(FRENCH JUDAICA)

AUCTION 19 | Tuesday, March 11th, 2003 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts and Works of Graphic Art

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Lot 82

(FRENCH JUDAICA)

Group of four printed pamphlets and broadsides concerning the Consistoire General I. Le Consistoire central des Israélitea [internal regulations of the Consistoire Central des Israelites]. Text in French. Occasional use of Hebrew type. pp. (3). Browned at edges, marginal repairs. Folio. [Z. Szajkowski, no. 145]. Paris, Consistoire Central des Israelites, 1808. II. Instructions Adressées Par Le Consistoire Central des Israélites de France....Relativement à l’exécution des dispositions contenues dans l’Ordonnance Royale du 29 Juin 1819 [instructions sent out by the Consistoire regarding the rulings of the Royal Act of June 29th, 1819, concerning Freedom of Religion]. Text in French. pp. 11. Light stains in places. 4to. Paris, C. Ballard, August 10th, 1819. III. Le Consistoire Israélite de la Circonscription de Strasbourg. Text in French and German. Instructions for celebrating the birth of a son, the Duke of Bourdeaux and Heir to the throne, to the Dutchess of Berri. With Hebrew prayer in honor of the Prince the Duke de Bordeaux]. pp. (3). Light dampstains in places, neat marginal repair. Strasbourg, n.p., October 2nd, 1820. IV. Pétavel, Abram-François. Lettre aux synagogues de France aux Rabbbins et grand-Rabbns aux présidents et aux membres des Consistoires Israélites de Paris et de la France [Letter from the President of the Consistoire to the Synagogues of France on Christian-Jewish relations]. Text in French. pp. 17,(1). Trace foxed in places. Original printed wrappers. 4to. Neuchatel, Switzerland, Henri Wolfrath, March 1st, 1851

v.p.: v.d.

Est: $1,500 - $2,000

The Consistoire Central des Israelites was formed by Napoleon I as a means of organizing the Jewish Religion. The Consistoire comprised committees of notables from each region of the Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, with a central body in Paris. The authority had responsibilities for the supervision and administration of synagogues and the Rabbinate within the Empire, including the training, appointment and remuneration of rabbis. According to Schwarzfuchs; “The proposed regulations fitted completely into the Napoleonic political scheme: the Jewish religion was not so much organized as controlled. Its centralized organization, the need to obtain official recognition for any appointment and any taxation, the de facto suppression of democratic procedures with all the powers handed over to appointed bodies, all this very well expressed the Emperor’s political philosophy. Judaism had to be centralized in order to be kept under supervision.” See: S. Scharzfuchs, Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin (1979) pp. 104-6