Trudy Gold
Revolution and Jewish History
Trudy Gold - Revolution and Jewish History
- Well, good evening everybody from London. And Wendy, it’s lovely to have you back. And of course tonight I’m coming to one of the most crucial parts of Jewish history. In fact, Emil Fackenheim said that when he’s looking back at Jewish history, the four most important events of the last 250 years as far as the Jewish people are concerned are the emancipation, of course the huge demographic movements from Eastern Europe, the show off, and the establishment of the state of Israel. But the emancipation, which of course I’m talking about today, and I began to talk about last, last week, changes everything. And it also changes the way Jews see themselves. You may recall at the last session, the last point we discussed in questions was what it means to be a Jew. Now prior to the French Revolution, the question would never have been asked. And if you refer for example to documents when Menasseh Ben Israel petitioned the English parliament for readmission, he talks about the Jewish nation. The Jews would’ve seen themselves as a nation in exile and they would’ve considered their co-religionists. They would have more in common far more to do with their co-religionists in different countries than they would the other people in the countries in which they live.
And of course, the French Revolution changes everything. We’ve already begun to look at the ideas of the Enlightenment because of course, revolutions don’t happen out of nothing. And as I explained very carefully, it really all begins with the ideas of the Enlightenment, which were, if you like, a reaction to the past. It’s a reaction to absolutism. It is a reaction to the wars of religion. It’s a reaction to the overweening power of the church and all the disputes within Christianity. It’s also a reaction to scientific revolution, the age of mercantilism, because estates in order to compete, needed to create a sound middle class. And as William explained to you, in France, you had the three estates. You had the nobility, the clergy, and the third estate, which in the main was the rising middle classes, and within that estate are people who have an education. And that’s important. You have an education and you live in a society where the king sees himself as the absolute ruler. And already people are playing around with ideas. Now let me say from the absolute outset, the French, the Jews are a complete sideshow as far as the French Revolution is concerned. The French Revolution is a huge movement that changes everything. And of course the ideas behind it also created the American Revolution. And one of the reasons the King Louis XVI had to call the estates because he needed to raise taxes because he’d spent so much money on the American law of revolution against the British. And you remember the words of the declaration of American independence. Well France, it’s going to be liberty, equality, fraternity. But the Jews did live in France.
There were 40,000 of them and already philosophers were thinking about them. And there’s just a few more philosophers I want to talk about before we actually get onto the situation of the Jews in France in 1789, where there were two communities, very distinct communities, a Sephardic community around Bordeaux and by Bayon, and an Ashkenazi community the German speakers, or rather the Yiddish speakers in Alsace, which had belonged to Germany and had taken and had been taken by Louis XIV. So can we see the first slide, if you don’t mind? And here you see Jean-Jacques Rousseau because I’ve already looked at Voltaire. Now Jean-Jacques Rousseau, he was a fascinating man. He was a very, very important thinker. And he’s going to be positive about the Jews. He was a very important thinker in terms that he really does shift thought in a new direction. And I want you to see what he says about the Jews. Can we read the quote please? Judy, can it go in? Oh, yes. Remember, he’s positive. “I do not think that I ever heard any arguments as to why the Jews should not have a free state, schools, and universities where they are without danger. Then only can we know what they have to say.” You’ve got to remember that the French Revolution is also breaking away from the all-encompassing power of religion. He goes on to say, “Jews are an eternal people, a unique marvel, which deserves study and admiration from wise men.
The Jews present us with an outstanding spectacle that the laws of ancient peoples are dead but the far more ancient ones of Moses are still alive.” Then, “Athens, Sparta, and Rome have all perished and all their people have vanished from the earth. Though destroyed Zion has not lost her children. They mingle with all the nations, but are never lost amongst them. They no longer have leaders yet they are still a nation, they no longer have a country but they are still citizens.” Now, Rousseau was a particularly interesting man because he’d actually been brought up for a long time in Switzerland, in Calvin, Switzerland. And he lived a very nomadic life. He was a womaniser and his personal life was often held against him, but he had a brilliant mind and he became involved with the encyclopedists. I already talked to you about the encyclopedist. These of course are people who are trying to give more knowledge. What’s the encyclopaedias about? A collection of knowledge. Towards the end of his life though he does become incredibly influential. And he is actually, he’s going to die before the revolution. But he was very much a man of the Enlightenment, a quarrelsome man. He went to England. He messed up with Creatures of the Enlightenment in England. He went to the theatre in England. He was a fascinating individual. And if you could read an autobiography of him, he really did walk the world. He’s not exactly a lovable character, but he’s a deep thinker.
And what he has to say about the Jews is interesting. This is positive. But what does he say? They are a nation. They no longer have a country, but they are a nation. And now can we move on to the next important philosopher, Diderot. Now Diderot also, he was a co-founder of the encyclopaedia. He was one of the most prominent thinkers of the Enlightenment. He studied philosophy at a Jesuit college then law. And when he decided to become a writer, his father disowned him. And he co-create his encyclopaedia in 1751. You cannot imagine what a laborious task that was. And of course other people contributed, but you are trying to write down the sum total of knowledge. And at one stage, the encyclopaedia is abandoned by the Catholic church and then by the French government. Some of the contributors were jailed and he actually spent a certain amount of time in jail. But he worked on the project for years and years and years. He struggled financially, but gradually he has more recognition and he, but he never makes it into the Academie Francaise. His fortunes improved though, when Catherine of Russia who saw herself as a figure of the Enlightenment, paid him a significant sum to be her librarian.
And just as Voltaire had correspondence with Catherine and just as Rousseau by the way, obtained a pension from Frederick II of Prussia, all these autocrats nevertheless saw themselves as figures of the Enlightenment. There was incredible controversy. And can we go on please? And let’s not, this is what he had to say because this is one of his entries on the Jews. And this is very negative. He and Rousseau by the way had terrible quarrels, but not necessarily about this. You’ve got to remember the Jews are an aside, but this is what Diderot had to say. “Amongst the Jews, one will not find any rightness of thought, any exactness in reason or precision of style. Any of that would ought to characterise a healthy philosophy. One finds amongst them, only a confusion of the principles of reason and revelation.” Remember, the Enlightenment is all about the Age of Reason. “Often an impenetrable obscurity, principles that lead to fanaticism, blind respect for the authority of the rabbis, and for antiquity. All the faults that mark an ignorant and superstitious people. This people ought to be kept separate from others.” And you’ve got to remember, the Jews have no way of answering any of this. So this is Diderot’s comment on the Jews and he very much pulls out the notion that they should be, that these people, they don’t understand philosophy.
Now can we turn to Mirabeau? Oh, oh, sorry. We’ll leave that. Let’s now look at Abbe Gregoire. and I’m going to come on to him later because he’s going to be very important in the fight for Jewish emancipation. The kind of think tanks that people had at the time were really essay prizes from various academies. And in 1786, Abbe Gregoire, who was actually a priest, but a very much a liberal man of the Enlightenment, he won an essay prize on the whole of the Jewish issue at this particular time. And it’s important to understand in Metz, which of course is Alsace, it’s got a Jewish population. And there are already other interesting Enlightenment thinkers like Lacretelle who was involved in a divorce case between Jews. They took it to a civil court. So already can Jews fit into French society? And Abbe Gregoire actually wins a prize at the Academy of Metz, but more about him later. And can we go on please? Yes, let’s go on to Mirabeau. He’s also interested in the Jewish question. He’s particularly attracted by the character of Moses Mendelssohn. Don’t forget this communication amongst Enlightenment figures in the German lands, in the French lands, and in England. And of course back in 1743, Moses Mendelssohn had been born in Dessau. By the time we come to this period, he is living in Berlin. He’s become an important philosopher of the Enlightenment. He’s crossed the worlds. He’s crossed the world from the world of the Jew to the world of the European Enlightenment. But what is fascinating about Mendelssohn and more about him when we get onto Germany, is that he never, never retracts his Jewishness.
He was Torah-true. He was completely kosher. but he becomes known as one of Germany’s greatest philosophers. A man of the Enlightenment, a brilliant man. They called him the Jewish Socrates. And the Prussian court actually passed a special measure to allow him to have permanent residence there. And what he was questioned, how can you be a Jew? It’s a downgraded religion. And he actually said, every people have their own path to the truth. I would never convert a Confucian because he has a path to the truth. And Mirabeau was very impressed by Moses Mendelssohn, and he was very interested in the whole notion of political reform. And he argues that the faults of the Jews were those of circumstance. Again, he has this downgraded view of the Jew, but he says, it’s not their faults they’ve lived downgraded lives. It’s the fault of Christianity. And they, and he said this, the Jew is a man more than he is a Jew. And he also says, quoting from Rousseau, Jews were only corrupted because they were denied human rights. But he said, we must preserve some measure of Jewish autonomy, but only as a transition. He believed that the Jewish community would die out if the Jews were going to enter fully into the economic and social life of the majority.
So it’s important to remember that before the French Revolution, you have all these individuals actually playing around with ideas. Can the Jews fit in to French society? Are they a nation within a nation? What kind of hope can there be for the Jewish community? What are we going to do about them? And in fact, we’re going to see that both he and Abbe Gregoire are going to be representatives in the general assembly and they’re going to try and fight for Jewish rights when the assembly decides that it has to be helped. But before that could happen, a commission is actually set up to look into the Jews. Can we go on please? Here you say, Guillaume-Chretien De Lamoignon De Malesherbes. Now, he was an interesting character. Who was he? He actually was, he actually was a friend of Louis XVI. He saw himself as a man of the Enlightenment, Louis XVI you know, he, when the Bastille was stormed, there were only six prisoners inside. Yes, of course the Ancien Regime had many, many evil sides to it. But on the other side, you do have characters like Malesherbes. Even though when Diderot’s encyclopaedia, when they raided the offices, nevertheless he had a certain sympathy for them because he was also on the side of knowledge. I would call him a liberal royalist. He was very much, as I said, a supporter of the encyclopaedia. He’s also a confidant of Louis XVI. And he is a member of the king’s household. And he was responsible in 1787 for granting civil rights to the Catholics, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, of civil rights to the non-Catholics I beg your pardon, the Huguenots in France.
He wanted improvement in the law. What I suppose he wanted, and William was talking about this the other day, was really a constitutional monarchy. He was opposed to organising a Jewish community because a Jewish community as a community is a state within a state. And in the spring of 1788, he established an informal committee to study the matter, co-opting members of the Enlightenment who were interesting, including a man called Pierre Roederer who had set up the essay prize in Metz. He was also a lawyer. There were eight Jewish leaders summoned to his commission, some from the Ashkenazi community in Alsace, some from the Sephardic community in Bordeaux. And the problem was they couldn’t reach agreement. And of course the convening of the Estates General is going to stop everything. Now, just to tell you what happened to him. His feeling behind the commission, he wanted to improve the treatment of Jews, but he did believe that long term it should leave to conversion. He wanted to break the communal ties. So however, as a liberal royalist, it all goes into the reign of terror. And in December 1792, when the king was imprisoned and facing trial, while he was a lawyer he volunteered to defend him in the court. And it was he who had to inform his friend of the death sentence. In December 1793, we’re now into the reign of terror, he was arrested with his whole family involved in what they called the conspiracy with the immigrants, and tragically he was guillotined.
And in fact, on the 10th of May of that year, his older sister, who was the countess of Senozan, she was an elderly woman, she was 76, and she was actually executed along with the king’s sister, Madame Elisabeth. So basically it became incredibly cruel. The French Revolution, which began as the rights of man, turned into this terrible reign of terror. And at the same time it becomes a secular revolution. But before that, shall we please go back and go on now to the separate Jewish communities in France. So here you have a community in Bordeaux. Now, the community in Bordeaux had about two and a half thousand members at the time of the revolution. There was about 1,300 in Beon. They were in contact with the Jews of Avignon, which had been under, was under papal rule until 1791. So there was also a group of Jews in Paris about 500 people, some Sephardim, some Ashkenazim, but they were really living quite perilously. They’ve been a community. The community in Bordeaux actually traces its modern roots to when. It traces its modern roots to those Sephardim who had come over from Spain and Portugal. You’ve got to remember they had been conversos. Conversos in Spain and Portugal quite often wealthy traders, they practised their Catholicism in secret, they practised their Judaism in secret. They were outwardly Catholic. But many of these traders wanted to escape the inquisition. And by the end of the 1500s, conversos from Spain and then from Portugal arrived in Bordeaux. Now they are useful.
They’re appreciated for their commercial activities. And in 1550 they actually managed to obtain letters patent from Henry II. You’ll remember him because of course he was the king whose mistress was Diane de Poitiers. Quote, he authorised the merchants and other Portuguese called New Christians to reside in the towns and localities of their choice. So this small number of wealthy Sephardim they practise Catholicism. And although the general population suspected them, the authorities closed their eyes because they are bringing trade into France. And if they were practising their Judaism in secret, so what? And in 1612, the lieutenant general issued an ordinance forbidding, quote, to speak ill or do evil to the Portuguese merchants. And in 1710, a portion of the Catholic cemetery was opened especially for them. And although their marriages were performed by Catholic priests and all the formalities were observed, we know that secretly they would then go home and marry Jewishly. Now we know also that from 1710 we are just about moving into the reign of Louis XIV they begin to, I beg your pardon, towards the end of the reign of Louis the XIV, they begin to profess their Judaism more openly. Priests continue to register their marriages, but add a note that the marriages, quote, in accordance with the customary rights of the Portuguese nation. by the beginning of the 18th century, their organisation is called Sedaqah, which of course means charity. And members are paid according to their ability. They paid also for the upkeep of the four holy cities in Israel, Safed, Tiberias, Hebron, and Jerusalem. They also provided a doctor for the poor and also for needy travellers. There was a teacher for the Talmud Torah.
And from 1719 they had a rabbi. So they’re there not exactly on Safrans. And they have letters patent. And in the first letter patent of 1723, they are actually referred to as Jews. And also Jews begin travelling from Avignon under the papal estates from about 1722, there were 22 families, but again, they kept apart from the Portuguese. So by 1753, we know that there was seven synagogues in private houses. So at this stage the Sedaqah changed its name to nation. And apart from funds necessary for charity, they also supplied the funds necessary for letters patent and for the salary of a representative in Paris who would be their spokesman if they needed it. So these are wealthy merchants useful to France and important to remember that the French government is giving them letters patent. So we know that by this time there’s about 25,000 of them. So when Malesherbes commission was engaged in its task of studying, looking at the Jews, they appointed two representatives, including a man called Abraham Furtado. More about him later on. So can we go to the next slide please?
So now we turn to Alsace, beautiful Alsace. Now please don’t forget that the Jews of Alsace only come to France because France conquers the territory from Germany in the reign of Louis XIV. And basically we know that the community, it’s the community under the Germans, it’s the usual story of expulsions then coming back. Expelled from cities allowed in villages, mainly engaged in money lending and in merchanting. In Strasbourg for example, they were only allowed in during the day. They weren’t allowed to settle there. There was a lot of hostility from the other merchants. And, but we also know that they were in contact with Jewish communities throughout Germany, also Switzerland, Holland, and Lorraine. Basically it’s an Ashkenazi community and it developed its own selihoth by the way. It had very much its own kind of language as well. And I hope Joan Lessing is listening because I know she has a dictionary from that side and from that point. The most outstanding personality of Alsace is actually Josel of Rosheim. Let’s have a look at his picture. Yeah, now I’m not going to spend too much time on him, but he’s really worth looking up. He was of course a court Jew. He was a very, very important character. He made an absolute fortune. He was a physician. He was a personal physician to the Holy Roman emperor. He was known good for his medical achievements. He was a rabbi. You know, we keep on throwing up these incredible characters. They’re doctors, they’re advisors to kings. He had a huge sense of justice and did all he could to look after his co-religionists. He actually went into debate around with a man called Johannes Pfefferkorn. This is around the time of Luther, the great splits between Protestantism and Catholicism. And he’s defending the Jews as much as possible.
And he wanted to, the Jews are accused that the Talmud is hostile to Christianity. He goes against it. And he said, and he wrote this, the courses which hinder the Jews are three. Firstly, usury. Secondly, because they are not, this is what the enemy said, the things that stop the Jews, they are first, usury, second, because they are not compelled to attend Christian churches, and because they have the Talmud. By this time, and I mentioned this before, the Talmud was seen as the enemy of the Christian world. And you will remember that in Paris, courtyards of Talmud have been burnt in the reign of Philip Augustus and Louis the Pious. And when I think about it, Louis the Pious, I was told the other week there are 2 million words in a Talmud. Now if you burn 10 cartloads the knowledge you are destroying. Anyway, the point is he was an extraordinary character. But the problem with characters like Josel of Rosheim, they are one man shows. During his time, he brought great honour to the Jewish community. He protected the Jewish community. But when he dies, his reputation dies with him. And one of the fascinating aspects of Jewish history is of course, that there are so many of these characters, advisors to kings, the court Jews who are there because they are useful, but that’s no real power. But it does also set in people’s minds that tragic canons with us to this day, Jews, power, and money.
So, but by the modern period, they are now of course under, in the modern period, I’m talking about the period before the French Revolution, they are now under French rule. In 1735, they are forbidden to draw up their accounts in Hebrew. The efforts are made to restrict their numbers by restricting Jewish marriages. There’s a lot of hostility. They are the money lenders, they’re poorer, and they are the money lenders to the peasants. In 1775, can we see the next slide please? Here you see Naftali Herz Cerf Berr. He was a wealthy supplier to the king. He was also a court Jew. He is a wealthy supplier and he manages to obtain special permission to settle permanently in Strasbourg with his family. This is was completely against the wish of the Bourges, but because he is so useful to France, he’s a very, very important supplier. He has contacts with Jews all over the world. And also, not only that, he was at the commission presided over by Malesherbes who was, he was one of those who represents the Jews of Alsace. And also he was interested in the works of Moses Mendelssohn and had some of them translated. So he wants to improve the lot of the Jews. So he was a paternalist, he took on an active rule, he was a banker, he was also a tobacco manufacturer. And he is the one who’s going to be elected by the Jews of Alsace as one of the spokespeople. And he also published a pamphlet refuting the anti-Jewish diatribes of the bishop of Nalzi. So basically there are a few Jews who are fighting for their rights and much more important, there are figures of the Enlightenment who are really rethinking the role of the Jew. But let me reiterate. The Jews are, they’re a sideshow. There’s only 40,000 of them.
But I cannot reiterate how important this story is to any understanding of Jewish history because it’s going to redefine what a Jew is. Next week I’m going to be talking about Napoleon. And if you understand what’s happening with the French Revolution and Napoleon, I think you get a greater sense of identity. Because don’t forget when the Jews are finally going to be admitted to France, they’ve already been admitted to America, the love affair is going to be begin. So we have this commission, they’re discussing the rights of the Jews, but the Portuguese and the Portuguese in Bordeaux and the Ashkenazi in Alsace cannot agree. There’s a lot of wobbling going on. But then everything changes because it’s consumed by the Estates General. This interrupts the commission. The revolution occurs. The Estates General proclaims itself the national assembly. And let’s have a look at the storming of the Bastille, the storming of the Bastille, Jewish Bastille I should say, July the 14th, 1789. And I’m sure William told you, only six prisoners were released, including the Marquis de Sade who was put there under lettre de cachet. You know those letters where the French crown could imprison without a trial, so could the nobility by the way. But this is the unleashing of the terror. This is the Estates General taking power. And of course the aristocracy is abolished. The clergy’s property was appropriated and the Declaration of the Rights of Man was adopted. And can we please see the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. All men are born and remain free and equal in rights, social distinctions cannot be found but on common utility.
No person shall be molested for his opinions, even such as our religious provided, as our religious, beg your pardon, provided that the manifestations of these opinions does not deserve the public order established by the law. These are the two that are very, very important. Now the problem was as a response to the revolution, in Alsace, you can just imagine what’s going on in the cities and towns. The revolution, the destruction of the estates of the nobility. And of course in Alsace, the community was attacked. It becomes incredibly lawless. And that, and it’s at this stage, it prompts a debate on the Jews. So those two people most involved are going to be the Comte de Clermont-Tonnerre and also the Abbe Gregoire, who I’ve already mentioned to you. So can we please see the Comte de Clermont-Tonnerre. There he is. And let’s have a look at his quotation. Now he actually speaks in the assembly in a debate on the eligibility of the Jews for citizenship. Important to remember the Huguenots are now citizens. This is, when we talk about citizenship, we are actually talking about the middle classes, the third estate. And we’re not talking about women. Women in France are not emancipated until, I think it’s nine. It’s certainly, I think it’s under De Gaulle 1964.
Now, but I want you to read this very, very carefully. He’s saying, the Comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, he is the grandson of a marshall of France. He was originally a nobleman. He is an officer and he’s a very much a spokesman for the minorities of the liberal nobles. He wanted to build what he dreamt of was a constitution very much on the English lines. There were liberal nobles who wanted an England, they wanted a constitutional monarchy. He wanted to establish, he voted against feudalism, but he was a moderate royalist. He was twice president of the constituent assembly. And unfortunately, he is going to fall victim to the reign of terror and was murdered during the riots of the storming of the Bastille. So after the storming, so it’s important to remember that there’s a liberal opinion, but read what he has to say because this is a man who’s saying, yes, the Jews should be emancipated. And this is absolutely critical. The Jews should be denied everything as a nation, but granted everything as individuals. They must be citizens. It is claimed that they do not want to be citizens, that they see this and that they are thus excluded, they cannot be one nation within another nation. It is intolerable that the Jews should become a separate political class or should 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 be compelled to expel them. The existence of a nation within a nation is unacceptable to our country.
Now this is a man who is fighting for it. Now let’s turn to the Abbe Gregoire. Can we see his picture please? Now he is an absolutely fascinating individual. He was a Jesuit priest. He was, as I said, an incredibly interesting clever man. And he wins the prize and the essay he writes in 1788, the physical, moral, and reform of the Jews. That’s what won the prize. Can the Jews be reformed? You’ve got to understand that the irony of this, and I’m going to sound angry but I am angry, is that the Christian world that had so persecuted the Jews is now accusing the Jews of moral degradation because they have been money lenders. So basically they want to raise them up. Now he becomes a delegate to the French National Assembly. He’s a bit of a hero with many, because he was very much against slavery. He was a supporter of universal suffrage. Don’t forget the French colonies, he’s against slavery. And he was one of the first of the clergy to actually join the third estate. He had the leading role in the abolition of privileges for the nobility and the clergy. And he demanded the trial of Louis XVI. He becomes president of the convention, but he didn’t want the death penalty. He, during the reign of terror, when of course you’ve got to remember religion was abolished. The reign of terror under Robespierre was secular, but he still went around Paris in clerical garments. And he celebrated daily mass in his house. And he was the first to advocate the reopening of the churches, which happened on the 21st of December, 1794.
So for two years the churches were closed. And he was the man who this, you’ll find this interesting, he actually coined the term vandalism. He also advocated a universal French language. One of the problems in France, which I’ve referred to before and I know William has, there were so many different dialects, evidently there were 35 dialects. And that’s one of the reasons he believed that the nobility had ruled so long because if people can’t communicate with each other, what could they do? He said, he says about the Jews that their degeneracy, in the essay he says their degeneracy was not inherent, but a result of circumstances. And he did say it’s because of the way the Christians have treated them. And but he also said it’s because of the ridiculous teachings of their rabbis. Now let’s read a very important quotation, “But the Jews, I am told,” this is from his essay. “But the Jews I am told are incapable of being reformed, because they are absolutely worthless. We must believe these people susceptible of morality until we are shown that they have invincible obstacles in their religion and moral constitution. Let us reform their education to reform their hearts. it has long been observed that they are men as well as we, and they are so before they are Jews.” So, he goes on to say, their law and morals have kept them away from the population for too long. Even if they agree to submit to our laws and agree in good faith, an adaptation period is required. How else to regenerate their morals, they must abandon usury. Now the debate closes in on December the 24th, ninth in 1789. And what happens is that they cannot agree.
There’s profound disappointment. Robespierre spoke in favour of it. The clergy spoke out and in the end they couldn’t agree. There was absolute profound disappointment from the Portuguese, from the Portuguese. So what happens is they had participated in the election of the assembly, which then says they can’t be part of it because the Portuguese will have been told to send representatives. And to them it was a regression. And the paradox was not lost on the revolutionaries and a few weeks later, the various petitions became before the assembly. And can we see the next quote please. This is the French National Assembly of January the 28th, 1790. “All the Jews known in France under the name of Portuguese, Spanish, and Avignonese, shall continue to enjoy the same rights which they have hitherto involve and which have been granted to them by letters of patent.” They divorce themselves from their Ashkenazi co-religionists. And they say, we have all these letters patent, please can we be part of it? And it goes through. “In consequence, they should enjoy the rights of active citizens if they possess the other requisite qualifications.” That’s property qualifications. “In the various decrees of the national assembly.” Now, so you have everyone agreeing on that. But the disturbances in Alsace, huge problems from the deputies and the clerics in Alsace.
So what’s going to happen? But just before the dissolution of the general assembly on the 22nd of September, 1791, a member of the Jacobin Club, a man called Duport, he said this, “I believe that freedom of worship does not permit any distinctions in the political rights of citizens on account of their creed. The question of the political existence of the Jew, of the political existence of the Jew has been postponed. I demand the motion for postponement be withdrawn and a degree passed that the Jews in France enjoy the full privileges of full citizens.” And can we see the next? So and he gets it through, there’s a great roar. “The National Assembly, considering that the conditions to be a French citizen and to become an active citizen are fixed by the Constitution, and that every man who being duly qualified takes the civic oath and engages to fulfil all the duties of the Constitution, has a right to all the advantages it ensures. Annuls all adjournments restrictions and exceptions contained in the proceeding decrees affecting individuals of the Jewish persuasion, who shall take the civic oath, which shall be considered as a renunciation of all privileges in their favour.” And I’ve put in for you, the latters are reference the communal autonomy that European Jews enjoyed in the Middle Ages. So basically you are citizens as individuals.
And let’s have a look at the next, this is Berr Isaac Berr. And can we see his quote please? He was an important, he’s an important Jew of Alsace and he’s absolutely delighted. “The name of active citizen, which we have just as pertained is without doubt the most precious title a man can possess. But this alone is not sufficient, we should possess the necessary qualifications to fulfil the duties annexed to it, we know ourselves how very deficient we are in that respect. We have been compelled to abandon the pursuit of all moral and physical sciences, of all sciences. Which tend to the improvement of the mind to give ourselves up entirely to commerce, to be enabled to gather as much money as would ensure protection and satisfy the rapacity of our persecutors. French ought to be the Jews’ mother tongue since they are reared with and among Frenchmen.” And I must repeat this to you because this is a leading Jew in Alsace. He’s a wealthy man and he’s so delighted. And you saw from the way he is dressed, he is dressed as a Frenchman. Let’s read it again because now you come to the knob a bit. Jews are going to enter France really so grateful. “The name of active citizen, which we have just obtained, is without doubt the most precious title a man can possess. But this alone is not sufficient, we should possess the necessary qualifications to fulfil the duties annexed to it, we know ourselves how very deficient we are in that respect.
We have been compelled to abandon the pursuit of all moral and physical sciences, of all sciences, which tends to the improvement of the mind.” This of course is very much the ideas of the Enlightenment and how science and technology is changing the world. “Which tend to the improvement of the mind, to give ourselves up entirely to commerce, to be enabled to gather as much money as would ensure protection and satisfy the rapacity of our persecutors. French ought to be the Jews’ mother tongue since they are reared with and amongst Frenchmen.” The irony is of course, that when the Jews are finally fully emancipated into European society, they are going to explode into the sciences. They’re going to explode into the arts. But what a price, or is it a price? Can we, and then of course, the French are involved in all sorts of wars. Can we go on please? And what happens is whenever the French conquer, they break down the ghetto wars. And this is the edict of emancipation of the Jews of Rome. All Jews must be common and equal. All laws must be common and equal for all Roman citizens. Jews who meet all conditions shall be subject solely to the laws common to all citizens of the Roman republic. All laws and regulations concerning Jews shall be null and void forthwith. And this happens wherever the armies of France conquer, they break down the ghetto war.
This is the France, the great liberating France. And of course Napoleon who takes over the revolution and takes over the conquests, he is going to be seen as the great liberator of the Jew. But at the crux of all of this is to the Jews as individuals, everything to Israel as a nation nothing. And to throw something into the equation, because what I’m going to look at with you next week is how Napoleon actually is going to take the Jewish community of France and the lands he’s conquered, and he’s going to find out, can they really be French citizens? And this is going to change the perception of the Jew. They are going to be citizens of the countries in which they live of the Jewish religion. Now the point is for many of those who emancipated them, what did they really want? They wanted conversion. And I’ll be talking about that next week. And it’s fascinating because when Napoleon goes on the march into Russia, the terrible persecutor of the Jewish people, Zalman of Liadi, the creator of Chabad, he actually writes a letter to another rabbi where he says, “I would rather my people be persecuted under the Czars than live in peace under Napoleon, because Napoleon will be the end of the Jewish people.” What I’m presenting you with now is the crisis of modernity. And I’ve told you this lovely device before because crisis in Chinese is recommended by two figures. One, danger, one, opportunity. You now have the world. And you know the hundred thousand Jews in France by the end of the century, the end of the 19th century. Just think of what the French contribution, I mean, when you wander around Paris, wander around the art galleries, who’d you think were the people who bought all the modern art? Who do you think created the Galeries Lafayette? Who created Monoprix? Who created Citron?
They go into the modern world just as they do in Vienna, just as they do in Berlin. They are at the cutting edge of modernity. They take that incredible dream of education and they throw it into the modern world. But the question is, France is two things, France is the liberal ideas of the republic, but there’s still a price and it’s also the other France. And what we’re going to be looking at is how France couldn’t make up its mind whether it was a monarchy, whether it was a republic, whether it was liberal, whether it was conservative, whether it was a Catholic country. The power of the Catholic church and all these forces, the Jews are going to be at the centre and it’s going to explode into the Dreyfus affair. And in my opinion is still with us today. Please don’t forget that the French Jews, of course, with the addition of all the Jews from the old French colonies, is the third largest community in the world after the Jews of Israel, America, it’s then France. So I think I’ll stop there. I think I’ve been quite controversial. Let’s have a look at the questions.
Q&A and Comments:
Adrian, nice to see you back again. Adrian quotes Russo.
This is from Marilyn, the Christian monarchs of England and the Europe used the Jews to finance their wars. I’m positive this contact with the Jews did not give them a broader view of the Jews. Please comment. Look, you’ve got to understand right up into this period, people lived in a completely religious worldview. And I’ve said to you many times, I think the real root of Jew hatred is Christianity. We have to be careful because Christianity is also a religion of love. But as far as the Jews are concerned, the Jews are the outsiders. They are the other. Yes, Jews could be useful to kings and individually Jews were might be okay, but there’s this negative stereotype which has not left us. For a sideshow, these philosophers spent a lot of time thinking about the Jews. Not really Shelly, if you ever, I mean they’re incredibly prolific these characters. The Jews are an anomaly.
Mirabeau, this is Marilyn, Mirabeau was correct when he said the Jews will die out if they integrate with Christian society. Today, the threat facing the Jews is the high rate of assimilation or marry on faith. It’s fascinating. That’s Chinese, those two characters in Chinese. One is danger, one is opportunity. You can have the world, but what is the danger of it? You know, but there’s a huge irony at the moment.
Q: If I take England, the majority of Jewish parents are sending their children to Jewish schools, why?
A: It’s partly economics, partly because they want their children to feel safe. Jewish history has a way of not following patterns. Look in China, China was good to the Jews. They all assimilate. But yes, of course you can make, you could even make the debate that antisemitism is a key to Jewish survival. But I believe we are the eternal people. And personally, I believe we’ll be here at the end of time. We go through huge vicissitudes, but nevertheless.
Yes, into marriage, yes. And frankly, well, I don’t want to go down that road, but you know, we are part of the society. I think the word Jew is so much more complicated. If I asked you to define Christian, you’d find it very easy because it’s somebody who follows the teachings of Jesus. But when you throw the word Jew at people, I said this to you last week, I wonder if any of you have got your own definitions. It’s a great game to play on a Friday night get the family, or on a Sunday lunch whenever you have your gatherings, get people to say what they think the word Jew means to them.
Oh, this is Myrna. Please, Myrna, please, congratulate Wendy on her amazing achievement. Yes, in case you don’t all know, we are so proud of Wendy. She won a huge award from the United Nations and her picture was in Times Square. We are so, so proud,. And I’m trying to persuade her to allow me to interview her, but you can put your pressure on as well.
Yes, it’s a fabulous painting of Josel of Rosheim, yeah.
It was the first time, this is Michelle, it was the first time the community was referred to as a nation of Jews. Oh, when I was growing up in France, I got out of my catechism because I was an Israelite not Jew.
Q: You think that there were some clergy types who may have studied the Old Testament and have an appreciation for Jewish religion?
A: Harriet, it’s fascinating, even calling it the Old Testament, it’s the Hebrew Bible. If you think about it, Israel Zangwill, the brilliant writer, he said, the problem with the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament, it’s the first anti-Jewish document because we reveal ourselves to the world, warts and all. You can read the Hebrew Bible as the story. I’m not talking about the Torah, I’m talking about the prophets, as the story of the Jews and their backsliding. Even with Moses, what happens? He comes down from the mountain and he finds them worshipping a golden calf. Christian documents aren’t like that. The Jews tell their story. And also don’t forget that Christianity supersedes Judaism. We are redundant. We shouldn’t, it’s the main purpose is conversion with Catholicism.
Sheila, you can ask Wendy all about it.
Q: Jewish persuasion is this the first time this euphemism came to be?
A: Yeah. Do you think Jewish emancipation was achieved because there were so few Jews and they were not a threat. No, I don’t think it’s that. I think it was an anomaly actually. It’s fascinating, there were a hundred thousand Jews in France at the time of the Dreyfus affair. And we were right at the middle of it. The stock exchange was called the Jewish bulls. Antisemitism in France went through the roof as society was divided. Oh, and Rita’s giving you all the details of Wendy’s award.
This is Shelly. They hate us when they think we’re in incruent. They hate us when we’re educated, achieved too much and so on. But they don’t all hate us. Be careful. They don’t all hate us. What I’m saying is there is the stereotype. They don’t all hate us, be careful. And I’m sure there are many non-Jews listening who are interested in Jewish history because our history is fascinating.
Q: Did the view as Jews as a nation without a country stimulate antisemitism?
A: Antisemitism is a modern racial term. And I promise you I’m going to talk about that in a few weeks.
Everyone’s congratulating Wendy.
Q: Do you think it’s divisive to be a Zionist residing in the US, the UK, and France?
A: Diane, I wouldn’t presume to answer that. You know, as I said to you, speaking personally, I feel very attached about land at the end of the eastern-
No, no.
Wendy, will you speak, please? There are so many people who want, you know, to congratulate you. Would you tell a little bit about what happened? It’s about 20 people online.
You know, I would- But what I want to say is I don’t think it’s divisive. And I don’t think that we should be ashamed of who we are. It’s outrageous what’s going on.
Yeah.
Here we are. Sorry, I’m just moving out the sun.
Yeah.
We have to be, we have to be proud. We can’t stop being afraid of what you, you know, it’s just shocking. Sorry, what if we wait for you to finish your questions and then in one sentence, I’ll start -
Well, I think that. I think that’s it, Wendy, because I’m going to continue when I look at Napoleon. And you are totally right. My view is, I, you know, I am a citizen of Britain, but I have a passion for Israel and I will defend. Yeah, I’m a Jew, whatever that means to me. But what I really want to talk about is Mrs. Fisher, please. ‘Cause like everybody says-
I was, I was with a group of people and we went downstairs and they were actually South Africans. And then one person turned around and said to me, you know, Wendy, we absolutely love you. And you know, of course we’re not anti, you know, antisemitic. We love Jews. Many of our best friends are Jews. And you know, you’re not a Zionist. And, are you? And they all turned around, looked at me. I said, actually, you probably be looking at one of the greatest Zionist. I absolutely am.
Yes, yeah.
People are not entitled to have a home then that’s not to say that we don’t come with our problems and that we shouldn’t have discussion. You know, there’s anywhere.
Mm-hmm.
You know, better have the discussion. But am I a Zionist? Absolutely.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
You saw that, yes?
Yeah, because you know, of course. I mean, and I think one of the tragedies is that I think Jonathan Sack summed it up. He said, first, they hated our religion, then our race, now our nation. And Israel gets such a programme, which I see as antisemitism. And that’s not saying there isn’t a case to answer, but that’s not what we’re talking about. I think the fact that Israel has more resolutions passed against it than the United Nations is antisemitism myself. I really do. And I think we have to stand firm and we have to. But Wendy, can we change the subject?
Actually, I’ve just received a report, you know, that there was, you know, in England we were very involved with CST and now the Americans for the first time in the last couple, two or three years of becoming worried about Jewish security. Can you imagine, in New York?
Mm-hmm.
And I’ve received a report today that two days ago, somebody picked up a tweet about an impending shoot up in a synagogue in the state and here in New York.
Mm-hmm.
And they found the two suspects, two suspects here, you know, in the underground with weapon. And you know, just the Jewish communities just so astonishing because sadly, very, very sadly, there were two other shoot ups, one, you know, with the LGBT community and another one with, I can’t remember where it was, but there’s was another shoot up, I think Virginia. I mean it’s happening weekly. It’s just shocking so.
I think the problem is whenever society polarises.
Yeah.
We’re in the middle, in the Western world.
Yeah.
It’s fascinating. You don’t find it in Hindu, India, and you certainly don’t find it in China.
No. But the Jewish community together, we’re strong. I don’t work alone. I work with my family, the team, and then we work with other incredible organisations. And I always, you know, invite people in. Anybody who wants to join us, there’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of change that can be made.
Do you know what Bismarck said?
You too, look what you have down for lockdown.
Oh, God, what, let’s say we. Do you know what Bismarck said, and like, you really sum that up for me. Jews are the champagne. They make the society, they make the world fizz. He got it. We do make the world fizz. We’re good, we’re bad, but we make the world fizz.
And we smoke.
And we will go on. And in a way, you know? Yes, we’re going through really rough times at the moment as a society. I mean, there are so many problems in America and England. And of course we’re bound to be on the edge of it because that’s always been the position of the Jews. But I really do believe we go on so, and so next week everyone, we come onto Napoleon. Was he a hero or was he the opposite? I can remember how I was taught him at university.
He was both.
Yeah, he was both exactly. He was both.
We can be all that.
We’re all that. We can be dual, aren’t we? God bless you, darling.