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Frankism was a Sabbateans originating in Rabbinic Judaism of the 18th and 19th. centuries, Created in Podolia, it was named after its founder, Jacob Frank. Frank completely rejected Jewish norms, preaching to his followers that they were obligated to transgress moral boundaries, embracing antinomianism. The Frankists engaged in incest, orgies and sex rituals, such as the infamous 1756 incident in Lanškroun where they were allegedly caught dancing around a half-naked woman symbolizing the Shekhinah.
At its height, Frankism claimed perhaps 50,000 followers, primarily Jews living in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as in other regions of Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Later, Frankists were encouraged to convert en masse to Catholic Church.
Jacob Frank claimed to be a gilgul of Sabbatai Zevi and followed and extended his practice of transgression. Father-daughter incest was commonly practised by his followers, and orgy featured prominently in ritual. Frank claimed that "all laws and teachings will fall","The Collection of the Words of the Lord" by Jacob Frank, translated by Harris Lenowitz. Saying 103. and following antinomianism, asserted that the most important obligation of humanity was the transgression of every boundary.
His teachings were not intended for the ears of all Frankists, but only for his personally selected, small circle of so-called "Brothers and Sisters",Klaus Samuel Davidowicz, Der Messias aus dem Ghetto. P. Langer Verlag 1998, p. 294 of whom he demanded blind obedience.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 104, Volume 1, p. 381 Frank tried to maintain absolute control over at least this circle, taking advantage of their tendency to believe in shedim and magic. Within the circle of "Brothers and Sisters", Frank spoke directly only to the "Brothers"; according to his teachings, nothing could be done with women alone, since women had brought death into the world. Words of the Lord MS Krakau 6969, Zbiór… §560
Frank's "Brothers" compiled the work between 1755 and 1791 as a Zbiór (collection) of materials developed in numerous meetings. The original Polish title Księga (book) is therefore somewhat misleading and is only used once in the collection, in § 2192.Harris Lenowitz, "An Introduction to the Sayings of Jacob Frank", in: Proceedings of the Eighth World Congress of Jewish Studies 1981, Division C Thought and Literature, Volume 2 Jewish Thought, Kabbalah and Hasidism, Jerusalem 1982, pp. 93–98 It was written down starting around 1773 and distributed exclusively in the handwritten form to his widely scattered followers.Davidowicz (2004) 14 The last known complete manuscript ( Words of the Lord §§ 1–2192) was destroyed, along with numerous other Frankist sources, during the destruction of Warsaw in World War II. Until recently, all researchers of Frankism have relied on the source material of the extensive biography by the historian , the most important study of Frankism from the pre-war period.Aleksander Kraushar, Frank i frankiśći polscy, 2 vols., Kraków 1895; trans. Herbert Levy, Jacob Frank, the End to the Sabbataian Heresy, Lanham/New York/Oxford 2001
Frank proclaims that the Frankists' descent down the "V" ladder into the deepest humiliation is reflected in society's hatred and exclusion of them, which result from Frankism's consistent implementation of the idea that all laws and teachings of the world are only laws of the "Three Evil World Rulers" (the Pope, the Tsar, and the Sultan), and therefore do not need to be observed. In the best case, such laws and teachings need only be kept in pretense; religions and teachings of the world can be worn like an empty shell and then discarded at whim because the "true Torah" is yet to be revealed.Davidowicz (1998) 296 The Mosaic Law with its Ten Commandments should be despised, as it is part of the "old Torah". The contempt for all teaching of the world culminates in a statement by Frank to his close circle of "Brothers and Sisters" that amounts to a command for total assimilation: one should adapt to the respective religion or language depending on the country.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 1110, volume 2, pp. 304–05 Frank also advises masked assimilation in the following passage:
Frank was not interested in the acculturation of the Jews; rather, he wanted them to integrate into society in order to ultimately overthrow it.Davidowicz (1998) 310 If the enemies of the Jews in the 18th century had been familiar with Frank's secret sectarian canon, it would have made the already hotly contested Jewish emancipation considerably more difficult.
Frankism characterizes the Virgin using elements of the Esther storiesWorte des Herrn Kraushar § 2147, Volume 2, p. 383 and is strongly influenced by the veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church surrounding the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. He claimed that the Black Madonna would lead his followers to the Frankist Virgin and therefore presented baptism as a necessary step. Following the Bahir and the Zohar, in which the Shekhinah is described as being like a princess in a tower, Frank refers to an actual tower of the Jasna Góra Monastery where he was exiled.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 996, Volume 1, p. 424 He had miniature portraits of his daughter Eve made corresponding to Catholic images of Mary, mother of Jesus; these are now in the National Library of Israel. However, Eve, as Shekhinah, was an element that had not yet appeared during Frank's lifetime. The Virgin was hidden from Frank, and his task was to free her. The Black Madonna points to the true Virgin, who will be revealed preceding the final redemption.Worte des Herrn, MS Krakau 6969, Zbiór…, § 778 Frank regarded himself as the Virgin's guide, who, before her manifestation, is in a "mysterious place"Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 370, Volume 1, p. 403 and was given only to him since the beginning of the world, so that he, as her father, would be her guardian.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 629, Volume 1, p. 412 The soul of the Shekhinah was still with Frank; his "Brothers" were unworthy to see her themselves. They were supposed to support Frank in finding the Virgin. Depending on the company's behaviour, the Virgin would behave positively or negatively towards them, a well-known idea from the Kabbalistic descriptions of the Shekhinah. During her father’s lifetime, Eve Frank held a special position within the "company": as soon as she was old enough, she stood at her father's side as a confidant and adjutant.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 1155, Volume 2, p. 310 Frank repeatedly accused his followers of having fallen back into Judaism, thus preventing the liberation of the Virgin.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 1286, Volume 2, p. 328 The only way to the Virgin is to adapt to the Polish environment.
The liberation of the Shekhinah—the transfer of the Shekhinah's soul from Jacob to Eve Frank—is also described in some longer fairy-tale-like narratives in the Words of the Lord, which are reminiscent of Middle Eastern models in the 1001 Nights. They use traditional Kabbalistic terminology, with the motif of concealment and disguise as a gardener being important in Frankism;Davidowicz (1998) 339 the garden stands for a symbolic setting of the world of the ten sefirot. The strengthening of the third Sephirah, Chokmah, the male principle (also known as the upper Shechinah), also leads to the liberation of the lower Shekhinah.Zohar I 25a In Frank's perception of the Virgin, it is clear how deeply his ideas are rooted in Kabbalah and other Jewish writings, despite Christian influencesThis is an example.. The author(s) of the Words of the Lord who created such colorful parables and allegories required an excellent knowledge of Kabbalistic literature.Davidowicz (1998) 340
Frank emphasized that all the patriarchs, including Sabbatai Zevi, had been unable to enter Da'at because they had not been baptized. To be worthy of entering the Da'at, one must first reach the level of Esau, the acceptance of Catholicism.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 211, Volume 1, p. 391Davidowicz (1998) 343
Frankism allowed all of its followers to take part in the mystical search for Da'at but demanded blind obedience to its leader,Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 1760, Volume 2, p. 356 combined with the complete abandonment of all laws and teachings, which, in any case, they only appeared to follow.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 746, Volume 1, p. 414 True to the motto: "The more blind and radical my obedience to my Lord, the more likely the possibility of reaching Da'at, after accepting Catholicism, the Frankists strove to complete the personal path to Da'at, which in the end would only be possible for a few select "Brothers and Sisters".Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 1296, Volume 2, pp. 328–29
The triangle or "V" of the ladder refers to the Trinity, but at the same time to the earthly path of the Frankists: by getting rid of all laws and teachings, they degraded themselves and incurred the contempt of society. The "V" is applied to Edom, Shekhinah, and Da'at, meaning the Frankists should be baptized to reach the cosmic Esau, or, at the tip of the "V", the Virgin, who will raise them from the depths of their exile, leading them back up to Da'at.Worte des Herrn MS Krakau 6969, Zbiór… §542 The beginning of the entry into Da'at will be seen on earth when the Frankists are integrated into non-Jewish society and accepted by the international community. Then, the mystical-cosmological path will continue.Worte des Herrn Kraushar § 2091, Volume 2, p. 378
Netanel Lederberg claims that Frank had a Gnosticism philosophy wherein there was a true God whose existence was hidden by a demiurge. This "true God" could allegedly be revealed only through the destruction of the social and religious structures created by the demiurge, thus leading to a thorough antinomianism. For Frank, the distinction between good and evil is a product of a world governed by the "false God". Lederberg compares Frank's position to that of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Eve maintained a court-like following in Offenbach, Germany, where the remaining Frankist elite had taken residence. They continued to act as a quasi-mystical sect, dressing in ornate ceremonial clothing, preserving a secretive hierarchical structure, and perpetuating doctrines inherited from Frank—particularly those related to the sacralization of transgression and the subversion of traditional religious laws. The group engaged in extensive networking with various European aristocratic and clerical circles, especially within the Habsburg court and Polish nobility, often leveraging secrecy and influence rather than overt proselytization.
By this time, the Frankist identity had largely detached from Judaism altogether. Most adherents had been baptized into Catholicism decades earlier, not out of theological conviction but as part of Jacob Frank’s strategy to infiltrate and manipulate dominant power structures from within—a tactic central to his doctrine of “redemption through sin.”
Eve Frank ruled over the community until her death in 1816. Afterward, the movement gradually disintegrated as a formal sect, but many of its ideological patterns persisted through intermarriage, elite networking, and secret societies. Scholars such as Gershom Scholem and Pawel Maciejko have suggested that Frankist descendants may have assimilated into Freemasonry and esoteric Christian networks.
While some references to Frankism have been labeled antisemitic tropes in academic and media sources, There is growing scholarly and journalistic debate over whether conflating critique of Frankist ideology with antisemitism is intellectually sound. This is particularly relevant given the historical record: Jacob Frank and many of his followers ultimately converted to Catholicism, aligning themselves with European royal courts and secret societies rather than mainstream Jewish life.
Some political commentators, such as Candace Owens, have described Frankism as “the preferred religion of the elites” and associated it with devil worship and modern-day inversion rituals.
Some researchers argue that careful distinction should be made between Judaism as a religion and Frankism as a heretical, antinomian sect that deliberately broke with traditional Jewish law and identity. As a result, the emerging conversation increasingly focuses on theological inversion as a political technology, rather than as an ethnic or religious accusation.
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