At the same time, people began to talkabout Schabbtai Zvi. But, alas, we have sinned, and we did notexperience it and as we heard and what we imaginedfor ourselves. When I remember the repentance,which was done by young and old– as is known and famous all over the world – it is impossible to describe it.Oh, Lord of the world, in the hour when we hoped that you, merci-ful God, would have mercy on your people Israel andredeem us, so we hoped like a woman sittingon the stones and laboring hard in great sufferingand agony; and she believes thatwhen her suffering and pain are over she will be happy abouther child. But after all her suffering and painshe bore nothing but the voice of the wind. So,my God and great King, it happened to us too. We heard the voice

and all your beloved servants and sons made greatefforts in prayer, repentance and alms all over the world. Andyour dear people Israel sat on the stonesand after all the hard repentance, prayer and alms thatit did in the 2, 3 years in which it sat on the stones,nothing came out except wind. It is not enough that wedid not deserve to see the child for which wemade such an effort, we came so far in our faith that wefelt completely secure, and unfortunately, we remainedstuck in the same place. My God and my Lord, your people stilldoes not despair in all of this and it hopes every day foryour mercy so that you can redeem it. “Eventhough he delays I wait every day for his coming.” If it be your holy will,you will indeed remember your people Israel. Thejoy that we had when a letter was received cannot bedescribed. Most of the letters that camewent to the Sephardim; they always tookthem to the synagogue and read them there. Ashkenazim,young and old, also went to their synagogue.The young Sephardic men always woretheir best clothes and each one had tied ona broad green silk sash – thiswas Schabbtai Zvi’s clothing. So, all of themwent to their synagogue with great fanfare; with joylike the joy at the Feast of Drawing Water they read the letters. Some unfortunately

sold everything they had, house and home, and everyone hoped that theywould be redeemed any day. My father-in-law, may he rest in peace, lived in Hameln.At that time he gave up his residence there, his house and home,and all of the good things that filled his house and moved to thecongregation in Hildesheim; he sent two large barrels to us herein Hamburg filled with all sorts of linen withall sorts food like peas, (beans), dried meat and otherfood, chopped dried plums, everything that could bestored, for the good man, may he rest in peace, thought that it would be simpleto travel from Hamburg to the Holy Land. These barrels stoodin my house for more than a year. Finally, when it wasfeared that the meat and other food would spoil they wroteto us that we should open the barrels and take out the edible goods so that the linen cloth would not be ruined. So the barrels stood for three years and more, and the whole time he thought that he woulduse the things for his journey. But it did not pleasethe Most High yet. We know well what the Most Highsaid to us and if we had been perfectly righteous from the bottom of our heartsand had not been so evil, I know for sure that God,may he be praised, would have had mercy on us, if we would only keep “loveyour neighbor as yourself.” But God have mercy, how we keepit! The envy, the unjustified hatred that is among us!That cannot be good for us. Yet, what you, dear God,promised us you will keep royally and graciously.And if this is delayed because ofour sins yet it will come to us when the

determined time has arrived. We hope for this and pray toyou, great God, that you will make us happy one daywith complete redemption.