Since we are in the midst of party season, I am reminded of the strange history of Jewish parties that went wrong. Orgies in the forests of Poland organized in the name of Jewish mysticism by someone called Jacob Frank. Yes, indeed, and that was the least of it.
Jacob Frank was born in eastern Poland, which is now in Ukraine, in about 1726 into a family who were loyal to the memory of the False Messiah Shabtai Zvi. Zvi had been enormously successful in persuading large numbers of Jews that he was the Messiah at a time of such persecution that European Jews were susceptible to the idea of a messianic figure coming to rescue them. Together with his guru Nathan of Gaza, and using the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, his mission had a lot in common with the rise of Hasidism as a popular reaction against authority, except he was rather less respectful of tradition. And in particular accused of sexual impropriety and lascivious gatherings. His mission came to an end when the Ottoman Sultan gave him a choice of converting or execution and he became Muslim. He claimed he remained a Jew which got him into trouble with Muslim authorities and he was exiled to Albania where he tried to bring Christians into his fold. A brave but vain attempt at ecumenism. After his death loyal supporters and splinter groups continued, including a group called the Dönmeh who still exist in Turkey today. Frank’s family had been Sabbateans and continued to venerate him.
Jacob Frank’s real name was Jacob Leibovich.He became a travelling merchant in textiles and precious stones spending a lot of time in the Ottoman territories where he earned the nickname Frank, a name generally given in the east to Europeans and he asserted his identity with the Sabbateans. He was certainly charismatic and by claimed he was inspired by Divine messages. In Salonica Frank suggested that sexual liberty was the ideal vehicle for communicating with God and began his unique selling point of attracting large numbers to his sexually promiscuous religious rave ins.
Naturally this scandalized the established rabbinic community. He was forced out of Salonika and wandered around Poland gathering more followers. He was denounced to the local Polish authorities in a rabbinical court and his fellows were accused of breaking the fundamental Jewish laws of morality and modesty. The rabbis of Brody proclaimed the Cherem, a ban, and Frank appealed to the Catholic Bishops for support on the grounds that he was being persecuted by the Jews because he was against the Talmud. He even managed to persuade the bishops to burn all available copies of the Talmud in Poland ( which fortunately did not happen).
Frank then claimed that he’d received revelation from heaven that it was time for to convert to Christianity. In 1759 hundreds of them converted to Catholicism. There were mass baptisms in Levo/Lviv under the protection of the Polish Augustus the third where some 500 individuals were converted. Some scholars claim that 26,000 Jews later joined him.
But gradually the church turned against his sexual shenanigans . He was convicted of heresy and imprisoned in a monastery for 13 years. Despite this he inspired his followers by continuing with his mystical speeches promising salvation. By 1786 he had moved to Moravia. Where his daughter Eve began to play an important part in the sect. They traveled to Vienna and were welcomed to the court of Maria Teresa. Once again, they found him crazy and he was forced out and went with his daughter to Germany, where he assumed the title of the Baron of Offenbach. There he lived as a wealthy nobleman, still receiving financial support from his Polish and Moravian followers until his death in 1790. Eve became the ‘holy mistress’ ( like Shabtai Zvi’s) and leader of the sect, but her fortunes dwindled and by the time of the Napoleonic wars the movement had died out. Nevertheless, there were one or two individuals who still claimed loyalty to him and his ideology. I am reliably informed that there were still some German nobles loyal to him a hundred years ago.
In one way people like Shabtai Zvi and Frank ( though I am not suggesting they were in the same league) were drawing on a very important mystical and antinomian strain within the religion. There were many established rabbis who objected strenuously to mysticism and indeed Hassidism. They too suffered from opposition for being too concerned with the happy clappy popularist appeal and were in popular versions a reaction against the strict, academic authorities of the mainstream. They preached that to achieve true spirituality one had to experience sin “ To fall in order to rise.” And my goodness did Frank preach that all too literally.
Since The Enlightenment many more divisions, factions and interpretations of Judaism have all had an effect both in undermining the central authority of traditional Judaism in Europe and fragmentation. There are many more weird sects and groups than there were then. The memory of Jacob Frank remains an inspiration to those who champion sexual liberty. Even French Existentialism found him an inspiration.
Hassidism slowly became more structuralized and less innovative. But continues to emphasize experience, joy and song ( not to mention good deeds). But overtime it has added its own formalities and customs. Individuality is no longer encouraged as dynasties assert their authority. But we probably have to thank a fear of false messianism for that. So, anyone looking nowadays for an orgy over this festive season, is unlikely to find much support in any of the mainstream, movements in Judaism. And looking to Frank for inspiration is not recommended!
Happy Chanukah
Jeremy Rosen
December 2024
