The life of Jakub Frank would fit into a film script. This self-proclaimed prophet professed four religions, healed, promised immortality and ... organized orgies. Thanks to his cleverness and the gift of persuasion, he won the favor of the Catholic bishops, the Polish king, and even the Empress of Austria!
In the middle of the 17th century, the "Chosen People" was going through a difficult time. Only a few Jews did so well. The poor majority waited impatiently for the coming of the messiah who would fix the world and, at the same time, rescue them from their misery. The breakthrough was expected in 1648. According to the Kabbalistic book Zohar, this was when salvation would begin.
A few had come up with a wave of expectation that they were appointed to save the people of Israel. The first was the 22-year-old Kabbalist and haunted ascetic Sabbataj Tzvi (Szabetaj Tsevi). God "commanded" him to announce:" You are the savior of Israel, the messiah, the son of David, the anointed of the God of Jacob. ". He quickly acquired a devoted group of supporters, the so-called Sabbatanists, who wanted with him to collect the grains that God had spread among the followers of different religions.
The successor of Sabbatai, and also the second prophet, was Baruchja Ruso in about 1700. After his death, the "faithful" had been waiting for the arrival of another savior for many years. And it hapenned. The Messiah has finally come.
Birth of the prophet
Jakub Lejbowicz called Frank was born in Korolówka in Podolia in 1726. He was only a year old when his father - accused of sabbatan heresy - had to leave the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The family moved to Wallachia (at that time part of the Ottoman Empire).
Sabbatai Tzvi in 1648 proclaimed himself a Jewish messiah in Smyrna, Turkey. He started the messianic movement called Sabbataism, from which the Frankist sect later emerged.
In 1750, Jacob began his studies in Smyrna with a Kabbalist and follower of Baruchja, the Khacham (sage) Isaachar. It was about him that "my rabbi" used to say all his life. During his studies, he came to an astonishing conclusion:"They (Mardochaj from Lviv and Rabbi Nachman from Busko - two Jewish scholars - editor's note) came to me with books and showed me difficult places in them that they could not understand themselves, they told me to read them, and when I read them to them, they understood them immediately, or I did not understand them myself. " Frank took it his own way - as a sign of extraordinary mystical skill .
In June 1752, he married the daughter of Yehuda Towa ha-Levi, an eminent Sabbateist theologian. After a few months, the young couple moved to Thessaloniki. It was there that on November 5, 1754, as a chacham, Frank founded his own bet ha-midrash (house of learning). Not even two weeks had passed, and already - of course in the presence of the students - the Holy Spirit descended upon him. For the prophet's acolytes, it meant that either the "holy Lord" Baruchja appeared to him or the messiah was incarnated in his soul . The news of the Savior's arrival spread in Podolia.
In December 1755, Frank came to the Commonwealth. He spent less than six months in Polish Ruthenia. Why did he decide to come back? As he said himself, he was called by… Jesus. In fact, the trip to the homeland was due to very pragmatic reasons. Jacob could count on zealous supporters here. So it was something like a "promotional tour" - the prophet toured hawuras (communities) sympathetic to Sabbataism and urged the faithful to reject the Talmud as a source of faith.
Orgy in Lanckorona
The turning point in Jacob Frank's messianic "career" came on January 27, 1756. On the occasion of the fair taking place in Lanckorona at that time, the prophet met with his followers. The problem is that he was accompanied by two "virgins". One, as Frank claimed, served as "his guard and leader", the other allegedly was the once kidnapped granddaughter of the Polish king . Orthodox Jews did not hide their indignation.
The cup of bitterness was poured out by the fun (or rather an orgy) that Jakub and his "friends" organized at the house of Lejbusz ben Sabbataj. It was far too much for Talmudists. He describes their reaction in his latest book, How Poland saved the world. Messiahs and Prophets "Polish historian, specializing in the history of the Polish nobility, Jerzy Besala:" Under the leadership of the leaseholder Gerszon Nachmanowicz, they burst into Lejbka's house and arrested Frank and his students.
The Frankists were handcuffed and transported to Wielchowiec. The rabbis took their letters, horses, eight hundred red zlotys, a watch, a ring and they started an investigation ". It didn't last long. It was enough to whip Lejbka's son for him to admit that the gathered people danced around the naked Chaja, Elisha Szor's daughter-in-law, kissing her breasts.
Franek was finally immersed in the testimony of the other repentant participants of the game, who testified before the rabbinical court that the followers of Jakub "mixed godless songs, dances and jumps with devotion, they sexually communed with other wives, relatives, and their relatives." The leader of the sect was handed over to the Turks who deported him to Khotyn. From there he returned to Thessaloniki as unpleasant.
On June 13, all Sabbateists (including Frankists) were solemnly cursed, contact and marriage with them were forbidden, and children from such unions were recognized as bastards. Their holy book - The Zohar - could henceforth be studied only after turning thirty and having read the Talmud. Heretics were ordered to be captured and imprisoned. But it was too late. The sect has gained too much influence to be exterminated just like that.
Crime and Punishment
For some time the Frankists have been "in the target" of church hierarchs. The bishop of Kamieniec, Mikołaj Dembowski, hoped that they would convert to Catholicism - and he was ready to go along with them in many matters. The followers of the self-proclaimed prophet decided to take advantage of this and asked Dembowski to decide which teaching was correct:the Talmud or the Zohar.
Jakub Frank had one more ace up his sleeve - his daughter Ewa, who was to succeed him.
As might be expected, the "judgment" was favorable to them. This, however, was not enough for them. They accused the Orthodox Jews of committing ritual murders - the rabbis were to disgrace the host and holy images, as well as shed the blood of Christian children. The slander fell on fertile ground. Copies of the Talmud were flared on the piles. In Żytomierz, 13 Jews who were accused of killing babies were sentenced to torment and death. Who knows how things would have happened had it not been for the unexpected death of Bishop Dembowski in November 1757.
Meanwhile, the Talmudists attacked Frank with redoubled force. However, he found a way to "get away" from the repressions that threatened him. He converted to Islam along with father-in-law, father-in-law Towa and the Balkan Sabbateans. However, he did not abandon the idea of a "career" in Rzeczpospolita. He was just waiting for the right opportunity.
This happened in June 1758. King Augustus III of the Saxon, persuaded by the Bishop of Kiev, Kajetan Sołtyk, issued a safe conduct guaranteeing counter-Muslims the right to return safely and seek redress for their wrongs. Frank needed no further encouragement.
It's time for salvation
On December 7, he once again entered the territory of the Republic of Poland. He arranged his "court" in the village of Iwanie. After six months, with twelve brothers who took the names of the evangelical apostles, he formed the messianic chawura (community). He soon went one step further and announced that he was the third messiah after Sabbatai and Baruchja - the incarnation of Jesus the Paraclete .
After Frank's death, his followers paid tribute to him.
"He lay down on the bed, spreading his hands on the cross to express Christ Crucified" - quotes the words of the prophet Jerzy Besal's disciples in the book "How Poland saved the world. Messiahs and Prophets. ”
As the personification of Christ, Frank announced that the road to salvation was through Catholicism. He also argued that baptism ensures immortality . As conversion appeared to be a relatively low price to pay for eternal life, the Sabbateists soon began to take the sacrament en masse. Just as quickly, however, it was revealed that changing religions is by no means a protection against death. The epidemic that, contrary to the prophet's promises, killed 60 baptized Jews seriously damaged the authority of the messiah.
Meanwhile, on September 17, 1759, in the cathedral in Lviv, the prophet himself underwent the solemn procedure of "water baptism". He took the name of Joseph. But that was not enough for him. He proceeded to the sacrament for the second time on November 18, 1759 in the royal chapel in the Saski Palace in Warsaw. Augustus III himself was godfather.
Paradoxically, after the conversion of the Frankists to Catholicism, the Church stopped looking favorably at the sect. News reached the clergy that Frank's followers treated him as a miracle worker and savior. It was decided to carefully investigate these reports. On January 26, 1760, Frank was summoned to a hearing before the consistory court. It was terrible . He was basically unfamiliar with the New Testament, and the fact that he called himself messiah only plunged him.
The clergy recognized that although Jacob Frank's disciples sincerely believe in Jesus, he himself does not bode hope. As a false prophet, he was imprisoned in the monastery at Jasna Góra, where he spent - a trifle - 13 years. He had time to rethink his next steps. He decided to change his religion again. This time he focused on Orthodoxy.
New chapter
Frank left the prison in January 1773. He headed for Warsaw. However, he did not manage to regain his former authority, and in addition - as the judgment of the consistory court was still in force - he had to leave Poland. Thanks to the strenuous efforts of his less numerous but still influential sympathizers, in March 1775 he was granted an audience with the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.
He was hiding one more ace in his sleeve - his daughter Ewa. Empress Joseph II's son immediately fell in love with the young girl. She became his mistress, which gave Frank a privileged position. He did not enjoy it for long - his health deteriorated, and excessive love for luxury eventually exhausted his limited resources .
What's more, after the death of Maria Theresa, Joseph II - already as emperor - waged war against the sects. Ailing Frank had no choice. He moved to Offenbach am Main. There, on December 10, 1791, he suffered a stroke. After his funeral, the Frankists flocked around Eve for some time. However, they soon departed to their homeland. The German historian Heinrich Graetz argues that they cultivated their religion until the 1870s. However, they were not saved.