Sabbatarian Prayer

"Arise messianic king [Sabbatai Zevi], and behold the congregation of the of the Lord like unto a flock without a shepherd . . . . [Implore thy heavenly father, O king messiah, saying:]

"I am today a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief , smitten of God and afflicted, brought as a lamb to the slaughter: What have I achieved bearing these griefs and sorrows and atoning for Thy children, since they are all bound in chains and in the fetters of exile. O Lord, turn not away the face of Thine anointed, and let Thy hand be established with him; and in Thy name shall his horn be exalted and be open manifest to Israel Thy holy people, to save them that are sunk in the deep abyss and to bring out of the darkness them that have been lost and polluted among the nations, to perfect the world in the kingdom of the Almighty, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth [and in that day, the Lord shall be One and His name shall be One]. -- Hemdath Yamim


YALHAK'S COMMENTARY:

This prayer, from the Sabbatian Prayer Book Hemdath Yamim, was written and recited by the 17th century Donmeh after Sabbatai Zevi's "conversion" to Islam. It is based on Nathan of Gaza's Kabbalistic interpretation of that act in which it is apostrophized into a Tikkun -- a mystical "repair" -- by which the messiah, namely Sabbatai Zevi, has entered the abyss of the qelippah to save the Holy Sparks which have fallen into it, and thereby "repair the face of God," once again making Him One and His name One. Note also how messiah Sabbatai Zevi is compared in this prayer to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, just as Christians make the same comparison with Christ -- and whereas the latter's ultimate sacrifice of himself was by crucifixion on the cross, the former's was by the Tikkun of holy apostasy to Islam for which he, like Jesus before him, became "a thing despised and rejected by men." (Isaiah 53:3)