THE MESSIAH OF TURKEY

by Aubrey Ross  

978-0-9552404-5-4                                                                             £9.50

Among the many charismatic religious groups in today’s confused world, there is one whose founder started life as a rabbi, then converted to Islam and eventually reverted to Judaism.  It is incredible to acknowledge that when the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire challenged Shabbatai Sevi, the man who large numbers of Jews recognised as the Messiah, to convert to Islam or die, his submission was seen by many of his followers, not as cowardice but as the fulfilment of a divine journey. They still await his imminent return. Some latter-day Sabbateans, the American connection, formed 1972 believe that apostasy from Judaism constitutes the sacred process of watering their spiritual roots. They have successively embraced Hinduism, Islam and Christianity reverting eventually to their own unorthodox brand of Judaism. This however, has nothing to do with the traditions of the mainstream Turkish Sabbateans known as the Donmeh.

Following a visit to Istanbul the author was able to verify that the Sabbataeans worldwide number some forty thousand individuals. Many of them, to this day, show a public persona as Muslims but privately follow their own secret religion. Their sacred literature is the Zohar, the principle book of Kabbala and to this must be added the writings of Shabbatai Sevi.