A Tale of Two Museums
Ester Rachel Kaminska Theater Museum Collection

Shabtai Tsvi

Shabtai Zvi Yiddish MS105.jpg

Title

Shabtai Tsvi

Date

1925

Description

The historical figure Shabtai Zvi (1826-1876),  a spiritual leader who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish messiah and then. Active throughout the Ottoman Empire, Shabtai Tsvi was eventually arrested and imprisoned by the grand vizier Ahmed Koprulu who gave him the option of death or converting to Islam. Shabtai Tsvi converted to Islam, as did 300 families among his followers.

Shabtai Zvi is the subject of a number of Yiddish-language plays during this inter-war era; his attraction lay in part in his marginal status. This manuscript of a Shabtai Zvi play pictured here is one of a number of Shabtai-Zvi items contained in the museum collection. It is signed by the name Yankev Nayman, Ish Khosid (lit. Pious Man),  a pseudonym of director Dovid Herman. 



Source

RG8

Publisher

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Language

Yiddish

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Citation

“Shabtai Tsvi
,” YIVO Online Exhibitions, accessed March 28, 2024, https://immigrationusa.yivo.org/items/show/2234.
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