First Meeting of the Paris Sanhedrin in the Palace of the Prefecture in 1807.

(PARIS SANHEDRIN)

n.p, n.d.

Aquatint by Demartrait. Framed

Rubens 1256

Abraham Furtado is seen here addressing the Sanhedrin. Rabbi David Sinzheim, the President, can be seen wearing his distinctive fur hat. The Sanhedrin, comprised of 71 members, two third Rabbis and one third laymen, was summoned by Napoleon. The object was to convert the "secular" responses to governmental questions given by the "Assembly of Jewish Notables" to a biblical, halachic framework that would be accepted and binding for French Jews. See EJ Vol. XIV Col. 840.