Frankists

"Sacred books being burned by order of the priests."

— Sefer HaShimush

"The priest who burns the books crosses a bridge in his carriage, and it collapses beneath him; the carriage and its riders are overturned, and the horses and riders sink into the depths like a stone."

— Sefer HaShimush by R' Yaakov Emden

"When the bishop's heart was merry with wine, the spiritual forces of impurity hurled him from his seat, and he rolled about in convulsions, falling to the ground for three days and three nights."

— Sefer HaShimush

"After his death the bishop became a destructive force against the priests and advisers who had assisted in burning the sacred books; he was disinterred and his head cut off in bitterness. He then came by day with his head under his arm and killed more of them, warning them that if they did not burn him in the place where he had burned the sacred books, no priest in his diocese would survive. They were thus forced to exhume him again and burn him to ash in the very spot where he had ordered the burning."

— Sefer HaShimush

The Frankist sect was a remnant of the Sabbatean movement that coalesced around the false messiah Jacob Frank, and brought blood libels and various persecutions upon our people.

The leading Torah sages — foremost among them the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples — fought the sect until they prevailed against it.

The sect

Its founding

The Frankist sect inclined toward a path of total religious dissolution: in its theology, the Torah and its commandments were void, and the prohibitions of "thou shalt not" were transformed into positive obligations. A common blessing among the Frankists was: "Blessed are You, L-rd... who permits the forbidden."

The sect's founder was Jacob Frank, born in the Podolia region in the year 5487 (1727) to a prosperous family with secret ties to Sabbatean circles. In his youth he visited Salonika in Turkey, where a Sabbatean sect known as the Dönmeh was active — and from whom he drew influence and reinforcement.

Upon his return to Poland in 5515 (1755), he began to develop grandiose delusions and the conviction that he was the successor to Sabbatai Zvi as messiah. Through his powerful personal charisma, Jacob Frank gathered a circle of followers who crowned him heir to Sabbatai Zvi. But the mantle of the new messiah was not enough for him — he also sought to construct a more extreme Sabbatean theology, one that threw off every trace of Torah and commandment. Frank regarded himself as supreme ruler not only over the earth, but over the heavens as well.

The sect's activities are exposed

On the 26th of Shevat, 5516 (1756), in the small town of Lantzkorun in the Podolia region, members of the sect gathered early in the morning at the inn of one of their number and conducted themselves there in their characteristic manner of licentiousness and depravity. A Jewish passerby who glanced toward the building and saw what was taking place ran to report it to the community rabbis and leaders, who arrived with the authorities, arrested the sect's ringleaders, and dispersed the participants.

This event marked a turning point in the sect's history: many abandoned the sect on one hand, while on the other, the rabbinic authorities placed the sect's members under a ban of excommunication.

The ban of excommunication

On the 26th of Sivan, 5516 (1756), at an assembly of the Council of Four Lands in Lvov, together with a number of leading rabbis, a ban of excommunication (cherem) was placed upon approximately 2,000 Jews affiliated with the Frankist sect. The cherem was circulated in printed form to all the communities of Poland, and in every Jewish community the sect's members were distanced so that they could not come and mingle among the Jewish people.

The cherem was drafted by the members of the Kloiz of Brody, with the participation of Rabbi Chaim HaKohen Rappaport.

The cherem was given the name Cherev Pifiyos ("Double-Edged Sword") and was designed to separate and remove the followers of Sabbatai Zvi from the community of Israel — forbidding intermarriage with them and cutting them off from all connection to our people. The cherem established that a Jew suspected of Frankism was forbidden to be rented lodging, taught, have his sons circumcised, or be buried. The approximately two thousand individuals who belonged to Frank's sect then turned to the Christian Church, which agreed to receive them.

Its end

The disputations and bans issued by the leading rabbis brought about the formal separation of the sect's members from the Jewish people: some returned to the faith of Israel, while roughly two thousand men and women converted to Christianity. As part of their conversion, they declared that the Talmud was filled with nonsense and falsehood, and that the blood libels were true — that Jews indeed used the blood of non-Jewish children for the baking of matzos.

Jacob Frank himself converted in a ceremonial baptism in Warsaw in the presence of the King of Poland. He lived in wealth and splendor on his estate until his death in 5551 (1791). After his death, his daughter Eva led the movement.

Offshoots of the sect's practices survived and evolved into a Sabbatean sect that operates to this day in Turkey.

In the book Shivchei HaBesht, the following is recorded: "And from the power of those who converted — meaning the Frankist sect — I heard... that the Baal Shem Tov said: the Shechinah (Divine Presence) weeps and says, 'As long as a limb remains attached, there is hope that it may somehow be healed; but once the limb is severed, there is no remedy for it ever — for each and every Jew is a limb of the Shechinah.'" This teaching was cited by the Rebbe on several occasions in his public addresses.

The burning of the Talmud

As part of their conversion, the Frankists informed the Church that the Talmud was the source of all the Jewish people's problems — to be proven through a public disputation that would put the Talmud on trial.

The Bishop of Kamenets-Podolsk, Dembowski, compelled the leaders of Podolian Jewry to appear before him in a public disputation with the Frankists. The sect's members sought to demonstrate during the proceedings that the blood libels had a basis in truth and an apparent source in the Talmud, and put forward arguments for the validity of Christianity. The rabbis, however, refrained from responding to these distorted claims, lest they be accused of contempt for the Christian faith — a charge commonly leveled in those years.

There is a single source recording that the sect's members did not stop at words concerning the blood libels, but took action as well:

"In the town of Vilavitch, one of the Frankist women impersonated the rabbi's wife. She secretly informed the local priest that she had witnessed the rabbi together with several householders from the community slaughter a Christian child for Passover. On the basis of this testimony, the rabbi and the householders were executed as martyrs following a brief trial, and the true rebbetzin and her five children were tortured harshly until they converted."

When the disputation concluded and after several delays, the rabbis and elders of the Podolian communities were compelled to appear before Dembowski again on the 3rd of Cheshvan, 5518 (October 17, 1757) to hear his ruling.

In Dembowski's judgment it was stated that the disputation had demonstrated the evil of the Talmud, and it was therefore to be burned in the town marketplace. The Bishop ordered that a thorough search be conducted in every place where Jews resided — in cities and villages, in synagogues, in private homes, and in Jewish booksellers' shops — and that all forbidden books, volumes of the Talmud, halachic codes, and Kabbalistic works be seized and handed over to the Church's authority.

The following day, the 4th of Cheshvan, 5518 (1757), the ruling received confirmation from the civil court in Kamenets. The ruling stated that the court was responding

"to the justice of the claims of the opponents of the Talmud from the members of the Old Covenant, who seek the burning of the books called Talmud forthwith and immediately... and has ordered that these books — deserving not only of a passing fire but of eternal fire — be delivered to the hands of the minister of justice [the executioner] and burned on the pyre before the entire community."

The ruling was carried out that very day. The burning of the Talmud in Kamenets cast a pall of despair over the Jews of Poland. Scholars and preachers expounded on the event and its significance. Rabbi Yisrael Charif of Satanov, a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, speaking of the calamities that had befallen Israel in years ending in the digit eight since the destruction of the Second Temple, wrote:

"And in our own time as well — the year 5518 of the sixth millennium — our holy Torah was burned on the fourth day of the month of Marcheshvan of that year: all six orders of the Mishnah, and also tractate Berachos, Tikkunei Zohar, and the Ashel Ravrevei [the Shulchan Aruch with its major commentaries], on account of the heretics of Sabbatai Zvi, may their name be erased."

The event shook all of Polish Jewry, out of fear that the decree would spread throughout Poland. A Jew named R' Boruch interceded with the minister Brühl — who wielded enormous influence at the court of Augustus III, King of Poland — to have the King instruct the Papal Nuncio in Poland to investigate the matter and reopen the proceedings.

By a miracle, approximately one month after the burning of the Talmud in Kamenets, Dembowski suffered a stroke and after three days of severe suffering died on the 26th of Cheshvan (November 9), 5518 (1757). Following his death, the decree was annulled.

According to another account, the Baal Shem Tov's emissary, R' Chaim Yisrael der Tepter (the Potter), came to warn Dembowski that if he did not annul the decree to burn the Talmud and other Jewish books, and did not cancel the fine imposed on the Jews of Kamenets for the construction of their house of worship, he would die a sudden death. Dembowski responded to the emissary: "Tell the one who sent you that I hold him and his threats in contempt." During the procession on the way to the burning, Dembowski suffered his stroke and died.

According to yet another version, after the burning of the Talmud the bishop became intoxicated until he collapsed and died.

The disputation in Lvov

After the attempt to enter under Church protection in Kamenets had not succeeded, the Frankists sought to come under the Church's sponsorship in Lvov.

At the forefront of the battle and the disputation in Lvov stood the Baal Shem Tov, his disciples, and his Chassidim — headed by Rabbi Chaim HaKohen Rappaport.

In a letter from Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Bolchov it is recounted that the Frankists wrote their correspondence in cipher and their communications could not be deciphered — only the Baal Shem Tov's disciple Rabbi Yisrael Charif succeeded in breaking the code, and through this their schemes were uncovered.

According to the letters in the Kherson Geniza, the Baal Shem Tov himself was present at the disputation (as was also the view of Rabbi Yaakov Emden in his work Ma'aseh Nora b'Podalia). However, in the Frierdiker Rebbe's notes cited below from Likkutei Diburim, it is mentioned that the Baal Shem Tov sent an emissary to Lvov — suggesting he was not himself present there.

In the notes of the Frierdiker Rebbe, it is recounted that the Baal Shem Tov sent one of his younger disciples, R' Moshe Meshel of the village of Bezhenke, with a letter to his disciple Rabbi Chaim HaKohen Rappaport. The Baal Shem Tov also wrote a separate letter and gave it to his disciple R' Moshe Meshel for R' Chaim Yisrael of Lvov. When R' Moshe brought the letter to Rabbi Chaim HaKohen Rappaport, Rappaport rose to his full height and read the holy epistle with particular reverence. When he finished reading, he sighed and said: "The entire congregation of Israel in Lvov and its surroundings is in urgent need of great Divine mercy on account of the terrible decree — may it never come to pass — to abolish, Heaven forbid, the recitation of Aleinu Lishabei'ach."

Rabbi Chaim Rappaport ordered a seudas mitzvah (a festive meal held in honor of a mitzvah) to be prepared. Within a short time the news of the decree had reached the townspeople; and during the meal it was announced that the assembly had resolved that the entire community would stand firm and recite Aleinu Lishabei'ach three times each day, paying no heed to the decree — and that the following day was designated a public fast with the sounding of the shofar.

On Friday morning, R' Chaim Yisrael went to the deputy archbishop Mikolski and warned him that if he did not annul the decree, he would suffer severely. Mikolski in response drove him away. The following Sunday, as Mikolski descended from the pulpit, he fell from it and broke his leg and right arm, losing consciousness on the spot. He recalled R' Chaim Yisrael's visit to him the previous Friday, and reflecting on it, he remembered that he had seen this same Jew in Kamenets-Podolsk, when he had warned Archbishop Dembowski to annul the decree to burn the Jewish books — warning that if he did not heed the admonition, he would die. Mikolski immediately instructed the head of the clergy to inform the rabbi and the community that he was annulling the decree to remove Aleinu from the prayerbooks.

When the news reached the Jews of the city, it was announced that the fast would be concluded; and at Ma'ariv (the evening prayer service), many candles would be lit in all the synagogues as on a Yom Tov (Jewish festival), and prayers would be conducted in the melody traditionally attributed to the Maharal of Prague — sung on the High Holidays — though without the prostration and bowing to the ground.

This event occurred on the 26th of Tammuz, 5519 (1759).

In the letters of the Kherson Geniza several letters are brought recounting the day of celebration that the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples proclaimed in honor of their victory over the Frankist sect. The 26th of Tammuz was the day of the victory of our teacher Rabbi Yisrael the Baal Shem Tov over the Frankists — the followers of the false messiah Jacob Frank — in the city of Lvov.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe addressed the question of why this day of celebration is not well known and why it is not observed:

"In reply to his letter... in which he asks about what he found printed in the book Ginzei Nistaros... stating that they accepted upon themselves to mark each and every year, etc., the 26th of Tammuz, and he asks the reason why this day is not celebrated — there is not even any recognizable trace of it as a Yom Tov. "I have not heard an explanation for this, but what seems to me is that we find in such cases of establishing a Yom Tov that the manner of the acceptance and establishment only becomes clear after the fact — an allusion and hint to this from the language of the Sages regarding the miracle of Chanukah: 'The following year they established them [as a holiday]' (Shabbos 21b). And since the acceptance mentioned there was in 5519 (1759), this means that before the acceptance could be observed even once, the yahrzeit and hillula (anniversary of passing) of the Baal Shem Tov had already occurred and the group had dispersed. And the spiritual climate then among his disciples is well known — it appears that from the outset the acceptance had not taken hold."

— Igros Kodesh, vol. 19, p. 81. Yemei Chabad, p. 216.

The Rebbe also noted that there are contradictions among the Geniza letters regarding the date, and that the dates in the letters are apparently not accurate.

Addendum to the address of Shabbos Parshas Matos-Masei, 26 Tammuz 5742 (1982), in which the Rebbe points to the contradictions among the dates.

Those who arranged the farbrengen (Chassidic gathering) presented the following to the Rebbe:

"Regarding what was discussed about the 26th of Tammuz (the Shabbos of parshas Matos-Masei just passed) — whether there is a point to raise from HaTamim, vol. 6, p. 24, two letters from the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples stating that on that day they triumphed over the Frankists — and that therefore 'we have accepted upon ourselves and our descendants... from now and forever to make this day a Yom Tov, a day of feasting and rejoicing.' Seemingly, establishing a Yom Tov during the period of the Three Weeks is like a foretaste of the theme of transforming [mourning] into joy, which connects to the theme of Shabbos Mevarchim Menachem Av."

The Rebbe underlined the word "two" and added:

"1) From the 26th. 2) From the 27th — the following day, again; and the addendum in the first [letter] is from [Thursday, Parshas Va'eschanan]; in the second, from Sunday [Parshas Va'eschanan] that preceded it."

In the letters as published in HaTamim the day of the week is not indicated; the Rebbe was apparently noting this based on the complete letters.

Perspectives from our Rebbeim, the Nesi'im

The Frierdiker Rebbe — Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn — cites the Frankist sect as one of the reasons why great Torah sages and G-d-fearing Jews in Lithuania initially opposed Chassidic teachings: they feared that Chassidus represented yet another new sectarian movement within Judaism, similar to the Frankists.

The Frierdiker Rebbe was asked whether it was true that the Acharon Shel Pesach (the final day of Passover) meal was connected to a miracle that had occurred with the Baal Shem Tov. He replied that he did not know, but had heard it said that on that day a spiritual victory over the Frankists had occurred — that on Acharon Shel Pesach he declared that they would defeat them. At times it was said that this is the Seudas Mashiach (the Meal of Mashiach), and "a shoot shall go forth" — the Haftorah of Acharon Shel Pesach.

The Frierdiker Rebbe further noted in his writings that the Maskilim (adherents of the secular Jewish Enlightenment movement) would deny the Baal Shem Tov's role in the Lvov disputation, in order to distort and diminish the Baal Shem Tov's stature.

Sefer HaShimush

Title page of Sefer HaShimush by R' Yaakov Emden, in which he compiles details and accounts of the entire episode.

"Two noble priests who witnessed all of G-d's awesome deeds pledged to one another to convert to Judaism together. They went to Turkey and converted. They have long, full beards, and their names are R' Avraham and R' Yitzchak."

— Sefer HaShimush by R' Yaakov Emden

Rabbi Yaakov Emden (the Ya'avetz) compiled a special book titled Sefer Shimush, gathering all the stories, letters, and accounts relating to the burning of the Talmud in Kamenets, the miraculous death of Bishop Dembowski of Kamenets, and the events in Lvov.

At the end of the book — whose final pages were printed in 5522 (1762), that is, after the second disputation with the Frankists in Lvov in 5519 (1759) and after the Frankists had been formally separated from the Jewish people — Rabbi Emden appended five caricatures relating to the decree and to the miracle. These caricatures are the first of their kind to be printed in a Hebrew book.

Rabbi Yaakov Emden was not content with having published an entire book, Sefer Shimush, on the Frankist events in Podolia and the burning of the Talmud in Kamenets and the miracle that followed. Eleven years after the decree, when he came to print a work by Rav Saadiah Gaon at the press in his home in Altona, he appended to its end the story of the events in Kamenets as he had heard them from R' Avraham of Sharogrod — an additional version of the events.

External links

• A broad compilation, primarily from Jewish sources, of the sequence of the decree to burn the Talmud in 5518 (1757)
• Sefer Shimush, Rabbi Yaakov Emden's work on the battles against the sect's members
• Shabbos: 250 Years Since the Baal Shem Tov's Victory Over the Frankists
• Rabbi Gedalya David Oberlander, "Siyach Sheker: The Baal Shem Tov's Participation in the Disputation Against the Frankists," in Heichal HaBaal Shem Tov, Tishrei 5770 (2009), issue 28, pp. 155 ff. (responding to critics on this topic). Available free on HebrewBooks.