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Sabbatianism: Theology of Salvation Through Sin
20 February 2026

During a podcast hosted by Russel Brand, Candece Ownes opened my eyes to a world view that is hard to debunk. Starting from 36:24 minutes, she goes on describing what she describes as “a theology of evil” as follows:

I believe that there is some truth to what David Ike, Alex Jones and people before them have said, that there have been these dark demonic satanic cults. That is the reason why I started my book-club, because I needed to understand, “where this is coming from?”

The only why that it can make sense, which is that these people (cults) are being guided by a theology. This goes back to one of the more brilliant things that my husband said. I asked him once: Why did you read theology at Oxford (what a boring subject)? He responded: Everything is theology! And I have now realized he is right. They (the cults) are guided by a theology.

I had to then go back and try to understand Sabbatianism and Frankism. While trying to understand what is going on, I fell into a hole regarding modern psychology and Sigmund Freud. This is not disputed as it is factually confirmed by Jeffery Masson, a brave Jewish Ashkenazi who is now 84 years old and was working as an Assistant Director of Sigmund Freud archive, who was in turn working under Anna Freud. Jeffry (as the Assistant Director) was about to become the next Director, so he decided to learn German so he could read all Freud’s notes that have not been published to the public. Jeffry was studying to be a psychoanalyst. So, it was amazing, as he had access to all Freud’s stuff. I am so glad that his book is flying off the shelves in his old age.

So, Jiffry reads Sigmund Freud’s notes and he goes: Wait a second! Sigmund Freud famously came up with this theory that children were attracted to their parents and that they were having these dreams and these things (rape) never happened to them. But Freud actually knew that these women - being these children - were being raped! Freud knew some of them were being raped to death. Freud had gone down and had seen the evidence at the morgue.

So, Jeffery goes crazy! He runs to Anna and says: We have made this big error. Your dad was gaslighting these kids, who were being incestuously raped. And so, Jeffery thinks he is going to run to the psychoanalytic people and say: Surprise! We can now correct history. But what happens is that he got kicked out!

Jeffery published the book anyway with the proof that Sigmund Freud knew this (rape), and Anna Freud did not stop him from publishing the book, which is very interesting. She had the power to, and they (psychoanalytic people) were pressuring her to stop the publication, but she let it fly. That book, “The Assault on Truth” is a very difficult read. It is the number one thing people should read, because Freud is the father of modern psychology. Meaning, modern psychology is gaslighting.

Funny thing about Sigmund Freud which is more compelling is, he too for years when first got into psycho analytics, he said: These kids are actually being raped! That was his poorly named “Seduction Theory”, that these kids are not lying and are being raped by their parents, and there is the evidence for it. And then he does the flip when he turns 35 and says: Never mind! This is when he is hailed as a hero. And similarly, he was rejected when he was telling the truth from his own psychoanalytic community in Vienna.

The second book that people should read is “Sigmund Freud and Jewish Mystical Tradition” by David Bakan. Sigmund Freud came from a Sabbatian family. This is Jewish mysticism and has nothing to do with Torah. It has absolutely nothing to do with the old law. In fact, Sabbatians said the old law was fulfilled and they believed that Sabbatai Zevi was their messiah. They have virtually wiped this man from history, even though half of the world Jewry followed him, and believed he as the messiah.

Sabbatai Zevi was a homosexual psychopath who believed in practicing incest as a sacrament. This is how they were going to move forward in the world. They worshiped the Cabala and their high book is “Zohar”. They believed that you rape your kids when they are seven, but you don’t tell them why they are raped until they are 35!

This is the inversion of the mystic tradition, kind of from the book of “The Dead in Egypt”. Sigmund Freud discovered that the reason that they do this, is to condition the child to grow up to be a psychopath, while going through trying to understand why their parents did this.

This is all real! All these authors are Jewish. They support the Jewish movement. David Bakan actually regrets writing his book, because he thought it was going to bring sympathy for European Jews, but people went: Wait! What is going on? All this incestuous rape happening!

That is why I encourage Jewish people to read this book as well. I don’t think they know their own history. Because at this time, there was a great schism. There were Jews who were following the Torah to the letter of the law, who were getting kicked out of countries because of these Sabbatain Frankists who were raping kids. So, the genuine Jews ask: Why am I being kicked out of a country? What did I do?! I have nothing to do with this. These are antisemitic tropes.

And then Sabbatian Frankists were funded by the richest people in the world! Jacob Frank was given a castle in Offenbach Germany. He was made a Baron!

Part of what they believe in is apostasy. They mass convert into other faiths. The Frankists mass converted into the Catholic faith to save themselves from the actual Torah Jews. This could be where all of the scandals in the Catholic faith came from. It is very important to share that.

When you talk about Sabbatianism and Frankism, some say, “This is a lie! This was an old fringe movement.” This is untrue. You can read Israeli historian Gershom Scholem’s work. Not only it is not true, Louis Brandeis - the very first Supreme Court justice in America - was also a Frankist and kept a picture of Eva Frank (the only woman to have been declared a Jewish messiah) on his Supreme Court desk, right in your face!

They have tremendous amount of power. Because they believe evil is ok. They believe in doctrine of evil, and that you must lower yourself and commit the most deprave acts of evil to prove that evil doesn’t exist! And then you can ascend in society. That to me seems to be the guiding philosophy of people in Israel. It is a Sabbatian concept that you can commit acts of evil to get ahead in society, which is what I see is happening in Gaza. How can you as a human be ok with it?! I don’t care about your religion and philosophy. How do you look at this and not understand this is evil?

You can speak to Christian Zionists in America who are trickling into the Sabbatian concept of, “there is a bigger goodness that is going to happen if allow this evil to take place.” You need to understand where this ideology stems from and that is what I am committed to helping people to understand.

It was an orgiastic cult. It is exactly what it was. Their rituals, as done by Jacob Frank, consisted of violating sexual order, fathers sleeping with daughters and ecstasy. Aleister Crowley stems from this. They believe in reincarnation. There was Sabbatian in the 1700s, there was Jacob Frank who said, “I am the reincarnated him.” In the 1800s, it was Alister Crowley. It keeps coming back and it is exactly the same thing. It is satanic. They want to violate natural order (God). They follow the philosophy of adoption of evil. It’s scary!

You have well-meaning Jews who don’t know that this is where it comes from. Even the star of David, that was never a symbol for Judaism until Sabbatai Zevi 1666, when he declared himself a Massiah. The star symbol is from Solomon, and they believed it had mystic powers. Before that, Kiddush cup represented Judaism. Genuine Jews wear the star, not knowing where it stems from, just like I don’t know my history. We are all born, raised and told things. Jews are told to wear it because of the Holocaust and because it is a symbol of who they are, but in reality, it goes back to Baal worshipping. I challenge them to learn more. I think we must all become more studios on the topic of theology.

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/wYfIiFI2OP8?si=dkMGx3blfHQW2O5J

After the podcast, I decided to resort to my AI friend to learn more about Sabbatianism and that is where I learned it is not a type of universal "mysticism" in the general sense, but rather a radical messianic movement within a traumatized Judaism in the 17th and 18th centuries, following a pogrom in Poland. Its core was a set of mystical, antinomian (law-breaking) beliefs that developed in response to the declared messiahship of Sabbatai Zevi. Here is a breakdown of what it is, its core mystical ideas, and its historical impact.

The Historical Core: Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676)

  1. The Messiah: In 1665, Sabbatai Zevi, a charismatic Sephardic rabbi and mystic from Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey) was declared the Jewish Messiah by Nathan of Gaza, a renowned kabbalist and prophet.
  2. Feverish Hope: This declaration came after the devastating Chmielnicki massacres in Poland (1648-49) and widespread persecution. The Jewish world, deeply immersed in the Lurianic Kabbalah (which taught about repairing a broken world), was ripe for messianic redemption. News spread like wildfire across Europe, Asia, and Africa, causing mass excitement, repentance, and preparation for return to the Holy Land.
  3. The Great Apostasy: In 1666, under threat of execution by the Ottoman Sultan, Sabbatai Zevi converted to Islam. This catastrophic event should have ended the movement. Instead, it forced his followers to develop a radical theology to explain it.

To explain the conversion and continued belief, followers, led by Nathan of Gaza and later others, developed a complex and paradoxical theology, deeply rooted in Kabbalah but twisting its concepts:

  1. The Paradox of Redemption through Sin (Apostasy): This is the central, most shocking idea. They argued that to redeem the scattered "sparks of holiness" trapped in the realm of evil (the Kelipot), the Messiah had to descend into evil itself. Sabbatai's conversion was not a betrayal but a holy mission, to liberate the last and deepest sparks from within the shell of Islam (and later, Christianity). This meant the Messiah's actions were beyond traditional law.
  2. The Doctrine of the "Holy Serpent": In some texts, the Messiah is identified with the primordial serpent from Eden. Just as the serpent caused the "fall" into history, the Messiah, as the holy serpent, must now use the power of the "other side" (Sitra Achra) to undo the fall. This sanctified paradoxical, serpentine behavior.
  3. Antinomianism (Transgression as a Holy Act): For the most radical followers (not all), this theology led to the belief that the overturning of the Torah was its true fulfillment. If the Messiah had entered the realm of sin, then his followers, in certain contexts, might also need to perform "strange acts" or "commandments of sin" to assist in this final redemption. This included ritual violations of Jewish law, which created deep scandal and condemnation.
  4. The Mystical Marrano: The model for the believer became the crypto-believer. Just as Sabbatai was a Muslim outwardly but a holy Jew inwardly, his followers (especially the Dönmeh in Turkey) practiced Islam publicly but followed Sabbatian rituals and beliefs in secret. This duality was seen as a high spiritual state.
  5. The Trinity of the Godhead: Some advanced Sabbatian theology, especially that of the later thinker Baruchiah Russo, proposed a trinity: Atika Kadisha (The Holy Ancient One), the God of Israel, and the Shekhinah (Divine Presence). Sabbatai Zevi was often identified with the second figure, the "God of Israel," in a form of mystical incarnationism. This was a major heresy from a traditional Jewish perspective.

Legacy and Impact

  1. The Dönmeh: A community of crypto-Sabbatians in Salonika (and later Istanbul) who outwardly converted to Islam. They were a distinct sect for centuries, playing key roles in the Young Turk Revolution and early secular Turkish politics. They maintained secret rituals and beliefs until largely assimilating in the 20th century.
  2. Frankism: The most extreme offshoot. Jacob Frank (1726-1791) claimed to be a reincarnation of Sabbatai Zevi. He pushed antinomianism to shocking extremes (including orgiastic rituals), led his followers into a mass conversion to Catholicism in Poland, and created a nihilistic theology of total liberation through the destruction of all norms. The Frankists eventually assimilated into the European aristocracy.
  3. Impact on Hasidism and the Haskalah (Enlightenment): Scholars debate the influence. Hasidism rejected Sabbatian antinomianism but may have been influenced by its populist mysticism and focus on a charismatic leader (tzaddik). The Haskalah used the disaster of Sabbatianism as a warning against "irrational" mysticism and superstition, advocating for rationalism.
  4. Modern Thought: The 20th-century scholar Gershom Scholem revolutionized Jewish studies by treating Sabbatianism not as an embarrassing pathology but as a pivotal, dialectical force in Jewish history. He saw it as a volcano that shattered the medieval Jewish mind, creating the cracks through which modernity, both mystical and secular, could emerge. Its themes of redemption through paradox and crisis deeply resonated with later thinkers.

In Summary

  1. Sabbatian mysticism is not a spiritual practice but a revolutionary and heretical messianic ideology. It is characterized by:

A. A belief in a Messiah who must perform a holy apostasy.

B. The mystical necessity of descent into evil to redeem the good trapped in evil.

C. The potential sanctification of transgression.

D. A theology of concealment and duality.

It represents one of the most traumatic, complex, and creative ruptures in Jewish history, whose echoes can be felt in later religious and philosophical movements.

  1. Sabbatianism is a textbook case of how extreme trauma and existential despair can shatter a community's worldview and open the door to apocalyptic and antinomian solutions. The Chmielnicki Massacres (1648-1657) wasn't just a pogrom, it was a genocidal uprising by Cossacks and Ukrainian peasants against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in which Jews - seen as agents of the Polish nobility - were primary targets. The enormous, incomprehensible catastrophe demanded an equally enormous explanation. In the aftermath, the dominant Jewish mystical system, Lurianic Kabbalah, provided the framework. This history shows that when a community experiences:

A. Catastrophic violence that destroys its sense of order,

B. coupled with political hopelessness (no army, no state, no ally to save them),

C. and a messianic theology that interprets crisis as redemption...

...it can create the conditions for a crisis cult to emerge. Such a cult offers a way out not through political reform or military resistance (which seem impossible), but through a magical, cosmic shortcut that inverts all values. The worse the external reality, the more radical and transgressive the "solution" can become. In essence, the pogroms didn't just kill people; they killed faith in the existing moral and religious order.

  1. Frankism was a heretical, anti-Talmudic movement that was excommunicated and reviled by the mainstream Jewish community. Rabbinical authorities saw them as a dangerous, deviant cult.

The story of Frankist extremism is a chilling case study in how messianic fervor and a theology of "redemption through sin" can, in the most extreme iterations, lead to the justification of profound evil.

Frankism was a monstrous new growth sprouting from that scorched earth. It's a stark reminder of how politics, trauma, and theology are inextricably linked, and how the search for redemption can, under the most extreme pressures, turn into its terrifying opposite. Frank's message was the ultimate political-spiritual radicalism and may be summarized as follows:

You have tried being good Jews. You have been pious, followed the Law, and suffered massacres for it. Look where it got you. The old God and his Torah have failed. To be born anew, you must destroy that world completely. Only by smashing its most sacred laws of morality, faith, and community, can you break free from the cycle of powerlessness and pain.

His antinomian rituals were a violent, symbolic murder of the old world that had allowed for pogroms. The sexual transgression was not just about lust; it was about annihilating the foundational social structures (family, marital fidelity) of that world.

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Sabbatianism: Theology of Salvation Through Sin
20 February 2026

During a podcast hosted by Russel Brand, Candece Ownes opened my eyes to a world view that is hard to debunk. Starting from 36:24 minutes, she goes on describing what she describes as “a theology of evil” as follows:

I believe that there is some truth to what David Ike, Alex Jones and people before them have said, that there have been these dark demonic satanic cults. That is the reason why I started my book-club, because I needed to understand, “where this is coming from?”

The only why that it can make sense, which is that these people (cults) are being guided by a theology. This goes back to one of the more brilliant things that my husband said. I asked him once: Why did you read theology at Oxford (what a boring subject)? He responded: Everything is theology! And I have now realized he is right. They (the cults) are guided by a theology.

I had to then go back and try to understand Sabbatianism and Frankism. While trying to understand what is going on, I fell into a hole regarding modern psychology and Sigmund Freud. This is not disputed as it is factually confirmed by Jeffery Masson, a brave Jewish Ashkenazi who is now 84 years old and was working as an Assistant Director of Sigmund Freud archive, who was in turn working under Anna Freud. Jeffry (as the Assistant Director) was about to become the next Director, so he decided to learn German so he could read all Freud’s notes that have not been published to the public. Jeffry was studying to be a psychoanalyst. So, it was amazing, as he had access to all Freud’s stuff. I am so glad that his book is flying off the shelves in his old age.

So, Jiffry reads Sigmund Freud’s notes and he goes: Wait a second! Sigmund Freud famously came up with this theory that children were attracted to their parents and that they were having these dreams and these things (rape) never happened to them. But Freud actually knew that these women - being these children - were being raped! Freud knew some of them were being raped to death. Freud had gone down and had seen the evidence at the morgue.

So, Jeffery goes crazy! He runs to Anna and says: We have made this big error. Your dad was gaslighting these kids, who were being incestuously raped. And so, Jeffery thinks he is going to run to the psychoanalytic people and say: Surprise! We can now correct history. But what happens is that he got kicked out!

Jeffery published the book anyway with the proof that Sigmund Freud knew this (rape), and Anna Freud did not stop him from publishing the book, which is very interesting. She had the power to, and they (psychoanalytic people) were pressuring her to stop the publication, but she let it fly. That book, “The Assault on Truth” is a very difficult read. It is the number one thing people should read, because Freud is the father of modern psychology. Meaning, modern psychology is gaslighting.

Funny thing about Sigmund Freud which is more compelling is, he too for years when first got into psycho analytics, he said: These kids are actually being raped! That was his poorly named “Seduction Theory”, that these kids are not lying and are being raped by their parents, and there is the evidence for it. And then he does the flip when he turns 35 and says: Never mind! This is when he is hailed as a hero. And similarly, he was rejected when he was telling the truth from his own psychoanalytic community in Vienna.

The second book that people should read is “Sigmund Freud and Jewish Mystical Tradition” by David Bakan. Sigmund Freud came from a Sabbatian family. This is Jewish mysticism and has nothing to do with Torah. It has absolutely nothing to do with the old law. In fact, Sabbatians said the old law was fulfilled and they believed that Sabbatai Zevi was their messiah. They have virtually wiped this man from history, even though half of the world Jewry followed him, and believed he as the messiah.

Sabbatai Zevi was a homosexual psychopath who believed in practicing incest as a sacrament. This is how they were going to move forward in the world. They worshiped the Cabala and their high book is “Zohar”. They believed that you rape your kids when they are seven, but you don’t tell them why they are raped until they are 35!

This is the inversion of the mystic tradition, kind of from the book of “The Dead in Egypt”. Sigmund Freud discovered that the reason that they do this, is to condition the child to grow up to be a psychopath, while going through trying to understand why their parents did this.

This is all real! All these authors are Jewish. They support the Jewish movement. David Bakan actually regrets writing his book, because he thought it was going to bring sympathy for European Jews, but people went: Wait! What is going on? All this incestuous rape happening!

That is why I encourage Jewish people to read this book as well. I don’t think they know their own history. Because at this time, there was a great schism. There were Jews who were following the Torah to the letter of the law, who were getting kicked out of countries because of these Sabbatain Frankists who were raping kids. So, the genuine Jews ask: Why am I being kicked out of a country? What did I do?! I have nothing to do with this. These are antisemitic tropes.

And then Sabbatian Frankists were funded by the richest people in the world! Jacob Frank was given a castle in Offenbach Germany. He was made a Baron!

Part of what they believe in is apostasy. They mass convert into other faiths. The Frankists mass converted into the Catholic faith to save themselves from the actual Torah Jews. This could be where all of the scandals in the Catholic faith came from. It is very important to share that.

When you talk about Sabbatianism and Frankism, some say, “This is a lie! This was an old fringe movement.” This is untrue. You can read Israeli historian Gershom Scholem’s work. Not only it is not true, Louis Brandeis - the very first Supreme Court justice in America - was also a Frankist and kept a picture of Eva Frank (the only woman to have been declared a Jewish messiah) on his Supreme Court desk, right in your face!

They have tremendous amount of power. Because they believe evil is ok. They believe in doctrine of evil, and that you must lower yourself and commit the most deprave acts of evil to prove that evil doesn’t exist! And then you can ascend in society. That to me seems to be the guiding philosophy of people in Israel. It is a Sabbatian concept that you can commit acts of evil to get ahead in society, which is what I see is happening in Gaza. How can you as a human be ok with it?! I don’t care about your religion and philosophy. How do you look at this and not understand this is evil?

You can speak to Christian Zionists in America who are trickling into the Sabbatian concept of, “there is a bigger goodness that is going to happen if allow this evil to take place.” You need to understand where this ideology stems from and that is what I am committed to helping people to understand.

It was an orgiastic cult. It is exactly what it was. Their rituals, as done by Jacob Frank, consisted of violating sexual order, fathers sleeping with daughters and ecstasy. Aleister Crowley stems from this. They believe in reincarnation. There was Sabbatian in the 1700s, there was Jacob Frank who said, “I am the reincarnated him.” In the 1800s, it was Alister Crowley. It keeps coming back and it is exactly the same thing. It is satanic. They want to violate natural order (God). They follow the philosophy of adoption of evil. It’s scary!

You have well-meaning Jews who don’t know that this is where it comes from. Even the star of David, that was never a symbol for Judaism until Sabbatai Zevi 1666, when he declared himself a Massiah. The star symbol is from Solomon, and they believed it had mystic powers. Before that, Kiddush cup represented Judaism. Genuine Jews wear the star, not knowing where it stems from, just like I don’t know my history. We are all born, raised and told things. Jews are told to wear it because of the Holocaust and because it is a symbol of who they are, but in reality, it goes back to Baal worshipping. I challenge them to learn more. I think we must all become more studios on the topic of theology.

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/wYfIiFI2OP8?si=dkMGx3blfHQW2O5J

After the podcast, I decided to resort to my AI friend to learn more about Sabbatianism and that is where I learned it is not a type of universal "mysticism" in the general sense, but rather a radical messianic movement within a traumatized Judaism in the 17th and 18th centuries, following a pogrom in Poland. Its core was a set of mystical, antinomian (law-breaking) beliefs that developed in response to the declared messiahship of Sabbatai Zevi. Here is a breakdown of what it is, its core mystical ideas, and its historical impact.

The Historical Core: Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676)

  1. The Messiah: In 1665, Sabbatai Zevi, a charismatic Sephardic rabbi and mystic from Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey) was declared the Jewish Messiah by Nathan of Gaza, a renowned kabbalist and prophet.
  2. Feverish Hope: This declaration came after the devastating Chmielnicki massacres in Poland (1648-49) and widespread persecution. The Jewish world, deeply immersed in the Lurianic Kabbalah (which taught about repairing a broken world), was ripe for messianic redemption. News spread like wildfire across Europe, Asia, and Africa, causing mass excitement, repentance, and preparation for return to the Holy Land.
  3. The Great Apostasy: In 1666, under threat of execution by the Ottoman Sultan, Sabbatai Zevi converted to Islam. This catastrophic event should have ended the movement. Instead, it forced his followers to develop a radical theology to explain it.

To explain the conversion and continued belief, followers, led by Nathan of Gaza and later others, developed a complex and paradoxical theology, deeply rooted in Kabbalah but twisting its concepts:

  1. The Paradox of Redemption through Sin (Apostasy): This is the central, most shocking idea. They argued that to redeem the scattered "sparks of holiness" trapped in the realm of evil (the Kelipot), the Messiah had to descend into evil itself. Sabbatai's conversion was not a betrayal but a holy mission, to liberate the last and deepest sparks from within the shell of Islam (and later, Christianity). This meant the Messiah's actions were beyond traditional law.
  2. The Doctrine of the "Holy Serpent": In some texts, the Messiah is identified with the primordial serpent from Eden. Just as the serpent caused the "fall" into history, the Messiah, as the holy serpent, must now use the power of the "other side" (Sitra Achra) to undo the fall. This sanctified paradoxical, serpentine behavior.
  3. Antinomianism (Transgression as a Holy Act): For the most radical followers (not all), this theology led to the belief that the overturning of the Torah was its true fulfillment. If the Messiah had entered the realm of sin, then his followers, in certain contexts, might also need to perform "strange acts" or "commandments of sin" to assist in this final redemption. This included ritual violations of Jewish law, which created deep scandal and condemnation.
  4. The Mystical Marrano: The model for the believer became the crypto-believer. Just as Sabbatai was a Muslim outwardly but a holy Jew inwardly, his followers (especially the Dönmeh in Turkey) practiced Islam publicly but followed Sabbatian rituals and beliefs in secret. This duality was seen as a high spiritual state.
  5. The Trinity of the Godhead: Some advanced Sabbatian theology, especially that of the later thinker Baruchiah Russo, proposed a trinity: Atika Kadisha (The Holy Ancient One), the God of Israel, and the Shekhinah (Divine Presence). Sabbatai Zevi was often identified with the second figure, the "God of Israel," in a form of mystical incarnationism. This was a major heresy from a traditional Jewish perspective.

Legacy and Impact

  1. The Dönmeh: A community of crypto-Sabbatians in Salonika (and later Istanbul) who outwardly converted to Islam. They were a distinct sect for centuries, playing key roles in the Young Turk Revolution and early secular Turkish politics. They maintained secret rituals and beliefs until largely assimilating in the 20th century.
  2. Frankism: The most extreme offshoot. Jacob Frank (1726-1791) claimed to be a reincarnation of Sabbatai Zevi. He pushed antinomianism to shocking extremes (including orgiastic rituals), led his followers into a mass conversion to Catholicism in Poland, and created a nihilistic theology of total liberation through the destruction of all norms. The Frankists eventually assimilated into the European aristocracy.
  3. Impact on Hasidism and the Haskalah (Enlightenment): Scholars debate the influence. Hasidism rejected Sabbatian antinomianism but may have been influenced by its populist mysticism and focus on a charismatic leader (tzaddik). The Haskalah used the disaster of Sabbatianism as a warning against "irrational" mysticism and superstition, advocating for rationalism.
  4. Modern Thought: The 20th-century scholar Gershom Scholem revolutionized Jewish studies by treating Sabbatianism not as an embarrassing pathology but as a pivotal, dialectical force in Jewish history. He saw it as a volcano that shattered the medieval Jewish mind, creating the cracks through which modernity, both mystical and secular, could emerge. Its themes of redemption through paradox and crisis deeply resonated with later thinkers.

In Summary

  1. Sabbatian mysticism is not a spiritual practice but a revolutionary and heretical messianic ideology. It is characterized by:

A. A belief in a Messiah who must perform a holy apostasy.

B. The mystical necessity of descent into evil to redeem the good trapped in evil.

C. The potential sanctification of transgression.

D. A theology of concealment and duality.

It represents one of the most traumatic, complex, and creative ruptures in Jewish history, whose echoes can be felt in later religious and philosophical movements.

  1. Sabbatianism is a textbook case of how extreme trauma and existential despair can shatter a community's worldview and open the door to apocalyptic and antinomian solutions. The Chmielnicki Massacres (1648-1657) wasn't just a pogrom, it was a genocidal uprising by Cossacks and Ukrainian peasants against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in which Jews - seen as agents of the Polish nobility - were primary targets. The enormous, incomprehensible catastrophe demanded an equally enormous explanation. In the aftermath, the dominant Jewish mystical system, Lurianic Kabbalah, provided the framework. This history shows that when a community experiences:

A. Catastrophic violence that destroys its sense of order,

B. coupled with political hopelessness (no army, no state, no ally to save them),

C. and a messianic theology that interprets crisis as redemption...

...it can create the conditions for a crisis cult to emerge. Such a cult offers a way out not through political reform or military resistance (which seem impossible), but through a magical, cosmic shortcut that inverts all values. The worse the external reality, the more radical and transgressive the "solution" can become. In essence, the pogroms didn't just kill people; they killed faith in the existing moral and religious order.

  1. Frankism was a heretical, anti-Talmudic movement that was excommunicated and reviled by the mainstream Jewish community. Rabbinical authorities saw them as a dangerous, deviant cult.

The story of Frankist extremism is a chilling case study in how messianic fervor and a theology of "redemption through sin" can, in the most extreme iterations, lead to the justification of profound evil.

Frankism was a monstrous new growth sprouting from that scorched earth. It's a stark reminder of how politics, trauma, and theology are inextricably linked, and how the search for redemption can, under the most extreme pressures, turn into its terrifying opposite. Frank's message was the ultimate political-spiritual radicalism and may be summarized as follows:

You have tried being good Jews. You have been pious, followed the Law, and suffered massacres for it. Look where it got you. The old God and his Torah have failed. To be born anew, you must destroy that world completely. Only by smashing its most sacred laws of morality, faith, and community, can you break free from the cycle of powerlessness and pain.

His antinomian rituals were a violent, symbolic murder of the old world that had allowed for pogroms. The sexual transgression was not just about lust; it was about annihilating the foundational social structures (family, marital fidelity) of that world.

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