An academic lunchtime lecture with Jay Michaelson on Jacob Frank: A Revisionist View.

About the event:

Thanks mostly to Gershom Scholem, the great heretic Jacob Frank (1726-91) is remembered as a false messiah, a Kabbalist, and the “end of the Sabbatean heresy.” Once the most reviled Jew in Europe who led the largest apostasy in Jewish history in 1759, Frank eventually became the leader of a quixotic, quasi-Masonic secret society at the center of a heretical European underground – complete with intrigue at the Hapsburg Court, impersonation of Russian nobility, and running guns for the French Revolution.  However, sources unavailable to Scholem show that Frank was, perhaps, a very different character.

Location 513 Fayerweather Hall

For more details, email aml2271@columbia.edu. RSVPs are appreciated, as a kosher lunch will be served; however, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.