Bidspirit auction | (FRANCE). Diogene Tama. Transactions of

(FRANCE). Diogene Tama. Transactions of the Parisian Sanhedrin. Or Acts of the Assembly of Israelitish Deputies of France and Italy, Convoked at Paris by an Imperial and Royal Decree. First English edition. With preface and notes by F.D. Kirwan. An uncut copy with wide margins. pp. xvi, 334, (2). Ex-library, foxed. Recent boards. 8vo. London, William Burton - Charles Taylor, 1807. The French Sanhedrin was an assembly of 71 members of the Jewish community convened in Paris during February–March 1807, at the request of Napoleon. The object of this assembly was to convert the “secular” answers given by the Assembly of Jewish Notables to the questions put to them by the government into doctrinal decisions, which would be binding on the Jews religiously, by drafting them as precepts based on the Bible and halakhah. Previously, on Oct. 6, 1806, the Assembly of Jewish Notables sent a manifesto to the Jewish communities in Europe, inviting them – in vague terms – to participate in the activities for “revival” and “freedom” which Napoleon was preparing through the Sanhedrin for the benefit of the Jewish people. (JVL).