What’s happening across Canada
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 5:07 am
The fact that Napoleon raised hopes among the Jews is explained by the events of his campaign as commander-in-chief in Italy and Palestine in the 1790s, and as ruler of France after 1799.
Associated coverage
October 11, 2021 11:52 a.m.
When Bonaparte conquered Ancona, he encountered Jews trapped in the ghetto. As a commander, he allowed them to live where they wanted and freed them from the obligation to wear distinctive symbols. During the siege of Acre, newspapers reported that Napoleon called on the Jews of Asia to join him, and “[restore] ancient Israel. Historians still wonder if job function email database he really intended to establish a Jewish state, but that didn’t stop the rabbis from listening to the commander and urging the Jews to return.
Religious freedom was introduced after the revolution in France in 1789, but attacks on the Catholic Church during the reign of terror meant that the law had little impact on the country’s Jews. As ruler of France, however, Napoleon recognized the value of opening churches to stabilize the country, and in 1806 the Jews were next.
Napoleon called a council of Jews to discuss their future status. He offered them citizenship in exchange for the council reaffirming French law before theirs. To prove their loyalty, members had to answer questions about marriage and military service. Some rabbis were not convinced and believed that accepting these conditions would give them freedom, but also risk losing their Jewishness. Nonetheless, the council approved, and in all the countries conquered by Bonaparte in the victorious years before the invasion of Russia, the Jews accepted similar ultimatums. Many Jewish leaders promised – and perhaps believed – that the return of the Messiah was imminent.
Associated coverage
October 11, 2021 11:52 a.m.
When Bonaparte conquered Ancona, he encountered Jews trapped in the ghetto. As a commander, he allowed them to live where they wanted and freed them from the obligation to wear distinctive symbols. During the siege of Acre, newspapers reported that Napoleon called on the Jews of Asia to join him, and “[restore] ancient Israel. Historians still wonder if job function email database he really intended to establish a Jewish state, but that didn’t stop the rabbis from listening to the commander and urging the Jews to return.
Religious freedom was introduced after the revolution in France in 1789, but attacks on the Catholic Church during the reign of terror meant that the law had little impact on the country’s Jews. As ruler of France, however, Napoleon recognized the value of opening churches to stabilize the country, and in 1806 the Jews were next.
Napoleon called a council of Jews to discuss their future status. He offered them citizenship in exchange for the council reaffirming French law before theirs. To prove their loyalty, members had to answer questions about marriage and military service. Some rabbis were not convinced and believed that accepting these conditions would give them freedom, but also risk losing their Jewishness. Nonetheless, the council approved, and in all the countries conquered by Bonaparte in the victorious years before the invasion of Russia, the Jews accepted similar ultimatums. Many Jewish leaders promised – and perhaps believed – that the return of the Messiah was imminent.