A Rabbi Imprisoned for Mysticism: The Forgotten Ordeal of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Fränkel

A Family of Torah and Wealth

The year was 1712. In the province of Ansbach, Germany, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Halevi Fränkel, a renowned scholar and author, served as the chief rabbi of the region. For nearly a decade, he had led the community with wisdom and dignity. His lineage was distinguished. His father, Rabbi Chaggai Chanoch Fränkel, was a respected scholar who had served on the rabbinic court alongside the famed author of Avodat HaGershuni. The Fränkel family was known not only for Torah scholarship but also for prominence in business. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch’s grandfather, Yaakov Koppel, was a notable banker whose elegant home in Vienna’s Badgasse 38 had once hosted great sages and writers.

After Emperor Leopold expelled Vienna’s Jews a few decades earlier, the Fränkel family had relocated to Bavaria. Among the possessions they brought with them was the grand synagogue menorah from Vienna, a symbol of their enduring commitment to Jewish life and tradition. Rabbi Fränkel himself was admired by Jews and non-Jews alike. He was a man of both Torah and secular wisdom, including the study of Kabbalah.

A False Accusation and a Rigged Trial

One night, Rabbi Fränkel’s life took a devastating turn. There was a sudden knock at his door. Accustomed to late-night halachic (Jewish legal) questions or emergencies, he answered it, only to find three policemen waiting. Without explanation, they dragged him into a waiting carriage, where, to his shock, he saw his brother Elchanan, the financial advisor to the local provincial leader of Ansbach, already in chains.

Within days, the two distinguished brothers were put on trial, though "trial" is far too generous a term. A converted Jew had accused them of practicing witchcraft, claiming that Rabbi Fränkel engaged in practical Kabbalah and incantations. Despite the baselessness of the charge, the brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment and locked away in the infamous Swabach fortress.

Conditions in the prison were brutal, yet Rabbi Fränkel continued to write halachic responsa and Torah insights. After twenty years, Elchanan passed away, leaving Rabbi Fränkel to suffer alone.

Miraculous Release and Lasting Legacy

In 1737, a dramatic turn of events occurred. Following a heavy snowmelt, a massive flood struck Swabach. The river overflowed, collapsing the foundations of the fortress. Many prisoners managed to escape, and the local authorities, moved by the sight of the frail, elderly rabbi emerging from the ruins, released him.

Rabbi Fränkel reunited with the surviving members of his family in the nearby town of Gmund, where he lived out his final years. In 1740, he completed a manuscript recounting the harrowing ordeal of his imprisonment. Although the book was never published, it resurfaced 120 years later when a writer for the Israelit newspaper came across the manuscript. In 1861, the writer summarized Rabbi Fränkel’s tragic and powerful story in a published article, preserving the memory of a great rabbi unjustly condemned for his faith and scholarship.