² _The Times_ reported on the 17th January, 1807, from Warsaw, the capital of Poland: “It is stated, that there are no less than nine thousand _Jews_ in Warsaw. BUONAPARTE will very probably confer on them the privilege of sending their Representatives to the Jewish Sanhedrim, at Paris. At all events, it is likely that his _Corsican Majesty_ will have some business to settle with them. [Baron Alexander _de_] Talleyrand (1776‒1839) is going there, and will want _beaucoup d’argent_.” ³ Collection des Procès-Verbaux et Décisions du Grand Sanhedrin,... Publiée par _M._ Diogène Tama. Paris ... 1807. [B. M.] Some historians have been inclined to regard the Paris _Sanhedrin_ as a denial of Jewish nationality. This view is wrong, and no conception of history could be more contrary to the facts. A careful study of the literature of that time will show that the _Sanhedrin_ was inspired by traditional Jewish ideas. One of the most prominent French Jews, who was the first Jew to practise in France as a barrister, _M._ Michael Berr, had sent a request to all princes and nations “to release the Jews from bondage.” Another member of the _Sanhedrin_, _M._ Lipman Cerf-Berr (1760‒1831), said in his public speech: “Let us forget our origin! Let us no longer speak of Jews of Alsace, of Portugal, or of Germany! Though scattered over the face of the earth, we are still _one people, worshipping the same God_, and as our law commands, we are to obey the laws of the country in which we live.”¹ This is not the language of men who aim at assimilation and the disintegration of their nationality. The ideas of these men are not to be confused with what modern Jewish assimilation preaches. Modern Jewish assimilation denies and rejects all Jewish “separatism” except on the religious side. Consequently, it would not allow the Jew the right to forget that he was in Alsace, in Portugal, and so on. According to the assimilation doctrine, a Jew must be merely an Alsatian, or a Portuguese, “of the Jewish persuasion.” The purpose of the _Sanhedrin_ was evidently quite different. The _Sanhedrin_ intended to reconstruct European Jewry on French imperial lines, with a religious centre in Paris. It therefore examined, with great care and minuteness, those passages in the Bible and the _Talmud_ which showed that the general laws of the Empire were binding on the Jews. On these premises was based a declaration of loyalty given by united Jewry, and sanctioned by the revival of the _Sanhedrin_, an ancient national institution. ¹ Collection des Actes de l’Assemblée des Israélites de France et du royaume d’Italie,... Publiée par M. Diogène Tama. Paris,... 1807 [B. M.] _pp._: 71, 124, 157, 158.