Moments of upheaval are particularly fruitful for excavating the historical
past. The eruption of a cause
célèbre affords
an opportunity not only to examine particular ruptures, but also to gain
insights into the structures of social life that are interrupted by them. The
news of the coming of the Messiah in the years 1665–66 represents one such moment in the
story of the Jews of
Hamburg as recounted by the memoirist,
Glikl of Hameln. In Book III
of her remembrances,
Glikl reports the transition between elation and despair as
promises of the Jews’ redemption first came to
northern Europe only to
be dashed by the conversion of the redeemer to Islam in
Constantinople.
Glikl’s account of
the Sabbatean movement
in
Hamburg is revealing
for its vivid portrait of the energy of the Jews in the city when the news first
arrived, for thinking about the communication of news between distant
communities—especially the
entrepôts of the
Sephardic
diaspora in the
Italian Peninsula,
Ottoman
Empire, and
northwestern Europe—and for considering the differences between
the various Jewish groups within the city of
Hamburg itself.
Glikl von Hameln: Memoirs 1691-1719 [Excerpt] (translated by Barbara Schmidt-Runkel), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History,
<https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-165.en.v1> [December 04, 2024].