The 18th-Century Jewish Wine Merchant, Intellectual, and Polyglot Who Defended His Coreligionists against the Blood Libel

Much as the members of organization like Jewish Voice for Peace help to promote libelous claims that Israel is committing genocide, the Frankists—a heterodox messianist Jewish sect of 18th-century Poland—testified at Jesuits’ behest that their fellow Jews used the blood of Christian children in the rites of Passover. In 1759, church leaders organized a public disputation in the city of Lemberg (modern-day Lviv) between Frankists and a prominent rabbi about the veracity of the claim.