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Dönmeh
(2,947 words)

The designation for the community of followers of the self-proclaimed Messiah Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676; Smyrna), which formed in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire and can still be encountered to this day sporadically in Turkey. Like Sabbatai Zevi, many of his followers converted to Islam and created a synthesis of elements of Jewish and Islamic mysticism. The community’s religious syncre…

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Feldman, Hadar, “Dönmeh”, in: Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online, Original German Language Edition: Enzyklopädie Jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur. Im Auftrag der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig herausgegeben von Dan Diner. © J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart/Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland 2011–2017. Consulted online on 22 September 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-8894_ejhc_COM_0185>
First published online: 2017
First print edition: 20180401



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