Robert Sepehr - 1666 Redemption Through Sin

Robert Sepehr

Copyright 2015 by Atlantean Gardens

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2015

ISBN 978-1-943494-01-9

Atlantean Gardens
5334 Lindley Ave #133
Encino, CA 91316

www.AtlanteanGardens.org

M ost people have heard of Jesus Christ, considered by Christian followers to be the Messiah who lived over 2000 years ago. But very few people have ever heard of Sabbatai Zevi, who declared himself to be the Messiah in 1666. He amassed a following of over one million believers, half the worlds Jewish population during the 17th century, by proclaiming that redemption was available through acts of sin.

Considered a heretic by many of his contemporary Rabbis, nonetheless, his fame extended far and wide. Sabbatais adherents planned to abolish many of the ritualistic observances, because, according to the Talmud, in the Messianic time there would no longer be holy obligations. Fasting days became days of feasting and rejoicing. Sexual promiscuity, adultery, incest and religious orgies were encouraged and practiced by Sabbateans.

After Sabbati Zevis death in 1676, his philosophy would be continued, and expanded on, by his Kabbalist successor Jacob Frank. Frankism, a religious movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, centered on the leadership of the Messiah claimant Jacob Frank. He, like Zevi, would perform strange acts that violated traditional religious taboos, such as eating fats that were forbidden by Jewish dietary laws, ritual sacrifice, promoting orgies and sexual immorality.

Jacob Frank would eventually enter into an alliance formed by Adam Weishaupt and Meyer Amshel Rothschild called the Order of the Illuminati. The objectives of this organization was to undermine the worlds religions and power structures, in an effort to usher in a utopian era of global communism covertly ruled by their hidden hand: the New World Order. Using secret societies, such as the Freemasons, their agenda has played itself out over the centuries, staying true to the script. Opposition is handled by a near total control of the worlds media, academic opinion leaders, politicians and finance. While still considered a conspiracy theory to many, more people are waking up each day to the reality that this is not just a theory, but a true conspiracy.

I n 1666, an exceptionally charismatic Rabbi and Kabbalist by the name of Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676) declared himself to be the Messiah. Born to an affluent family in Western Anatolia, he was a particularly eccentric mystic who had attained a massive following of over one million devotees during his lifetime, roughly half of the worlds Jewish population in the 17th century. (1)

His extraordinary popularity, according to historians such as Professor Gershom Scholem, resulted largely from the publication and availability of what is today called the Lurianic Kabbalah.(1) Named after Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), this new Kabbalah enjoyed broad dissemination thanks to the invention of the printing press in the previous century. Jews around the world for the first time had access to occult literature about the deeper meaning of their faith and the popularity of Jewish mysticism soared. After a particularly harsh period of persecution in European history, this pro-active Kabbalistic philosophy, through an ancient mystical system, gave Jews a reason to be excited and optimistic.

Part of this system included ways of interpreting the supernatural relationship between events and time; often through letters and numbers. The magical emphasis given to the numerological value of dates contributed greatly to the widely held expectations and hope placed on the coming of a Messiah at the time of Sabbatai Zevis advent the 18th day (6+6+6), of the 6th month, of the year 1666. (1, 8)

FIGURE 1

Zevi was extremely charming and exuded an inviting personality, as documented by those who knew him. According to an eyewitness, Rabbi Leib ben Ozer:

You must believe that this was how it was. I spoke with people who ate and drank and were near him, who were not proponents [of Sabbatai Zevis] and they told me that there was none like him in stature and in the way his face looked, like that of one of Gods angels. And they testified that when he sang Sabbath hymns to God, which he did several times a day, it was not possible to look into his face, for one who looked at it, it was as if he looked into fire. (1)

Sabbatai Zevi was considered very handsome in appearance and also possessed an enchanting singing voice. Rabbi Leib ben Ozer goes on to describe another phenomenon which added to belief in Zevis messianic claim:

And this is one of the greatest occurrences, clearly super-natural, that came to pass in those days and a reason for the great belief in Sabbatai Zevi, for it happened in many places, that prophets arose in hundreds and thousands, women and men, boys and girls and even little children; all of them prophesied in the holy tongue [Hebrew] and in the language of the Zohar as well, and none of them knew a letter of Hebrew and all the less so the [idiosyncratic] language of the Zohar. (1)

Many Rabbis of the time publicly attested to having had dreams in which Sabbatai appeared to them, sometimes by the side of their bed, and when they awoke they would profess that he was the Messiah. According to professor Gersham Sholem, a sincere expectation arose in the psyche of many Jews, especially in Europe following the Spanish Inquisition, that Biblical prophecy would be fulfilled via a Jewish homeland. (11)

According to some critical interpretations of his behavior, Sabbatai showed signs of what modern scholars would likely call manic-depressive psychosis. In other words, he publicly displayed at times ecstatic behavior, often followed by bouts of seclusion or possibly depression. He also violated numerous religious laws, from dietary restrictions to committing acts of sexual immorality. (1, 8, 11, 13)

On the other hand, some scholars and modern day followers, or neo-Sabbateans, have argued that his behavior did not point to psychosis, but rather, was simply what one should expect from of a religious mystic, such as a Sufi: meditative chanting, prayer-trance, dancing, etc. According to professor Avraham Elqayam, faculty member of the Jewish Philosophy Department at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, Sabbatai engaged frequently in Bektashi Sufi rituals. This perspective seems reasonable to me, as Sabbatai Zevis final grave sight in Albania was made into a Sufi shrine, as it remains even today. (5)

In any event, Zevis unusual, or socially immoral and religiously unacceptable behavior finally got him expelled from Smyrna around 1650, and he wandered for years through Greece, Thrace, Egypt, and Syria. In 1665 his life forever changed upon meeting Nathan of Gaza in Palestine, the Rabbi who persuaded him that he was indeed the Messiah to usher in a new age, and who would become known as one of his greatest proponents and interpreters. Sabbatai Zevi was convinced and formally revealed himself after considerable encouragement from Nathan, making his pronouncement in the year 1666 as to fulfill Messianic prophecy. He soon gained fervent support in the Diaspora (areas outside Palestine settled by Jews) by promising a return to a Jewish homeland, a message that was then well received. (8, 11)