who remained lo$al to their

inward e1perience+ were compelled to find an an-

swer to the simple =uestion; what could be thealue of a historical realit$ that had proed to be

so bitterl$ disappointing+ and how might it be re-

lated to the hopes it had betra$ed?

The essence of the Sabbatian's coniction+ in

other words+ can be summarized in a sentence; it

is inconceiable that all of God's people should

inwardl$ err+ and so+ if their ital e1perience is

contradicted in the facts+ it is the facts which

stand in need of e1planation *n the words of a

Sabbatian "moderate" writing thirt$ $ears after

Sabbatai )ei's apostas$; "The Hol$ 5ne+ blessed

be He+ does not ensnare een the animals of therighteous+ much less the righteous themseles+ to

sa$ nothing of so terribl$ deceiing an entire

people nd how is it possible that all of *srael

be deceied unless this be part of some great diine

plan?" This line of argument+ which was adopted

b$ man$ persons from the er$ beginning of the

Sabbatian moement+ is ,nown to hae impressed

een the moement's opponents+ who were e=uall$

disinclined to find fault with the entire %ewish

people and sought instead some other e1planation

for what had happened

>uring the centur$ and a half of its e1istence

Sabbatianism was embraced b$ those %ewish

circles which desired to prolong the noel sensa-

tion of liing in a "restored world" b$ deeloping

attitudes and institutions that seemed commen-

surate with a new diine order *nasmuch as this

deliberatel$ maintained state of consciousness was

directl$ opposed to the outloo, of ghetto %ewr$

as a whole+ of which the "belieers" themseles

formed a part+ the latter of necessit$ tended to

become innoators and rebels+ particularl$ the

radicals among them Herein la$ the ps$chologi-

cal basis of that spirit of reolt which so infuri-ated the champions of 5rthodo1$+ who+ though

the$ ma$ at first hae had no in,ling of the


13/66

lengths to which it would be ultimatel$ carried+

rightl$ suspected it from the outset of striing to

subert the authorit$ of rabbinic %udaism Here-

in+ too+ la$ the basis of all future efforts to con-

struct a Sabbatian theolog$+ to the consideration

of which we must now turn our attention

*n the histor$ of religion we fre=uentl$

encounter t$pes of indiiduals ,nown

as "pneumatics" 2pnenmati,oi or "spiritualists"

2spirituales Such persons+ who pla$ed a ma6or

role in the deelopment of Sabbatianism+ were

,nown in %ewish tradition as "spiritual" or

"e1tra-spirited" men or+ in the language of the

)ohar+ as "masters of a hol$ soul" These terms

did not refer to 6ust an$one who ma$ hae had

occasion in the course of his life to be "moed b$

the spirit" rather+ the$ applied onl$ to those fewwho abode in the "palace of the ,ing" 2hc,hal

ha-mele,h+ that is+ who lied in continual com-

munion with a spiritual realm through whose

gates the$ had passed+ whether b$ actuall$ dwell-

ing within it to the point of abandoning their

preious e1istence+ or b$ appropriating from it a

"spar," or "hol$ soul+" as onl$ the elect were pri-

ileged to do 5ne so faored was in certain re-

spects no longer considered to be sub6ect to the

laws of eer$da$ realit$+ haing realized within

himself the hidden world of diine light :atural-

l$+ spiritualistic t$pes of this sort hae alwa$s re

garded themseles as forming a group apart+ andhence the special sense of their own "superiorit$"

b$ which the$ are characterized; from their loft$

perspectie the world of material affairs tends to

loo, lowl$ indeed Here+ then+ we hae all the

prere=uisites for the sectarian disposition+ for the

sect seres the illuminati as both a rall$ing point

for their own ,ind and a refuge from the incom-

prehension of the carnal and unenlightened

masses The sectarians regard themseles as the

anguard of a new world+ but the$ do not there-

fore need to renounce the parent religion which

inspired them+ for the$ can alwa$s reinterpret it

in the light of the supreme realit$ to which the$owe their newl$ discoered allegiance

or a number of reasons+ which cannot be gone

into here+ such spiritualists were rarel$ allowed to

deelop within the %ewish communit$ after the

period of the Second Temple *n part this was a

conse=uence of @hristianit$+ to which man$ of

them ultimatel$ passed but een when the$ con-

tinued to e1ist within %udaism itself+ it was alwa$s

as isolated and unorganized indiiduals *t is a

well-,nown fact+ for instance+ that spiritualism

particularl$ abounds in the domain of religious

m$sticism and $et+ as the histor$ of 7abbalismampl$ demonstrates+ despite the opposition be-

tween conentional religion and the ecstas$+ at

times een abandon+ of the pneumatic+ medieal


14/66

%udaism was capable of absorbing the latter into

its orbit Such was not the case+ howeer+ with

either @hristianit$ or *slam; here the conflict

bro,e out openl$ and fiercel$ on numerous occa-

sions+ and the spiritualist sects which it produced

went on to pla$ important roles in the deelop-

ment of new social and religious institutions+

often giing birth+ albeit in religious guise+ to the

most reolutionar$ ideas To ta,e but one e1-

ample+ historical research during the last seeral

TH/ H5J*:/SS 5 S*:#CB

decades has clearl$ shown the direct connection

between @hristian sectarianism in /urope and the

growth of the /nlightenment and the ideal of tol-

eration in the &Bth and &th centuries

The e1istence of similar forces in %ewish his-

tor$+ on the other hand+ has been all but neglect-

ed b$ the historians+ an oersight facilitated b$

the fact that %ewish spiritualism has either long

been outwardl$ dormant or else+ as in the case of

7abbalism+ has alwa$s preferred to wor, inisibl$

and uns$stematicall$ beneath the surface *n-

deed+ as long as %ewish historiograph$ was dom-

inated b$ a spirit of assimilation+ no one so

much as suspected that positiism and religious

reform were the progen$ not onl$ of the rational

mind+ but of an entirel$ different sort of ps$chol-

og$ as well+ that of the 7abbalah and the Sabba-tian crisisF in other words+ of that er$ "lawless

heres$" which was so soundl$ e1coriated in their

nameK

*n the Sabbatian moement+ which was

the first clear manifestation 2one

might better sa$ e1plosion of spiritualistic sec-

tarianism in %udaism since the da$s of the Second

Temple+ the t$pe of the radical spiritualist found

its perfect e1pression To be sure+ illuminati of

the same class were later prealent in Hasidism

too+ particularl$ during the golden age of the

moement but Hasidism+ rather than allow itselfto be ta,en oer b$ such t$pes+ forced them after

a period of initial e=uiocation to curb their un-

rul$ spiritualit$+ and did so with such success that

it was able to oercome the most difficult and

hazardous challenge of all+ that of safel$ incor-

porating them into its own collectie bod$ 9nli,e

Sabbatianism+ whose followers were determined to

carr$ their doctrine to its ultimate conclusion+ it

was the genius of Hasidism that it ,new where to

set itself limits !ut the Sabbatians pressed on to

the end+ into the ab$ss of the m$thical "gates of

impurit$" 2sha'are turn'ah+ where the pure spir-

itual awareness of a world made new became apitfall fraught with peril for the moral life

Here+ then+ were all the materials necessar$ to


15/66


16/66

The Sabbatian moement soon deeloped all

the ps$chological characteristics of a spiritual sect+

and before long man$ of its followers proceeded to

organize themseles along such lines The persecu-

tions against them on the part of arious rabbin-

ical and congregational authorities+ their own

special feeling of apartness and the need to pre-

sere their secret+ and the noel practices which

their beliefs eentuall$ compelled them to pursue+

were all factors in bringing this about * do not

propose to dwell at length on the histor$ of an$ of

these groups+ but * do wish to emphasize briefl$ at

this point that large numbers of %ews+ especiall$

among the Sephardim+ continued to remain faith-

ful to Sabbatai )ei after his conersion /en such

opponents of Sabbatianism as %acob Sasportas+ who

claimed that the followers of the moement were

now an "insubstantial minorit$+" was forced to

admit on other occasions that the minorit$ in =ues-

tion was considerable indeed+ particularl$ in

Morocco+ 8alestine+ /g$pt+ and most of Tur,e$

C#@5MM/:T4E %:94E &(B&

and the !al,ans Most of the Sabbatian groups in

these areas maintained constant contact with each

other and ,ept up a running battle oer the correct

interpretation of their "hol$ faith" rom these

regions came the first theoreticians of the moe-

ment+ men such as :athan of Gaza+ Samuel 8rimo+braham Miguel @ardozo+ and :ehemiah Ha$on

as well as the belieers in "oluntar$ Marranism+"

who went on to form the sect of the >onmeh in

Saloni,a *n *tal$ the number of Sabbatians was

smaller+ though it included some of the countr$'s

most important 7abbalists within a generation

after its appearance there+ Sabbatianism had

dwindled into the concern of a few rabbis and

scholars 2chief among them 4abbi !en6amin

@ohen of 4eggio and 4abbi braham 4oigo of

Modena+ in whose hands it remained for a cen-

tur$ without eer penetrating into wider circles

*n :orthern /urope Sabbatianism was also re-

stricted at first to small groups of adherents+ de-

otees of such "prophets" as Heshel )oref of Nilna

and Mordecai of /isenstadt in Hungar$+ but after

&B00+ following the commencement of a "8ales-

tinian period" during which organized Sabbatian

emigrations to the Hol$ Jand too, place from

seeral countries+ the moement spread rapidl$

through German$ and the ustro-Hungarian /m-

pire *n Jithuania it failed to ta,e root+ but in

8odolia and Moraia it became so entrenched

that it was soon able to claim the allegiance of

man$ ordinar$ %ewish burghers and small busi-nessmen 2according to %acob /mden+ the numeri-

cal alue of the Hebrew letters in the erse in

8salms &C+ "There is none that doeth good+ not


17/66

een one+" was e=uialent to the numerical alue

of the letters in the Hebrew word for Moraial

*n 8rague and Mannheim Sabbatian-oriented cen-

ters of learning came into being The influence of

the "graduates" of these institutions was great

one of them+ in fact+ was the author of the hereti-

cal treatise Na-o ha-Eom /l ha-$in 2"nd *

@ame This >a$ unto the ountain" which pro-

o,ed so much furor at the time of the contro-

ers$ surrounding %onathan /ibeschutz 2&BL&

and led to a polemical "battle of the boo,s"

which has enabled us to trace the identities of

man$ Sabbatians of whom otherwise we would

hae ,nown nothing at all *n the middle of the

&th centur$ man$ of the Sabbatians in 8odolia

conerted to @hristianit$ after the e1ample of

their leader %acob ran,+ but still others re-

mained within the %ewish fold inall$+ a Sabba-

tian stronghold sprang up again in 8rague+ where

ran,ism was propagated in a %ewish form fter

&&L+ howeer+ the moement fell apart and itsmembers were absorbed into secular %ewish soci-

et$+ li,e the ran,ist ancestors of Jouis !randeis

*t is now time to turn our attention to the

actual content of the spiritualism of these Sabba-

tian groups+ for although the details of their the-

osophical teachings cannot be understood b$ an$-

one not alread$ familiar with the intricacies of

7abbalistic speculation in both the )ohar and the

writings of the Jurianic school+ other ital =ues-tions which concerned them+ as well as their doc-

trine of the Godhead in its more general form+

can be rendered intelligible een to those who are

not full$ ersed in the esoteric side of %ewish

m$stical thought

*ll

The =uestion which first confronted the

"belieers" after the apostas$ of

Sabbatai )ei+ and one to which the$ neer ceased

returning+ was of the following order; since b$

all e1ternal to,ens the redemption had alread$been at hand+ and since the Messiah+ the authen-

ticit$ of whose mission was be$ond doubt+ had

actuall$ reealed himself to his people+ wh$ had

he forsa,en them and his religion+ and wh$ had

the historical and political delierance from

bondage which was to hae naturall$ accompa-

nied the cosmic process of ti,,un been dela$ed?

To this a parado1icall$ compelling answer was

=uic,l$ offered; the apostas$ of the Messiah was

itself a religious m$ster$ of the most crucial im-

portanceK :o less an authorit$ than Maimonides

himself+ it was argued+ had stated that the actual

details of the redemptie process were not to be,nown in adance and although the truth of the

matter was that eer$thing that had happened

was full$ alluded to in the Hol$ Scriptures+ these


18/66

allusions themseles could not be correctl$ under-

stood until the eents the$ foretold had come to

pass ll might be found to hae been predicted

in the releant prophecies and legends which

:athan of Gaza+ and een more so braham @ar-

dozo+ now proceeded to e1pound in the form of

a new doctrine to which Sabbatai )ei himself ap-

parentl$ subscribed

s long as the last diine spar,s 2nitzotzot of

holiness and good which fell at the time of

dam's primordial sin into the impure realm of

the ,elipot 2the h$lic forces of eil whose hold

in the world is particularl$ strong among the

Gentiles hae not been gathered bac, again to

their sourceF so the e1planation ranF the process

of redemption is incomplete *t is therefore left

to the 4edeemer+ the holiest of men+ to accom-

plish what not een the most righteous souls in

the past hae been able to do; to descend through

the gates of impurit$ into the realm of the ,elipot

and to rescue the diine spar,s still imprisonedthere s soon as this tas, is performed the 7ing-

dom of /il will collapse of itself+ for its e1istence

is made possible onl$ b$ the diine spar,s in its

midst The Messiah is constrained to commit

"strange acts' ' 2ma'asim zarirn a concept hereaf-

ter to occup$ a central place in Sabbatian theol-

og$+ of which his apostas$ is the most startling

all of these+ howeer+ are necessar$ for the fulfill-

ment of his mission *n the formulation of @ar-

dozo; "*t is ordained that the 7ing Messiah don

TH/ H5J*:/SS 5 S*:#C(

the garments of a Marrano and so go unrecog-

nized b$ his fellow %ews+ *n a word+ it is ordained

that he become a Marrano li,e me#'

!efore proceeding to ta,e a closer loo, at this

bold and heretical doctrine+ one might well dwell

for a moment on @ardozo's own words+ which

proide in m$ opinion an inaluable clue to the

motiation behind it+ as the$ do in fact to nearl$eer$ other feature of the Sabbatian moement

as well 9nderl$ing the noelt$ of Sabbatian

thought more than an$thing else was the deepl$

parado1ical religious sensibilit$ of the Marranos

and their descendants+ who constituted a large

portion of Sephardic %ewr$ Had it not been for

the uni=ue ps$cholog$ of these re-conerts to %u-

daism+ the new theolog$ would neer hae found

the fertile ground to flourish in that it did 4e-

gardless of what the actual bac,grounds of its first

disseminators ma$ hae been+ the Sabbatian doc-

trine of the Messiah was perfectl$ tailored to the

needs of the Marranic mentalit$ *ndeed+ we ,nowfor a fact that braham @ardozo+ one of the

moement's most successful prosel$tizers+ was of

definite Marrano originF he was born in Spain in


19/66

&


20/66


21/66

the 4edeemer who according to tradition was to

suffer death at the hands of the Gentiles+ but to

the Messiah ben >aid as well+ who "would be

forcibl$ preented from obsering the Torah"

!$ a pla$ on words+ the Hebrew e-hu

meholal+ "but he was wounded+' was interpreted

as meaning "from sacred he the MessiahI will

be made profane hoiI" Thus+

all Gentiles are referred to as profane hoiI and

,elipah+ and whereas *srael alone is called sacred+

all the other nations are profane nd een

though a %ew commit a transgression+ as long

as he remains a %ew among %ews he is called

sacred and an *sraelite+ for as the rabbis hae

said+ "/en though he has sinned+ he is still an

*sraelite" *t follows that there is no wa$ for

the 7ing Messiah to be made profane e1cept he

be remoed from the @ommunit$ of *srael into

another domain+

Man$ similar homilies were written on the rest ofthe chapter+ especiall$ on the erse+ "nd he

made his grae with the wic,ed" Eet another

faorite erse was >euteronom$ 33;B 2"nd this

for %udah+ and he said; Hear+ Jord+ the oice of

%udah+ and bring him unto his people"+ which

was assumed to allude to the >aidic Messiah of

the House of %udah+ whose destin$ it was to be

ta,en from his people 2hence Moses's pra$er that

God bring him bac, to them /ndless biblical

erses were cited to proe that the Messiah was

fated to be condemned as an outcast and criminal

b$ his own people @lothed in Messianic radiance+

all the t$pical arguments of the Marranos wereapplied to Sabbatai )ei;

nd similar to this the apostas$ of Sabbatai

)eiI is what happened to /sther+ who was the

cause of great salation to *srael for although

most of the people+ being ignorant+ most cer-

tainl$ despised her for haing gien herself to

an idol-worshiper and a Gentile in dear iola-

tion of the bidding of the Torah+ the sages of

old+ who ,new the secret of her actionI+ did

not regard her as a sinner+ for it is said of her

in the Talmud; "/sther was the ground of the

entire world"

*n the same ein+ the familiar aggadic sa$ing that

"the last 4edeemer will be as the first" was ta,en

to mean that 6ust as Moses lied for man$ $ears

at the court of 8haraoh+ so the Messiah must

lie with "the Tur,+" for as the e1ile draws to a

close the Messiah himself must be e1iled to atone

for *srael's sins

:e1t came the turn of the )ohar+ and

here too+ with the help of ma6or orminor distortions+ a world of new s$mbols was

made to emerge+ such as the figure of "the ,ing

who is good within but clothed in eil garments"


22/66

*n ain it was argued against this interpretation

that the passage does not refer in this conte1t to a

,ing at all+ much less to the Messiah the image+ so

e1pressie in its obscurit$+ penetrated deep into

the Sabbatian consciousness where it remained for

generations to come Two other writers whose

wor,s were mined in this fashion were 4abbi

%udah Joew ben !ezalel of 8rague and 4abbi

%oseph Taitatsa, of Saloni,a+ one of the emigres

from Spain in &C(D; the former was found to hae

cr$pticall$ predicted that the Messiah would be

bound to the world of *slam+ while the latter was

supposed to hae stated+ "when the rabbis said that

the Son of >aid would not come until the ,ing-

dom was entirel$ gien oer to unbelief Sanhedrin

(BaI+ the$ were thin,ing of the 7ingdom of

Heaen+ for the She,hinah is destined to don the

garments of *shmaeJ" *n a word+ the attempt to

6ustif$ the belief that the fall and apostas$ of the

Messiah were necessar$ actions was carried outassiduousl$ and successfull$ and led to the com-

position of man$ homilies+ treatises+ and boo,s+

some of which hae not $et been recoered from

their resting places /ndless indications and de-

fenses of the new doctrine were brought from

practicall$ eer$ corner of %ewish literature t

first the tendenc$ was to assert that although the

Messiah's conersion had been forced upon him+ it

was =ualitatiel$ to be considered as a deliberate

act graduall$+ howeer+ this motif disappeared+

and the emphasis came to be placed s=uarel$ on

the parado1 that the Messiah should conert of

his own free will The descent into the ,elipotwas+ indeed had to be+ a oluntar$ one

*t was at this point that a radicall$ new content

was bestowed upon the old rabbinic concept of

mitzah ha-ba'ah baQaerah f literall$+ "a com-

mandment which is fulfilled b$ means of a trans-

gression" 5nce it could be claimed that the Mes-

siah's apostas$ was in no wa$ a transgression+ but

was rather a fulfillment of the commandment of

God+ "for it is ,nown throughout *srael that the

prophets can do and command things which are

not in accord with the Torah and its laws#' the

entire =uestion of the continued alidit$ of theJaw had reached a critical stage .e ,now that

een before his apostas$ Sabbatai )ei iolated

seeral of the commandments b$ eating the fat of

animals and administering it to others+ directing

TH/ H5J*:/SS 5 S*:#L&

that the paschal sacrifice be performed outside

of the Jand of *srael+ and cancelling the fast da$sHis followers soon began to see, e1planations for

these acts+ and here began a diision which was

to lead eentuall$ to an open split in the moe-


23/66

ment

*N

The new doctrine of the necessar$

apostas$ of the Messiah was accept-

ed b$ all the "belieers" *n fact+ it proed to be

s$mbolicall$ richer than was at first assumed+ for

it e1pertl$ e1pressed the contradiction between

the outward realit$ of histor$ and the inward re-

alit$ of the "belieers' " lies *t was now no long-

er to be wondered at that the outward delier-

ance had been dela$ed+ for this could be e1-

plained b$ the m$stic principle of "good within

but clothed in eil garments" *n turn+ howeer+

other =uestions arose which the doctrine of neces-

sar$ apostas$ was in itself insufficient to answer

irst of all+ it was as,ed+ what was the nature of

the Messiah's act? .as it intended to be an e1-

emplar for others? .ere all %ews en6oined to fol-

low suit? 5r was it essentiall inimitable and tobe loo,ed upon as a theoretical model onl$?

Second+ what was the nature of the transitional

period during which the Messiah was in the

clutches of the ,elipotR @ould it properl$ be

called the redemption or not? Since it was agreed

b$ all that the She,hinah had "risen from the

dust+" where was the She,hinah now? >id it still

ma,e sense to spea, of her "e1ile" and to mourn

for her? .hat e1actl$ was the relationship of in-

wardness to outwardness in the present age?

Third+ what was the status of the Torah duringthis period? Had a new aspect of it been reealed?

How was the principle of mitzah ha-ba'ah ba-

aerah to be understood? @ould it not be argued

that the change which had ta,en place in the re-

lationship of the diine worlds necessitated a cor-

responding change in the performance of the

commandments+ the purpose of which had been

to restore the harmon$ of the old+ unredeemed

cosmos that had been shattered b$ the primordial

sin? .as not the Jurianic 7abbalah in its tradi-

tional form now outdated?

These were the principal dilemmas which wereto shape the deelopment of Sabbatianism in the

course of the following hundred $ears+ and in se-

eral countries to transform it from a messianic

moement into a nihilistic moement operating

within a religious framewor, nd 6ust as these

=uestions were themseles mutuall$ related+ so the

nihilism which resulted from them was to be char-

acterized b$ its internal unit$ and consistenc$

Here+ then+ it is necessar$ to distinguish be-

tween two opposing Sabbatian factions which

emerged from the clashes of opinion surrounding

these disputed points+ as well as from differinginterpretations of the theosophical "m$ster$ of


24/66

the Godhead" 2sod ha-elohut reealed b$ Sab-

batai )ei to his disciples; a moderate and rather

piousl$ inclined wing of the moement on the

one hand+ and a radical+ antinomian+ and ni-

hilistic wing on the other 2!oth of these factions+

in turn+ contained man$ subdiisions+ but here

we are concerned onl$ with the more general fea-

tures of each *n the case of some Sabbatians+

who hae left us no completel$ candid record of

their feelings+ it is difficult to determine to which

of these two camps the$ belonged s might nat-

urall$ be e1pected+ in face of the persecutions

against them the "belieers" were not often in a

position to e1pound their beliefs undisguisedl$+

and certainl$ not to permit them to appear in

print This was particularl$ true of the nihilists+

who had good and compelling reasons for con-

cealing their doctrines

Moderate Sabbatianism+ which we shall consider

first+ was a iew shared b$ man$ rabbis and wasrepresented b$ men li,e :athan of Gaza+ braham

@ardozo+ and braham 4oigo 5f these three+

@ardozo and 4oigo are the more aluable

sources+ especiall$ the former+ a large number of

whose man$ treatises hae suried than,s to the

refusal of his disciples in Jondon+ Tur,e$+ and

Morocco to burn them in compliance with the

in6unctions of the rabbinical courts

ccording to the "moderates+" the apostas$ of

the Messiah was not intended to sere as an e1-

ample for others To be sure+ Sabbatai )ei had

done what was necessar$+ but to attempt to followin his footsteps was to belie the significance of his

act+ which was performed in behalf of eer$bod$

*n the words of *saiah L3; "The Jord hath made

to light on him the ini=uit$ of us all" Strictl$

spea,ing+ "all were originall$I under the ob-

ligation to conert+" 'but God in His merc$ per-

mitted the apostas$ of the Messiah to atone for

the sins of His people !esides being strange and

scandalous in its nature+ Sabbatai )ei's coner-

sion was in a class b$ itself and was not an ob6ect

of imitation The %ew was e1pected to remain a

%ew True+ a new world-era had undoubtedl$

been ushered in+ the spiritual worlds had under-gone ti,,un+ and their structure was now per-

manentl$ altered nonetheless+ as long as the re-

demption did not manifest itself outwardl$ in the

realm of ob6ectie eents in histor$+ as long as the

e1ternal bondage continued and the phenomenal

world remained unchanged+ no aspect or com-

mandment of the Torah was to be openl$ tam-

pered with e1cept for the small number of inno-

5ne might particularl$ cite in this connection the

puzzling case of the great Talmudic scholar 4abbi %onathan/ibeschutz+ a ps$chological enigma that still needs badl$

to be unraeled+ although here is not the place to do

so * cannot conceal the fact+ howeer+ that after thoroughl$


25/66

e1amining both /ibeschutz's own 7abbalistic writings and

all the polemical wor,s that the$ engendered * hae been

forced to conclude that he was indeed a Sabbatian+ as both

%acob /mden and+ in a later age+ Heinrich Graetz insisted

LD#@5MM/:T4E %:94E &(B&

ations+ such as the cancellation o the fast of

Tish'ah be- 2the da$ of the destruction of the

Temple+ which had been proclaimed b$ the

Messiah and his prophets as s$mbolic to,ens of

the redemption's commencement /en on this

point+ howeer+ there was disagreement+ for se-

eral Sabbatians+ including braham 4oigo him-

self+ decided to reinstate the fast after a period of

hesitation lasting a number of $ears during which

the$ had disregarded itF not because the$ had

"gone bac," on their beliefs+ but because of the

=uestionable nature of the practice itself+ as wit-

nessed b$ the fact that 4oigo's disciple+ Mordecai

sh,enazi+ had been bidden b$ a maggid or "spir-

itual intelligence" to desist from it 5n the whole+

it was the iew of the "moderates" that during the

transitional period under wa$ the ,elipot still re-

tained a good deal of their power+ which could

onl$ be eliminated b$ continued performance of

the mitzot; the "facade" of rabbinic %udaism

must be allowed to remain temporaril$ standing+

although great changes had alread$ ta,en place

within the edifice 5ne unmista,able testimon$to this inner transformation was the abandon-

ment b$ man$ of the "moderates' of the m$stical

meditations 2,aanot of *saac Juria The first

to discontinue their use was :athan of Gaza+

whose reasons for doing so were as follows;

The ,aanot of the Jurianic 7abbalists were

inward actions of thought designed to relate the

performance of gien commandments or pra$ers

to specific stages in the d$namic chain of the di-

ine worlds and thereb$ to reintegrate the latter

b$ helping to restore them to the places the$ had

occupied before their catastrophic fall Thus+each ,aanah was a spiritual act demonstrating

that the outward underta,ing which occasioned

it harmonized inisibl$ with the oerall struc-

ture of the cosmos :ow+ howeer+ with the ad-

ent of the Messiah+ this structure had changed

The sense of inner freedom possessed b$ the "be-

lieers" was not a sub6ectie illusion+ but was

caused b$ a real reorganization of the worlds

illuminating the soul+ as a result of which the

Jurianic ,aanot had become obsolete This in

turn led to a realuation of the entire Jurianic

7abbalah+ and on occasion both :athan of Gaza

and braham @ardozo went so far as to directeiled criticisms at *saac Juria himself :athan+

for e1ample+ writes; "*n the present age it is no

longer in order to read the ti,,unim composed


26/66

b$ 4abbi *saac Juria of blessed memor$ and his

disciples+ nor to meditate according to their ,a-

anot + for the times hae changed The ,aanot

of 4abbi *saac Juria were meant for his own age+

which was li,eI an ordinar$ da$ of the wee,+

whereas now it is the ee of the Sabbath+ and it is

not proper to treat the Sabbath as though it were

a wee,da$" /lsewhere he writes; "M$ meaning

is that the ,aanot discoered b$ our teacher

4abbi *saac Juria+ ma$ his saintl$ and righteous

memor$ be blessed+ are no longer appropriate to

our own time+ because the raising up of the di-

ine worldsI has entered a new phase+ so that it

would be li,e emplo$ing ,aanot intended for a

wee,da$ on the Sabbath Therefore+ let eer$one

beware of using them+ and li,ewise let none of

the ,aanot or homilies or writings of 4abbi

*saac Juria be read henceforward+ for the$ are

abstruse and no liing man has understood theme1cept 4abbi Ha$$im Nital+ who was a disciple

of the master *saac JuriaI for seeral $ears+ at

the end of which he surpassed him in ,nowl-

edge"

*n a similar ein; "*t is no longer in order

to perform the midnight igil+ that is+ to weep

and mourn for the e1ile of the She,hinah+ for

she has alread$ begun to rise from the earth+ so

that whoeer mourns for her is a blunderer and

attracts the compan$ of that guilt$ demonI

Jilith+ since it is she now who weeps and wails"

Man$ other passages li,e these could be cited sa matter of course @ardozo hastened to compose

a new series of updated ,aanot+ but these were

neer to proe popular with his fellow Sabbatians+

who either gae up the practice of m$stical medi-

tations entirel$+ or else+ li,e man$ of the Hasidim

who came after them+ too, to composing their

own as the$ indiiduall$ saw fit

*t was generall$ held b$ all the Sabba-

tians that now+ on the "ee of the Sab-

bath+" the m$ster$ of the Godhead that had eluded

the rabbis+ philosophers+ and 7abbalists through-

out the ages was finall$ to be reealed This wasnot to sa$ that the secret had not been hinted at

b$ the last of the Gnostics liing in the Tannaitic

period+ who cr$pticall$ concealed it in the pages

of the )ohar and in seeral ggadot+ particularl$

those ,nown as the aggadot shel dofi or "offensie

ggadot+" which had sered as milestones for the

contemplation of the m$stics and as obscure hints

at the m$steries during the dar, night of e1ile

!ut the true meaning of these had been oer-

loo,ed nor could it be full$ comprehended until

the /nd of >a$s 5n the other hand+ although

the "m$ster$ of the Godhead" was $et to be re-

ealed in its entiret$+ a part of it had now beenmade ,nown Here again a re6ection of Jurianism

and the substitution of a new Sabbatian 7abbalah

in its place were inoled The first written e1-


27/66

position of the new s$stem+ which was to be sub-

6ect to a great man$ different inferences and in-

terpretations+ was the small tract 4aza de-Mehe-

manuta 2"The Secret of the aith" which was

orall$ dictated b$ Sabbatai )ei to a disciple after

his apostas$ *ts effect was to prefi1 $et another

stage to the theogonic speculations of the 7ab-

balists+ for it treated 2and =uite remar,abl$ of

the m$sterious inner life of the Godhead before

its tzimtzam or primordial contraction+ whereas

Jurianic 7abbalah had dealt onl$ with the

counter-e1pansion of the deit$ once the tzimtzum

had ta,en place

TH/ H5J*:/SS 5 S*:#L3

.e hae alread$ seen in connection with their

doctrine of the apostate Messiah that the Sabba-

tians were not in the least bit char$ of parado1es+

and indeed+ their theological reflections on the

true nature of "the aith" and its histor$ in

*srael reeal a dialectical daring that cannot

but be respected Here we are gien our deepest

glimpse $et into the souls of these reolu-

tionaries who regarded themseles as lo$al %ews

while at the same time completel$ oerturning

the traditional religious categories of %udaism *

am not of course spea,ing of a feeling of "lo$alt$"

to the %ewish religion as it was defined b$ rab-binical authorit$ or man$+ if not for most Sab-

batians+ the %udaism of the rabbis+ which the$

identified with the %udaism of the e1ile+ had come

to assume an entirel$ dubious character /en

when the$ continued to lie within its 6urisdiction

it was not out of an$ sense of positie commit-

ment no doubt it had been suited to its time+ but

in the light of the soul-sha,ing truth of the re-

demption that time had passed Ta,ing into ac-

count all that has been said here+ it is hardl$ sur-

prising that this attitude should hae e1isted

.hat is surprising+ howeer+ indeed astoundingl$

so+ is the nature of the spiritual world that theSabbatians should hae stumbled upon in the

course of their search through the !ible for "the

m$ster$ of the Godhead" which e1ilic %udaism

had allowed to perish+ for here we are confronted

with nothing less than the totall$ une1pected re-

ial of the religious beliefs of the ancient Gnos-

tics+ albeit in a transalued form

The Gnostics+ who were the contem-

poraries of the %ewish Tannaim of

the Dnd centur$+ belieed that it was necessar$ to

distinguish between a good but hidden God who

alone was worth$ of being worshiped b$ the elect+and a >emiurge or creator of the ph$sical unierse+

whom the$ identified with the "6ust" God of the

5ld Testament *n effect the$ did not so much


28/66

re6ect the %ewish Scriptures+ whose account of

eents the$ conceded to be at least partl$ true+

as the$ denied the superiorit$ of the %ewish God+

for whom the$ resered the most pe6oratie

terms Salation was brought to man,ind b$ mes-

sengers sent b$ the hidden God to rescue the soul

from the cruel law or "6ustice" of the >emiurge+

whose dominion oer the eil material world+ as

testified to b$ the !ible+ was but an indication of

his lowl$ status The hidden God Himself was

un,nown+ but He had entrusted %esus and the

gnostic faithful with the tas, of oerthrowing the

"God of the %ews" s for the claim of both %ews

and orthodo1 @hristians that the God of *srael

who created the world and the transcendent God

of goodness were one and the same+ this was a

great falsehood which stood in the wa$ of true

gnosis This ,ind of "metaph$sical anti-Semi-

tism+" as is well ,nown+ did not anish from his-

tor$ with the disappearance of the gnostic sects+

but continued to reassert itself within the @ath-

olic @hurch and its heretical offshoots throughout

the Middle ges

"The m$ster$ of the Godhead" which Sabbati-

anism now "discoered+" and which it belieed

to be identical with "the m$ster$ of the God of

*srael" and "the faith of ather braham+" was

founded entirel$ on a new formulation of this

ancient gnostic parado1 *n the ersion made cur-

rent b$ @ardozo it was e1pounded as follows;

ll nations and philosophers hae been led b$

irrefutable laws of the intellect to ac,nowledge

the e1istence of a irst @ause responsible for set-

ting all else in motion Gien the fact+ therefore+

that an$one capable of logical reasoning can

demonstrate to his own satisfaction that such a

@ause e1ists+ what need is there for it to be spe-

ciall$ reealed to man,ind? .hat possible reli-

gious difference can such a reelation ma,e when

we are no less the wiser without it? The answer

is+ none at all The irst @ause+ which was wor-

shiped b$ 8haraoh and :imrod and the wise men

of *ndia ali,e+ is not the concern of religion at all+for it has nothing to do with the affairs of this

world or its creation and e1erts no influence on it

for good or for bad The purpose of a diine re-

elation must be to ma,e something ,nown which

cannot be grasped b$ the intellect on its own+

something which has specificall$ religious alue

and content nd indeed+ this is precisel$ the

case with the %ewish Torah+ which does not dwell

at all on that Hidden 8rinciple whose e1istence

can be ade=uatel$ proen b$ the intellect+ but

spea,s onl$ of the God of *srael+ /lohei Eisrael+

who is the creator of the world and the first ema-

nation to proceed from the irst @ause This God+in turn+ has two aspects+ or "countenances & ' 2par-

tzafim+ one male and one female+ the latter being

,nown as the She,hinah He alone it is who cre-


29/66

ates and reeals Himself and redeems+ and to Him

alone are pra$er and worship to be rendered *t is

this parado1 of a God of religion who is distinct

from the irst @ause that is the essence of true

%udaism+ that "faith of our fathers" which is con-

cealed in the boo,s of the !ible and in the dar,

sa$ings of ggadot and the 7abbalah *n the

course of the confusion and demoralization

brought on b$ the e1ile this m$ster$ 2of which

een @hristianit$ was nothing but a distorted e1-

pression was forgotten and the %ewish 8eople

was mista,enl$ led to identif$ the impersonal

irst @ause with the personal God of the !ible+ a

spiritual disaster for which Saadia Gaon+ Mai-

monides+ and the other philosophers will $et be

held accountable *t was thus that the words of

the prophet Hosea+ "or the @hildren of *srael

shall sit solitar$ man$ da$s without a ,ing" 23;C+

came to be fulfilled t the e1ile's end+ howeer+

*srael's God will reeal Himself once more+ and

this secret is a source of precious comfort to the

"belieers' &

Here we hae a t$picall$ gnostic scheme+ onl$

LC#@5MM/:T4E %:94E &(B&

inerted; the good God is no longer the deus abQ

sconditus+ who has now become the deit$ of the

philosophers for whom there is no room in reli-

gion proper+ hut rather the God of *srael whocreated the world and presented it with His

Torah .hat daring lab$rinths of the spirit are

reealed in this new creedK .hat $earnings for a

regeneration of faith and what disdainful nega-

tion of the e1ileK Ji,e+ true spiritual reolution-

aries+ with an unfeigned enthusiasm which een

toda$ cannot fail to impress the reader of @ar-

dozo's boo,s+ the ''belieers" unflinchingl$ pro-

claimed their belief that all during the e1ile the

%ewish people had worshiped a powerless diin-

it$ and had clung to a wa$ of life that was funda-

mentall$ in need of reform .hen one considers

how wildl$ e1traagant all this ma$ appear eennow+ it is eas$ enough to appreciate the wrath

and indignation with which such a theolog$ was

greeted b$ the 5rthodo1 camp in its own da$

>etermined to aoid a full-scale reolution within

the heart of %ewr$+ the rabbinical traditionalists

and their supporters did all the$ could to drie

the "belieers" be$ond the pale nd $et in spite

of all this+ one can hardl$ den$ that a great deal

that is authenticall$ %ewish was embodied in

these parado1ical indiiduals too+ in their desire

to start afresh and in their realization of the fact

that negating the e1ile meant negating its reli-

gious and institutional forms as well and return-ing to the original fountainheads of the %ewish

faith This last practiceF a tendenc$ to rel$ in

matters of belief upon the !ible and the ggadah


30/66

Fgrew to be particularl$ strong among the nihil-

ists in the moement Here+ too+ faith in parado1

reigned supreme; the stranger the ggadah+ the

more offensie to reason and common sense+ the

more li,el$ it was to be seized upon as a s$mbol

of that ''m$ster$ of faith" which naturall$ tended

to conceal itself in the most frightful and fanci-

ful tales

* hae alluded to the fierce discussions

that bro,e out among the Sabbatians

oer the issue of how "the m$ster$ of the God-

head" was to be interpreted Seeral of the eluci-

dations of the doctrine that are ,nown to us dif-

fer substantiall$ from the ersion gien b$ @ar-

dozo+ who deoted his er$ best speculatie pow-

ers to the =uestion ll of these treatises emplo$

the terminolog$ of the )ohar and the Jurianic

7abbalah+ but proceed to attribute to them mean-

ings that are entirel$ their own mong the spec-

ulations on the sub6ect that hae come down to

us in detail are those of :ehemiah Ha$on+ Sam-uel 8rimo+ and %onathan /ibeschutz >espite

their diision of the Godhead into three h$pos-

tases 2par tzufimF the irst @ause or "Hol$ n-

cient 5ne" 2ati,a ,adisha+ the God of *srael or

"Hol$ 7ing" 2mal,a ,adisha+ and the She-

,hinahF M of these writers sought to uphold the

essential d$namic unit$ of the diinit$ The cen-

tral problems as the$ saw themFproblems+ be ii;

said+ which did not e1ist for non-Sabbatian 7ab-

balah at allF were first of all to determine thenature of the relationship+ the "three ,nots of

faith" as the$ called it+ between the irst @ause+

the God of *srael+ and the She,hinah+ and sec-

ondl$ to establish the e1act conient of the new

reelation concerning the essence of the God of

*srael @haracteristic of the approach of these

Sabbatian "moderates" was their stubborn refusal

to leae an$ room in their gnostic theories for a

doctrine of diine incarnation *ndeed+ the litera-

ture of "moderate" Sabbatianism is in general

filled with iolent denunciations of @hristianit$

and of the @hristian dogma of the Trinit$+

ccording to seeral of the "moderates+" "the

m$ster$ of the Godhead" had not $et been full$

reealed; during the original messianic reial

period of &


31/66

the same time soling the riddle of how so man$

rabbis who were confirmed "belieers" neerthe-

less managed to remain in their rabbinical posts

The redemption had trul$ begun+ but it was a

gradual process; "*t proceedsI step b$ step *n

the /nd the Hol$ 5ne+ blessed be He+ will raise

her from the dust" This was not to sa$ that the

She,hinah had not alread$ begun to rise of her

own accord+ but "as long as He does not lift her

up Himself it is said that she is still in e1ile" *t

goes without sa$ing that those who subscribed to

this iew were obliged to ,eep up all the tradi-

tional practices of e1ilic+ ie+ historic+ %udaism

/en the midnight igil for the She,hinah was

ultimatel$ reintroduced

*n a word+ at the same time that it was com-

pletel$ transforming the historic inner world of

%udaism in its own uni=ue manner+ "moderate"

Sabbatianism continued to adhere to traditional

%ewish obserance not for the sa,e of mere

camouflage+ but as a matter of principle The in-ward crisis which eer$ "moderate" underwent

was permitted little or no outward e1pression+

and inasmuch as such an ob6ectification of his

feelings was barred b$ either the e1igencies of

the situation or the compunctions of his own re-

ligious consciousness+ he was forced to retreat

een further into himself !ut although the new

sense of inner freedom bore purel$ inner conse-

=uences+ we can neertheless rel$ on the 6udg-

ment of those anti-Sabbatian polemicists who saw

TH/ H5J*:/SS 5 S*:#LL

perfectl$ clearl$ that the inward deastation of

old alues was no less dangerous or far-reaching

than its outward manifestation .hoeer reads

such a olume as 4abbi %onathan /ibeschutz's

The !oo, of the /ternal :ame+ a treatise on

"the m$ster$ of the Godhead" composed in the

traditional st$le of Talmudic dialectics+ will read-

il$ see what ab$sses had opened up in the er$

heart of %udaism rom these were to come thedeluge; pure founts of salation and spiritual re-

birth to the one camp+ gross waters of corruption

and shameless sacrilege to the other

N

.e hae seen how the principal fea-

ture of ' ' modera te' ' Sabba ti an

doctrine was the belief that the apostas$ of the

Messiah was sui generis The Messiah must go his

lonel$ wa$ into the ,ingdom of impurit$ and

"the other side" 2sitra ahra and dwell there in

the realm of a "strange god" whom he would $etrefuse to worship The enormous tension between

the sub6ectie and the ob6ectie which had de-

eloped in the ran,s of his followers had so far


32/66

found a legitimate e1pression in this one act

alone .hereas Sabbatai )ei had actuall$ done

strange and ob6ectionable things in the name of

the hol$+ the celebration of this parado1 among

the "belieers" was restricted to the domain of

faith "Moderate" Sabbatianism drew a circle

around the concept of "strange holiness" and for-

bade itself to enter; it was indeed the Messiah's

fate to scandalize *srael b$ his deeds+ but it was

decidedl$ his fate alone

5nce drawn+ howeer+ the line was clearl$ dif-

ficult to maintain The more ardent "belieer"

found himself becoming increasingl$ restie .as

he to abandon the Messiah entirel$ 6ust when the

latter was engaged in the most bitter phase of his

struggle with the power of eil? *f the spar, of the

redemption had been e1perienced b$ all+ wh$

should not all do as the 4edeemer? How could

one refuse to go to his aid? nd soon the cr$ was

heard; Jet us surrender ourseles as he didK Jet

us descend together to the ab$ss before it shutsagainK Jet us cram the maw of impurit$ with the

power of holiness until it bursts from within

eelings such as these formed the ps$chological

bac,ground for the great nihilistic conflagration

that was to brea, out in the "radical" wing of the

Sabbatian moement The fire was fed b$ power-

ful religious emotions+ but in the crucial moment

these were to 6oin forces with passions of an en-

tirel$ different sort+ namel$+ with the instincts of

anarch$ and lawlessness that lie deepl$ buried

in eer$ human soul Traditionall$ %udaism had

alwa$s sought to suppress such impulses+ but nowthat the$ were allowed to emerge in the reolu-

tionar$ e1hilaration brought on b$ the e1perience

of redemption and its freedom+ the$ burst forth

more iolentl$ than eer n aura of holiness

seemed to surround them The$ too would be

granted their ti,,un+ if onl$ in the "hindparts of

holiness"

9ltimatel$+ too+ the disappointing course of e1-

ternal eents had a telling effect Though he pos-sessed the heroic soul of the warrior !ar 7o,hba+

Sabbatai )ei had not gone forth to do battle on

the >a$ of the Jord $awning chasm had ap-

peared between inner and outer realities+ and

once it was decided that the former was the truer

of the two+ it was onl$ to be e1pected that the

alue of the latter would increasingl$ come to be

re6ected *t was precisel$ at this point that messi-

anism was transformed into nihilism Haing

been denied the political and historical outlets it

had originall$ anticipated+ the new sense of free-

dom now sought to e1press itself in the sphere of

human moralit$ The ps$cholog$ of the "radical"Sabbatians was utterl$ parado1ical and "Mar-

ranic" /ssentiall$ its guiding principle was; .ho-

eer is as he appears to be cannot be a true "be-


33/66


34/66

sionall$ occurs in the literature of Hasidism as

well he ma$ do as the spirit dictates without

needing to ta,e into account the moral standards

of the societ$ around him *ndeed he is+ if an$-

thing+ dut$-bound to iolate and subert this "or-

dinar$" moralit$ in the name of the higher prin-

ciples that hae been reealed to him

lthough indiiduals with inclina-

tions in this direction e1isted in

%udaism also+ particularl$ among the 7abbalists+

up to the time of the Sabbatians their actiities

were confined entirel$ to the leel of pure theor$

The most outstanding e1ample of such specula-

tie or irtual "spiritualism" to be found in 7ab-

balistic literature is the Sefer ha-Temunah 2"The

!oo, of the *mage"+ a m$stical treatise written

in earl$ &3th-centur$ Spain+ in which it is stated

that the Torah consists of a bod$ of spiritual let-

ters which+ though the$ remain essentiall$ un-

changed+ present different appearances to the

reader in different cosmic aeons 2shemitot *neffect+ therefore+ each aeon+ or shemitah+ possesses

a Torah of its own *n the current shemitah+

which is ruled b$ the diine =ualit$ of din+ stern

6udgment or rigor+ the Torah is read in terms of

prohibitions and commandments and een its

most m$stic allusions must be interpreted in this

light *n the coming aeon+ howeer+ which will

be that of rahamim+ diine merc$+ the Torah will

be read differentl$+ so that in all probabilit$

"what is prohibited now will be permitted then"

/er$thing depends on the particular aeon and

the diine =ualit$ 2or attribute presiding oer

it Sensing the dangers inherent in such a doc-trine+ certain 7abbalists+ such as Moses @ordo-

ero+ attempted to dismiss it as entirel$ unworth$

of consideration !ut it was precisel$ those wor,s

that propounded it+ such as the Sefer ha-Temunah

and the Sefer ha-7anah+ which influenced the Sab-

batians tremendousl$

To the theor$ of the cosmic aeons the Sabba-

tians assimilated a second+ originall$ unrelated

concept The )ohar itself does not recognize or+

more e1actl$+ does not utilize the idea of the

shemitot at all 2a fact that was instrumental in

ma,ing it suspect in the e$es of later 7abbalists+but in two later additions to the )oharic corpus+

the Ti,,unei ha-)ohar and the 4a'$a Mehem-

na a great deal is said on the sub6ect of four

emanated worlds+ the .orld of atzilut or "/m-

anation+" the .orld of beriah or "@reation+" the

.orld of $etzirah or "ormation+" and the .orld

of asi$ah or "Ma,ing+" which together comprise

the different leels of spiritual realit$ *n connec-

tion with these we also occasionall$ hear of a

"Torah of atzilut" and a "Torah of beriah+ u themeanings of which are not entirel$ clear !$ the

time of the 7abbalists of the School of Safed+ how-

eer+ we find these latter terms emplo$ed in a def-


35/66

inite sense to indicate that there are two aspects

of the one essential Torah+ ie+ the Torah as it is

understood in the supernal .orld of atzilut and

the Torah as it is understood in the lower .orld

of beriah .hat the Sabbatians now did was to

seize this idea and e1pound it in the light of the

theor$ of cosmic aeons The Torah of beriah+

the$ argued+ borrowing a metaphor from the

)ohar 2*+ D3 is the Torah of the unredeemed

world of e1ile+ whose purpose it was to sere as a

garment for the She,hinah in her e1ile+ so that

whoeer obsered its commandments and prohi-

bitions was li,e one who helped clothe the She-

,,inah in her state of distress The Torah of

atzilut+ on the other hand+ is the "true" Torah

which+ li,e "the m$ster$ of the Godhead" it ma,es

manifest+ has been in a state of concealment for

the entire period of the e1ile :ow that the re-

demption has commenced it is about to be re-

ealed+ and although in essence it is identical

with the Torah of beriah+ its wa$ of being read will

be different thus+ all the commandments and pro-hibitions of the Torah of beriah will now be re-

interpreted b$ the light of the .orld of atzilut+ in

which 2to ta,e but one e1ample+ as is stated in

seeral 7abbalistic sources+ there is no such thing

as forbidden se1ual practices *t was in this man-

ner that assertions made in a completel$ different

spirit and in terms of a wholl$ different under-

standing of the concepts ".orld o atzilut" and

"Torah of atzilut" were pressed into serice b$

the "radical" Sabbatians as slogans for their new

moralit$

mong anti-Sabbatian 7abbalists there were a num-

ber of attempts to e1plain this monstrous perersion+ as

it seemed+ of sacred writings *n his >irei Sofri??i 2&(&3I+

p 3D d+ for e1ample+ 4 )ado, Hacohen of Jublin cites an

unidentified "boo, written b a saintl$ man" as his an-

thorit$ for asserting that the Sabbatians "came to the end

that the$ came to because the$ engaged in the stud$ of

the 7abbalah with their hearts full of lust and therefore

materialized much of its spiritual meaningI and in con-

se=uence of the fact that the$ saw references to copula-

tion+ ,issing+ embracing+ and so forth in what the$ readI+

the$ $ielded to lasciious passions+ ma$ God presere usfrom the same+ and committed great eil" *n much the

same ein+ 4abbi )ei of )$daczow+ one of the great 7ab-

balists of the Hasidic moement and possibl$ none other

than 4abbi )ado, Hacohen's "saintl$ man" himself+ writes

in his Sur me-4a a-seh To; "* once heard m$ teacher

the Seer of JublinI comment on certain students b$ men-

tioning the case of that well-,nown sect *t ie+ Sab-

batian antinomianismI happened because the$ desired to

achiee the reelation of /li6ah and to prophes$ b$ the

Hol$ Spirit without troubling to discipline their nature

or their material seles "

TH/ H5J*:/SS 5 S*:#LB


36/66

The concept of the two Torahs was an e1treme-

l$ important one for Sabbatian nihilism+ not least

because it corresponded so perfectl$ to the "Mar-

ranic" mentalit$ *n accordance with its purel$

m$stical nature the Torah of atzilut was to be ob-

sered strictl$ in secret the Torah of beriah+ on

the other hand+ was to be actiel$ and deliber-

atel$ iolated s to how this was to be done+

howeer+ the "radicals" could not agree and dif-

fering schools of thought eoled among them *t

is important to ,eep in mind that we are dealing

here with an eruption of the most dierse sorts

of emotion The Gordian ,not binding the soul

of the e1ilic %ew had teen cut and a ertigo that

ultimatel$ was to be his undoing seized the newl$

liberated indiidual; genuine desires for a recon-

secration of life mingled indiscriminatel$ with all

,inds of destructie and libidinal forces tossed up

from the depths b$ an irrepressible groundswell

that undulated wildl$ -between the earthl$ andthe diine

The ps$chological factors at wor, were particu-

larl$ arious in regard to the doctrine of the

holiness of sin+ which though restricted at first b$

some of the "belieers" to the performance of cer-

tain specified acts alone+ tended b$ irtue of its

own inner logic to embrace more and more of the

Mosaic Jaw+ especiall$ the biblical prohibitions

mong the leaders of the >onmeh the antino-

mian blessing composed b$ Sabbatai )ei+

"!lessed art Thou 5 Jord our God+ 7ing of the

unierse+ who permittest the forbidden mattirisurimI+" became a b$word *n fact+ two some-

what contradictor$ rationalizations of antinomi-

an behaior e1isted side b$ side 5n the one hand

there were those who said; in the world of re-

demption there can be no such thing as sin+ there-

fore all is hol$ and eer$thing is permitted To

this it was retorted; not at allK what is needed

rather is totall$ to den$ the beriah+ "@reation" 2a

word that had b$ now come to denote eer$ as-

pect of the old life and its institutions+ to tram-

ple its alues underfoot+ for onl$ b$ casting off

the last estiges of these can we trul$ become

free To state the matter in 7abbalistic terms+ theone side proposed to withhold the spar,s of holi-

ness from the ,elipot until the$ perished from

lac, of nourishment+ whereas the other insisted

that the ,elipot be positiel$ filled with holiness

until the$ disintegrated from the pressure !ut in

either case+ and despite the man$ ps$chological

nuances which entered into the "transgression

committed for its own sa,e" and the sacred sin+ all

the "radicals" were united in their belief in the

sanctif$ing power of sin itself "that dwelleth with

them in the midst of their uncleannesses+" as the$

interpreted the phrase in Jeiticus &


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art Thou 5 Jord our God+ 7ing of the unierse+ who freest

those who are in bondage mattir asurirriI" Translator's

noteI

*t would be pointless to den$ that the

se1ual element in this outburst was

er$ strong; a primitie abandon such as the %ew-

ish people would scarcel$ hae thought itself ca-

pable of after so man$ centuries of discipline in

the Jaw 6oined hands with perersel$ pathologi-

cal dries to see, a common ideological rehabili-

tation *n the light of what happened there is lit-

tle to wonder at when we read in the te1ts of rab-

binical e1communications dating from the &th

centur$ that the children of the "belieers" were

automaticall$ to be considered bastards+ 6ust as it

is perfectl$ understandable that these children

and grandchildren themseles should hae done

eer$thing in their power to obscure the histor$

of their descent 5ne ma$ readil$ grant+ of course+as )alman 4ubasho 6ustl$ obseres in his stud$

of the ran,ists+ that "eer$ sectarian moement

is suspected b$ the church against which it rebels

of the most infamous misconduct and immoral-

it$+" a conclusion which has led to the h$pothesis

that such accusations inariabl$ tell us more

about the depraed fantasies of the accusers than

the$ do about the actual behaior of the accused

*t is 4uba,ho's opinion+ indeed+ that although

the conduct of the ran,ists was "in itself ade-

=uate cause for indignation and amazement#'

there is also "eer$ reason to assume that as amatter of course it was greatl$ e1aggerated" s

alid as the general rule ma$ be+ howeer+ the

plain facts of the matter are that in the case of

the "radical" Sabbatians there was hardl$ an$

need for e1aggeration s :ahum So,olo

Documents

Scholem, G - The Holiness of Sin