- Hardcover: 376 pages
- Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (8 Mar 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0812243153
- ISBN-13: 978-0812243154
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 524,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"With this multifaceted study of Frank and Frankism, Pawel Maciejko has made a major contribution to our understanding of the intricacies and varieties of Judaism in eastern Europe in the eighteenth century. He brings tremendous erudition and insight to the religious history of early modern Poland."-TLS "Magnificent... [Maciejko] has seemingly mined every available text on Frank and the Frankists; unlike earlier scholars, such as Gershom Scholem, he commands the Polish sources as well. He tells the story in riveting style."-Jewish Review of Books "A major scholarly achievement ... this is the single best study written to date of Frank and Frankism in all their complexity and will be required reading for any student or scholar of early modern Jewish history and Christian-Jewish relations, kabbalah, and Jewish messianism."-AJS Review "Maciejko's scholarship is stunning in its comprehensiveness and the combination of careful analysis of detail with breadth of historical vision. This book fills a longstanding lacuna in European and Jewish historiography. It is innovative both in the sense that many new sources are consulted and in its conceptually innovative revision of the historical significance of Frank and his movement."-Gershon David Hundert, McGill University
Product Description
In 1756, Jacob Frank, an Ottoman Jew who had returned to the Poland of his birth, was discovered leading a group of fellow travelers in a suspect religious service. At the request of the local rabbis, Polish authorities arrested the participants. Jewish authorities contacted the bishop in whose diocese the service had taken place and argued that since the rites of Frank's followers involved the practice of magic and immoral conduct, both Jews and Christians should condemn them and burn them at the stake. The scheme backfired, as the Frankists took the opportunity to ally themselves with the Church, presenting themselves as Contra-Talmudists who believed in a triune God. As a Turkish subject, Frank was released and temporarily expelled to the Ottoman territories, but the others were found guilty of breaking numerous halakhic prohibitions and were subject to a Jewish ban of excommunication. While they professed their adherence to everything that was commanded by God in the Old Testament, they asserted as well that the Rabbis of old had introduced innumerable lies and misconstructions in their interpretations of that holy book. Who were Jacob Frank and his followers? To most Christians, they seemed to be members of a Jewish sect; to Jewish reformers, they formed a group making a valiant if misguided attempt to bring an end to the power of the rabbis; and to more traditional Jews, they were heretics to be suppressed by the rabbinate. What is undeniable is that by the late eighteenth century, the Frankists numbered in the tens of thousands and had a significant political and ideological influence on non-Jewish communities throughout eastern and central Europe. Based on extensive archival research in Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Germany, the United States, and the Vatican, The Mixed Multitude is the first comprehensive study of Frank and Frankism in more than a century and offers an important new perspective on Jewish-Christian relations in the Age of Enlightenment.
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7 reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Absolutely stunning
4 April 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Research that went into this book is absolutely stunning. Maciejko, who had earlier published several articles on Frankism, is considered one of the most promising young researchers of Israel's leading academic institution, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He juxtaposes rabbinic accounts of Frankism (in Hebrew and Aramaic), internal Frankist documents (in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Polish), official documents of the Catholic Church (in Latin, Italian, and French), and accounts of contemporary observers (in German, Polish, Russian, French etc). A lot of material comes from obscure archives in Poland and the Czech Republic or from the Vatican Secret Archives, to which very few Jewish researchers have ever gained access. Most of it has never been used by scholars.
The result is a beautifully written book telling one of the wildest stories in Jewish history. It combines a breathtaking reconstruction of the history of the Frankist movement with in-depth analyses of Frank's theological doctrines (which include the identification of the Shekhinah, the feminine principle of Judaism, with the Christian concept of the Virgin Mary). It gives a completely new perspective on what we knew (or what we thought we knew) about the history of European Jewry in pre-modern times. It covers such topics as Jewish sects and heresies, internal machinations of the Catholic Church, blood libels, Jewish conversions to Christianity and Islam, advancement of the Jews into the world of European aristocracy, interactions between Frank and his followers with secret societies of the Age of Enlightenment. 'The Mixed Multitude' is written by an academic scholar, but it reads like a gripping crime-story.
Someone should make a movie out of this book!
The result is a beautifully written book telling one of the wildest stories in Jewish history. It combines a breathtaking reconstruction of the history of the Frankist movement with in-depth analyses of Frank's theological doctrines (which include the identification of the Shekhinah, the feminine principle of Judaism, with the Christian concept of the Virgin Mary). It gives a completely new perspective on what we knew (or what we thought we knew) about the history of European Jewry in pre-modern times. It covers such topics as Jewish sects and heresies, internal machinations of the Catholic Church, blood libels, Jewish conversions to Christianity and Islam, advancement of the Jews into the world of European aristocracy, interactions between Frank and his followers with secret societies of the Age of Enlightenment. 'The Mixed Multitude' is written by an academic scholar, but it reads like a gripping crime-story.
Someone should make a movie out of this book!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A definite work on Frankism
3 Sep 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have been reading everything on Sabbatianism and Frankism I could find in English. This book is likely to become the definite work on the late phase of Sabbatianism, the Frankist movement. As other reviewers have already noted, the scope of the work is breathtaking. The book is done by a Polish born Israeli historian trained at Oxford: it combines thorugh archival research in Polish archives, solid British historical methods, and deep knowledge of Jewish history and Kabbalah. There is nothing quite like this in modern Jewish historiography.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A major scholarly achievement
16 Aug 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book after reading an entusiastic review in the main Hebrew daily, Haaretz (the review was written by the eminent Israeli historian Israel Yuval). I finished reading it in one day and I have to agree with Yuval: it is a major scholarly achievement, a breakthrough comparable to Gershom Scholem's seminal monograph on Shabbatai Zevi. Just like Scholem with regard to Shabbatai Zevi, Maciejko doesn't simply tell the story Frank; he demonstrates Frank's immense importance for Jewish and general European history and culture. And just like Scholem, he manages to write a book which is both scholarly rigorious and a great fun to read. In contrast to another reviewer, I did not 'detect an apologetical bent' (an accusation often launched against Scholem as well). In fact, I was impressed how nuanced the narrative is. Most important events from the history of Frankism (such as for instance the mass apostasy in 1759 or the blood libel) are not seen as a simply stemming from Frank's actions, but are interpreted as results of clashes of several diffent forces: the Jewish rabbinate, the Christian clergy, and the Frankists themselves.
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