Sephardim, Ashkenazim, and Sabbateanism; 1540 to 1683

The expulsions from the Iberian Peninsula drive the escaping Jewish leadership into intensified pursuits of mystical escape from, and rationalization of, the endless calamities that plague their people.

In Italy and the Ottoman Empire, the two principal centers of refuge for the exiles, legalistic Kabbalism, which insists on strict observance of the law as precondition of mystical practice and study, becomes the dominant spirit of a rabbinic leadership.

The 16th century is an especially prosperous time for the Jews in the Ottoman Empire, in which many secure important positions in economic life.

The prosperity of 16th century Ottoman Palestine is followed by an economic and political decline in the 17th century, bringing with it a corresponding decline of the Jews.

Under the Ottomans and under Muslim rule in general, Jews, like other religious minorities, are excluded from certain activities, such as soldiering, and occupy a status below that of Muslims.

They are obliged to wear a yellow turban, but their religious autonomy is respected and they can occupy high office.

The biblical promise of a land for the Jews and a return to the Temple in Jerusalem, enshrined in Judaism, have sustained Jewish identity through an exile of fourteen centuries following the failed revolts in Judaea against the Romans early in the Common Era.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, a number of "messiahs" come forward trying to persuade Jews to “return”t o Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, “the Land of Israel”).

Among the mots prominent of theses is Sabbatai Zevi, a rabbi and kabbalist who claims to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, and later converts to Islam.

The founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement, he inspires the founding of a number of other similar sects, such as the Dönmeh in Turkey.

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