Dimensions
163 x 242 x 27mm
The Astonishing Story of the Sabbatai Sevi Who Emerged from the Mystical Cult of the Kabbalah.
This is the story of Sabbatai Sevi, a seventeenth-century rabbi who through the mysticism of the kabbalah convinced vast numbers of Jews throughout Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa that he was the long awaited Messiah. Many of his followers were disappointed when he embraced Islam on the threat of execution from the Turkish Sultan, but many others continued to believe in him.
Today, a few Sabbatians still secretly hold true to their beliefs, patiently waiting for their Messiah to return and lead them to redemption; they believe that Sabbatai is not dead but merely hidden from human view, despite more than three centuries having passed since he left them.
Ranging from the Sultan's palaces in Istanbul to the synagogues of North Africa and out to the isolated Jewish communities of the Yemen and the remote reaches of Albania, Freely's remarkable quest takes us deep into the esoteric world of Jewish mysticism and the messianic cult which still inspires belief today.
