Eric Wolf post for September 9th

Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism)

 3. What new rituals did Safed Kabbalah create?

Safed Kabbalah created two new types of rituals called tikkunim. The first type includes rituals on nights of holidays such as Shavuot and Passover. The tikkun for the 7th night of Passover commemorates the Israelite's crossing of the Red Sea

The second type is the daily night ritual that speaks about the exile and redemption of the Shekhinah called tikkun hazot. The purpose of this ritual was to lament the exile of the Shekhinah and pray for the redemption of Israel.

Shabbetai Zevi and Jacob Frank

2. What was the life story of Shabbetai Zevi? How did he come to believe that he was the messiah? What were his relations with Nathan of Gaza? How did Jews receive his announcement that he was the messiah?

Shabbatai Zevi was born into a wealthy merchant family and had a typical rabbinical upbringing. He soon began to be tormented by sexual temptations and broke traditional Jewish law several times. He began to refer to himself as the messiah but was quickly shunned and seen as mentally unbalanced by his community. He was later banished by his community and wandered the Ottoman Empire. He then visited Nathan of Gaza who was said to be able to banish someone's personal demons. Hoping to be cured, Zevi went to visit him. Nathan told him that he was not crazy and he was in fact the messiah, even announcing it to a group of rabbis. Many rabbis were initially opposed to Zevi claiming that he was the messiah and strongly spoke out against him. Nathan and Zevi soon gained support from many Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire by traveling around.