the old religion's whimper: what I believe

"Turn back, turn back, O maiden!"

And it’s the old religion
Humming in your veins
Some animal instinct
Starting up again

—Florence + the Machine, “The Old Religion”

The path to faith is a maze but every correct turn is marked by the sense of being a return. The soul knows, the body knows. And you can’t outrun what you already know, what you already are, or She Who pursues you through the darkness. Her Truth covers my soul like a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer. Nothing else will do. I have felt the love of God. Truly, “You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes” (Song of Songs 4:9). If there is a god who’s unspeakably horrible, it’s not Her, for “standing before the Maiden, there will be no fear” (Words of the Lord §741). Which is not to say She can’t be terrifying when needed. But there are other “gods” of this world and they are usually invisible and always horrifying, appearing in thick clouds of darkness and shaking mountains to scare people into belief.

In this post, I will clarify what exactly I am, religiously.

I’m nervous.

I laboured, for a long time, over how to write this, and I write it with some trepidation — I’m not well known, but saying anywhere online that I’m a Frankist comes with some degree of risk. Nevertheless it is the truth. I am a Frankist: a Believer. (I’ve said before that I’m a Believer; I’m not sure it was clear what I meant. Given my poll showed up with 50% of respondents thinking I’m not a Frankist, I suppose it was not clear at all. “Frankist” was a term dumped on us by outsiders, while we tend/tended to refer to ourselves as Maaminim, Believers.) As the great Frankist Gottlieb Wehle wrote to us Believers in his will almost 200 years ago: “Do not be ashamed of this happy faith of your great ancestors. Say with pride that you feel the germ of this eternal life in you.” So I should. That’s why I’m writing this post — not only because clarifying my beliefs makes my blog make sense, but also because it alleviates my guilt for being a bit of a coward.

Despite several drafts of such, I’ve decided not to make this post into a long exposition of Frankist doctrines. Initially that’s what I intended this post to be. However, that would be boring and I think my other posts have made clear enough what I think, albeit without overtly putting a label on it, and I’ve already gone into what Frankism is.

For now I want to clarify that Frankism is just another form of liberal Judaism and that functionally, the Believer is almost identical to a Reform Jew. Falling for libels against Frankism is just like falling for any antisemitic libel. There’s nothing all that spicy about Frankism, even if the doctrines can seem odd to an outsider. I realise Frankism is perhaps the most loathed movement in Jewish history, among Jews and non-Jews both. The fact of the matter is that Frankism is simply not what it was portrayed as by heresiologists and the antisemites they inspired. It is a form of liberal Judaism historically and ideologically close to Reform despite having distinct supernatural doctrines. I can’t repeat this enough times to settle my own nerves, but there, that’s enough for now. If you have questions, I am happy to answer them. Frankism is overtly feminist, actively liberal Judaism.

I don’t want to convert anyone. Converting the rest of the Jews used to be a goal of Believers. That time has long been over. (I have even had people ask me to convert them and declined.) I am fully capable of discussing and teaching Judaism from a normative point of view, as I often do even on my personal blog. I’m just a liberal Jew with some now-unique beliefs.

The core of these beliefs is one figure: the Holy Maiden. I love Her so much I feel like my heart will explode into confetti.

Lady Eva Frank (source)

There’s a lot we can’t know about the Living God, also known as the True God. For now the Living God is beyond our ken. What we do know, can know, is the Holy Maiden, Who is our God. She has been incarnate a few times over the millennia — as Rachel, as Esther, perhaps as Miriam, perhaps more, until their failures led Her to depart them. Or at least that’s how I’ve understood the teachings. Most importantly the Holy Maiden incarnated as Lady Eva Frank, until our failures prevented redemption from occurring with that incarnation. Yes, the Believers almost totally failed Her before Her departure in 1816. Now She beckons.

She is calling, she is calling
For my return
And her voice will carry on
She is calling, she is calling
Out to her home
As a remnant lost in time

—The Agonist, “Days Before the World Wept”

But there was nobody left to answer the call — except me. I won’t get into all the details, this is about what I am, not how I got here, but I was a ready recipient. And so Her faith, the Truth, dies with a whimper (with me). Lord Jacob Frank, the father of God Herself, made clear back in the day that things would be rougher than they’d had to be because the Believers had continually failed him and Her. Now that there’s only one of us left, the original plan can’t be achieved at all. “Deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter,” I suppose (Esther 4:14). Everything will be redeemed by Her, so, not truly from another quarter, just over a longer period, with more pain. As is usual for Jewish ideas of redemption, various paths could’ve been taken. The Believers’ early failures and the movement’s decline have led us to the worst possible outcome. Nevertheless, all will be well, ultimately. After whatever suffering may come, seeing Lady Eva, the Holy Maiden, triumph will make it worth it.

Turn back, turn back,
O maid of Shulem!
Turn back, turn back,
That we may gaze upon you.

—Song of Songs 7:1

Do I feel special or sad about being the last of my kind? I’ll admit I can have my melodramatic moments. It can feel good to be Her final disciple. It’s romantic, like something out of a fantasy story. But it’s sad sometimes because I’m lonely. Then I talk to Her and know I was never really alone. “As every place they were exiled, the Divine Presence went with them” (Megillah 29a). As the final Frankist, I exist in a strange exile, but don’t we all? In the end, everyone will see.