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1

SABBATAI ZEVI'S CONVERSION TO ISLAM. A REAPPRAISAL (Shabbetaj Zvis Uebertritt zum Islam. Versuch einer neuen Sicht)

100%
Doktór J.
Kwartalnik Historii Żydow
|
2011
|
issue 3(239)
311-325
EN
On 16 September 1666, Sabbatai Zevi arrived at the Sultan'a palace in Adrianopol. Several hours later, he left the palace wearing Muslin garb, with a turban on his head, and the new name of Mehmed. He also received the honorable title of Guardian of the Gates, which carried with it a life pension and the right to live in the Sultan's palace. Turkish sources say nothing about the circumstances of Sabbatai's conversion and his subsequent activities. Sabbatai's Jewish adversaries maintained that he was forced to convert, and this is the version of events accepted by Jewish historiography. The historians of Judaism agree with regard to the circumstances of Sabbatai Zevi's conversion to Islam. We come across such explanations as 'He converted to Islam to escape execution'. But this hypothesis is not supported by any available source materials. The religious laws and Islamic customs forbade forcing Christians and Jews to convert to Islam. It would be difficult to assume that such coercion took place in the presence of the Sultan and senior dignitaries of the state. Several days after his conversion, Sabbatai himself spoke of the adoption ofthe Islamic faith as the fulfillment of God's will. For him, this was more than a change of the professed faith. After the switch to the new religion, he felt like a reborn person. He never regretted that choice and regarded it as an important milestone in the implementation of his mission. Neither the his closest associates mention that the Messiah's conversion was a forced one. It is also striking how forbearing the Sultan was toward the Jewish convert, who did not renounce his Messianic mission. How can one assess the rulers' tacit acceptance of the actions of Sabbatai and his fellow converts, incompatible with Muslin law, such as going to synagogue or observing Jewish holy days? Anyone else would be deemed an apostate and condemned to death. Was is possible to imagine such special treatment in the case of a convert who only embraced Islam because he was forced to? There is every indication that Sabbatai came to the Sultan's palace to attend a formal act of conversion to Islam that was agreed in advance. Sabbatai sailed from Smyrna to Istanbul to meet the Sultan on 30 December 1665. Sabbatai's adversary, Yaacov Sasportas, wrote that already on 5 December 1665 Sabbatai dispatched his crony Abraham Shebili to Istanbul, in order to arrange his arrival. During Sabbatai's audience before the Sultan, the turban was to be formally placed on his head. The Turkish rulers must have had a priori knowledge of the plan, which explains their tolerance toward the Jews' Messianic acts.
2

Sefer Ha-Zohar – The Battle For Editio Princeps

100%
Doktór J., Bendowska M.
Kwartalnik Historii Żydow
|
2012
|
issue 2(242)
141-161
EN
Sefer ha-Zohar appeared in print for the first time in Cremona in 1558, in the printing house of Christian printer Vincenzo Conti. It lacked the rabbinical approval or the introduction. The year of publication was not printed on title page, but it did appear at the end of the book, in the colophon preceding the Inquisition’s imprimatur: Friday rosh khodesh kislev of the year 5319 from the creation of the world, i.e., 21 November 1558. The Latin text of imprimatur was signed by censor Galeaz Guacius on 5 August 1558. Immediately after the publication of the “Christian” edition, as the Cremona book was referred to, it was decided to publish a “corrected” edition of Sefer ha-Zohar in the nearby Mantua, in the printing house of Tommasso Ruffinelli. The principal composition of the texts from the Cremona edition was retained, but with the omission of Midrash Ruth, Raya mehemna and some sections of Sefer ha-bahir, while Midrash neelam was moved to a different location in the book. A battle then began to determine which edition constituted editio princeps, i.e., contained the canonical text, binding for subsequent publishers. In Europe, the Cremona edition was considered the model one until the 18th century and it served as the basis for subsequent editions of the work: the 1623 Lublin edition and the 1684 Sulzbach edition. In 1715 and in 1728 the book was published twice in Amsterdam. On title page there was no mention of the Cremona, Lublin and Sulzbach editions. It was indicated that this was a repetition of the Mantua edition. This was evidence of the consensus of Jewish religious authorities, guaranteeing the editio princeps status to the Mantua edition. No-one has attempted to repeat the Cremona edition since then, it has been ignored or completely unknown. Some bibliographies do mention a Cremona edition, but only the second one, from the years 1559-60, presented as the second one after the Mantua edition. The Mantua edition retains the status of editio princeps, it is used to this day not only by religious Jews but also by historians.
3

THE THEOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF HIDDEN LIGHT (SEFER HA-BAHIR): PART 1. THE NOTIONS, TRADITION AND THEOLOGY OF SEVEN (Polish title below)

75%
Brojer W.
Kwartalnik Historii Żydow
|
2011
|
issue 2(238)
149-190
EN
(Polish title: Teologia 'Ksiegi swiatla ukrytego' (Sefer ha-bahir): bukiet sukotowy. Cz. 1: Pojecia, tradycja i teologia siódemki)). Book of Hidden Light or Book of Illumination (Sefer ha-bahir), regarded as the first writings of Mediaeval Jewish kabbalah (the 1240s), is a particularly important text for Polish Jews of the 17th to 19th centuries. This extremely difficult, esoteric religious treatise has not yet received a holistic theological analysis. An analysis of this kind was attempted nearly half a century ago by Gershom Scholem but they were only fragmentary and not always successful. One of the key problems of the Book of Hidden Light is the Feast of the Booths (Sukhoth), its rich theological symbolicism and complex liturgy, and especially the sukkot bouquet (lulav) rites. The article focuses on the structure, liturgy and the symbolicism of lulav. Seven elements of the bouquet become a model of: 1. the liturgical time (week, sabbath, the Booths), 2. indefinite space (six directions and the centre), the human body and its sexuality, 3. the divine presence in the earthly world (Shekina), 4. the central place of Israel among the peoples, the heart of the world (lo-lev), 5. gematrically: 32 hidden paths of wisdom, known from the tradition of the Book of Creation (Sefer yetsira). The liturgical motion of the lulav - as it is waved (shaken) along three axes of the world, renews the cosmic order, released the divine judgment over Israel and imparts a messianic dimension to historical time.
4
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JERUSALEM – “THE HEAVENS TELL” DAVID RAKIA – PAINTINGS

45%
Dorot R.
Studia Europaea Gnesnensia
|
2013
|
issue 7
285-308
EN
The article highlights the uniqueness of the city of Jerusalem through the original, mystical qualities of this famous Jerusalem artist. Rakia perceives both the ethereal and the earthly Jerusalem, uniting them into a perfect singularity that constitutes the core of the world. Through the application of three elements, the artist combines imagination and originality in his successful creation of authentic images of the city. He conveys a mystical spirituality through the purity of light; content and biblical-historical-religious associations are added through the use of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; through his choice of one dominant color that might not be realistic , he bestows upon the holy city both a realistic and imaginary-spiritual character that accurately reflect its rare complexity.  
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