Jacob Brafman

Life & Legacy

Iakov Aleksandrovich Brafman (Russian: Я́ков Алекса́ндрович Бра́фман; 1825 – 28 December 1879), commonly known as Jacob Brafman, was a Lithuanian Jew from near Minsk, who became notable for converting first to Lutheranism and then the Russian Orthodox Church. He advanced conspiracy theories against the Qahal and the Talmud. Brafman's works The Local and Universal Jewish Brotherhoods (1868) and The Book of the Kahal (1869) were foundational texts in establishing a theoretical basis for modern antisemitic thought in Russia and established a framework for themes later covered in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.