TABLET MAG
A Polish Christian Writes the Great Jewish Novel
by Shalom Goldman
September 23, 2021

Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in literature, published The Books of Jacob in 2014. The novel follows the messianic religious leader Jacob Frank as he travels through 18th-century Europe, attracting a fervent following and a list of avowed enemies….But in the remarkable case of the Frankists, a whole community of Jews apostatized…“The Frankists’ baptism was seen as a monumental event unique both in size and in its theological ramifications. Even the most zealous Catholic priests were well aware that the vast majority of the Jewish conversions throughout the ages did not stem from Jewish recognition of the truth of Christianity but rather from the desire for social advancement or to avoid persecution.” READ MORE