Napoleon's Sanhedrin and the Halakhah 3

granted to the Hugeonots by the Edict of Nantes (1598) and for the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1764(which eventually led to the dissolution of the Order in 1773), and for unsuccessful attacks against the Order of the Freemasons .’

When the discussion turned to the Jewish community throughout this period, it took a different path as many felt that they could not be integrated into the broader society and should simply be expelled.® Aside from personal disabilities ascribed to Jews , they were seen as a“nation within a nation.” This was the argument raised by Clermont-Tonnerre in his speech to the French National Assembly on December 25, 1789, when he stated:“Everything should be denied to the Jews as a nation; everything should be granted to them as individuals.” Similar sentiments continued to be expressed in France , Germany , and Hungary into the twentieth centuries.

The French Revolution changed the status of all religious groups as it sought to establish a secular government. This was difficult as the Catholic Church and the state had been thoroughly intertwined as expressed not only in the crowning of the king, the appointment of bishops, and heads of monasteries, but also in the number of seats assigned to the Church as one of the Estates in the rarely called Assembly . As the Church was heavily endowed, the appointment of its higher officials provided a generous income for many nobles who had little interest or knowledge of ecclesiastical matters.

As the Revolution progressed its leadership did not engage in discussions with the Church either in France or in Rome , but took rapid steps to gain what it wished. In the political maneuvering, the Church representatives were divided and so could not effectively fight the seizure of Church properties, the demand that all clergy take a civic oath or retire. As there was no guidance from the local bishops or Rome , a state of confusion emerged and the Church lost most of its