The Earliest Footprint of a Messianic Queen: Sarah the Ashkenazi in Amsterdam

Abstract

A record from 1 November 1655 of a donation to a certain Sarah from Poland is probably the first documented historical appearance of Sarah the Ashkenazi, future wife of messiah Sabbatai Tsevi. Individually recorded donations by the Sephardic community to Polish refugees were quite unusual in these years, but, according to later biographical sources, the future messianic bride Sarah displayed a great talent for persuading others, and this explains why Amsterdam’s Portuguese mahamad would give her money. Arriving as a Polish refugee around the time of this record, Sarah the Ashkenazi told a fantastic autobiographical tale that made her stand out among the other refugees and moreover forged a bond of kinship with an earlier refugee. Moreover, she might have claimed clairvoyant abilities.