Jewish tradition confronted with political modernity: the example of French rabbis in the 19th century

For Judaism, the first political event of the century, following the emancipation of 1791, was the convening of the Grand Sanhedrin and the setting-up of the consistory, ordered by the imperial decrees of 1806, 1807 and 1808. These measures aimed to ensure control of the Jewish community and hasten its assimilation. This contribution studies this forced confrontation of Jewish tradition with modernity. The interpretation of Jewish law (the halakha) had to devise, without repudiating its beliefs, a new relationship with the authority of the State. On that depended the Jewish identity and perhaps the survival of French Judaism. The author sheds light on the difficult and courageous role the rabbis played in the face of secular powers, in the consistories, and their strategy for managing a crisis that induced the Jewish religion to make a perilous emotional and political investment in what was soon to become the patriotic cult of the State with its inevitable threat of de-Judaisation - and takes care to outline the long-term effects of these transformations.