MM v7 ed ek

The Case of Feminism— Mechanisms of Change 45

INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE

The beginnings can be traced to Napoleon , both generally and specifically through the questions he addressed to the Assembly of 1806 and the Sanhedrin of 1807.° Napoleon 's purpose was to integrate the Jewish community into the new French nation state. He had eliminated the power of the Catholic and Protestant churches as well as the guilds. He wished to move the Jews in that direction and used the technique of forcing the Jews , eager for civil rights, to address the issues themselves through a forum that would be widely recognized. He boldly chose the Sanhedrin, a halakhic mechanism, to which he addressed a series of questions. The specific questions covered a broad range, but began oddly, with the question,“Are Jews allowed to marry several wives?” This was easily answered by citing the prohibition of a tenth century takanah attributed to Rabenu Gershom against polygamy.’ The next two questions dealt with divorce and intermarriage and, of course, posed difficulties. The answers provided were straightforward, but skirted the halakhah, and did not deal with the feminist issues that might have been raised. The assembled delegates were not concerned with women's rights, nor for that matter was Napoleon . No women were among the delegates, as was to be expected.

As the Jews of France wanted civil rights and needed to have Napoleon 's ratification of those granted earlier by the Republic , they willingly gathered in an Assembly and later as a Sanhedrin without raising the issues of its authenticity or authority. Napoleon asked a few difficult questions but did not demand any changes in religious Practices, so no objections were raised.” Protests could, of course, have been voiced against the very establishment of a Sanhedrin by a non-Jew , the composition of the Sanhedrin, the right of those assembled to respond to the questions, and so on, but this did not Occur. The entire procedure could subsequently have been denounced Quite safely outside the borders of lands conquered by the Emperor ;