Another False Messiah

The Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement, 1755-1816 by Pawel Maciejko
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Frankists were offshoots of the Sabbatian Heresy which began in the Ottoman Empire during the 1500s. After converting to Islam the donmeh broke off into different groups. One such group was the faction under Jacob Frank. Arriving in Podolia in 1755, Frank and his group engaged in a ritual that would shock the lical Jewish community and involve tge Catholic authority. While there behavior was blasphemous tge Catholic clergy sided with the Frankists over the rabbinic establishment. Later Jacib Frank would offer to convert his sect to Catholic religion. Of course they would keep certaun Jewish Practices in tact. They would also ask for territory and tge right to have a militia which could be used against the Ottomans. This fell through. Eventually he would fund himself locked away un a monastery that revered the mother Mary. Eventually he settled in Offenbach where he had a small mini kingdom. He passed from a stroke in 1791.

The book discusses the beginning and growth of the Sabbattian movement that pushes through to greater development of trends in Europe and the Polish Jewish community. For those interested in the donmeh, this book is for you.

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