Decret Impérial sur l’installation des Membres du Consistoire central des Juifs établi à Paris.

(FRENCH-JUDAICA).

Rondonneau

Paris

(1808)

Masthead containing scales of justice, etc

Szajkowski 133

Prescribes the oath of office to be taken by the members of the Consistorial Synagogues of Paris as well as those throughout the Empire: “I swear and promise to God, on the holy Bible, to obey the constitution of the Empire, and fidelity to the Emperor. I promise also to make known all that I learn contrary to the interests of the Ruler and of the State.” “The members of the Central Consistory were officially appointed on 19 October and could then begin organizing the Jewish religion in France. They took the oath of loyalty to the Emperor which was requested of them, as it had been from all other civil servants or bishops, and promised to report anything they heard which might be detrimental to the interests of the State. They had now officially become a part of the organized Empire, although they were never recognized as such by the State itself.” See S. Schwarzfuchs, Napoleon, The Jews and the Sanhedrin (1979), p. 131.