Sabbatianism Between Worlds: On the 400th Anniversary of Sabbatai Tsvi’s Birth
International Conference | November 1-3, 2026
Sunday, November 1
Opening Evening
Ben-Zvi Institute |Ibn Gabirol St 14, Rehavia, Jerusalem | 18:00–20:00
Chair: Netta Schramm
Opening Remarks and Greetings
Reuven Amitai
Hadar Feldman Samet
Were Sabbatai Tsvi’s Strange Actions That Strange?
Paweł Maciejko
Sabbatai and Israel: Piyyut as Prophecy
Performance of piyyutim by
Elad Gabbay: Qanun and Vocals
Nitzan Chen Razel: Violin and Vocals
Introductory remarks by Edwin Seroussi
Imagining Sabbatianism
Jonatan Meir
Monday, November 2
Academic sessions
The Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center | Tel Aviv University | 11:00–17:30
11:00–11:15
Reception
11:15–11:45
Opening Remarks
Maoz Kahana
Roni Stauber
Oded Lipschits
11:45–13:15
Session 1 – Sabbatian Theology and the Messianic Imagination
Chair: Rachel Elior
The Messiah’s Donkey and Its Shadow: Contours of Early Sabbatian Messianism in the Hidden Writings of Nathan of Gaza
Avishai Bar-Asher
A Daughter, a Wife, a Sister: The Portrait of Yoheved Philosof
Efrat Lederfein-Gilboa
Humiliation and Exaltation: Dynamic Messianism in Sabbatian Thought and Lutheran Christology
Níels P. Eggerz
13:15–14:30
Lunch Break
Session 2 – Dreams, Visions, and Revelation
Chair: Omer Michaelis
Ottoman “Anti-Enthusiasm”: Restraining Visionaries and Visions in the Seventeenth Century
Avner Wishnitzer
Sabbatian Dreams: Abraham Yakhini, Abraham Rovigo’s Court, and the Frankist Circle
Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel and Noam Lefler
15:45–16:15
Coffee Break
16:15-17:30
Session 3 – Sabbatianism and Ottoman Social Life
Chair: Miri Shefer-Mossensohn
Books and Believers in Istanbul in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century
Yaron Ben-Naeh
Conversion, Crisis, and Kinship: The Sephardi Family in the Wake of Sabbatian Conversion
Gila Hadar
Biography as Method: Financial and Intellectual Networks of Sabbatian Salonica in the Life of Mehmed Cavid Bey
Ayşe Köse
Tracing Sabbatian Identities
ANU Museum of the Jewish People | Zeevi Hall |18:00–19:30
Moderator: Hadar Feldman Samet
Greetings: Eliezer Papo
Participants:
Uluç Özuyener, Tia O’Brien, and Memo Kösemen
Tuesday, November 3
Academic sessions
The Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center | Tel Aviv University | 09:30–16:30
09:30–09:45
Reception
09:45–11:15
Session 4 – Defining and Contesting Sabbatianism
Chair: Ray Schrire
“From My Flesh I Shall See God”: Nehemiah Ḥayon’s Anatomical Theater
Shai Alleson Gerberg
Technology, Transparency, and the Battle against Sabbatianism
Tamara Morsel
Who Was Moses Ḥayim Luzzatto? Pietism, Controversy, and the Problem of Definition in Eighteenth-Century Rabbinics
David Sclar
11:15–11:45
Coffee Break
11:45–13:15
Session 5 – The Afterlives of Sabbatianism
Chair: Jacob Barnai
The False Messiah as Performer: Charisma and Belief on the Yiddish Stage
Ruthie Abeliovich
Further Reflections on Scholem's Sabbatai Tsvi
Yaacob Dweck
"Nonsense Based on Me": American Sabbatian Conspiracy Theories from Marvin Antelman to Candace Owens
Nan Goodman
13:15–14:30
Lunch Break
14:30–16:00
Session 6 – Sabbatian Communities: Text, Networks, and Social Culture
Chair: Dotan Arad
Zoharic Writing in Ladino: The Prose of Yehudah Levi Tova
David M. Manrique
Conversion to Islam in Eighteenth-Century Salonica
Eyal Ginio
The Secret Language of the Kapandji and Karakash: Sabbatian Funeral Art
Eliezer Papo
16:00–16:30
Concluding Remarks
FESTIVE CLOSING CONCERT
ANU Museum of the Jewish People | Bnai Zion Hall | 19:00–20:30
Hidden Voices: Songs of Longing and Sabbatian Worlds Between Judaism and Islam
Hadas Pal-Yarden: Vocals, Musical Production, and Musical Direction
Yaara Be’eri: Kamancheh
Gali Wolfstein: Qanun
Tom Mashlanik: Percussion
Ivri Halevi: Oud
Hadar Feldman Samet: Research and Moderation
The exhibition “Sabbatai Tsvi: Marking the 400th Anniversary of His Birth” is currently on view at the Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem, through November 7, 2026. For details and registration for guided tours, please visit the museum’s website.
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