Background
He left Podolia as a child, but returned as a young man to proclaim himself the successor of Sabbetai Zebi, an earlier pseudo-Messiah, and the recipient of divine messages.
He left Podolia as a child, but returned as a young man to proclaim himself the successor of Sabbetai Zebi, an earlier pseudo-Messiah, and the recipient of divine messages.
Jacob Frank received an elementary education in Chernivtsi, and later lived in Bucharest.
Jacob Frank was a dealer and trader with no special learning, but while in Turkey he came into contact with the Donmeh, the group that continued to believe in the messiahship of Shabbetai Tzevi. He began to study the mystical classic, the Zohar, and became convinced that he should return to Poland to lead the secret believers in Shabbetai Tzevi there, who at the time were oppressed and disorganized. A charismatic figure, he began to regard himself as a reincarnation of Shabbetai Tzevi and, like him, apparently converted to Islam for a time. However, he developed a simpler theology, with a trinitarian basis that paralleled Christianity (God, the Messiah, and the Shekhinah, a female hypostasis of God).
He acquired a following, especially in Galicia, Hungary, and the Ukraine, and the rabbis excommunicated him in 1756 for his heretical teachings, antinomianism, and transgression of the commandments (including the sexual restrictions). The rabbis denounced the group to the Catholic authorities as a new religion, which was forbidden by canon law, while the Frankists for their part put themselves under the protection of the Catholic bishop of Kamienic-Podolski. Hoping that the sec¬tarians could be converted to Christianity, the bishop ordered a public disputation at which the rabbis would have to defend the Talmud. In the seven-day disputation, the Frankists presented the nine principles of their faith, including the three fold face of God, his corporeal manifestation, and the falsity of the Talmud. The bishop decreed in favor of the Frankists and ordered the burning of thousands of copies of the Talmud in the Kamienic-Podolski marketplace. When, the bishop died suddenly and the rabbis renewed their attacks on the Frankists, they received protection from the king, Augustus III (1758). Frank declared himself a living embodiment of God’s power and said that he and his adherents were destined to adopt Christianity as a guide. The Frankists also revived the anti-Jewish blood libel.
At a second disputation held in 1759, the Frankists were outwitted, but in its wake they accepted Christianity and Frank himself was baptized in Warsaw cathedral with the king as his godfather. The Polish clergy remained skeptical, however, in their attitude to the sect and Frank’s doctrines and manner of living aroused their suspicions. He was arrested and examined by an ecclesiastical court that exiled him to the fortress of Czestochowa, where he remained for thirteen years. During this time, he maintained his relations with his follow¬ers, who now saw him as a martyr, the suffering Messiah. Many settled in the town and continued to gain inspiration from his teaching.
His imprisonment ended with the first partition of Poland when he was released by the commander of the Russian troops who occupied the town in 1772. He and his followers moved to Briinn (Brno) in Moravia and he again won favor at court. His past, however, caught up with him and he moved to Offenbach in Germany, where the sect was reestablished under the “Holy Lord,” who now called himself Baron von Frank.
Frank may have believed himself a true Messiah, but his religious theories were confused, and his indulgence in all kinds of licentious and immoral practices served to gain ill repute for his cause. After his death his daughter Eve assumed the leadership of the Frankists. Most of them became converted to Roman Catholicism and no trace of the movement was left in Judaism.
Frank developed the theory of the transmigration of the soul of Mashiach, which is an organic part of the "First Cause" itself, from the body of one person to the body of another. Such incarnations of the soul of the Mashiach are, according to Frank, many of those spoken of in the Torah, then - Muhammad, Shabtai Zvi, Jacob Creedo and Berahya. After the death of Berahya, the soul of Mashiach moved to Frank's body.
Frank formulated three main points:
The doctrine of the holy trinity is the "Holy Old Man" (Attica kaddish), "The Holy King" (Malka kaddish) and "The High Lady" or Divinity (Matronita elion). The Supreme Divine Principle was considered completely detached from creation. It was hidden in the second beginning (King of kings, true God of Israel, male nature). The third beginning embodied female nature.
The doctrine of the Messiah as the "Holy King", which is constantly incarnated and engaged in the correction of the world and promotes the liberation of holy sparks from the abyss of evil forces (the Klippoth).
The practice of realizing the divine plan of creation through the combination of the male and female principles of the Godhead. Human passions, forbidden by the Halacha, are just the "Divine Sparks", bound in souls. Without an exit, they prevent the desired harmony.
Jacob Frank was a wealth, temperament and ability to subjugate people soon attracted many Turkish Sabbatians to him.