JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

emancipation
and distribution of the Jewish population, and in the traditional
French attitude toward Jews, caused this acrimonious
two-year struggle (see also *France, *French Revolution, *Alsace).
During the debate in the National Assembly Comte de
*Clermont-Tonnerre, an advocate of emancipation, explicitly
formulated the assimilationist assumptions of the emancipation
when he declared on Dec. 23, 1789: “The Jews should be
denied everything as a nation, but granted everything as individuals…”
and that “it should not be tolerated that the Jews
become a separate political formation or class in the country.
Every one of them must individually become a citizen; if
they do not want this, they must inform us and we shall then
be compelled to expel them. The existence of a nation within
a nation is unacceptable to our country.” Indeed, Jews striving
for emancipation abandoned all demands for autonomy,
especially those of the Portuguese communities in the south
of France (see *Avignon; *Bordeaux; *Berr Isaac Berr), who
were emancipated somewhat earlier than the Ashkenazi Jews
of Alsace. The law of September 1791 (ratified by the king on
November 13) emancipating all Jews as a matter of principle
was considered by Jews as an historic turn in their fate, “a tremendous
revolution which heralded happiness,” and a victory
of revolutionary principles, while the clergy and the royalists
considered it a “further insult” to the Church and French historic
tradition.
Every territory conquered by the French revolutionary
armies, or placed under their rule, and where the laws
of France were introduced, saw the proclamation of Jewish
equality (e.g., Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, southern
Germany). Jews in these countries considered the French
“friends of the Jews,” and *Napoleon Bonaparte was admired
by most, even though he later (from 1806 publicly) restricted
full emancipation (see France, *Assembly of Jewish Notables,
French *Sanhedrin). Napoleon’s restrictions lapsed in 1818,
and ironically were not renewed by the reinstituted reactionary
Bourbon regime; civic equality of the Jews in France became
an established fact. Jewish legal equality was renewed by
the law of Feb. 8, 1831 (passed in the French Parliament after
numerous discussions), which recognized the Jewish religion
as equal in rights to the Christian churches, and provided for
the salaries of its religious officials to be paid by the state. In
1846 the *oath more Judaico was abolished by a decision of
the court of appeal.
THE NETHERLANDS. The French revolutionary conquest of
the Netherlands precipitated Jewish emancipation. It was declared
legally on Sept. 2, 1796, by the Batavian National Assembly,
which stated that “it is impossible to deprive any Jew
of the rights and privileges which are attached to Batavian citizenship,
if he wishes to employ them, on condition that the
Jew answers to all the requirements and fulfills all the obligations
to which every citizen is bound.” Both the basis of this
law and the discussion about it centered on the definition of
Jews and their aims. Neither party to the discussion was inimical
to Jews. The opponents of emancipation emphasized the
political nature of the Jewish people, who, although deprived
of a state, considered Ereẓ Israel to be its country and the Torah
its law. One of the debaters, Van Hamelsveld, claimed that
since the Jews anticipate a messiah, bringing political revival,
to grant them political rights in Batavia would cause the Jews
to deviate from their correct historic path, which was similar
to that of the Greeks, who stood on the verge of a political
revival. All Jews, the argument continued, should have civic
rights, which are encompassed by human rights, while political
rights should only be given to those who explicitly declare
their wish to become Batavian citizens. This conception was
supported by the majority of Dutch Jews and their communal
leaders, both noted for loyalty to the monarchy (the princes
of Orange) and the desire not to cooperate with the revolutionaries
who relied on the French conquest.
The opponents of equality claimed that by their religion
the Jews were monarchists and thus opposed to any republican
regime. They argued, in addition, that Jews are opposed
to the abolition of their autonomy and feared that active
participation of the Jewish masses in the affairs of state would
finally bring misfortune to the Jewish population. In practice,
emancipation in the Netherlands did not encounter much
difficulty (see the *Netherlands), and the change of regime
in the Netherlands did not change the law of equality. In the
constitution, redrafted in 1848, the article on equality was
even more clearly formulated: “The members of the various
religions are to benefit from the same rights as the citizens of
the state and the citizens of the communities, and they have
an equal right to hold honorary, clerical, and public service
positions.”
With the conquest of Belgium by the French armies, the
laws of France were applied. Emancipation continued through
the time of union with the Netherlands (1815–30), and was incorporated
into the Belgian constitution of 1831, which proclaimed
the equality of all citizens.
ITALY. The beginnings of emancipation in *Italy were also
connected with the victories of the French revolutionary armies.
Opening the gates of the ghetto and the destruction of
their walls symbolized the new regime. The government of the
Cisalpine Republic invited the Jews to send their delegates to
its founding assembly, and declared in its first proclamation
that “the Jews are citizens and society must recognize them
as citizens.” One of the first steps of the government of the
Republic in Rome was to publish in February 1798 the following
decree: “The Jews answering to all the conditions required
for the obtention of the rights of Roman citizens shall
become subject to the laws which have been decreed for all
the citizens of the Republic. Therefore, from this day, all the
special laws and decrees concerning the Jews are declared to
be null and void.” The grounds for this decree were the “sanctified
principles of the Constitution of the Roman Republic,”
according to which “the laws must equally apply to every Roman
citizen.” Support of Italian patriotism, unification, and
revolutionary aims became characteristic of traditional Jewish
378 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6