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suddenly on November 9,1757. The people saw this as <strong>the</strong><br />
hand of God.<br />
The Frankists enticed women <strong>to</strong> leave <strong>the</strong>ir husbands and<br />
<strong>to</strong> join <strong>the</strong>ir orgies. Families were broken up in <strong>the</strong> hundreds.<br />
This is even more amazing considering <strong>the</strong> strong family life<br />
that characterized <strong>the</strong> Jews in <strong>the</strong> small communities of<br />
Podolia, Moravia, Poland, Hungary and Romania at that time.<br />
They joined with Christian bigots in accusing <strong>the</strong> Jews of blood<br />
libels, claiming that <strong>the</strong> Jews murdered Christian children and<br />
used <strong>the</strong>ir blood for <strong>the</strong> Passover holiday. For example, in <strong>the</strong><br />
public disputation with <strong>the</strong> Rabbis in Lvov in 1759, 86 <strong>the</strong>y made<br />
a public accusation of blood libel. Scholem is of <strong>the</strong> opinion<br />
that <strong>the</strong>y did this in a scheme <strong>to</strong> collaborate with bigoted<br />
Catholic clergymen in order <strong>to</strong> wreak vengeance on <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
Rabbinical persecu<strong>to</strong>rs. Scholem cites from <strong>the</strong> eminent<br />
his<strong>to</strong>rian, Meir Balaban, a conversation which <strong>to</strong>ok place in<br />
Lvov between Rabbi Chaim Rappaport and <strong>the</strong> Frankist<br />
Eliezer Jezierzany who said, "Chaim, we have given you blood<br />
for blood. You meant <strong>to</strong> make <strong>the</strong> shedding of our blood lawful,<br />
and now you have been given blood for blood!" 87<br />
In one case of blood libel, in <strong>the</strong> small shtetl of Villovich, <strong>the</strong><br />
Frankists <strong>to</strong>ok revenge on <strong>the</strong> local Rabbi of <strong>the</strong> <strong>to</strong>wn by<br />
dressing one of <strong>the</strong>ir women up as <strong>the</strong> Rabbi's wife. The<br />
impersonation was perfect. She appeared before <strong>the</strong> local<br />
priest and said that she saw <strong>the</strong> Rabbi kill a Christian child for<br />
Passover. Because of this incident, <strong>the</strong> Rabbi and all <strong>the</strong><br />
members of his congregation were killed after a brief trial. The<br />
Rabbi's wife and his five remaining children were <strong>to</strong>rtured in<strong>to</strong><br />
accepting Christianity. 88<br />
In 1759, when <strong>the</strong> Frankists officially converted <strong>to</strong><br />
Catholicism, Frank was baptized in <strong>the</strong> Warsaw Ca<strong>the</strong>dral with<br />
no less a personage than Emperor Augustus III as godfa<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
A year later he was accused of heresy and was thrown in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Citadel of Czens<strong>to</strong>kova. He was released in 1773 only by <strong>the</strong><br />
Russian conquest on <strong>the</strong> eve of <strong>the</strong> first partition of Poland.<br />
90