FRANK, JANOB. – Jewish pseudo-messiah, born in Poland in 1726, died at Offenbach on 10 December 1791. He gave rise to the movement that was named «Frankism» after him. He emigrated eastward and became a follower of Sabbatianism (v. ŠABBĒTHAJ ZĒBHĪ). F. taught that the soul of the Messiah is one and the same; therefore the same soul had been in King David, in Elijah, in Jesus, in Muhammad, in Šabbēthaj Zēbhī, and in himself. Following suspicions on the part of the Jews, he returned to Poland and made contact with various Sabbatians in the countries through which he passed. In his secretly delivered discourses, he expounded the Sabbatian Trinitarian doctrine: the divinity consists of the Holy Ancient One (Santo Señor), the Holy King, and the Most High Matron. F. was supposedly the incarnation of the Santo Señor. His followers began to call themselves Frankists or Zōbarists.
The Jews accused F. before the government of spreading propaganda in favor of Islam and emigration to Turkey. The Frankists were subsequently excommunicated by the rabbinical Synod, and a prohibition was pronounced against studying the zōbar or the writings of Cordovero before reaching the age of thirty, and the writings of Isaac Luria before reaching the age of forty. Bishop Dembowski also took an interest in participating in the struggle. Several dozen Frankists then converted to Christianity. The Frankists began a strenuous struggle against Talmudism; trials, arrests, and religious disputations consequently took place. Condemnations against the Jews also subsequently rained down. In time, the Christian religious authorities themselves began to regard the Frankists as mere sectarians. In 1759, a major religious disputation took place at Lviv, with the participation of the nobility and the clergy. F. was subsequently imprisoned; he later obtained his freedom and went to Vienna, where he found friends among the nobility and at the court itself.
At Offenbach, F. had worship paid to him as the incarnation of God. After his death, the head of the sect was his daughter Eva. The political concerns of the governments of Austria and Russia put an end to Frankist propaganda.