Letter Hailing Shabbetai Tzvi as the Messiah

Eliah ben Michael Judah Leon

1666

Manuscript page with Hebrew writing and Latin signatures underneath, with seal and ribbon on right side.
This letter hailing Shabbetai Tzvi as the Messiah was signed by twenty-four prominent members of the Amsterdam Jewish community who had founded a learned society, Yeshuot Meshiho, in his honor. It was widely believed that 1666 would be the apocalyptic year. However, in that same year Shabbetai Tzvi was arrested by the Ottoman authorities and, threatened with death, converted to Islam. He was abandoned by all but his most faithful followers.

Credits

Collection Ets Haim — Livraria Montezinos, Amsterdam, EH 47 A 11 001.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Creator Bio

Eliah ben Michael Judah Leon

17th Century

Eliah ben Michael Judah Leon was a member of Amsterdam’s Portuguese Jewish community who was the scribe for a letter hailing Shabbetai Tzvi as the Messiah in 1666, signed by twenty-four prominent members of the community.

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