Nathan of Gaza

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Nathan of Gaza

Nathan of Gaza ( Nathan Benjamin ben Elisha ha-Levi Ghazzati ; born 1643 in Jerusalem ; died 1680 in Skopje ) was a religious philosopher of the 17th century who was best known as the prophet for the alleged messiah Shabbtai Zvi .

After studying at Yeshivot, Nathan had left Jerusalem and settled in Gaza , where there was another center for Jewish learning. He often submitted to self-imposed fasts and prolonged periods of self-isolation. This gave him states of trance . Even before his first meeting with Shabbtai Zvi, he is said to have contained an inspiration that he was the Messiah. Nathan was recognized in the local Jewish community as a person with a special gift for healing people and realizing their doubts. For healing, he advised fasting and reading the prayers he had composed, referring to the kabbalistic considerations of cosmic forces.

Literature (selection)

  • Gershom Scholem : Sabbatai Zwi. The mystical messiah , Frankfurt am Main 1992.

Web links

Commons : Nathan of Gaza  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Simon Schama : L'histoire des juifs - Appartenir: De 1492 à 1900 . Librairie Arthème Fayard, Paris 2019, ISBN 978-2-213-70093-9 , pp. 237 ff . (Original edition: The Story of the Jews. Belonging, 1492–1900 . The Bodley Head (publisher), London 2017).