But neither the Jews nor the Christians were content to leave matters in this condition. The Rabbins, who regarded Frank with a mixture of alarm and dislike, denounced him to the Polish Government as an apostate to their community (and so legally liable to their censure), and to the papal nuncio as an heretical Christian. Neither of the parties appealed to were disposed to overlook the accusation; and the Zoharites found themselves on the brink of a twofold persecution. Frank himself was thrown into prison, and his followers were scattered in all directions, most of them endeavouring to seek a refuge in Turkey. On their way, while passing through Moldavia, they received harsh usage from both the authorities and the populace. Those that remained behind were obliged to profess Christianity. Frank himself remained in prison, until the fortress in which he was confined was captured, in 1777, by the Russians, who set him at liberty. He then travelled through Poland, Moravia, and Bohemia, everywhere levying large sums on the synagogues which still continued to support him, until he reached Vienna, where he resided for several years, under the protection of Maria Theresa. From thence he journeyed to Brunn, in Moravia, and finally established himself at Offenbach, in Hesse, where he resided until his death, in 1791.
A strange mystery attended his daily life, upon which no light has ever been thrown. He was apparently without pecuniary resources, yet he lived for many years—ten or twelve at the least—in a style which could only have been maintained by the most lavish expenditure. He had a retinue which might have vied with that of an Eastern prince, of several hundred beautiful Jewish boys and girls; carts, said to contain gold and silver, were continually brought to his place of residence; when he went to perform his devotions, he was conveyed in a chariot drawn by the finest horses that could be procured, and a guard of ten or twelve Uhlans, wearing a splendid uniform of green, scarlet, and gold, rode on either side of it. The service was performed with a great display of magnificence, accompanied by various strange ceremonies, the meaning of which has never been explained. When he died, as he did some three years after his settlement at Offenbach, he was buried with the utmost pomp and splendour, as many as eight hundred persons attending his funeral; and a costly cross was set up over his grave. But the secret of his unbounded riches was interred with him. His family, it was found, had been left entirely destitute. They appealed to his followers, who had shown such devotion, but wholly in vain; and they relapsed into absolute beggary. Such of his followers as survived him joined the Roman Catholic Church of Poland. It is believed, however, that they still cherish in secret some of their founder’s peculiar tenets.
Nearly about the same time another Jew appeared, very different in character and opinions from Jacob Frank, but destined to exercise a far wider and more permanent influence. Moses Mendelssohn was born of humble parents in Dessau, A.D. 1729. His thirst for learning showed itself from his childhood, and his early application to study is said to have permanently injured his health. At the age of thirteen he followed his favourite teacher, Rabbi Frankels, to Berlin, where, after many years of labour, he obtained a tutorship in the family of Herr Bernhardt, a silk manufacturer. Soon after he formed an acquaintance with the philosopher Lessing,[205] and became known in the literary world by the publication of his philosophical works, and especially of Phædon, or the Immortality of the Soul, in imitation of Plato. Other works followed, which increased his celebrity. Having obtained the prize of the Berlin Academy for an essay on the Evidence of Metaphysical Science, he was elected a member of that society; but Frederick the Great struck his name off the list, considering that a Jew was not worthy to belong to so august a body. His writings nevertheless continued to attract popular admiration; and the entire emancipation from the fetters of Rabbinism which they displayed encouraged many of his friends to hope that he was already a Christian in principle, and was on the high road to adopting it as his profession. The celebrated Lavater addressed a letter to him, urgently entreating him to take this step. But Mendelssohn courteously but firmly refused, remaining nominally a member of the Jewish synagogue to the day of his death, though he absolutely refused to allow his spiritual pastors to impose any restrictions on his private judgment. It seems to have been his principle to minimize the differences between Christianity and Judaism, and, while remaining a Jew in name, to be a Christian in spirit.
Mendelssohn’s name is greatly honoured and admired, but it may be gravely questioned whether the course he pursued was either defensible in itself or beneficial in its results. None of his followers have been able to maintain the position he took up. Some have adopted the genuine faith of Christ, some have renounced distinctive religion altogether. It was remarkable that all Mendelssohn’s descendants, including the famous Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the composer, became Christians. So did Louis Borne, and Neander, the historian and the renowned poet, Heinrich Heine.
We must not pass over Mendelssohn’s three celebrated friends—Wessely, the father of modern Hebrew poetry, David Friedlander, the founder of the Jews’ Free School at Berlin, and Isaac Euchel, the translator of the Jewish prayer-book. These men, though less distinguished than their great contemporary, have exercised so large an influence on their countrymen and co-religionists that they may be said to have almost entirely changed the tone of Jewish thought and feeling.[206] The synagogue service has also undergone considerable alteration. The prayers and sacred poems have been abridged, and preaching very generally introduced. Even the use of organs is not unusual. Indeed, the old stereotyped service seems to have been exchanged for a ritual according in minor matters with the sentiments and inclination of each congregation.
In Russia, during this century, the condition of the Jews seems to have varied according to the caprices alike of the rulers and the people. They were admitted within the Muscovite kingdom by Peter the Great; but in the reign of Elizabeth, A.D. 1745, their residence was again forbidden, on the ground that they had been maintaining a treasonable correspondence with some Siberian exiles. The expulsion could not have been general, since only a few years later, in 1753, the old charge of sacrificing children was again alleged against them; an appeal was made to the reigning pope, Benedict XIV., and his successor (Clement XIII.) undertook to make an investigation. He accordingly commissioned Count Bruhl to inquire into the matter, adding, to his honour, that he was to disregard all hearsay evidence, and be satisfied with nothing short of proof. It needs not to add that he did not obtain that. But the popular fury rose to such a height that an imperial ukase was found necessary to control it. The same charge has been repeated since, with the same total absence of evidence, even in our time.
FOOTNOTES:
[204] ‘There be Three Lights in God: the Ancient Light, the Pure Light, the Purified Light. These three make one God.’ For Book of Zohar, see Appendix.
[205] Nathan the Jew, the hero of Lessing’s famous play, Nathan der Weiss, was designed as a portrait of Mendelssohn.
[206] There were other distinguished men belonging to this age, which, indeed, was unusually rife in literary talent. Joel Lowe, professor at Breslau; Herr Homberg, superintendent of Jewish education in Galicia; Aaron Wolfsohn, also professor at Breslau; and Solomon Maimon, author of several philosophical works and his own autobiography.