Napoleon's Sanhedrin and the Halakhah 49

it had ceased to function, an idealized version of its procedures was described in the mishnaic literature. We cannot judge the accuracy of this description.

Maimonides provided a description of its powers and functions as he understood them." It had the power to make major decisions that were to be recognized by all and could do so by majority vote.

Membership in this august body was limited to those who had received ordination in the continuous line that according to tradition traced itself to Moses .'"* However, when the Great Assembly turned to the qualifications for membership, they agreed that there were no specifications, voted on the matter and settled it." As ordination in the traditional sense stopped in the fourth century''® it meant that this route for making changes or modifications in the halakhah were no longer available. Subsequently changes were made through the process of responsa. Leading authorities in each period of Jewish history were accepted as final arbiters; however, they did not make radical changes. Geater changes were sometimes made through takkanot adopted by a group of rabbis. These were normally limited to a specific locale and valid for a specified period of time. This was true even of the takkanot attributed to R. Gershom whose takkanah eliminated polygamy among Ashkenazic Jews in the 9" century."

The need for greater flexibility was felt from time to time, but no one was sufficiently bold to attempt the reintroduction of ordination and thus to begin the process of re-recreating a Great Sanhedrin. Jacob Berab of Safed in the sixteenth century made this bold attempt which immediately failed as he did not include the leading rabbinic authority of Jerusalem . The attempt would undoubtedly have collapsed anyhow abit later. Those who participated in this venture, such as Joseph Karo , did not mention it in their writings as it would only have injured their reputation.''®