The reluctant Messiah

"The Reluctant Messiah is based on true historical accounts of the life of Sabetay Sevi, a seventeenth-century Hebrew mystic who managed to stir up in the Balkans and the Holy Land a messianic euphoria of intense proportions, reminiscent of the times of Jesus. The story is set in an historical background as it existed in the seventeenth century. Dates, major events, and many of the characters are historically accurate. Salamon Eskinazi attempts to recreate the personal and spiritual life of the principal character and those around him; to a large extent remaining obscure from historical accounts." "This book is about the struggle of harvesting a multitude of souls with the hope of intimidating the Ottoman authorities to yield the Holy Land to the Jews."--BOOK JACKET.