Letter about the Validity of the Messiah

After greeting, I accepted the letters, but we do not have the time to copy the expositions, as you wanted. Due to the fact that the late, wise, and pious Judah Ashkenazi, when he came to Jerusalem, accepted the divine faith that was taught to him by the sage Ḥayim Angel according to that which was taught by a certain wise man (and this faith is untrue), I declared and I also have spoken to the people of this city, informing them that this is worthless and that nothing would be done regarding our redemption. In order to spare him [this student of R. Judah the Pious who had come to Turkey] from error, I quickly prepared one exposition and sent it to the city of Izmir for them to read and send to the students in Istanbul so that they would give it to the aforementioned wise man, who told them how he had quickly returned from Jerusalem to Constantinople. In the current situation, we wrote half of it, for there was no time to finish it; you will receive the copy from the captain of this ship, with the secret of the faith, along with the short commentary that I have written, as well as the questions and responsa in which you will find most of the principles of this wisdom. This affair took place in 5457 [1697] in Rodosto, after the secret of the faith came into my hands.

Know that on account of the repugnant beliefs that were being dispersed in the name of the messiah Shabbetai Tzvi, may his glory be exalted—and among them enormous heresies that sprouted forth from the words of R. Nathan—I was forced to doubt the messianism of the redeemer Shabbetai Tzvi, may his glory be exalted. For this reason, I wrote a letter to the students in Constantinople, that through the power of my most supernal faith in the Holy One, and His shekhinah, I would request from the supernal assembly that they should tell me who the Messiah son of David is; for the ranks have become confounded, and the opinions have been confused.

I folded this paper and put it inside of an envelope that I sealed with four or five seals of the students who were sitting with me, and then I put the sealed envelope into another envelope and sealed it with five seals; thus I did with the third envelope. I put this third envelope—which contains the question and the first and second envelope—into a fourth envelope, and tied it with a silk ribbon, and I put wax on it and sealed it with one seal. I sent this sealed envelope with a trustworthy man to the students of Izmir, and commanded them to read it faithfully. And from above would descend one who would write it. And when he would make known to them that which was written, they should send it to me—to the city of Rodosto. Letters of fire descended, and their eyes saw, and they entered into the envelope. While the wise man Daniel wanted to send the sealed envelope to me, they told him to delay it because it was an innovation from above, and they wanted to write it in answer to the question; and I was waiting for the answer.

After four months, they came together in a closed room—the wise man Daniel and the wise man Moses Naḥum and the wise man Ḥayim Hazan, and as they were praying for permission to send the sealed envelope to me, a certain figure came from above and took the sealed envelope from the wise man Daniel; and they thought that perhaps he would bring it to me, and they wrote to me. I got very angry, for I was in Adrianople, and I strongly implored Metatron, who took the revealed paper, to come before me. He said that he brought it up to the supernal holy angel, to the supernal holy assembly, for thus it was commanded. I asked him if he would descend, and he answered that he would descend when the Turkish king returns from war in shame, for the uncircumcised will defeat the Ishmaelites; and so it was. On the evening of the fifteenth of the month of Ḥeshvan, the sealed envelope descended into the hands of the wise man Daniel. It turns out that it was delayed above for an entire year, for on the evening of the fifteenth of Ḥeshvan it was taken. The reason for the delay was in order that I should not scorn the answer, for they knew above that if they were to answer that Shabbetai Tzvi was the Messiah, I would not have believed the answer, for the heresies that I encountered at that time had greatly increased among the people of Adrianople.

Another pamphlet also came into my possession, of R. Nathan. In it he brought strong evidence that the Messiah would ascend the divine levels. This belief was impaled in the hearts of the great wise men of this generation who believed in Shabbetai Tzvi; and I wrote against them at length. Afterwards, the students sent the secret of the faith from Constantinople to me in Rodosto; he had given permission to the students to copy it. He said that it was dictated to him by Shabbetai Tzvi in Ulcinj [a small town in Montenegro], near Berat [in Albania]. Thus, I did not need an answer from the supernal assembly in order to believe that Shabbetai Tzvi was the Messiah. Not even thirty days passed before the sealed paper descended, in which they wrote that the levels were not confounded; if the opinions were confused, Shabbetai Tzvi, and he alone, is the Messiah son of David; he alone, and no one else.