Far away from the eyes of the Jewish mainstream, in modern-day Turkey there live hundreds, if not thousands, of crypto-Jews — and today, one of their most sacred shrines is in danger.
This is the hidden, fascinating tale of the doenmeh, descendants of the faithful followers of the 17th-century false messiah Sabbetai Tzvi, who converted to Islam in 1666. Tzvi’s own conversion came under duress: The Ottoman sultan demanded that he don the turban or die after nearly one-third of European Jewry had come to believe he was the messiah and had begun swarming into Turkey, expecting the long-awaited triumph of the Jews.
Tzvi chose to convert, and most of his followers lost hope — but not all of them. Many saw the conversion as a heroic act of tikkun, or repair, and followed their messiah’s lead by outwardly becoming Muslims while secretly maintaining their messianic Jewish faith. They were called doenmeh, meaning “turncoats”— a pejorative term not unlike marrano (“pig.”) Among themselves, they were called ma’aminim, “believers.” Sabbateanism did not die out in 1666, or even 10 years later when Tzvi himself died. There were subsequent messiahs — largely forgotten men like Baruchiah Russo and Jacob Frank — and, as recent scholarship has shown, Sabbateanism greatly influenced the 18th-century emergence of Hasidism. And then there are the doenmeh, who live on until the present day, in secretive communities, at first primarily in Salonika and today almost entirely in present-day Turkey.
A move to tear down the Turkish home where Tzvi is said to have lived, however, may now disturb the balance the community has cultivated for centuries.
Over the years, most of the doenmeh assimilated into Islam; many more were annihilated during the Holocaust, and still more have, in modern-day Turkey, come to see their background as a curious but largely irrelevant heritage. But even those who did assimilate usually maintained some knowledge of their ancestry, and doenmeh were among the founders of the secular Turkish republic. Today, many doenmeh are among Turkey’s elite, though it is taboo to speak their names; since doenmeh are regarded as traitors by both Muslims and Jews, it is scandalous to accuse a person of being one of them, even if his or her identity is an open, unspoken secret. (Recently-deceased Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem, for example, was “outed” by several Turkish newspapers, but he denied being a Sabbatean, and Iglaz Zorlu’s best-selling 1999 memoir, “Yes, I am a Salonikan,” stirred controversy throughout the country.) But the secret is open, like the doenmeh cemeteries outside of Istanbul, with their distinctively unadorned gravestones, and the mosques where doenmeh are known to pray.
Barry Kapandji is one of the few doenmeh descendants willing to openly acknowledge his ancestry — and even he wouldn’t use his real name (“totally out of the question,” he said). Kapandji, 33, was told by his father that he was a doenmeh when he was nine years old. Since then, he has been fascinated by his heritage. Kapandji first contacted me a few months ago, when he learned that the house in Izmir (formerly Smyrna) in which Tzvi is believed to have lived was slated for demolition by the municipality to make way for a park. No one would help him: The doenmeh he knew were afraid of going public, and the Jewish community wanted nothing to do with this sect of heretics.
“This is a crime against culture, history and my heritage,” Kapandji told me. “The Jewish community elders do not want the house turned into a museum.… They would like Sabbetai’s name to be eradicated from history.”
The Forward was not able to obtain a comment from the Izmir Jewish community, but it is true that in traditional Jewish circles it is customary to add the epithet “Yemach shemo,” “May his name be blotted out,” to the names of Sabbetai Tzvi and other heretics. Usually, the epithet works: Few know their names today. Yet, Kapandji said, “Sabbetai Tzvi, for better or for worse, helped shape the history of the Jewish people, and we should acknowledge him for that.”
But is the house at 920 Agora Girisi, half-ruined and barely distinguishable from others in the old Jewish neighborhood (now mostly destroyed), really the birthplace of Sabbatai Tzvi, the “mystical messiah”?
Yes, according to Dr. Cengiz Sisman, an expert on Sabbateanism who received his doctorate from Harvard University. Sizman cited a wealth of evidence, including 1925 and 1940 newspaper reports of the house (the architecture of which is clearly described) being used as a “visiting site by believers,” a 1935 book by noted historian Abraham Galante, and a 1961 account by writer John Freely of a group of believers lighting candles and performing a ritual on the third floor of the building.
By the 1990s, however, few doenmeh were maintaining the old rituals, and the house, like the rest of the area, had fallen into disrepair. It appeared briefly in a French-language documentary on the doenmeh by filmmaker Michel Grosman, but only a few interested parties, like Sisman and Kapandji, were even aware that it had been slated for demolition. Last month, Kapandji interceded with the Izmir municipality and, on the basis of testimony by elders from the Sabbatean and Jewish communities, temporarily halted the destruction of the house — or at least what remains of it.
Today, Sisman said, “neither the Jewish nor the Sabbatean groups are particularly keen to utilize the house for any kind of Sabbatean or Jewish purpose.” For the Jews, it is the home of a heretic best forgotten; and the few doenmeh still aware of their ancestry fear being branded as traitors if they are exposed.
Surely, though, if this house is what Sisman and Kapandji believe it to be, it is an important relic of a key episode in Jewish history. Of course, as shown by Israel’s many Crusader tombs doubling as the supposed burial places of prophets and rabbis, the fact that a place is venerated by believers does not mean that it is what they believe it to be. Then again, there are reasons to think that this instance might be different. The doenmeh, after all, have lived in the same place, continuously, since the time of Tzvi himself, and have maintained a secret tradition of belief, liturgy, ritual, even recipes. Kabbalah scholar Avraham Elqayam recently published an article describing the mystical significance of a newly unearthed doenmeh cookbook, and Zeek, an online journal of which I am an editor, is publishing translations of Sabbatean hymns and first-person accounts of Tzvi at prayer, compiled by David Halperin, professor emeritus of religion at the University of North Carolina.
So perhaps it’s not as much of a stretch to suppose that a secret community, living continuously in one place, might preserve historical memory more accurately than, say, Jews returning to the Land of Israel after centuries away — or, for that matter, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, who is supposed to have identified most of the Christian holy sites in Israel while on a pilgrimage of her own. “I come from a family of academics,” Kapandji said. “We aren’t accustomed to claiming things without any evidence.”
Kapandji wants to see the house as some kind of museum, though he acknowledged that openly discussing Tzvi himself is still taboo in Turkish society. Sisman thinks the house should be preserved for Turkish reasons, as a testament to that country’s “multicultural heritage.”
Perhaps the house is of significance to Jews, as well. Sabbateanism was a dynamic, mystical and progressive movement — it was the first to put women in positions of leadership and to question the authority of normative Judaism — that was, according to many, an antecedent of Zionism. (Israeli presidents Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and Zalman Shazar were both scholars of the movement, and Theodor Herzl’s opponents labeled him a “new Sabbetai Tzvi.”) In an age in which many people are seeking alternative forms of Jewish expression, perhaps it is worth remembering those that did not survive.
Or rather, those that still, secretly, endure.
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Yemach Shemo. May the name of the Sabbatean and his followers be blotted out. I heartily encourage the municipality to plow ahead with its plans to destroy that site of idol worship. There is nothing worth remembering or recording about him or those people who persisted in following him. He brought untold ruin and misery on the Jewish people.
"and, as recent scholarship has shown, Sabbateanism greatly influenced the 18th-century emergence of Hasidism." What in the world does that mean?? That's a ridculous thing to say!
Speaking of false messiahs, hopefully Menachem Mendel Schneerson's shrine in Crown Heights will soon meet the wrecking ball. Baruch hashem.
Speaking of false messiahs, hopefully Menachem Mendel Schneerson's shrine in Crown Heights will soon meet the wrecking ball. Baruch hashem.
There is no verifiable evidence that Sabbatai Zvi became Muslim, and forcible conversion is specifically forbidden in Qur'an. If the Turkish Sultan had required him to "put on the turban" or die it would have been a unique event in the history of Ottoman Islam. Also, the Sephardim in the Ottoman empire wore turbans. The forcible conversions imposed in Spain by the fundamentalist Muwahiddun (Almohads) and later in Persia were exceptional, as noted by Bernard Lewis. I described the search for the tomb of Sabbetai Zvi in my book SARAJEVO ROSE, which includes numerous articles reprinted from the FORWARD.
Sabbatai Sevi (Scholem's transcription) was an incredible person, probably manic depressive, who should never be forgotten. He fits well into the spiritual patterns also shown by Moses, Jesus, George Fox (a contemporary). His home should be saved.
The comparison between Shabtai Tzvi and the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson posted by a previous reader, is ludicrous. Regardless of ones personal beliefs and biases, to compare a person who caused the assimiliation and conversion of thousands of Jews to Islam to another who has caused thousands of Jews to return to their Jewish heritage demonstrates sheer ignorance of historical facts. The love the Rebbe had for each individual person is legendary. It did not matter if the person came to see him personally, wrote to him or did not know he even existed, the Rebbe made sure to send his followers all over the world to help those in need. His followers continue to do so to this day. This is something we should all try to emulate, love for each other rather than senseless hatred. Only then will we merit the true Messiah, whoever he may be.
"Of course, as shown by Israel’s many Crusader tombs doubling as the supposed burial places of prophets and rabbis, the fact that a place is venerated by believers does not mean that it is what they believe it to be." Evidence for this.??? As opposed to Crusaders using Jewish Holy sites of the ancients for burials due to their belief in the sites holiness. Witness the Muslims and their cemetary on the Eastern Wall.
The house of Amirah (Shabbetai-Tzvi)would seem to fall between three chairs - nto the proverbial two. As so correctly pointed out the matter of the sect is taboo amongst both Jews and Muslims in Turkey but even more pertinent is perhaps the need to keep matters regarding it quiet amongst the Ma'minler. I think that the use fo the expression 'crypto-Jews' is quite incorrect. Shabbataean identity is complex and the evolution of the various sub-sects in both the Balkans and Italy and into Europe created a quite autonomous teaching that stands on its own two feet. To imply that Ma'minler are Jews practicing their faith under the guise of Islam is completely incorrect. Shabbataeanism is a mind set and rests on questioning the validity of blind belief...and observances of anysort as ends in themselves.
"it appeared briefly in a French-language documentary on the doenmeh by filmmaker Michel Grosman". what is the name of the documentary?
Who amongst you dare speak for HaShem! Was it not Avram who went down into Mitzryam and became beloved of God, thus becoming Avraham. Obviously, our father Avraham though HaShem was in discomfort in order for him to offer God comforting at the tent at Mamare. For that matter, Yakov, prince of God, who went into but came out the other side. And Yosef, was he not placed in the well for the sake of unifying that which has been torn asunder in the body of God. If you say "no", then tell me please, just what the hell is tikkun? Why does it fall to man to do it? For man's sake? For God's sake! Get your heads out of your tukkis. Let me ask, are you speaking from a programmed response and rejecting something of which you know nothing? Perhaps your ideology is being threatened? Have any of you taken the time to read Gershom Scholem's work, " Sabbatai Sevi, The Mystical Messiah." I would bet the vast majority haven't. It pains me to think of this easy approach to spirituality, as just repeating and regurgitating what Rabbi So-and-So told me! Oh wait, HaShem only speaks to you through Rabbi So-and-So. This is my lament for Israel! If Moshiach poked its head out, would you try and shove it back it in because it's not the Moshiach you had in mind? Oh, of course, forget the descent of Sevi into the house of Ishmael, or for that matter Yakov meeting with Aisav and promising to meet him in Seir. Or for that matter Yosef descending into Eygpt or for that matter Moshe going into Mitzryam and bringing with him Eygptians who became part of Israel. I mean, the Zohar tells us that he who thinks the Torah is but mere words and stories will not inherit Olam Haba...but no...forget it. Just stick with your easy to explain, comfortable view of the world and rest assured you are doing everything thing in your power to perform tikkun, that is as long as it doesn't brand you as a heretic, like poor Jeremiah or Sevi for that matter. God forbid!
The great myth in Judaism is that Judaism remains like a petrified object, a solid mass that congeals, that it has been what it is--intolerant, obscurantist, orthodox--since the period of the second temple. What Sevi holds for Judaism is the key to the melting twin visions of modernity and religion. So much of the Jewish world was swept up by this maelstrom that after September of 1666 and Sevi's apostasy, this episode became the dirty "little" secret no one dare mention. If for no other reason, it is important to remember that the same Amsterdam community that branded that other arch heretic, the rationalist Spinoza, was the same traditional community that was prepared to follow the false messiah on a one way passage to Jerusalem. Sevi is a reminder of the egoism of one hucksterish would-be messiah & the commensurate credulity of all those who willingly allowed themselves to be duped into such a phantastical vision. Should we destroy Bosch paintings? Klee's work immortalized in Walter Benjamin's writings on history? Other artistic monuments relevant to the genealogical re-interpretation of our mostly-static historical narrative? In Sevi and his movement (like the conversos of Spain) is buried several repressed layers of Jewish history. And from Sevi, we are better able to understand the religious and cultural divide between various branches of Judaism. Sevi, for all his apostasy, remains a distinctly Jewish artifact. His legacy therefore ought to be preserved. Can we not agree on the pack of lies spewed by propagandists and followers of Sevi and yet still commit ourselves to the preservation of his memory, if for nothing less than to act as a reminder of our own credulous past? Can we not preempt all irrational habits within Judaism, or at the very least, re-ignite the debate presented between those who see Judaism as essentially a rational religion and those who take the position that nothing is rational about creation, revelation, miracles and redemption?
Thank you, Dr. Schwartz. I knew about your ideas, but I didn’t know about the book. As well, thank for your book about Spanish Civil War. Although I don’t agree with some points, it is a great book.
Sabbetai Tzvi is the ideological father of Modern Zionism. He is the greatest Zionist visionary in the two nearly millenia that elapsed between the Roman exile and the Basel congress. If the local small-minded Jewish rabbinical leadership had listened to him at the time - rather than betraying him to the Ottoman Sultan - there would be an Israel over 300 years ago!
SABBETAI SEVI: THE SAGE THAT SAVED THE WORLD A Glance at Recent History The Sabbateans of Salonica were not spared from the Holocaust because Hitler did not consider them Jews. He certainly DID. (One proof is that Sabbateans left behind in Greece's Western Thrace region, although officially registered as Muslims, were sent to the extermination camps as Jews.) They were spared because, in 1923 as part of the Turco-Greek population exchange, they were sent to Turkey as Muslims. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_of_populations_between_Greece_and_Turkey This happened because -- against the Sabbateans' strong protests, claiming they were actually Jewish -- Salonica's Grand Rabbi declared to the Greek government that they were not part of the Jewish community. Thus in 1923, Salonica's Sabbateans were moved en masse to Turkey, and as a result, they were spared from the Holocaust that took place some 20 years later. On the other hand, practically all descendents of the Jews of Salonica who did NOT follow Sabbetai Sevi's teachings in 1666 perished in Auschwitz. Accordingly, in sparing the lives of Salonica's Sabbateans whose forefathers believed in him as the Messiah, Sabbetai Sevi clearly WAS their Messiah! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatai_Zevi Now the story grows even more amazing... Salonica's some 20,000 Sabbateans, together with those of Izmir and the Aegean region, became the founding elite of the nascent Turkish Republic in the 1920s. During WW II many among the leaders of the Turkish government from the president down, as well as key diplomats of the Foreign Ministry, and a great part of Turkey's military, cultural, academic, economic, professional elites, were known to belong, or have close ties, to this Sabbatean community. AND THESE PEOPLE WELL KNEW THAT, IF HITLER WERE EVER TO ENTER TURKEY, THE FATE OF TURKEY'S SABBATEAN COMMUNITY WOULD BE NO DIFFERENT THAN THE COUNTRY'S JEWS!!! So by various means, ranging from creative diplomacy to military tough-talk - including the full mobilization of a 1 million strong Turkish army, famous for its fierce fighting ability - they prevented Hitler form invading Turkey. Hitler, who desperately needed to reach the oil wells, was thus pushed to take the Stalingrad route instead, where he faced Russia's Gen. Winter, his army was destroyed, and this is how the Nazis lost the war. You can say that by blocking Hitler's entry to Turkey, the Sabbateans not only saved their own skin... They also clearly: - Saved Turkey's Jews; - Saved their native Turkish Republic; - Saved all the Jews of Israel and allowed the Jewish State to be born a few years later (which, as already planned by Hitler's ally, the Mufti of Jerusalem, would be easy prey if the Nazis had marched over Turkey); and - Saved THE WHOLE WORLD (most historians agree that if Hitler would have reached the oil wells of Iraq, linked-up with Nazi-leaning Arab countries, taken control of the Suez Canal, and thus achieve control all the way to the Muslims of India, he would become invincible and would have won the war)!!! Thus Hitler, the Jewish people's -- as well the civilized world's -- greatest genocidal demon, was destroyed in essence by none other than Sabbatean Jews! I am not a religious person, but when you look at all the above chain of events, it is undeniable that, through the forces that he set in motion in 1666, Sabbetai Sevi eventually not only saved his own followers... He saved Israel! And he saved the Whole World! WASN'T THAT WHAT A MESSIAH IS SUPPOSED TO DO ???
Had the sage saved the world? !!! No matter if you are religious, mystical, believer, secular or agnostic, you neither are not exempt from creating myths. Referring to Turkish Sabbateans, the credit of saving Turkey's Jews, the Turkish Republic, the Jewish State and the whole World, not only disagrees with historical facts, but also falls in the category of mythical fabrications. The main and sufficient reason for Turkey not allying with Germany in WWII was the detrimental consequence of its alliance with Germany during WWI, also, the plain probability that a similar experience would completely debilitate Turkey. Let us remember that responsible members of the Union and Progress Committee's oligarchy with its Sabbatean fraction were consecutively sentenced to the death penalty by Martial Court and fled Turkey. Turkish active co-operation with Germany became tremendous and impending, only when Germany solicited from Turkey the transit rights to Iraq, in order to support the pro-German coup d'état which occurred in April 5th, 1941. Turkey resisted this demand, and with the suppression of this upheaval, a German military intervention was not optional. It is correct that Admiral Raeder offered Hitler a war plan, aiming to occupy Turkey in order to take control of Caucasus and attack Russia from behind, but thereafter signing a pact of non belligerence with Turkey, Hitler felt free to implement the previously planned Operation Barbarrossa against Russia, which was considered the main obstacle of his aspirations, by marching his troops into Russia. Regards, Gad Nassi
Save this place. It is history. Why can't Sabbateanism be discussed in Turkey? Where's free speech? How can Turkey be admitted into the European Union with such a modern notion of free speech is thrown to the wind, or kept in wraps for fear of the growing Islamic extremism in Turkey. I think Ataturk, the father of the modern Turkish republic must be spinning in his grave. BTW, inspite of the rumors, the evidence is against Mustafa Kemal Ataturk being a member of the Doenmeh, a Crypto-Jew, and a follower of Sabbatai Sevi.
God, Allah, Yahweh and the divine in general are modal particles. They should be respected as such, for without them human language, which is all we have to not be animals, is incomplete. Likewise those that changed history or parts of history, as Sabbatay Tzwi did, should be respected and remembered as parts of humanity in its aspect of being the only terrestrian creature using an elaborate language with modal particles.
He's part of our history. Keep the house standing!
I'd like to express my thanks and gratitude to Jay Michaelson for writing this excellent article. For those of you who are interested in further developments on the issue please contact me from the following email: barry.kapandji@gmail.com or from: http://http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=744204443 Regards, Barry Kapandji
I am in the process of composing a series of article on the unity of the human race, through how we express and project these expressions into our lives and society. The Sabbateanism's cultural achivements are a good example, and in their way show that as my mother of blessed memory always said; it takes a league of nations to achieve. Over the centuries, our people have done well to show the benefits of working together with others; regardless of one's view of Tzvi's work, a league of people did well, and our culture and freedoms reflect much of their work. That a Suadi King can host inter-religious dialouge may be part of this heritage and more power to them. I do not agree with the movement, but I am thankful we live in a world where it can be and we should maybe be kinder to these followers, as well.
I commend Barry Kapandji for his efforts to preserve the historic Shabetai Zvi house. Shabetai Zvi, whether you scorn him, believe in him, or like most, view him as a bizarre figure more than 400 years ago, was very important in Jewish history. He captivated most of the Jewish world during his time, created a frenzy from throughout the Mediterranean to Eastern Europe, and for many decades afterward was the source for much dissent and libeling amongst Jews and rabbinic circles in Northern Europe. While Shabbatei Zvi did not turn out to be the messiah for the Jews, he did galvanize most of Mediterranean Jewry to prepare for moving to Eretz-Israel. None of the Jewish messianic figures after him had a parallel message; which is one of the numerous precepts of messianism. The strength of the Jewish people is Zackhor, remembering. For mainstream Judaism Sabbateanism signifies heresy, but also a constant duality between two faiths and the condition of Sephardi Jewry who has a history of marranism since the early 14th century until today. I don't know why Rev. Smith says there is more evidence against Ataturk not being a Deunme. Have you published anything in this direction or can you direct us to tangible material? In my researching the Deunme (or the ma'aminim as they coin themselves) for the past 3 decades, I interviewed 6 classmates of Ataturk from the Deunme school in Salonika. His house (the current Turkish consulate) was in the deunme neighborhood in Salonika, and according to an Ottoman-Turkish language family tree Attaturk is a direct descendant fo Shabetai Zvi (but only on one side of his parents). Ataturk was a secularist and founder of the secular Turkish National Republic, but to whitewash his roots is historically incorrect. Some fifty Deunme remained in Salonika after 1922 and in 1943 were deported to Auschwitz. Just like Shabetai Zvi's crypt, which exists, in Montenegro should be preserved, so should his house in Izmir. There were also Deunme who made aliyah to Israel at the beginning of the State as Jews and live in places like Ramla and Yehud. Let's hope Turkey of the future will be a place of tolerance and not erasing the past. Shalom, Yitzchak Kerem