I had fairly typical views on the Frankists (depraved and subversive Jewish heretics) until I read some of Br. Gilbert Joseph’s blogging on how they may have been misunderstood by both Jews and Catholics. On Br. Gilbert’s recommendation I set to reading The Mixed Multitude by Pawel Maciejko, a very well researched scholarly work on The Frankists.
In my assessment the Frankists were slandered by some of the leading Jewish Ecclesia in mid 18th century Poland, most notably Rabbi Jacob Emden. They originated from the heretical and transgressive sect of failed Messiah Sabbatai Zevi called Sabbateans from the mid 17th century in Eastern Europe.
It appears Frank had assumed the sects’ leadership in Turkey and Eastern Europe. Sabbateans, infamous wife-swappers known for their theology that transgression of Torah would bring the Messianic redemption, continued to exist even after Zevi converted to Islam. Although a clandestine movement they were quietly tolerated in the normative Jewish community.
When Frank arrived in Poland he had by then incorporated Christian elements into their rituals. This scandalized the Jewish ecclesia. The Frankists were accused of a public orgy. It has been suggested to me that what they were really doing was engaging in Marian devotion in the presence of a shrine. The book tries to be neutral and one is left with a question of what really went on with the Frankists to have so shocked the rabbinical class. Remember, Sabbatean transgressive licentiousness was ensconced within European Jewish communities and had been tolerated by the Rabbinic leaders for nearly a century.
In the case of Jacob Frank, a kind of kill switch was activated by the Rabbis and they tried to have the Frankists prosecuted by the Catholic Church for heresy—heresy against Christianity! It is rare for Jews to give over other Jews to the hands of Gentiles for punishment. The echo of the Passion where Jesus is given over by his fellow Jews to Gentiles to be put to death is a similarity that is difficult to overlook. The somewhat naive intent of the Rabbis was to have the one they named a false Messiah, Jacob Frank, put to death at the hands of Rome (The Church).
The similarity doesn’t hold with Frank and Christ. Whereas Pilate follows through and Jesus is put to death, the Church offers Frank redemption through conversion—and he takes it. Many of the Rabbis were thrilled to be rid of the Frankists—an extreme sentiment towards other Jews rarely seen in Jewish history. But not all of the Jewish leaders are pleased. The Baal Shem Tov is said to have died of a broken heart for losing the Frankists from Judaism, seeing their conversion as an amputation from the Jewish body (the Besht’s reaction is not in the book, I read this on Wikipedia and have inserted for broader context. Oddly, the Wikipedia citation for the Besht’s reaction is this book, yet I don’t remember reading it there).
There is a period where there appears to be retaliation by the Frankists who try to introduce the Blood Libel in Poland centuries after it had been a serious accusation in other parts of Europe. Thank God it doesn’t stick in Poland, which never had the Blood Libel. Most of the Church authorities dismiss it save for a small handful of antisemitic priests who are unsuccessful in prosecuting the accusation against the normative Jews in Poland.
After this hot period in the 1750s the Frankists seem to become like a nomadic, but oppulent kingdom in Europe. They also exclusively intermarry with other Frankists excluding both non-Frankist Jews and Christians.
There is significant innuendo from both Jews and Christians described in the book to support continued sexually immoral Sabbatean practices on the part of Jacob Frank and his children after they were Catholic. However, we find that although (what appears to be) slander against the Frankists began with the Rabbis, by the time of their disappearance in the early 20th century it is Christians who have turned against them. Catholic Frankist descendants did much work to “sterilize” their family names and/or obscure their ancestry.
Given the motives from various factions to denigrate the Frankists, I find it hard to validate the normative innuendo in the record that the Frankists remained both Sabbatean and Catholic.
The book describes the converted Frankists as extremely devout Catholics. As a Catholic, I must apply charity in my assessment of them. If they were devout they would have frequently went to confession. This means their prior transgressions were absolved. Jacob Frank was redeemed.
Admittedly, I am still troubled by reported instances of cult-like UnChristian behavior on the part of Frank’s children and a few perverted anecdotes on the Catholic Frank. Even if they are true I don’t think we are permitted to judge considering these alleged transgressions were not professed Frankist Catholic teaching. We are all sinners. The entire world was literally against Jacob Frank. He would have gone to confession many times. Furthermore, aside from the Frankist leadership, the book has very little to say about the lay Catholic Frankists aside from clannishness and a surprising militaristic prowess.
It has been estimated that 30-60 thousand Jews converted to Catholicism in Poland. It looks to me that they are still derided by both Jews and Christians to this day. However, I find myself sympathetic to the Frankists as I am both Jew and now Catholic. I can understand the evangelical priests who compassionately worked with them. As Sabbateans they were in the darkest depths of sin. As Catholics, there is no other conclusion than that they were forgiven, redeemed, purified and sanctified. They are part of our communion and many are now saints.
Furthermore, the book makes a very good case that the Frankists didn’t bother anyone after their conversion. They were not connected with Freemasonry, which was the destabilizing and subversive movement in Europe of the time (although some secret societies unsuccessfully attempted overtures to the Frankists). They kept to themselves. Ultimately their identity was unsustainable and they had melted in with European society by the early 20th century.
It’s possible the Catholic Frankist have had an enduring spiritual influence and, from my perspective, not a bad one. Although that is beyond the scope of the book.
Addendum:
I want to reiterate that aside from this book most Googling and literature one would find on the (Catholic) Frankists is quite scandalous. The Rabbis and later Christians had significant motive to slander them. The Rabbis could not allow (in their belief) for a synthesis with Judaism with Christianity. Later, the same could be said of Christians, that they did not want Jewish customs, which the Frankists kept, being incorporated into Christianity. Thus an innuendo was created around the Frankists that suggests they remained existentially irredeemable. Catholic teaching shows we cannot hold such a view of the Catholic Frankists. As Hebrew Catholics, we also understand that there is no conflict with most Jewish customs and mitzvot with the sacraments of Catholicism. The mitzvot (at minimum) are the means by which Jewish identity can be preserved within the Church. I believe this was Frank’s understanding too which is why they separated themselves in an attempt to preserve the narrow road of a Catholic Jewish identity. It didn’t work then because of the time. There’s little stopping it from working now except the will of Catholics who carry Jewish ancestry to do so.
The Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement, 1755-1816 (Jewish Culture and Contexts)
