Tama, Diogene. Transactions of the Parisian Sanhedrin. Or Acts of the Assembly of Israelitish Deputies of France and Italy, Convoked at Paris by an Imperial and Royal Decree.

(NAPOLEON).

William Burton - Charles Taylor

London

1807

FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. With preface and notes by F.D. Kirwan. The Mayer Sulzberger copy (with his signature and bookplate).

Szajkowski, Jews and the French Revolutions (1970), p. 978, no. 71.

Translation of Actes du Grand Sanhedrin (Paris, 1806-7) by the French-Jewish editor Diogene Tama. The Preface by Englishman F.D. Kirwan takes an especially jaundiced glance at the "despot" Bonaparte and his "stage tricks." (p. vi). In view of rising anti-Semitism in Alsace-Lorraine, Napoleon Bonaparte convened a group of wealthy Jewish persons, rabbis and public figures from France and Italy. Twelve questions were presented to the audience, meant to test the attitude of Jews towards the French nation, and, in particular, to examine whether a discrepancy exists between the Jewish religion and French law. The answers were satisfactory and expressed the Jews' will to blur their national identity and to emphasize their allegiance to France. Seeking to legalize the decisions taken by the convention, Napoleon ordered to convene the "Paris Sanhedrin" with the participation of rabbis and other Jewish figures. The Sanhedrin approved the convention's answers, supposedly providing it with Halakhic validation.