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Jewish Millenarianism: A Comparison of Medieval Communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Stephen Sharot
Stephen Sharot
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Extract

Sociologists and anthropologists who have studied millennial movements in a comparative perspective have almost completely ignored the movements among Jews in the Diaspora. Historians have studied particular Jewish messianic outbursts and have also provided general surveys of Jewish millennial expectations and ‘false’ messiahs, but none have offered a systematic analysis of possible social causes and few have made any comparison with non-Jewish millennial movements. Gershom Scholem, the author of Sabbatai Sevi, by far the most outstanding work on Jewish messianism, puts the weight of explanation on the immanent development of ideas in Judaism and tends to discountenance possible social causes.

Type
Religion and Cultural Resistance
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , July 1980 , pp. 394 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1980

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References

1 Lewy, Guenter, Religion and Revolution (New York. 1974).Google Scholar Lewy does not go beyond the Jewish millennialist rebellion against the Romans under Bar Kochba from 132 to 135 C.E. Since the book is concerned with revolutionary millenarianism and since Jewish active rebellion declined after Bar Kochba, Lewy may have decided that later Jewish millenarianism fell outside his framework. However, there was a series of millennialist Jewish revolts in Persia in the second half of the eighth and first half of the twelfth centuries. In his work on religion and crisis cults, La Barre includes an appendix on Jewish ‘false messiahs’, but he does not attempt a causal analysis, and his account contains a number of inaccuracies. Barre, Weston La, The Ghost Dance: The Origins of Religion (London, 1970).Google Scholar

2 Scholem, Gershom, Sabbatai Sevi, Princeton, 1973. Scholem‘s work is a phenomenal piece of scholarship, but I do not believe that he has said the last word on the interpretation of the movement. I hope to present an alternative, more sociological interpretation, but this will require a chapter to itself.Google Scholar

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5 For reasons of space I do not go beyond the sixteenth century in this article, but I intend to deal with later Jewish millenarianism elsewhere. The differences between the Sephardim and the Ashkenazim with regard to messianism are discussed in an article, published as a separate pamphlet, by Cohen, Gerson D., Messianic Postures of Ashkenazim and Sephardim (Prior to Sabbatai Sevi) (New York, 1967).Google Scholar Cohen's focus is on the differences at the rabbinical level rather-than at the popular level. For a discussion of his arguments see below. I use the term ‘millenarianism’ rather than ‘millennial movement’ since according to most definitions of social movements–which assume a minimal degree of organization-many widespread expectations among Jews of an imminent millennium have not been movements. Weinryb notes the tendency among Jewish historians to use the term ‘movement’ in a loose way and to label any information on messianic expectations and false messiahs as ‘messianic movements’. Weinryb, Bernard D., The Jews of Poland (Philadelphia, 1972), p. 366.Google Scholar

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8 I am excluding a messianic incident in Crete in the second half of the fifth century because it is outside the period under discussion.

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12 Some scholars believe that one of the prophets known as Moses, who was extravagantly praised by the famous scholar R. Hasdai Crescas, was in fact Moses ben Isaac Botarel. In addition to writing a great number of books filled with false quotations from historical and imaginary figures, Botarel appears to have had messianic pretentions. Baer, , op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 159–62.Google ScholarScholem, , Kabbalah, pp. 65–66.Google ScholarEncyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971), vol. 4, pp. 1268–69.Google ScholarAescoly, , op. cit., p. 226.Google Scholar At the same time many marranos tried to leave Spain and migrate to Israel, believing that this would contribute to the coming of redemption. Dinur, B., ‘The Emigration From Spain to Eretz Yisrael after the Disorders of 1391’ (in Hebrew), Zion 32(1967): 161–74.Google Scholar

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19 Conversos: former Jews, the majority of whom had been forcibly converted to Christianity. Those converts who continued to practise Judaism in secret are also known as marranos. For reasons of space the present paper does not include a discussion of the widespread millenarianism among the marranos.

20 Aescoly, , op. cit., pp. 251–78.Google ScholarShulvass, , Rome and Jerusalem, pp. 54–64.Google ScholarRoth, Cecil, ‘A Zionist Experiment in the XVIth Century’, Midstream 9 (1963): 76–81.Google Scholar For an English translation of a diary purported to be written by Reubeni, see, Adler, Elkan Rathan, ed., Jewish Travellers (New York, 1966), pp. 251–328Google Scholar (first published 1930). Reubeni's origins are unknown, but from his writings and other evidence historians have argued that he was an Ashkenazi, a Yemenite, an Indian, and a Falasha (Ethiopian Jew). Aescoly, A. Z., ‘David Reubeni in the Light of History‘, Jewish Quarterly Review 28 (1937–1938): 1–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Shohat, Azriel, ‘Notes on the David Reubeni Affair’ (in Hebrew), Zion 35 (1970): 96–116.Google ScholarBirnbaum, Ervin, ‘David Reubeni's Indian Origin’, Historia Judaica 20 (1958): 3–30.Google ScholarCassuto, M. D. U., ‘Who was David Reubeni’ (in Hebrew), Tarbiz 32 (1962–1963): 339–58.Google Scholar The circumstances of Reubeni's death are also disputed. Rodriguez-Monino, A., ‘Les Judaisants à Badajoz de 1493 à 1599’, Revue des étude juives 15 (1956): 73–86.Google ScholarRoth, Cecil, ‘Le martyre de David Reubeni’, Revue des études juives 16 (1957): 93–95Google Scholar. Révah, I. S., ‘David Reubeni: Exécuté en Espagne en 1538’, Revue des études juives 17 (1958): 128–35.Google Scholar

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24 Ibid., pp. 79–82. Tamar, David, ‘The Messianic Expectations in Italy for the Year 1575’ (in Hebrew), Sefunol 2 (1958): 61–88. The date 1575 was based on the numerical value ofShiloh, which had for some time been interpreted as a reference to the messiah. The date was also linked to prophecies in Daniel. There was also hope for this date in Salonika.Google Scholar

25 See note 4. The following keeps close to Talmon but adds to her list of explanations.

26 Worsley, Peter, The Trumpet Shall Sound, 2d ed. (London, 1970).Google ScholarLanternari, Vittorio, The Religions of the Oppressed (New York, 1965).Google Scholar

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31 Scholem, , Sabbatai Sevi.Google Scholar

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38 Ibid., pp. 60–64. Most of the poems of Judah ha-Levi (1080–1141), who witnessed the destruction of Jewish communities by Christian reconquerors and the flight of the Jews from the Almoraindes, end on an apocalyptic note. At one time ha-Levi foretold the appearance of the messiah in 1130 (Ibid., pp. 71–72). Baer mentions the influence of the events on the scholar Abraham bar Hiyya (d. 1136) (Ibid., p. 66). But most of Hiyya's messianic predictions were not imminent ones. He predicted 1136, but he thought 1230 was more probable. He also calculated 1358 and 1403, with 1448 as the latest possible date. Among the speculators 1358 and 1403 became favourite dates. Silver, , op. cit., p. 68.Google Scholar

39 Baer, , op. cit., pp. 129–31, 137.Google ScholarNeuman, , op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 244–47.Google Scholar

40 Baer, , op. cit., p. 198.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 97–112. Poliakov, Léon, The History of Anti-Semitism, vol. 2 (London, 1974), pp. 157–58.Google ScholarWolff, Philippe, ‘The 1391 Pogrom in Spain: Social crisis or Not’, Past and Present 50 (1971): 4–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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44 Reeves, Majorie, The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 1969), pp. 354, 358, 430–35.Google ScholarWeinstein, Donald, Savonarola and Florence (Princeton, 1970), pp. 62–63, 112–15, 166.Google Scholar

45 Krauss, Samuel, ‘Le Roi de France Charles VIII et les esperances messianiques’, Revue des etudes juives 51 (1906): 87–96. Krauss speculates that the unknown prophet made his calculations during Lamlein's movement.Google Scholar

46 The most important foci of millennial excitement in Italy was Florence, where Savonarola, the Prior of the Dominican Convent of San Marco, preached the coming advent to enthusiastic crowds. For Savonarola, the tribulations of Florence were a sign of its election as the chosen city, the new Jerusalem, the centre of the millennium, a sign that the Florentines were the latter-day Israelites who would reach new spiritual heights and enjoy great riches, power and a large empire. Weinstein, , op. cit., pp. 142–47, 167–69, 374–76.Google Scholar We do not know how much impact Savonarola's campaign had on Italian Jews, but Netanyahu argues that Abravanel, who was a member of the court of Naples and had to flee from the French, must have been aware of Savonarola. Netanyahu, , op. cit., pp. 247–48. Netanyahu notes the parallels between the prophecies of Savonarola and Abravanel. Often the only substantial difference is that the one is referring to the Florentines and Florence while the other is referring to the Jews and Jerusalem. However, the parallels are common features in millenarianism and are not sufficient to conclude that Savonarola had a direct influence on Abravanel.Google Scholar

47 Roth, , History of the Jews in Italy, pp. 289–94.Google ScholarBaron, , op. cit., vol. 14 (1969), pp. 114–46.Google Scholar

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54 The ‘practical’ cabbalah of Abulafia—stressing the mystical qualities of sacred names, numbers and letter combinations—was highly magical. Scholem, , Kabbalah, pp. 53–55.Google ScholarAescoly, , op. cit., pp. 194–213.Google ScholarBerger, , op. cit.Google Scholar The cabbalah of Moses Botarel also had a ‘practical' bent. Scholem, , op. cit., pp. 65–66.Google Scholar

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58 The Zohar glorified poverty as a religious value, making it a quality of the Shekhinah (Divine Presence). This was a striking innovation in Judaism and possibly reflects the influence of the Christian environment. Poliakov is wrong, however, to link the mysticism of the cabbalah with the poor (Poliakov, , op. cit., vol. 2, p. 138).Google Scholar Baer wrote that among the foremost masters of the cabbalah were men of wealthy families as well as others from the lower social strata (Baer, , op. cit., vol. 1, p. 243).Google Scholar He noted the parallels between the Franciscan Joachites of the thirteenth century who attacked the worldliness of the church and the persecabbalists who attacked the Jewish communal leaders for their neglect of the Torah and their exploitation of the poor (Ibid., pp. 261–77, 367–73). Like the Franciscans the cabbalists did not themselves come from the poor; they were from comfortable families but they rejected involvement in the world. On the Franciscans and Joachimist prophecy in Spain, see Reeves, , op. cit., pp. 221–24, 247, 446.Google Scholar

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75 Cohn, , op. cit., esp. pp. 54–66, 281–83.Google Scholar

76 Wilson, Bryan, Magic and the Millennium (London, 1973), pp. 274–308. The experience of expulsion may suggest a comparison between Jews and American Indians. However, the move to the reservations was an exile from the Indians’ sacred land and not, as in the case of the Jews, an expulsion from a ‘host’ society which was itself conceived as exile, at least in the conventional terms of the religious tradition.Google Scholar