The Imposter (Ruach Ami Series)

Over the centuries since thedestruction of the second BaisHamikdash, various adventurersand false prophets have laid claimto the royal mantle of Mashiach andpromised to bring an end to thelong and bitter galus of the Jewishpeople. These messianicmovements have almost invariablybrought tragic results, but nonemore so than the catastrophicmessianic campaign of theinfamous false Mashiach ShabbesaiTzvi, the central figure of TheImpostor, the fifth volume in TheRuach Ami Series.Viewed for the most part throughthe eyes of the characters of thePulichever saga, the amazing storyof The Impostor unfolds d_uring themiddle of the seventeenth centuryin the heart of the Turkish Empire.Feeding on the profound yearningof the Jewish people for the comingof Mashiach, the mystical cult,formed by the charismatic figure ofShabbesai Tzvi and the burningambition of his disciples, threatenedto engulf the major Jewishcommunities of the world. TheImpostor traces the development ofthis movement from its earliestorigins with mysterious midnightmeetings on the shores of the Bayof Smyrna to its hair raising climaxin the Imperial courts of the TurkishSultan.