Eve Frank or Eva Frank (1754 – 1816 or 1817)
article by Rachel Elior in the

Encyclopedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, lang ...

. born Rachel Frank in Nikopol,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

(now Bulgaria), was a mystic cult leader, and the only woman to have been declared a Jewish messiah according to historian Jerry Rabow. She was the daughter of

Jacob Frank Jacob Joseph Frank ( he, יעקב פרנק; pl, Jakub Józef Frank; born Jakub Lejbowicz; 1726 – December 10, 1791) was a Polish-Jewish religious leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of the self-proclaimed messiah Sabbatai Zevi (1626 ...

, the claimant to the position of

Jewish messiah The Messiah in Judaism () is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology, who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jewish people. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible a messiah is a king or ...

in the 18th century, and allegedly Sophie Ascania/ Catherine the Great.

Early life

Eve Frank received the name of Eve in 1760 upon the conversion of her family to Catholicism. For much of her life, she accompanied her father during his travels and after the death of her mother in 1770, the then 16-year-old Eve was declared to be the incarnation of the

Shekinah Shekhinah, also spelled Shechinah ( Hebrew: שְׁכִינָה ''Šəḵīnā'', Tiberian: ''Šăḵīnā'') is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the presence of God, as it were, in a pla ...

, the female aspect of God, as well as the reincarnation of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

and thus became the object of a devotional subcult herself near the Catholic Marian shrine of Częstochowa, with some followers keeping small statues of her in their homes. According to historian

Jerry Rabow Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

, she was the only woman to have been declared a Jewish messiah. Her father Jacob spread the rumor that Eve, who was often called "Eva Romanovna" at that point, was an illegitimate child of Catherine II of Russia. Father and daughter repeatedly traveled to Vienna, and succeeded in gaining the favor of the court.

Religious leader

Upon the death of her father in 1791, Eve became the "holy mistress" and leader of the cult. Frank and her two younger brothers, Josef and Rochus, assumed responsibility for the direction of the court. Many people continued to go up to Offenbach am Main, to ''Gottes Haus'', as the believers called it. In 1800, the Franks sent "red letters" (in red ink) to hundreds of Jewish communities encouraging conversion to

Frankism Frankism was a heretical Sabbatean Jewish religious movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, centered on the leadership of the Jewish Messiah claimant Jacob Frank, who lived from 1726 to 1791. Frank rejected religious norms and said that his f ...

. However, the Frank siblings had neither the stature nor the strength of personality required to keep the cult going and as time went on the number of pilgrims and supply of money diminished drastically, all the while Eve had continued to live in her accustomed luxury. In November 1813, after the battle of Leipzig,

Tsar Alexander I Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of G ...

, then emperor of Russia, rode from Frankfurt to Offenbach to visit Eve.1788: Ein Messias im Isenburger Schloss - die "Frankisten" in Offenbach
, Lothar R. Braun

Death and controversy

She finally became heavily indebted by three million gulden in 1817. It was alleged that she died in poverty in 1816, although she is believed to have escaped to Poland and continued to lead the community after the dismantling of the Frankist court and arrest order from the Duke of Hesse.
Лжемессия: Яков Франк и франкисты
', Z. Rubashev Nonetheless, her followers continued to exist well into the middle of 19th century. Among these were the parents of Louis Brandeis, the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Justice.https://www.amazon.com/Louis-D-Brandeis-Melvin-Urofsky/dp/0375423664 Page 4

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Eve 1754 births 1816 deaths 18th-century Christians 18th-century Jews 18th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 19th-century Christians 19th-century Jews 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire Bulgarian people of Jewish descent Bulgarian Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Frankism Jewish messiah claimants Jewish Polish history Christians from the Ottoman Empire Ashkenazi Jews from the Ottoman Empire People from Nikopol, Bulgaria 18th-century Bulgarian people 19th-century Bulgarian people 19th-century Bulgarian women 18th-century Bulgarian women 19th-century women from the Ottoman Empire 18th-century women from the Ottoman Empire Cult leaders Women mystics