Shabbetai Zvi Compared to Jack Hickman

Life of Shabbetai Zvi (various spellings)
Shabbetai Zvi was born in Smyrna in 1626, he showed early promise as a Talmudic scholar, and even more as a student and devotee of Kabbalah. More pronounced than his scholarship were his strange mystical speculations and religious ecstasies. He traveled to various cities, his strong personality and his alternately ascetic and self-indulgent behavior attracting and repelling rabbis and populace alike. He was expelled from Salonica by its rabbis for having staged a wedding service with himself as bridegroom and the Torah as bride. His erratic behavior continued. For long periods, he was a respected student and teacher of Kabbalah; at other times, he was given to messianic fantasies and bizarre acts. At one point, living in Jerusalem seeking "peace for his soul," he sought out a self-proclaimed "man of God," Nathan of Gaza, who declared Shabbetai Zvi to be the Messiah. Then Shabbetai Zvi began to act the part, as Gershom Scholem describes:

Riding around on horseback in majestic state [he] summoned a group of his followers, appointing them as apostles or representatives of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The messianic news spread like wildfire to other communities in Palestine ... First reports about Shabbetai Zvi reached Europe early in October 16,65 ... detailed accounts, deeply involved with legendary material, arrived in Italy, Holland, Germany and Poland.
Messianic fervor took hold of communities that had no immediate experience of persecution and bloodshed as well as those which had.... Repentance alternating with public manifestations of joy and enthusiasm was the order of the day.

From many places delegations left bearing parchments signed by the leaders of the community which acknowledged him as the Messiah and king of Israel.

Not only did Shabbetai Zvi gain militant adherents in his native Turkey and in the Near East, but even in such cosmopolitan European cities as Venice, Livorno, and Amsterdam leading rabbis and sophisticated men of affairs were caught up in the messianic frenzy.

On September 15, 1666, Shabbetai Zvi, brought before the Sultan and given the choice of death or apostasy, prudently chose the latter, setting a turban on his head to signify his conversion to Islam, for which he was rewarded with the honorary title "Keeper of the Palace Gates" and a pension of 150 piasters a day.
The apostasy shocked the Jewish world. Leaders and followers alike refused to believe it. Many continued to anticipate a second coming, and faith in false messiahs continued through the eighteenth century. In the vast majority of believers, revulsion and remorse set in and there was an active endeavor to erase all evidence, even mention of the pseudo-Messiah. Pages were removed from communal registers, and documents were destroyed. Few copies of the books that celebrated Shabbetai Zvi survived, and those that did have become rarities much sought after by libraries and collectors.

Source: Abraham J. Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress, (DC: Library of Congress, 1991).

Movement Parallels
Both built theology from Kabbalistic Sources. Gershom Scholem considered Kabbalah to have latent antinomian tendencies.

Followers experienced cognitive dissonance after scandals, as the internal reality did not agree with the external reality.

Both developed theology of Redemption Through Sin.

Both Movements Went Underground After a Scandal

Differences
Shabbetai Zvi had bipolar disorder. In his manic phase he performed bizarre acts which he could not afterwards explain. His depressive state was interpreted as a struggle with the forces resisting redemption (Satan, serpents) and as necessary for redemption. Hickman did not exhibit bipolar disorder, to my knowledge.

Nathan of Gaza was a prophet for Zvi, interpreting his life messianically. Hickman was his own prophet.

Shabbetean Messianism spread among people who never met Zvi. To my knowledge, through 1983 (when I left), no one was a follower of Hickman who had never met him.

Later Developments in Shabbetean Messianism
Hints or Proclamations that Zvi was God or shared in divinity.

After Zvi’s apostasy by conversion to Islam, the moderate wing of followers said that only the Messiah was permitted or required to contravene the Torah. The radical followers said that all needed to follows Zvi’s example, sinning in order to conquer evil. The Donmeh were followers who converted to Islam while secretly continuing Jewish practices, and special Sabbatean practices. They practiced a ritual adultery between members, believing that the messiah will be born of an adulterous union.

The moderate wing eventually assimilated into the wider society. The radical wing produced further offshoots, led by alleged reincarnations of Zvi. A few years ago, tens of thousands of Donmeh were reported in the Israeli press as living in Turkey and seeking to immigrate to Israel. It is thought that some members of Donmeh families have risen to prominent political positions in Turkey. This is evidence for survival of an underground movement for more than 300 years. However, many descendants of Donmeh families may now be atheists.

Greetings mennodoc! Greetings to all. Yesterday I came across this site and read through everything several times. A few of you I know very well and some of you I am not sure who you are but we all share a common bond ......... connection in some way shape or form to Jack Hickman. I started around '72 or '73 and left in '82 or '83. I know I was in a while after the Islip move, the meetings, the truths coming out and I think before the article in Newsday. I left not because I believed or disbelieved all that was happening. I left because I knew I was not dedicated enough to live a life of commitment, too anything. I have many thoughts on Jack Hickman and actually they are both good and bad. He was a part of my life that brought me to who I am today. If I am pleased with who I am today and I believe that every breath I took since birth was part of the road to who I am today than my time with Jack Hickman would not be traded for anything. Have I just said that I agree with everything he said or did? No I have not. I have just realized that without that part of my life I would not be who I am today.

With this in mind we all have to not learn to deal with, but to learn to release the pain, betrayal and confusion. This may sound like I am heartless. It is really the reverse, I have never been more in tune with my heart, my world and creator. I am almost finished writing a book of poems about following the path of your heart. Communication about all that was shared is good, provided the negative is finally released. Reviewing times, situations and questions are good to fill in the missing blanks, the 25 year old questions provided after moving through it, it finally gets released.

Anyway I have rambled too much. LOL The name of my book is "Ramblings of an incarnate Soul".

I agree that there was good and bad, it was part of what made me what I am, and that we all have to learn to deal with it. In The Gulag Archipelago part 4 (about the Soviet Labor Camps and Prisons), Solzhenitsyn wrote about "The Soul and Barbed Wire." The first chapter in that section was called "The Ascent," and the next chapter was called "Or Corruption?" The section heading is a quote from 1 Cor. 15:51, "Behold, I shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

"Shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" ................. I love it. It is so true. How is your jump shot mennodoc? I remember a basketball we played in East Meadow against Massapequa and we had to rush to get you home in time.

The higher anyones soul evolve the more potentional there is for corruption, as you leave "the box" there are less "landmarks" to guide us.

BACK AGAIN

Rage, anger, frustration
All built up inside
Sage, cedar, sweet grass
Silently put aside

The chosen path looked so clear
I controlled the way, I showed no fear
I thought things through, I studied hard
I learned how man had come this far

The numbers matched, the plan in place
I was going to win the eternal race
It seemed so long, without end
I should have finished long before then

As I look back on my purpose then
I truly regret that I did not defend
The passion, ecstasy, and joy of life
The heart that grows when exposed to light

When I came in I assumed the role
I did all that I was told
By all except the person that understood
The person I had been, the person who stood

For all that his heart truly believed
The person who slept beneath the trees
And offered to a power that’s much higher
Sage, cedar and sweet grass on the fire

XXXX XXXXX - 2006

Please don't use this thread or message board for preaching.

Preaching is against the rules.

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rrmoderator
Please don't use this thread or message board for preaching.

Preaching is against the rules.

Sorry to all if offended. My intent was not to preach but to share my experiences.

incarnate soul:

If sharing your experience includes sharing your faith, this type of "sharing" is prohibited by the rules of this message board.

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rrmoderator
incarnate soul:

If sharing your experience includes sharing your faith, this type of "sharing" is prohibited by the rules of this message board.

I think this would apply to Mennodoc's posts as well, yes? I want to hear about people experiences with the cult, and don't particularly enjoy your sermons doc.

Quote
rrmoderator
Please don't use this thread or message board for preaching.

Preaching is against the rules.

Sorry to all if offended. My intent was not to preach but to share my experiences.

We are getting off track. Damaged I don't think Doc has been preaching. I understand where you are coming from. Doc offers both sides of the coin (so to speak) in his experiences.

Damaged, that screen name implies to me you were aslo involved. Am I correct? Feel free to ask me anything you want.