This is why I study Sabbateanism: not because of the specific doctrines of the movement, or because of the personality of Sabbatai Zevi, but because these were sects of Jews who remained attached to some kind of Judaism, but who created a form of Judaism well beyond the pale of normative religious figures. Yes, there are some aspects of Sabbatean ideology that are fascinating, even titillating. The Dönmeh and the Frankists each had sexual-religious rituals, ranging from wife-swapping to kissing the naked breasts of a girl as the embodiment of the Torah/Shechinah. I'm intrigued by Frank's innovation, in exact parallel to the Baal Shem Tov's, that the miracle of pantheism is precisely that God is present in the illusory, material world. But above all, I'm captivated by that vertiginous moment in which there are suddenly no rules, no guides - and yet there is also a pull to faith. True nihilism bores me; I can't think of anything less interesting than the same hipster angst that has caused people to be cool, ironic and unhappy for two hundred years. But religious anarchy - where things matter, but they're not how the authorities say - that is the world which I actually inhabit.
Jacob Frank, who lived from 1726-1790, was the polar opposite: a manipulative, vulgar cult leader who converted both to Islam and Catholicism, may have had a long-term incestuous relationship with his daughter, and was regarded by thousands of 18th-century Jews as a messianic figure.
