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Shabbetai Tzvi Definition

Shabbetai Tzvi (variously spelled Shabtai Tsvi, Shabtai Zvi. Sabtai Tzvi etc.) - False Messiah who stirred up Jewish hopes of returning to Zion, then converted to Islam. Arrived in the land of Israel from Israel in 1662. Visited Nassan Ashkenazy of Gaza who declared him to be the Messiah. The two tried to convince the rabbis of Jerusalem, without success, but they created a sensation throughout the Jewish world. Shabtai Tzvi returned to convince the Sultan of Turkey to grant a Jewish state to the Messiah, but instead the Sultan gave him the choice of conversion to Islam or death Shabbetai Tzvi' converted to Islam in 1666.


Synonyms and alternate spellings: Shabtai Tsvi, Shabtai Zvi. Sabtai

Further Information: Messiah


Hebrew/Arabic pronunciation and transliteration conventions:

'H - ('het) a guttural sound made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound was often represented by ch, especially in German transliterations of Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example.

ch - (chaf) a sound like "ch" in loch or the Russian Kh as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf."

u - usually between oo as in spoon and u as in put.

a- sounded like a in arm

ah- used to represent an a sound made by the letter hey at the end of a word. It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative acceptable transliterations.

'a-notation used for Hebrew and Arabic ayin, a guttural ah sound.

o - close to the French o as in homme.

th - (taf without a dot) - Th was formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there is no detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot, and therefore Histadruth and Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable.

q- (quf) - In transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar sounding words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for example.


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This work and individual entries are copyright © 2005 by Ami Isseroff and Zionism and Israel Information Center and may not reproduced in any form without permission unless explicitly noted otherwise. Individual entries may be cited with credit to The Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Zionism and Israel

 

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