Messianic Immunity—The Perfect Storm: The case of R.

This episode—based extensively on the research by Professor Abraham Ofir Shemesh(1) examines an extreme case of messianic immunity. In the sixteenth century, a medical doctor, haRofeh, under the influence of the *Sabbatian* messianic movement of Shabbatai Tzvi, felt he could administer harmful drugs to non-Jews in order to kill them. Because he believed he was living in the stirrings of the messianic era, he also believed he could do so with impunity—if not hasten the full awakening of the messianic age as he saw it unfolding before his very eyes.