The Heresy of Jacob Frank

In the mainstream of Jewish collective memory, Jacob Frank was portrayed as an egomaniacal and depraved ignoramus, a false messiah, and a cynical serial convert-to Islam, then Christianity…Jay Michaelson makes a complementary theoretical argument in The Heresy of Jacob Frank, which received last year’s National Jewish Book Award for scholarship…Michaelson, well known as a popular writer on religion and spirituality and an activist for gay rights both in Jewish life and the broader world, has been studying Jacob Frank for almost two decades…In a recent essay, he described being “seduced” by the “allure” of Frank’s vigorous confrontation with traditional Jewish law and norms in The Words of the Lord, the late miscellany of Frank’s oral teachings and anecdotes. * Benjamin Weiner, Jewish Review of Books *Michaelson reconstructs Frank’s teachings with critical methodology, tracing how Frank both followed and resisted the disciplines of reason, magic, Kabbalah, and esotericism. * Yale Law Report *Using a phenomenological approach, Michaelson contextualizes and analyzes Frank’s heresy in a new and original way and contributes to a richer understanding of the upheavals of Jewish early modernity. * Konstantin Aron Moser, Religious Studies Review *This book may offer researchers new ways to explore one of the most controversial and fascinating Jewish movements of the early modern period. * David Sclar, Religious Studies Review *This is an interesting handbook with a wealth of information that invites critical reflection on a number of issues. * Erik Hogendoorn, Kerk En Theologie *

Jay Michaelson is an affiliated assistant professor at Chicago Theological Seminary and a visiting scholar at the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion, as well as a bestselling author and journalist. He is the author of nine books, including Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism and God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Outside the academy, Michaelson is a columnist at New York magazine and an editor at Ten Percent Happier, having previously been a columnist at The Daily Beast for eight years and at the Forward for many years before that. He is a frequent media commentator on issues of law and religion, has twice won the New York Society for Professional Journalists Award for opinion writing, and has been featured in the ‘Forward 50’ list of the most influential American Jews.