questions part 1

Julia Kohn

4. What new rituals did Safed Kabbalah create?

After the exile from Spain Kabbalists took on a more activist apocalyptic approach. They sought imminent redemption and Safed became the most important spiritual center of the sixteenth century. It became an economic voice for wool trade and a spiritual place where even the grave of rabbi Simeon bar Yohai, who was the hero of the Zohar, was buried. With this new take on Kabbalah, the major innovation of Safed was to put into practice concepts and ideas that had previously been theoretical. They began 2 types of tikkunim (rituals). The first was night vigils on the Shavout, Passover and Hoshanah Rabah. The second was the daily night vigil that relates to the exile and redemption of the shekhinah called tikkun hazot.

During the preparation for the Sabbath, the Kabbalistic brotherhood gathered together to review their sins from the previous week and would confess them to the rest of their brothers. While welcoming the Sabbath queen, they would dress in white and would go out to the edge of town to welcome the Sabbath with hymns and psalms. This ritual has been incorporated into part of synagogue worship called Kabbalat Shabbat. After temple, 2 sabbath meals were dedicated to Attika Kadisha, the third to Zeir Apin and the fourth to the queen.

Other rituals include kissing the mezuzah when leaving or entering, placing the tallit over your head, and the reciting the amidah.

Shabbetai Zevi

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?


During the rise of Safed Kabbalah, Shabbetai Zevi was born into a lucrative merchant family. He began studying to become a Rabbi and by 18 years old he did just that. Throughout Zevi’s life he had dealt with severe depression and high euphoria, thus causing him to break down and his inability to maintain homeostasis. At times Shabbetai Zevi would refer to himself as the messiah and was quickly shut down by his peers. It wasn’t until Zevi had seen Nathan, a holy man in Gaza who was meant to clear his spiritual affections, that he had felt legitimized for the first time. Once this information had become public opinion people were enthralled and eventually Shabbetai Zevi created a big following of messianics.