Auction 69 - Part I -Rare and Important Items
A Booklet Calling for the Establishment of an Assembly of Jewish Notables – The Assembly Convened Before the Grand Sanhedrin – Issued on behalf of the French Emperor Napoleon I – Paris, 1806
Opening: $1,000
Estimate: $2,000 - $4,000
Unsold
Liste de MM. les députés de la Nation Juive, Convoqués à Paris par ordre de Sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi [A List of the Deputies of the Jewish Nation, Convened in Paris by order of His Majesty the Emperor and King]. Paris: Dabin, libraire, Palais du Tribunat, 1806. French.
A copy of the official booklet published by the French Empire, calling for the establishment of an Assembly of Jewish Notables and determining the list of its participants.
In 1806, several charges were filed against the Jews of Alsace, claiming that they were practicing usury in dealings with Christians. The complaints rekindled the question of the Jews' status as citizens of post-revolutionary France and subsequently, Napoleon summoned an assembly of about a hundred Jewish leaders in order to examine the attitude of the Jewish community to the state law and indirectly – to decide whether the Jews are capable of assimilating into the French society.
The members of the assembly were presented with twelve questions: In the eyes of Jews, are Frenchmen not of the Jewish religion considered as brethren or as strangers? Do the Jews acknowledge France as their country? May a Jew marry a Christian? What kind of jurisdiction do the rabbis exercise over the Jews? And additional questions. The meetings of the Assembly drew much public interest throughout Europe (protocols of the meetings were published in French, English, Italian and German) and several months later, the notables submitted their final response to the emperor, expressing their willingness to accept the French state law as a framework for the laws of the Jewish community. In order to accord religious validity to the decision, Napoleon called together the Grand Sanhedrin, a smaller assembly of 71 participants (as in the Grand Sanhedrin of the Second Temple), which in practice, subjugated the Halacha to the French state law. Subsequent to the activity of the Assembly of Notables and the Grand Sanhedrin, a statute was adopted which removed the social and civil authority of the Jewish communities, limiting the activity of the rabbis to the fields of religious rituals and maintenance of synagogues only.
The present booklet comprises two parts: • An imperial decree (Décret Imperial) from 30.5.1806, calling the representatives to convene on July 15 of that same year, placing a moratorium on all debts owed to Jewish usurers by Christian farmers until the assembly discusses the changes required from the Jewish community. • A detailed list of about a hundred names and addresses of representatives of the Jewish communities who were summoned to the assembly, divided according to various French counties (several representatives were summoned from Italy, which was then under Napoleon's control). The list includes rabbis, community leaders and Jewish philanthropists from a variety of Jewish circles and movements, including Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim (chief rabbi of Strasbourg, who later became the chairman of the Grand Sanhedrin), Rabbi Avraham de Cologna, banker Avraham Furtado from the Sephardic community of Bordeaux (chairman of the Assembly), Rabbi Hananel Nepi of Ferrara, and others.
On the title page of the booklet, beneath the title, the Hebrew word "Elohim" (G-d) was printed.
18 pp, approx. 14.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Blemishes and small tears to edges. The last leaf is partly detached. In a blank paper cover.
A copy of the official booklet published by the French Empire, calling for the establishment of an Assembly of Jewish Notables and determining the list of its participants.
In 1806, several charges were filed against the Jews of Alsace, claiming that they were practicing usury in dealings with Christians. The complaints rekindled the question of the Jews' status as citizens of post-revolutionary France and subsequently, Napoleon summoned an assembly of about a hundred Jewish leaders in order to examine the attitude of the Jewish community to the state law and indirectly – to decide whether the Jews are capable of assimilating into the French society.
The members of the assembly were presented with twelve questions: In the eyes of Jews, are Frenchmen not of the Jewish religion considered as brethren or as strangers? Do the Jews acknowledge France as their country? May a Jew marry a Christian? What kind of jurisdiction do the rabbis exercise over the Jews? And additional questions. The meetings of the Assembly drew much public interest throughout Europe (protocols of the meetings were published in French, English, Italian and German) and several months later, the notables submitted their final response to the emperor, expressing their willingness to accept the French state law as a framework for the laws of the Jewish community. In order to accord religious validity to the decision, Napoleon called together the Grand Sanhedrin, a smaller assembly of 71 participants (as in the Grand Sanhedrin of the Second Temple), which in practice, subjugated the Halacha to the French state law. Subsequent to the activity of the Assembly of Notables and the Grand Sanhedrin, a statute was adopted which removed the social and civil authority of the Jewish communities, limiting the activity of the rabbis to the fields of religious rituals and maintenance of synagogues only.
The present booklet comprises two parts: • An imperial decree (Décret Imperial) from 30.5.1806, calling the representatives to convene on July 15 of that same year, placing a moratorium on all debts owed to Jewish usurers by Christian farmers until the assembly discusses the changes required from the Jewish community. • A detailed list of about a hundred names and addresses of representatives of the Jewish communities who were summoned to the assembly, divided according to various French counties (several representatives were summoned from Italy, which was then under Napoleon's control). The list includes rabbis, community leaders and Jewish philanthropists from a variety of Jewish circles and movements, including Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim (chief rabbi of Strasbourg, who later became the chairman of the Grand Sanhedrin), Rabbi Avraham de Cologna, banker Avraham Furtado from the Sephardic community of Bordeaux (chairman of the Assembly), Rabbi Hananel Nepi of Ferrara, and others.
On the title page of the booklet, beneath the title, the Hebrew word "Elohim" (G-d) was printed.
18 pp, approx. 14.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Blemishes and small tears to edges. The last leaf is partly detached. In a blank paper cover.
Jewish Communities and European Monarchs
Jewish Communities and European Monarchs