Frank, Menahem Mendel
FRANK, MENAHEM MENDEL
FRANK, MENAHEM MENDEL (late 15th–first half of 16th century), rabbi. He at first served as av bet din in Poznan, Poland, and from 1529 was rabbi of Brest-Litovsk, Lithuania. Frank was granted judicial authority by the king to assist Michael Ezofovich in tax collection but met with opposition in Brest-Litovsk. In 1531, when Frank complained of the matter, the Jews under his jurisdiction were ordered by King Sigismund i to obey him and submit to any ḥerem he imposed, being forbidden to appeal against his decisions to a non-Jewish tribunal. Encountering opposition by members of the nobility and state courts, possibly incited by Frank's Jewish opponents, in 1532 he sought the protection of Queen Bona. Upon her recommendation, the king prohibited royal officials and judges from intervening in the rabbi's affairs and declared that Frank could not be summoned to account before the throne. Decisions by Frank appertaining to divorce bills and contracts are mentioned by *Shalom Shakhna b. Joseph of Lublin. According to some records Frank ended his days in Jerusalem.
bibliography:
S.A. Bershadski (ed.), Russko-yevreyskiy arkhiv, 1 (1882), nos. 139, 147; A.L. Feinstein, Ir Tehillah (1886), 21–22, 64–65, 164–5.
[Arthur Cygielman]