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Surely, some concepts delivered by Judaism hit Jews back like a boomerang: God; the atom bomb; summer vacation, to name just a few, and also, the Museum of the Jewish People

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Such sanctions weren’t invented by the BDS movement, who simply adopted an old Jewish concept and used it against the Jews. The origin of the excommunication practice dates back to the middle ages, even to biblical times. It was mostly in use during the bitter war between the Hasidim and its opposers since the 18th century until the 19th century. That period saw a cruel conflict that’s been splitting the Jewish society for a whole century. Bans were published on renting houses, hiring or even talking to someone who was suspected to support Hasidim. The Gaon of Vilna, one of the greatest Jewish spiritual leaders ever, did not hesitate to incite against Hasidim, and to encourage violent acts against them such as burning their books. Jacob Frank in Offenbach, 18th century. Beit Hatfutsot, the Oster Visual Documentation Center Reading through the works of Prof. Gershom Scholem, the famous expert of Jewish Mysticism, we learn that the Hasidim did not just appear, but rather had a spiritual background of a former important large movement called the Sabbateans. Here is the story of a special ban called “double edge sword”. The ban was declared against 2,000 Jews in the city of Lvov in 1759, who were accused of belonging to the Frankist cult, an extreme sect of the Sabbateans. The main concept in Sabbatean theology was relying on the concept that after Shabtai Zvi entered the Jewish arena, the messianic era has started. In this new world, everything was turned upside down: the old law was cancelled, all the “do not” laws became “do” laws, even strong prohibitions such as Incest. The Sabbatean used to bless each other with this (twisted) verse: “Blessed art thou, Lord, who cancels and allows the prohibitions.” The story of the Frankist sect started with the founder and leader, Jacob Frank. Born in Podolia in 1726 to a wealthy family from the inner circle of the Sabbatean, when he was 12 years old he joined his father on a business journey to Thessaloniki. It is assumed that he was introduced to Sabbatean circles in Thessaloniki and was deeply affected by this encounter. Upon his return to Poland in 1755 he started to develop a severe megalomania, deeply convinced that he was the true successor of Shabtai Zvi. Jacob Frank. Beit Hatfutsot, the Oster Visual Documentation Center Back in Poland he gathered a sect of believers, who were drawn by his charismatic personality, and announced him the heir of Shabtai Zvi. But he would not settle for that, and wished to form a new, improved, high intensity Sabbatean theology, based mainly on a gallery of mystical radical symbols that were about nothing but destruction and nihilism. Frank addressed his followers: “I came not to elevate your spirits, but to humiliate you to the bottom of the abyss, where you can get no lower, and where no man can rise from by his own forces, but only God can pull him with his mighty hand ...

Sacred Orgies: the Extremist Sabbatean Sect of Jacob Frank - Museum of the Jewish People