| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sabbatai Zevi (August 1, 1626 – c. September 17, 1676) was a Sephardic Rabbi and kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement. At the age of forty, he was forced by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV to convert to Islam.
Sabbatai Zevi in 1632[]
Note: in the series, his name is spelled "Shabbethai Zebi".
A very young, eight-year-old Sabbatai Zevi emigrated to Grantville with his father and brother. Unknown to him, his family, and later the entire Jewish community, learned of his historical role as the "Jewish Messiah", and were somewhat wary of him. Eventually, Zevi overheard talk of how he was mentioned in the Grantville Library, and went there to see what was said about him. While attempting to translate an encyclopedia entry about himself into his native Greek, he encountered Jacqueline Pascal, who translated it for him. However, she accidentally translated the word "Messiah" as "son of God", which greatly shocked him.
Zevi left the library and eventually came across a group of American and German children who invited him to play baseball.