Robert Alter's essay suggests that modern Jews find something particularly fascinating about Sabbatai Zvi because he represents a yearning to end the Exile (Galut), and a sense of freedom from law and restraint and return to sensuality and pleasure. He uses as examples of this fascination the authors Hazaz and Singer who both wrote fictional works on Sabbatian followers, and also the historian Gershom Scholem.
At the end of the essay, Alter is suggesting that Scholem was too positive about the
place of Sabbatianism in Jewish history, and that Singer's novel was more insightful in
the way it suggested the negative, dangerous side of Sabbatianism. In your own words, what
do you think Alter means on the last page when he speaks about how the quest to be free of
law and restraints can lead to destruction, not to "vitality" and life? Can you
provide examples of how sectarian messianic movements have the potential for destruction,
even though they may start by preaching freedom and pleasure?