Marriage To Sarah
Another event helped spread Sabbatai's fame in the Jewish world of the time in the course of his second stay in Cairo. During the Chmielnicki massacres in Poland, a Jewish orphan girl named Sarah, about six years old, was found by Christians and sent to a convent for care. After ten years', she escaped (reportedly through a miracle), and made her way to Amsterdam. Some years later she went to Livorno where, according to some reports, she led a life of prostitution. She also conceived the notion that she was to become the bride of the Messiah, who was soon to appear.
When the report of Sarah's adventures reached Cairo, Sabbatai claimed that such a consort had been promised to him in a dream because he, as the Messiah, was bound to fall in love with an unchaste woman. He reportedly sent messengers to Livorno to bring Sarah to him, and they were married at Halabi's house. Her beauty and eccentricity reportedly helped him gain new followers. Through her a new romantic and licentious element entered Sabbatai's career. Even the overturning of her past scandalous life was seen by Sabbatai's followers as additional confirmation of his messiahship, following the biblical story of the prophet Hosea, who had also been commanded to take a "wife of whoredom" as the first symbolic act of his calling.
Read more about this topic: Sabbatai Zevi
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