Sabbatai Zevi - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Sabbatai Zevi was born in Smyrna on (supposedly) Tisha B'Av or the 9th of Av, 1626, the holy day of mourning. Zevi's family were Romaniotes from Patras in present-day Greece; his father, Mordecai, was a poultry dealer in the Morea. During the war between Turkey and Venice, Smyrna became the center of Levantine trade. Mordecai became the Smyrnan agent of an English trading house and managed to achieve some wealth in this role.

In accordance with the prevailing Jewish custom of the time, Sabbatai's father had him study the Talmud. He attended a yeshiva under the rabbi of Smyrna, Joseph Escapa. Studies in halakha (Jewish law) did not appeal to him, but apparently he did attain proficiency in the Talmud. On the other hand, he was fascinated by mysticism and the Kabbalah, as influenced by Rabbi Isaac Luria. He found the practical kabbalah, with its asceticism, through which its devotees claimed to be able to communicate with God and the angels, to predict the future and to perform all sorts of miracles, especially appealing.

In his youth he was inclined to solitude. According to custom he married early, but he avoided intercourse with his wife ; she applied for a divorce, which he granted. The same thing happened with a second wife. When he was about twenty years of age, he began to develop unusual behaviors. He would alternately sink into deep depression and isolation, or become filled with frenzied restlessness and ecstasy. He felt compelled to eat nonkosher food, speak the forbidden name of God, and commit other "holy sins."