Jacob Frank and the Frankists: Hebrew Zoharic Letters

This publication reproduces and interprets the Hebrew-Zoharic letter written by three disciples of Jacob Frank in 1800 and addressed to the Jews of Hungary. The document may be divided into two parts. Part one contains copies of two letters ascribed to Jacob Frank written in 1767 and 1768. The secon...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Main Author: Wacholder, Ben Zion 1921-2011 (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: College 1982
In: Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Judaism / Hungary / Frank, Jacob 1726-1791 / Zohar
RelBib Classification:BH Judaism
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:This publication reproduces and interprets the Hebrew-Zoharic letter written by three disciples of Jacob Frank in 1800 and addressed to the Jews of Hungary. The document may be divided into two parts. Part one contains copies of two letters ascribed to Jacob Frank written in 1767 and 1768. The second part, written in 1800, affirms that Frank's predictions concerning European Jewry are soon to be realized. The document as a whole represents a frantic attempt to sustain the Frankist movement nearly a decade after the Master's death. According to our document, Frank foresaw the doom of Europe's Jewry unless the Jews adopted "the holy faith of Edom," i.e. Christianity. The conversion to Christianity, however, was to serve as an instrument leading to Christianity's ultimate defeat. The patriarch Jacob, reincarnated in Frank, was destined to rise as Israel's leader in its war against Edom. The significance of this document lies in its representation of Frank's own formulation of both his messianic role and the movement's doctrine. Of the Frankist literature, our text is the only one which purports to reproduce the Master's own words in Hebrew.
ISSN:0360-9049
Contains:In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion