Sabbatai Zevi Converts to Islam

1666

The Ottoman court, impatient with the Smyrna mystic whose claims to be the Jewish messiah had roused Europe, gave Sabbatai Zevi a choice between Islam and execution. He chose Islam and kept his head. Jewish messianic expectation, which had swept from Amsterdam to Yemen, collapsed in bitter disillusionment, leaving communities that had sold their possessions in anticipation of redemption stricken and ashamed.