This is the fourth of a four-part monograph on Napoleon's connection to the theme of Jewish peoplehood and the right of Jews to self-determination in their aboriginal homeland. Part 1 is available at: http://www.allenzhertz.com/2018/05/jews-napoleon-and-ottoman-empire-1797-9.html
While fighting in Israel in 1799 did Napoleon write one or more proclamations to the Jews? In our own century, historians are divided. But, the deeper story is not simply whether he did so in Israel. Before 1798, Napoleon was already known as a champion of Jewish emancipation in Europe. There was also his support for Jewish statehood in the Mideast, as expressed in his propaganda against the Ottomans. Thus, an important Ottoman-Turkish source says there was, in the Muslim year 1212 (1797-8), a revolutionary proclamation inviting Jews to "establish a Jewish government in Jerusalem" (قدس شريفده بر يهود حكومتى تشكيل). Napoleon's intention to make Jerusalem capital of a restored "Jewish Republic" (Еврейская Республика) is also affirmed in an August 1798 letter from the Russian Emperor Paul. April 1799 reports from Constantinople caused at least twenty European newspapers in May 1799 to describe Napoleon's proclamation inviting Jews to return to Jerusalem. His evocation of aboriginal restoration echoed for decades, about an age-old People that for millennia kept demographic and cultural ties to its ancestral home. For Napoleon, restoring the Jews was initially linked to his plan to soon start digging a deep, saltwater, ship canal across the Isthmus of Suez—in 1798, the clear strategic rationale for launching his Mideast campaign. Much evidence suggests that he perhaps wrote the anonymous June 1798 "Letter from a Jew to His Brothers." This calls on world Jewry to organize itself to ask France to negotiate with Turkey, so that the Jews could return to their native land. Finally, revealed only in 1940 was a 1799 translation, from Hebrew into German, of his letter (April 20, 1799) recognizing the hereditary right of the "Israelites" to "Palestine."
Allen Z. Hertz was senior advisor in the Privy Council Office serving Canada's Prime Minister and the federal cabinet. He formerly worked in Canada's Foreign Affairs Department and earlier taught history and law at universities in New York, Montreal, Toronto and Hong Kong. He studied European history and languages at McGill University (B.A.) and then East European and Ottoman history at Columbia University (M.A., Ph.D.). He also has international law degrees from Cambridge University (LL.B.) and the University of Toronto (LL.M.).
A non-discriminatory exploiter
The Napoleon of 1796-9 shamelessly practiced raison d'état pragmatism. At the same time, he was essentially revolutionary and thus rigorously non-discriminatory in his opportunistic exploitation of deep national feeling. Such patriotic sentiments, and preoccupation with historical memory, he had himself once experienced as a young Corsican, including in the first years of the French Revolution.
In 1796-9, his overall stance towards the Jews was fully consistent with his characteristic modus operandi towards all the other Peoples. Napoleon's pertinent practice was well summarized by Eduard von Wertheimer (1848-1930) who was a Jew born in Budapest. Himself a German chauvinist, Wertheimer was savvy about ethnicity and nationalism, including as an historian of the polyglot Habsburg Monarchy (1883):
Also a Jew from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hans Kohn (1891-1971) was the mid 20th century's premier expert on nationalism. He argued that Napoleon was not part of the 19th-century "age of nationalism." According to Kohn, a perspective limited merely to the national horizon of France was never enough for Napoleon's broader ambition. After he graduated from his initial, narrow, Corsican patriotism, Napoleon always had a larger way of thinking that was Euro-Mediterranean—even civilizational (1950):
Empire championed Jewish citizenship & equality
After the coup d'état of November 1799, Napoleon was no longer just a revolutionary general. As First Consul, he famously made the French Republic's controversial peace with the Roman-Catholic Church (July 1801). As Emperor of the French (from 1804), King of Italy (from 1805), and Protector of the Rhine Confederation (from 1806), he sought to similarly regulate the situation of the Jews in France, and parts of Italy and Germany. The pertinent constitutional principles were "freedom of religious practice" and "equality under the law." There was, however, a significant derogation from equality, in the 1808 infamous decree (décret infâme) which seriously discriminated against the Jews of Eastern France.
As referenced in Part 1, French Foreign Minister Talleyrand reported to French Jew, Mardochee Elie, that the Empire's Ministers Plenipotentiary at Dresden and Kassel had already been instructed to firmly insist that, as French citizens, Jews be exempt from the discriminatory droits de péage (March 12, 1806):
In May 1806, Napoleon convoked an Assembly of Jewish Notables to meet in Paris as prelude to hosting a Grand Sanhedrin in February 1807. Thereafter, he actively championed emancipation of the Jews in the various jurisdictions of the Rhine Confederation. For example, see the bilingual Moniteur Westphalien of Kassel (February 16, 1808). There detailed is the royal decree of January 27th, that grants Jews full civic equality in the new Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled by Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome Bonaparte.
Similarly, Hamburg's large Jewish community is fully emancipated with the city's 1810 incorporation into the French Empire. In 1811, Jews get equal citizenship in the newly created Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. There, as elsewhere in Napoleonic Germany, such Jewish civic rights are generally taken away with the 1814 fall of his Empire.
Between July 1807 and early 1814, the Republic of Danzig was a Free City associated with the French Empire. French officials there worked persistently (but unsuccessfully) to ensure that local Jews would enjoy full rights of citizenship. Danzig Governor Jean Rapp was a native speaker of German from Colmar. A veteran of the Egyptian campaign, he always remained close to Napoleon, with whom he corresponded directly. Championing full Jewish emancipation, Rapp (mostly in vain) told the antisemitic Danzig Senate that Napoleon expected them to grant full rights of citizenship to local Jews.
How much Napoleon did to benefit German Jewry, during this sweet interlude of freedom, was powerfully expressed in a backhanded tribute by world-famous Jewish poet, Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). He wryly blamed his 1825 conversion of convenience on the mistakes that caused Napoleon's fall. This humorous—but entirely serious—allegation was first published, posthumously, in 1869 in Gedanken und Einfälle (thoughts and ideas):
The 1806 Assembly of Jewish Notables, the 1807 Grand Sanhedrin, and Napoleon's subsequent emancipatory initiative in parts of Germany are aimed at Jews, not as a People internationally, but rather as a religious confession domestically. Napoleon's concern is no longer Jewish self-determination in the biblical homeland. This sharp shift away from focus on Jewish peoplehood internationally, derives—firstly, from his July 1801 Concordat with the deeply antisemitic Vatican; and secondly, because the Mideast and a potential Suez Canal escape his grasp, with the August 1801 French withdrawal from Egypt.
In 1806 and thereafter, Napoleon instead focuses on how Jews, as practitioners of a distinct faith, can better fit into State and domestic society—within France, some other jurisdictions of the broader Napoleonic Empire, and its European allies. Thus, The Public Ledger of London significantly reports (December 2, 1807):
Stubborn belief in the Emperor as Messiah
As Head of State, Napoleon abandoned the cause of Jewish peoplehood. Nonetheless, his earlier invitations to the Jews, to return to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל) continued to echo. For example, Baron Bernhard von Rossetti was the Imperial Austrian Civil-Commissioner (kaiserlicher österreichische Civil-Kommissär) in Habsburg Venice. Fooled by misinformation or disinformation, he warned the Polizeihofstelle that the 1806 Paris convocation of deputies of the Jews of France and Italy was in origin (August 9, 1806): "a project, submitted to Napoleon about five months ago by a Bordeaux rabbi. It aims at the realization of very far-ranging ideas, even at the reunion of the Jews in a particular kingdom."
As indicated in Part 1, a companion belief was held by experienced Austrian diplomat, Johann Philipp, Count von Stadion-Warthausen. He was the Habsburg Monarchy's Foreign Minister from 1805 to 1809. Stadion was obsessed with the idea that "in all of Europe the Jews consider the Emperor Napoleon as their Messiah and proclaim it openly." While Austrian Ambassador in Paris, Klemens von Metternich reported to Vienna, in September and October 1806, that Napoleon was quick to spot potential political advantage in Jewish messianic belief.
A similar millenarian theme was broached by English theologian, Samuel Horsley, Lord Bishop of Rochester. Shortly before he died, he wrote to his brother (September 1806): "Bonaparte will settle a considerable body of Jews in Palestine. He will then set himself up for the Messiah."
Qu'est-ce qu'un Israélite Chrétien? (What is a Christian Israelite?) This bizarre, prophetic pamphlet is printed, in French and Hebrew, in Paris on August 15, 1806. The millenarian author is born Jew "Samuel Yessite (Christian)," who is also known as "Paly-Rasch, of the House of David."
Mr. Rasch is a revolutionary veteran, with service as an officer and medic, first in the French army and then in the Polish Legion. After a spell in the Charenton insane asylum, he becomes a Lieutenant of the Hôtel des Invalides. Born in Poland, he converts to Lutheranism in his youth in Halle (Germany); and later to Roman Catholicism in Paris.
Rasch's peculiar pamphlet encourages all young Jews, able to bear arms, to join the French army. The "anointed of Jehovah, Napoleon Bonaparte, Cyrus of the West," will restore the splendor of Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.
In Paris, "respected scholar" (angesehener Gelehrte) "C.F." accurately tars Rasch as a crackpot. The November 30th essay by "C.F." appears in Berlin on December 16, 1806, as the first item on the front page of Die Zeitung für die elegante Welt (newspaper for the elegant world). Zeitung editor "M." tries to link Rasch's writing with Napoleon's Sanhedrin and alleges that Rasch's piece was published with approval of the French authorities.
The same suspicion that Napoleon favored Rasch's work was later held by London poet and polemicist, William Hamilton Reid. In 1807, he published, in English, a book with the Hebrew title סנהדרין חדשה (New Sanhedrin). This expressed "Christian" and "English" amazement that, "the Jews in France and Italy... persuade themselves that the Emperor Napoleon is the promised Messiah, predicted by the ancient prophets!"
However, unknown to Reid, Rasch's "enigmatic pamphlet" had already been described for Napoleon in a secret police report. According to Minister of Police Joseph Fouché (February 3, 1807): "The Senator Minister [Fouché] has prescribed the measures appropriate for stopping the circulation of this work and verifying the intention of the author."
Count Procop Lažanský, the Habsburg Governor (Statthalter) of Moravia, received from Nikolsburg a police report claiming that some local Orthodox Jews imagined that the real reason Napoleon had called the Sanhedrin was to harness worldwide Jewish talent to stimulate France's flagging international trade (October 9, 1806):
The Russian Orthodox Church interpreted Napoleon's convocation of the Grand Sanhedrin as his effort to play the role of Messiah, uniting the Jewish People for a logically implied return to its ancestral homeland. This very important story was told in London by The St. James's Chronicle or British Evening-Post (March 7, 1807):
Drawing from a "London paper," The Wheeling Repository (West Virginia) alerts its readership to the likelihood of Ottoman collapse and of Napoleon's sponsorship of Jewish return to the Holy Land (March 10, 1808):
Conclusion
If not directly from the Ottoman Empire, then most certainly via a variety of European publications, the astonishing 1799 story that Napoleon had issued a proclamation to the Jews rapidly rippled through Christendom and also across world Jewry. It was widely believed at that time, and thus made its own way through history. Whether accurate or not, this exciting tale principally had two powerful effects: firstly, it fired ancient messianic dreams among both Christians and Jews; and, secondly, it permanently strengthened belief in the practical political possibility of Jewish restoration and renewal in the aboriginal homeland.
Afterword
Very little historical evidence would be required to convince those who warmly welcome the idea that Napoleon issued one or more invitations or proclamations to the Jews. By contrast, those who viscerally reject the notion are unlikely to be convinced, even by a very substantial amount of evidence. The persistent reality of psychological bias is a powerful fact of life.
For the writing of history, there is no professional requirement that there must always be one completely conclusive document, directly derived from an official archive. Historians are obliged to consider all sorts of evidence, from a wide variety of sources. Moreover, it is well known that government archives are by definition especially subject to the possibility of official censorship and manipulation, as already set out in the preface in Part 1.
Nor are historians normally required to provide 100% ironclad proof. Rather, the minimum standard for the writing of history regularly demands carefully weighing all the available evidence to determine the balance of the probabilities. Dictated by common sense, this is the same minimum "standard of proof" normally employed in everyday life, journalism, politics, government, and civil litigation in common law jurisdictions.
By contrast, in a criminal trial, the prosecution is normally required to prove the accused guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." But, that very rigorous, minimum requirement of the criminal law does not regularly apply to the writing of history. There, the preponderance of the available evidence normally suffices. Nonetheless, it is a well-known trick of rhetoric to silently shift to some higher, minimum "standard of proof" for arguing against the establishment of a proposition that is strongly disliked.
Does the preponderance of the available evidence objectively suggest that Napoleon likely issued one or more proclamations and/or letters, inviting Jews to return to their aboriginal homeland? I think so. However, the final judgment is yours to make, if you too have patiently and fairly weighed all the pertinent evidence.
Appendix
Lettre d’un Juif à ses frères
Décadi, 20 Prairial an 6. [June 8, 1798]
No. 1,025.
L’Ami des Lois, par Poultier, et autres gens de lettres, sous la direction des frères Sibuet, propriétaires.
Lettre d’un Juif à ses frères (traduite de l’italien.) Mes frères, vous tous qui gémissez depuis tant de siècles sous le poids de la persécution la plus odieuse, ne chercherez-vous pas à sortir de l’état affreux d’humiliation où des religions intolérantes et barbares vous ont retenus jusqu’ à présent. Partout le mépris nous accompagne, partout les hommes nous repoussent avec dédain et sans pitié. Cette généreuse constance avec laquelle nous avons conservé la foi de nos ancêtres, bien loin de nous attirer l’admiration qui nous était due, n’a fait qu’accroître la haine injuste que nous portent toutes les nations. Ce n’est qu’en affectant l’extérieur de la bassesse et de la misère que nous parvenons à garder nos richesses et à conserver notre malheureuse existence. Il est temps enfin de secouer un joug aussi insupportable, il est temps de reprendre notre rang parmi les nations.
De vils brigands occupent cette terre sainte que nos ancêtres ont été obligés de céder aux Romains; ils profanent cette cite sacrée que nous avons défendue avec tant de courage. La postérité en a conservé un souvenir terrible. Nous aussi, nous ne l’avons pas oublié. Ce courage n’est qu’assoupi, l’heure de réveil est arrivée.. O mes frères! Rétablissons l’empire de Jérusalem.
Une nation invincible qui remplit maintenant le monde de sa gloire, nous a montré ce que peut l’amour de la patrie. Implorons sa générosité, demandons-lui son secours, et soyons assurés que la philosophie qui guide les chefs de cette nation sublime, leur fera accueillir notre demande.
Nous sommes plus de six millions répandus sur la surface de la terre; nous possédons des richesses immenses; employons tous les moyens qui sont en notre pouvoir pour nous réunir dans notre patrie. Le moment est propice, il est de notre devoir d’en profiter: voici les moyens les plus convenables pour parvenir à l’exécution de cette sainte entreprise.
Il sera établi un conseil dont les membres seront élus par les Juifs répandus en Europe, en Asie, en Afrique, quelle que soit leur secte, ainsi qu’il suit:
1. Tribu Italienne. Les Juifs qui habitent les républiques Romaine, Cisapline, Ligurienne, les états de Toscane, de Parme, les royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, enverront des électeurs à Rome chargés de la nomination d’un membre du conseil; il en sera de même de chaque Tribu.
2. Tribu Helvétique. Ceux qui habitent la Suisse et les états du roi de Sardaigne, enverront leurs électeurs à Genève qui sera compris dans cette division.
3. Tribu Hongroise. Ceux qui habitent la Hongrie, l’Autriche, la Bohême et le pays ci-devant Vénitien, enverront leurs électeurs à Vienne.
4. Tribu Polonaise. Ceux qui habitent la ci-devant Pologne, la Moldavie et la Valachie, enverront leurs électeurs à Cracovie.
5. Tribu Russe. Ceux qui habitent les états de l’empereur de Russie, à l’exception de la Crimée et des pays situés sur la Mer noire, enverront leurs électeurs à Moskou.
6. Tribu du Nord. Ceux qui habitent la Suède et le Danemark, à Copenhague.
7. Tribu Bretonne. Ceux qui habitent les îles de la Grande-Bretagne, à Londres.
8. Tribu Espagnole. Ceux qui habitent l’Espagne et le Portugal, à Cadix.
9. Tribu Gauloise. Ceux qui habitent la France, y compris les pays conquis, enverront leurs électeurs à Colmar.
10. Tribu Hollandaise. Ceux qui habitent la Hollande, à Amsterdam.
11. Tribu Prussienne. Ceux qui sont dans l’électorat d’Hanovre et les états du roi de Prusse, enverront leurs électeurs à Berlin.
12. Tribu Allemande. Ceux qui habitent les autres états de l’Empire, à Francfort-Mein.
13. Tribu Turque. Ceux qui habitent la Crimée, les bords de la Mer noire, les états du Grand-Seigneur en Europe, y compris toutes les îles de la Grèce, à Constantinople.
14. Tribu Asiatique. Ceux qui habitent la Turquie d’Asie . . . . à Smyrne.
15. Tribu Africaine. Ceux qui habitent l'Égypte et les états des puissances barbaresques, enverront leurs électeurs à Tunis.
Les quinze députés de ces tribus formeront le conseil qui tiendra ses séances à Paris. Lorsqu’ils seront réunis au nombre de neuf, ils pourront commencer à s’occuper de l’objet de leur mission. Leurs décisions auront pour tous les Juifs force de loi; tous seront obligés de s’y soumettre. Il nommera un agent auprès du directoire de France pour lui communiquer les propositions à lui faire.
Le pays que nous nous proposons d’occuper comprendra (sauf les arrangements qui conviendront à la France) la basse Égypte, le terrain qui aura pour limite une ligne qui partira de Ptolémaïde ou Saint-Jean d’Acre jusqu’au lac d’Asphalte, ou Mer morte, et de la pointe méridionale de ce lac jusqu’à la Mer rouge.
Cette position, la plus avantageuse qui soit au monde, nous rend, par la Mer rouge, les maîtres du riche commerce des Indes, de celui de l’Arabie, du midi et de l’orient de l’Afrique. L’Abyssinie, L'Éthiopie, ces riches contrées qui fournirent à Salomon tant d’or, d’ivoire et de pierres précieuses, se lieront d’autant plus volontiers avec nous par le commerce, que la plupart des habitants pratiquent encore la loi de Moïse. Le voisinage d’Alep et de Damas nous facilitera le commerce avec la Perse; par la Méditerranée nous communiquerons avec l’Espagne, la France, l’Italie et le reste de l’Europe. Placés au centre du monde, notre pays deviendra l’entrepôt de tout ce qu’il produit de riche et de précieux.
Le conseil offrira au gouvernement français, s’il nous fournit les secours qui nous seront nécessaires pour rentrer dans notre patrie et nous maintenir: Primo, des dédommagements pécuniaires; etc. Secundo, de partager avec les négocians français seuls le commerce des Indes, etc. Les autres arrangements, ainsi que les propositions à faire à la Porte ottomane, ne peuvent pas être rendus publics; nous nous en reposons sur la sagesse de notre conseil et la loyauté de la nation française. Nommons des gens instruits et sages, et soyons persuadés du succès de nos démarches.
O mes frères! Quels sacrifices pourront nous coûter! Nous allons rentrer dans notre patrie, nous allons vivre sous nos lois, nous allons voir ces lieux sacrés que nos ancêtres ont illustrés par leur courage et leurs vertus. Je vous vois déjà tous animés d’un saint zèle. Israélites! Le terme de vos maux s’avance: le temps est favorable; gardez-vous de le laisser échapper.
1799 letters of Napoleon and Rabbi Aaron
Allen Z. Hertz was senior advisor in the Privy Council Office serving Canada's Prime Minister and the federal cabinet. He formerly worked in Canada's Foreign Affairs Department and earlier taught history and law at universities in New York, Montreal, Toronto and Hong Kong. He studied European history and languages at McGill University (B.A.) and then East European and Ottoman history at Columbia University (M.A., Ph.D.). He also has international law degrees from Cambridge University (LL.B.) and the University of Toronto (LL.M.).
A non-discriminatory exploiter
The Napoleon of 1796-9 shamelessly practiced raison d'état pragmatism. At the same time, he was essentially revolutionary and thus rigorously non-discriminatory in his opportunistic exploitation of deep national feeling. Such patriotic sentiments, and preoccupation with historical memory, he had himself once experienced as a young Corsican, including in the first years of the French Revolution.
In 1796-9, his overall stance towards the Jews was fully consistent with his characteristic modus operandi towards all the other Peoples. Napoleon's pertinent practice was well summarized by Eduard von Wertheimer (1848-1930) who was a Jew born in Budapest. Himself a German chauvinist, Wertheimer was savvy about ethnicity and nationalism, including as an historian of the polyglot Habsburg Monarchy (1883):
Napoleon had a system of politics. He used, as a powerful weapon against the States that he wanted to fight, those of their subject nations which he thought had not yet entirely gotten over the memory of their erstwhile independence. Himself a son of the revolution, he knew better than anyone else the power and influence which the idea of freedom exercises upon mankind. Accordingly, he never missed a moment, as soon as his own aims required it, to advertise to those nations, that he came to restore their freedom and independence. But for sure, little did he care about the later disappointment that he prepared for these Peoples whom he dazzled and misguided with his promises. He just dropped them as soon as they had served their purpose.
Also a Jew from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hans Kohn (1891-1971) was the mid 20th century's premier expert on nationalism. He argued that Napoleon was not part of the 19th-century "age of nationalism." According to Kohn, a perspective limited merely to the national horizon of France was never enough for Napoleon's broader ambition. After he graduated from his initial, narrow, Corsican patriotism, Napoleon always had a larger way of thinking that was Euro-Mediterranean—even civilizational (1950):
Napoleon was ready to use national aspirations as far as they seemed to fit into his system, without having any sincere desire to satisfy them. He never thought seriously of an independent Poland or an independent Italy, though from time to time he gave vague encouragement to those who believed in them. For him nations had no reality of their own. He created and dissolved new states incessantly and shifted frontiers and rulers restlessly.
Empire championed Jewish citizenship & equality
After the coup d'état of November 1799, Napoleon was no longer just a revolutionary general. As First Consul, he famously made the French Republic's controversial peace with the Roman-Catholic Church (July 1801). As Emperor of the French (from 1804), King of Italy (from 1805), and Protector of the Rhine Confederation (from 1806), he sought to similarly regulate the situation of the Jews in France, and parts of Italy and Germany. The pertinent constitutional principles were "freedom of religious practice" and "equality under the law." There was, however, a significant derogation from equality, in the 1808 infamous decree (décret infâme) which seriously discriminated against the Jews of Eastern France.
As referenced in Part 1, French Foreign Minister Talleyrand reported to French Jew, Mardochee Elie, that the Empire's Ministers Plenipotentiary at Dresden and Kassel had already been instructed to firmly insist that, as French citizens, Jews be exempt from the discriminatory droits de péage (March 12, 1806):
French law making no distinction between the adherents of the various religions, every French citizen, without reference to the religion to which he belongs, in a foreign country must enjoy the plenitude of rights, as specified by treaties for the subjects of the [French] Empire.
In May 1806, Napoleon convoked an Assembly of Jewish Notables to meet in Paris as prelude to hosting a Grand Sanhedrin in February 1807. Thereafter, he actively championed emancipation of the Jews in the various jurisdictions of the Rhine Confederation. For example, see the bilingual Moniteur Westphalien of Kassel (February 16, 1808). There detailed is the royal decree of January 27th, that grants Jews full civic equality in the new Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled by Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome Bonaparte.
Similarly, Hamburg's large Jewish community is fully emancipated with the city's 1810 incorporation into the French Empire. In 1811, Jews get equal citizenship in the newly created Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. There, as elsewhere in Napoleonic Germany, such Jewish civic rights are generally taken away with the 1814 fall of his Empire.
Between July 1807 and early 1814, the Republic of Danzig was a Free City associated with the French Empire. French officials there worked persistently (but unsuccessfully) to ensure that local Jews would enjoy full rights of citizenship. Danzig Governor Jean Rapp was a native speaker of German from Colmar. A veteran of the Egyptian campaign, he always remained close to Napoleon, with whom he corresponded directly. Championing full Jewish emancipation, Rapp (mostly in vain) told the antisemitic Danzig Senate that Napoleon expected them to grant full rights of citizenship to local Jews.
How much Napoleon did to benefit German Jewry, during this sweet interlude of freedom, was powerfully expressed in a backhanded tribute by world-famous Jewish poet, Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). He wryly blamed his 1825 conversion of convenience on the mistakes that caused Napoleon's fall. This humorous—but entirely serious—allegation was first published, posthumously, in 1869 in Gedanken und Einfälle (thoughts and ideas):
That I became Christian is the fault of those Saxons who suddenly switched sides near Leipzig [1813 Battle of the Nations]; or of Napoleon, who didn't need to go to Russia after all; or of his teacher, who gave him geography lessons at Brienne, but didn't tell him that it is very cold in Moscow in winter.
(Daß ich Christ ward, ist die Schuld jener Sachsen, die bei Leipzig [1813 Völkerschlacht] plötzlich umsattelten, oder Napoleon's, der doch nicht nötig hatte, nach Rußland zu gehen, oder seines Lehrers, der ihm zu Brienne Unterricht in der Geographie gab und ihm nicht gesagt hat, daß es zu Moskau im Winter sehr kalt ist.)
The 1806 Assembly of Jewish Notables, the 1807 Grand Sanhedrin, and Napoleon's subsequent emancipatory initiative in parts of Germany are aimed at Jews, not as a People internationally, but rather as a religious confession domestically. Napoleon's concern is no longer Jewish self-determination in the biblical homeland. This sharp shift away from focus on Jewish peoplehood internationally, derives—firstly, from his July 1801 Concordat with the deeply antisemitic Vatican; and secondly, because the Mideast and a potential Suez Canal escape his grasp, with the August 1801 French withdrawal from Egypt.
In 1806 and thereafter, Napoleon instead focuses on how Jews, as practitioners of a distinct faith, can better fit into State and domestic society—within France, some other jurisdictions of the broader Napoleonic Empire, and its European allies. Thus, The Public Ledger of London significantly reports (December 2, 1807):
According to authentic accounts from the Continent, Bonaparte has strongly recommended to [his ally] the Spanish Government the adoption of the principle of the Decree which he some time since issued with regard to the toleration of the Jews. We understand that he has transmitted a similar recommendation to the several States over which he has any influence.In the United States, a similar, news item appears in the Augusta Chronicle (February 20, 1808).
Stubborn belief in the Emperor as Messiah
As Head of State, Napoleon abandoned the cause of Jewish peoplehood. Nonetheless, his earlier invitations to the Jews, to return to Eretz Yisrael (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל) continued to echo. For example, Baron Bernhard von Rossetti was the Imperial Austrian Civil-Commissioner (kaiserlicher österreichische Civil-Kommissär) in Habsburg Venice. Fooled by misinformation or disinformation, he warned the Polizeihofstelle that the 1806 Paris convocation of deputies of the Jews of France and Italy was in origin (August 9, 1806): "a project, submitted to Napoleon about five months ago by a Bordeaux rabbi. It aims at the realization of very far-ranging ideas, even at the reunion of the Jews in a particular kingdom."
As indicated in Part 1, a companion belief was held by experienced Austrian diplomat, Johann Philipp, Count von Stadion-Warthausen. He was the Habsburg Monarchy's Foreign Minister from 1805 to 1809. Stadion was obsessed with the idea that "in all of Europe the Jews consider the Emperor Napoleon as their Messiah and proclaim it openly." While Austrian Ambassador in Paris, Klemens von Metternich reported to Vienna, in September and October 1806, that Napoleon was quick to spot potential political advantage in Jewish messianic belief.
A similar millenarian theme was broached by English theologian, Samuel Horsley, Lord Bishop of Rochester. Shortly before he died, he wrote to his brother (September 1806): "Bonaparte will settle a considerable body of Jews in Palestine. He will then set himself up for the Messiah."
Qu'est-ce qu'un Israélite Chrétien? (What is a Christian Israelite?) This bizarre, prophetic pamphlet is printed, in French and Hebrew, in Paris on August 15, 1806. The millenarian author is born Jew "Samuel Yessite (Christian)," who is also known as "Paly-Rasch, of the House of David."
Mr. Rasch is a revolutionary veteran, with service as an officer and medic, first in the French army and then in the Polish Legion. After a spell in the Charenton insane asylum, he becomes a Lieutenant of the Hôtel des Invalides. Born in Poland, he converts to Lutheranism in his youth in Halle (Germany); and later to Roman Catholicism in Paris.
Rasch's peculiar pamphlet encourages all young Jews, able to bear arms, to join the French army. The "anointed of Jehovah, Napoleon Bonaparte, Cyrus of the West," will restore the splendor of Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.
In Paris, "respected scholar" (angesehener Gelehrte) "C.F." accurately tars Rasch as a crackpot. The November 30th essay by "C.F." appears in Berlin on December 16, 1806, as the first item on the front page of Die Zeitung für die elegante Welt (newspaper for the elegant world). Zeitung editor "M." tries to link Rasch's writing with Napoleon's Sanhedrin and alleges that Rasch's piece was published with approval of the French authorities.
The same suspicion that Napoleon favored Rasch's work was later held by London poet and polemicist, William Hamilton Reid. In 1807, he published, in English, a book with the Hebrew title סנהדרין חדשה (New Sanhedrin). This expressed "Christian" and "English" amazement that, "the Jews in France and Italy... persuade themselves that the Emperor Napoleon is the promised Messiah, predicted by the ancient prophets!"
However, unknown to Reid, Rasch's "enigmatic pamphlet" had already been described for Napoleon in a secret police report. According to Minister of Police Joseph Fouché (February 3, 1807): "The Senator Minister [Fouché] has prescribed the measures appropriate for stopping the circulation of this work and verifying the intention of the author."
Count Procop Lažanský, the Habsburg Governor (Statthalter) of Moravia, received from Nikolsburg a police report claiming that some local Orthodox Jews imagined that the real reason Napoleon had called the Sanhedrin was to harness worldwide Jewish talent to stimulate France's flagging international trade (October 9, 1806):
France, therefore, wished to favor the Jews and for that reason to demand from the Turkish empire the city of Jerusalem together with the surrounding territories, in order to set up and restore the seat of the Israelite People there.Also in October 1806, the Kreishauptmann (county administrator) of Časlau (Čáslav) in Bohemia reported to Vienna the views of the Orthodox Jews in his district. They felt that Napoleon's Sanhedrin would not be able to restore the biblical purity of Judaism, without first satisfying the essential requirement of rebirth of the Jewish commonwealth in the Promised Land.
The Russian Orthodox Church interpreted Napoleon's convocation of the Grand Sanhedrin as his effort to play the role of Messiah, uniting the Jewish People for a logically implied return to its ancestral homeland. This very important story was told in London by The St. James's Chronicle or British Evening-Post (March 7, 1807):
A kind of Ecclesiatical Manifesto against Bonaparte has been read in all the churches throughout Russia. In this Paper the Usurper is denounced as an enemy, as well of the religion of Christ, as of all legitimate Sovereigns and civilized States. The grounds of denunication afford nothing novel, except the following passages: "And now, to complete the outrages with which he has overwhelmed the Church, he has called into France the Synagogue: he has ordered public honour to be shown to the Jewish Rabbies [sic]; he has established the Grand Hebrewish Sanhedrim [sic], this infamous tribunal, who, of old times, dared condemn to the agony of the cross our Saviour Jesus Christ; and now strive to re-unite the Jews, whom the wrath of God has dispersed over the face of the earth, to arm their rage against the Christian Church; and to fill up the measure of his iniquities by an impiety which surpasses all others, to get himself acknowledged as the Messiah expected by this proscribed people."
Drawing from a "London paper," The Wheeling Repository (West Virginia) alerts its readership to the likelihood of Ottoman collapse and of Napoleon's sponsorship of Jewish return to the Holy Land (March 10, 1808):
As the Turkish government will most likely soon fall, its territories will probably be divided between the empires of France, Russia and Austria. In such case it is presumable that the restoration of the Jews to the holy land will take place under the auspices of the French emperor. His attention to that unfortunate people during the last year, and his promises of his good offices in their behalf in future, indicate his intention of collecting and restoring them; and by thus acting the part, of acquiring the reputation of a second Cyrus.
Conclusion
If not directly from the Ottoman Empire, then most certainly via a variety of European publications, the astonishing 1799 story that Napoleon had issued a proclamation to the Jews rapidly rippled through Christendom and also across world Jewry. It was widely believed at that time, and thus made its own way through history. Whether accurate or not, this exciting tale principally had two powerful effects: firstly, it fired ancient messianic dreams among both Christians and Jews; and, secondly, it permanently strengthened belief in the practical political possibility of Jewish restoration and renewal in the aboriginal homeland.
Afterword
Very little historical evidence would be required to convince those who warmly welcome the idea that Napoleon issued one or more invitations or proclamations to the Jews. By contrast, those who viscerally reject the notion are unlikely to be convinced, even by a very substantial amount of evidence. The persistent reality of psychological bias is a powerful fact of life.
For the writing of history, there is no professional requirement that there must always be one completely conclusive document, directly derived from an official archive. Historians are obliged to consider all sorts of evidence, from a wide variety of sources. Moreover, it is well known that government archives are by definition especially subject to the possibility of official censorship and manipulation, as already set out in the preface in Part 1.
Nor are historians normally required to provide 100% ironclad proof. Rather, the minimum standard for the writing of history regularly demands carefully weighing all the available evidence to determine the balance of the probabilities. Dictated by common sense, this is the same minimum "standard of proof" normally employed in everyday life, journalism, politics, government, and civil litigation in common law jurisdictions.
By contrast, in a criminal trial, the prosecution is normally required to prove the accused guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." But, that very rigorous, minimum requirement of the criminal law does not regularly apply to the writing of history. There, the preponderance of the available evidence normally suffices. Nonetheless, it is a well-known trick of rhetoric to silently shift to some higher, minimum "standard of proof" for arguing against the establishment of a proposition that is strongly disliked.
Does the preponderance of the available evidence objectively suggest that Napoleon likely issued one or more proclamations and/or letters, inviting Jews to return to their aboriginal homeland? I think so. However, the final judgment is yours to make, if you too have patiently and fairly weighed all the pertinent evidence.
Appendix
Lettre d’un Juif à ses frères
Décadi, 20 Prairial an 6. [June 8, 1798]
No. 1,025.
L’Ami des Lois, par Poultier, et autres gens de lettres, sous la direction des frères Sibuet, propriétaires.
Lettre d’un Juif à ses frères (traduite de l’italien.) Mes frères, vous tous qui gémissez depuis tant de siècles sous le poids de la persécution la plus odieuse, ne chercherez-vous pas à sortir de l’état affreux d’humiliation où des religions intolérantes et barbares vous ont retenus jusqu’ à présent. Partout le mépris nous accompagne, partout les hommes nous repoussent avec dédain et sans pitié. Cette généreuse constance avec laquelle nous avons conservé la foi de nos ancêtres, bien loin de nous attirer l’admiration qui nous était due, n’a fait qu’accroître la haine injuste que nous portent toutes les nations. Ce n’est qu’en affectant l’extérieur de la bassesse et de la misère que nous parvenons à garder nos richesses et à conserver notre malheureuse existence. Il est temps enfin de secouer un joug aussi insupportable, il est temps de reprendre notre rang parmi les nations.
De vils brigands occupent cette terre sainte que nos ancêtres ont été obligés de céder aux Romains; ils profanent cette cite sacrée que nous avons défendue avec tant de courage. La postérité en a conservé un souvenir terrible. Nous aussi, nous ne l’avons pas oublié. Ce courage n’est qu’assoupi, l’heure de réveil est arrivée.. O mes frères! Rétablissons l’empire de Jérusalem.
Une nation invincible qui remplit maintenant le monde de sa gloire, nous a montré ce que peut l’amour de la patrie. Implorons sa générosité, demandons-lui son secours, et soyons assurés que la philosophie qui guide les chefs de cette nation sublime, leur fera accueillir notre demande.
Nous sommes plus de six millions répandus sur la surface de la terre; nous possédons des richesses immenses; employons tous les moyens qui sont en notre pouvoir pour nous réunir dans notre patrie. Le moment est propice, il est de notre devoir d’en profiter: voici les moyens les plus convenables pour parvenir à l’exécution de cette sainte entreprise.
Il sera établi un conseil dont les membres seront élus par les Juifs répandus en Europe, en Asie, en Afrique, quelle que soit leur secte, ainsi qu’il suit:
1. Tribu Italienne. Les Juifs qui habitent les républiques Romaine, Cisapline, Ligurienne, les états de Toscane, de Parme, les royaumes de Naples et de Sicile, enverront des électeurs à Rome chargés de la nomination d’un membre du conseil; il en sera de même de chaque Tribu.
2. Tribu Helvétique. Ceux qui habitent la Suisse et les états du roi de Sardaigne, enverront leurs électeurs à Genève qui sera compris dans cette division.
3. Tribu Hongroise. Ceux qui habitent la Hongrie, l’Autriche, la Bohême et le pays ci-devant Vénitien, enverront leurs électeurs à Vienne.
4. Tribu Polonaise. Ceux qui habitent la ci-devant Pologne, la Moldavie et la Valachie, enverront leurs électeurs à Cracovie.
5. Tribu Russe. Ceux qui habitent les états de l’empereur de Russie, à l’exception de la Crimée et des pays situés sur la Mer noire, enverront leurs électeurs à Moskou.
6. Tribu du Nord. Ceux qui habitent la Suède et le Danemark, à Copenhague.
7. Tribu Bretonne. Ceux qui habitent les îles de la Grande-Bretagne, à Londres.
8. Tribu Espagnole. Ceux qui habitent l’Espagne et le Portugal, à Cadix.
9. Tribu Gauloise. Ceux qui habitent la France, y compris les pays conquis, enverront leurs électeurs à Colmar.
10. Tribu Hollandaise. Ceux qui habitent la Hollande, à Amsterdam.
11. Tribu Prussienne. Ceux qui sont dans l’électorat d’Hanovre et les états du roi de Prusse, enverront leurs électeurs à Berlin.
12. Tribu Allemande. Ceux qui habitent les autres états de l’Empire, à Francfort-Mein.
13. Tribu Turque. Ceux qui habitent la Crimée, les bords de la Mer noire, les états du Grand-Seigneur en Europe, y compris toutes les îles de la Grèce, à Constantinople.
14. Tribu Asiatique. Ceux qui habitent la Turquie d’Asie . . . . à Smyrne.
15. Tribu Africaine. Ceux qui habitent l'Égypte et les états des puissances barbaresques, enverront leurs électeurs à Tunis.
Les quinze députés de ces tribus formeront le conseil qui tiendra ses séances à Paris. Lorsqu’ils seront réunis au nombre de neuf, ils pourront commencer à s’occuper de l’objet de leur mission. Leurs décisions auront pour tous les Juifs force de loi; tous seront obligés de s’y soumettre. Il nommera un agent auprès du directoire de France pour lui communiquer les propositions à lui faire.
Le pays que nous nous proposons d’occuper comprendra (sauf les arrangements qui conviendront à la France) la basse Égypte, le terrain qui aura pour limite une ligne qui partira de Ptolémaïde ou Saint-Jean d’Acre jusqu’au lac d’Asphalte, ou Mer morte, et de la pointe méridionale de ce lac jusqu’à la Mer rouge.
Cette position, la plus avantageuse qui soit au monde, nous rend, par la Mer rouge, les maîtres du riche commerce des Indes, de celui de l’Arabie, du midi et de l’orient de l’Afrique. L’Abyssinie, L'Éthiopie, ces riches contrées qui fournirent à Salomon tant d’or, d’ivoire et de pierres précieuses, se lieront d’autant plus volontiers avec nous par le commerce, que la plupart des habitants pratiquent encore la loi de Moïse. Le voisinage d’Alep et de Damas nous facilitera le commerce avec la Perse; par la Méditerranée nous communiquerons avec l’Espagne, la France, l’Italie et le reste de l’Europe. Placés au centre du monde, notre pays deviendra l’entrepôt de tout ce qu’il produit de riche et de précieux.
Le conseil offrira au gouvernement français, s’il nous fournit les secours qui nous seront nécessaires pour rentrer dans notre patrie et nous maintenir: Primo, des dédommagements pécuniaires; etc. Secundo, de partager avec les négocians français seuls le commerce des Indes, etc. Les autres arrangements, ainsi que les propositions à faire à la Porte ottomane, ne peuvent pas être rendus publics; nous nous en reposons sur la sagesse de notre conseil et la loyauté de la nation française. Nommons des gens instruits et sages, et soyons persuadés du succès de nos démarches.
O mes frères! Quels sacrifices pourront nous coûter! Nous allons rentrer dans notre patrie, nous allons vivre sous nos lois, nous allons voir ces lieux sacrés que nos ancêtres ont illustrés par leur courage et leurs vertus. Je vous vois déjà tous animés d’un saint zèle. Israélites! Le terme de vos maux s’avance: le temps est favorable; gardez-vous de le laisser échapper.
1799 letters of Napoleon and Rabbi Aaron
[This presents Franz Kobler's modernization of the 18th-century German typed on the front side of a thin sheet of paper by Ernst Foges in August 1939, before his flight from Nazi Vienna. Napoleon's family name in both letters is restored to "Buonaparte" as given by Foges. Here, square brackets are used for adding short Foges passages that Kobler omits from his text.]
Zuschrift an die Jüdische Nation
1) von dem französischen Obergeneral Buonaparte
2) von Rabbi Aaron in Jerusalem
aus dem Original übersetzt
1799
Hauptquartier Jerusalem, den 1. Floreal (den 20. April 1799) im Jahre 7 der französischen Republik.
Buonaparte, Obergeneral der Armeen der französischen Republik in Afrika und Asien, an die rechtmässigen Erben Palästinas!
Israeliten, einzige Nation, welcher die Eroberungssucht und Tyrannei nur ihre Erbländer, Namen aber und Volksexistenz auch nicht in Jahrtausenden entziehen konnte!
Aufmerksamkeit und unparteiischen Beobachter der Nationen-Schicksale, wenn schon nicht mit dem Fernspähergeist eines Jesaia und Joel begabt, ahndeten längst schon auch, was jene mit der schönen herzerhebenden Zuversicht bei dem Ausblick auf die herannahende Zerstörung ihres Erbreiches und Vaterlandes voraussagten: dass die Erlöseten des Herrn wiederkommen gen Zion, mit Jauchzen wiederkommen, und die Freude eines hinfort ungestörten Besitzes ihres Erbteils eine über ihren Häuptern bleibende Freude setzen wird. Jes, 35, 10.
Auf also mit Jauchzen ihr Vertriebenen! Ein Krieg ohne Beispiel in den Jahrbüchern der Völkergeschichte, aus Notwehr ausgeführt von einer Nation, deren Erbländer [ von ihren Feinden ] als ein mit einem Federstrich nach Gutdünken und Bequemlichkeit in den Kabinetten zu teilender Raub geachtete waren, rächt diese ihre und zugleich der entferntesten, längst unter dem Sklavenjoch vergessenen Nationen Schmach, auch Euere Schmach, bald zweitausendjährige Schmach, und, in dessen Zeit und Umstände Erneuerungen Euerer Ansprüche am wenigsten zu begünstigen oder nur laut zu werden erlauben, ja vielmehr zu gänzlicher Verzichtleistung nötigen zu wollen scheinen, bietet Euch—über alle Erwartung—gerade jetzt, Israels Erbteil wieder an!
Die jungfräuliche Armee, mit welcher mich die Vorsehung hieher gesendet hat, von Gerechtigkeit geführt und von Sieg begleitet, hat Jerusalem zu meinem Hauptquartier gemacht und wird dasselbe in wenigen Tagen nach Damaskus, dieser für Davids Stadt nicht mehr furchtbaren Nachbarschaft verlegen.
Rechtmässige Erben Palästinas!
Die grosse Nation, welche nicht mit Menschen und Ländern Handel treibt wie diejenigen, welche Euere Stammväter verkauft haben unter alle Völker, Joel 4, 6, ladet Euch hiemit ein, Euer Erbteil—nicht zu erobern, nein! nur das Eroberte zu übernehmen und mit ihrer gewährsprechenden Unterstüzung zu behaupten.
Auf! zeigt, dass die ehemahlige Uebermacht Euerer Unterdrücker den Mut der Nachkömmlinge jener Helden, deren Bruderbund Sparta und Rom selbst ehrenvoll stand, Makkabäer 12, 15, bisher nur zurückzudrängen, mit aller der zweitausend jährigen Sklavenbehandlung aber nicht zu erstricken vermocht hat!
Eilt! jetzt ist der Zeitpunk da, der vielleicht in Jahrtausenden nicht wiederkehren würde, das Euch seit Jahrtausenden schimpflich versagte Bürgerrecht unter den Bewohnern des Weltalls, Euere politische Volksexistenz der Nationen und das unbehinderte Naturrecht einer nach Euerer Ueberzeugung Jehova zu leistenden Verehrung, öffentlich wieder und—höchst wahrscheinlich—auf ewig, Joel 4, 20, wieder zurückzufordern.
[Kobler's version of the back side of the sheet typed by Foges.]
Aaron der Sohn Levis, Rabbi von Jerusalem.
An die Kinder der Gefangenschaft in den Ländern gegen Morgen und Abend, gegen Mittag und Mitternacht.
Jerusalem, im Monden Nissan, im Jahr 5559.
Ob es wohl nicht not tut, der Zuschrift, welche der Mann nach dem Herzen Gottes, Buonaparte, dieser grosse und hoch erleuchtete Obergeneral der französischen Armeen in Afrika und Asien, an Euch hat ergehen lassen, noch irgend was beizufügen, so habe doch ich, Aaron, Levis Sohn, aus dem Stamm Levi, ich durch die Barmherzigkeit unseres Gottes, Jehova Zebaoth, nach unzähligen Generationen wieder allhier, in der heiligen Stadt erster Rabbi und Priester, der Schwachen wegen für gut befunden, sie zu erinnern an die Worte Joels, des Sohnes Pethuels, Kap. 4, und Zephanias, des Sohnes Chushis, und Maleachi, Kap. 2, 3.
Brüder, die daselbst enthaltenen so herrlichen Weissagungen sind durch die siegreiche Armee der grossen Nation bereits grösstenteils in Erfüllung gegangen, und es kommt jetzt nur darauf an, zu beweisen, das wir nicht Kinder der Huren und Ehebrecherinnen, sondern echte Nachkommen Israels sind und dass wir Lust haben zum Erbteil des Volkes und zu den schönen Gottesdiensten des Herrn, Psalm Davids 27, 4.
So nehmet denn die Flügel des Adlers und die Stärke der Löwin, wie unsere Väter zu den Zeiten Nehemias, des Sohnes Hachalias, und Esras, des Sohnes Seraias, wieder zu bauen die Mauren der verwaisten Stadt und Jehova einen Tempel, in welchem seine Herrlichkeit wohne von nun an immer und ewiglich.
Rufet dies aus an alle Völker, unter welchen der Samen Jakobs zerstreut ist, heiliget einen Streit, erweckt die Starken, lasset herzukommen und zu uns heraufziehen allen waffenfähigen Mannschaften Israels, selbst auch die Schwachen sprechen: “ich bin Stark!” Joel 4.
Der Gott Abrahams, Isaks und Jakobs segne das Werk unserer Hände! Er tue es und vollende es, wie Er unseren Vätern geschworen hat, Esra 9, 9. [ Er gedenke zum besten alles, was die grosse Nation an uns gethan hat, Esra 19, ] und alles Volk spreche wie von Gideon, dem Sohne Joas', Richter 7.
Hier Schwert des Herrn und Buonaparte!
Zuschrift an die Jüdische Nation
1) von dem französischen Obergeneral Buonaparte
2) von Rabbi Aaron in Jerusalem
aus dem Original übersetzt
1799
Hauptquartier Jerusalem, den 1. Floreal (den 20. April 1799) im Jahre 7 der französischen Republik.
Buonaparte, Obergeneral der Armeen der französischen Republik in Afrika und Asien, an die rechtmässigen Erben Palästinas!
Israeliten, einzige Nation, welcher die Eroberungssucht und Tyrannei nur ihre Erbländer, Namen aber und Volksexistenz auch nicht in Jahrtausenden entziehen konnte!
Aufmerksamkeit und unparteiischen Beobachter der Nationen-Schicksale, wenn schon nicht mit dem Fernspähergeist eines Jesaia und Joel begabt, ahndeten längst schon auch, was jene mit der schönen herzerhebenden Zuversicht bei dem Ausblick auf die herannahende Zerstörung ihres Erbreiches und Vaterlandes voraussagten: dass die Erlöseten des Herrn wiederkommen gen Zion, mit Jauchzen wiederkommen, und die Freude eines hinfort ungestörten Besitzes ihres Erbteils eine über ihren Häuptern bleibende Freude setzen wird. Jes, 35, 10.
Auf also mit Jauchzen ihr Vertriebenen! Ein Krieg ohne Beispiel in den Jahrbüchern der Völkergeschichte, aus Notwehr ausgeführt von einer Nation, deren Erbländer [ von ihren Feinden ] als ein mit einem Federstrich nach Gutdünken und Bequemlichkeit in den Kabinetten zu teilender Raub geachtete waren, rächt diese ihre und zugleich der entferntesten, längst unter dem Sklavenjoch vergessenen Nationen Schmach, auch Euere Schmach, bald zweitausendjährige Schmach, und, in dessen Zeit und Umstände Erneuerungen Euerer Ansprüche am wenigsten zu begünstigen oder nur laut zu werden erlauben, ja vielmehr zu gänzlicher Verzichtleistung nötigen zu wollen scheinen, bietet Euch—über alle Erwartung—gerade jetzt, Israels Erbteil wieder an!
Die jungfräuliche Armee, mit welcher mich die Vorsehung hieher gesendet hat, von Gerechtigkeit geführt und von Sieg begleitet, hat Jerusalem zu meinem Hauptquartier gemacht und wird dasselbe in wenigen Tagen nach Damaskus, dieser für Davids Stadt nicht mehr furchtbaren Nachbarschaft verlegen.
Rechtmässige Erben Palästinas!
Die grosse Nation, welche nicht mit Menschen und Ländern Handel treibt wie diejenigen, welche Euere Stammväter verkauft haben unter alle Völker, Joel 4, 6, ladet Euch hiemit ein, Euer Erbteil—nicht zu erobern, nein! nur das Eroberte zu übernehmen und mit ihrer gewährsprechenden Unterstüzung zu behaupten.
Auf! zeigt, dass die ehemahlige Uebermacht Euerer Unterdrücker den Mut der Nachkömmlinge jener Helden, deren Bruderbund Sparta und Rom selbst ehrenvoll stand, Makkabäer 12, 15, bisher nur zurückzudrängen, mit aller der zweitausend jährigen Sklavenbehandlung aber nicht zu erstricken vermocht hat!
Eilt! jetzt ist der Zeitpunk da, der vielleicht in Jahrtausenden nicht wiederkehren würde, das Euch seit Jahrtausenden schimpflich versagte Bürgerrecht unter den Bewohnern des Weltalls, Euere politische Volksexistenz der Nationen und das unbehinderte Naturrecht einer nach Euerer Ueberzeugung Jehova zu leistenden Verehrung, öffentlich wieder und—höchst wahrscheinlich—auf ewig, Joel 4, 20, wieder zurückzufordern.
[Kobler's version of the back side of the sheet typed by Foges.]
Aaron der Sohn Levis, Rabbi von Jerusalem.
An die Kinder der Gefangenschaft in den Ländern gegen Morgen und Abend, gegen Mittag und Mitternacht.
Jerusalem, im Monden Nissan, im Jahr 5559.
Ob es wohl nicht not tut, der Zuschrift, welche der Mann nach dem Herzen Gottes, Buonaparte, dieser grosse und hoch erleuchtete Obergeneral der französischen Armeen in Afrika und Asien, an Euch hat ergehen lassen, noch irgend was beizufügen, so habe doch ich, Aaron, Levis Sohn, aus dem Stamm Levi, ich durch die Barmherzigkeit unseres Gottes, Jehova Zebaoth, nach unzähligen Generationen wieder allhier, in der heiligen Stadt erster Rabbi und Priester, der Schwachen wegen für gut befunden, sie zu erinnern an die Worte Joels, des Sohnes Pethuels, Kap. 4, und Zephanias, des Sohnes Chushis, und Maleachi, Kap. 2, 3.
Brüder, die daselbst enthaltenen so herrlichen Weissagungen sind durch die siegreiche Armee der grossen Nation bereits grösstenteils in Erfüllung gegangen, und es kommt jetzt nur darauf an, zu beweisen, das wir nicht Kinder der Huren und Ehebrecherinnen, sondern echte Nachkommen Israels sind und dass wir Lust haben zum Erbteil des Volkes und zu den schönen Gottesdiensten des Herrn, Psalm Davids 27, 4.
So nehmet denn die Flügel des Adlers und die Stärke der Löwin, wie unsere Väter zu den Zeiten Nehemias, des Sohnes Hachalias, und Esras, des Sohnes Seraias, wieder zu bauen die Mauren der verwaisten Stadt und Jehova einen Tempel, in welchem seine Herrlichkeit wohne von nun an immer und ewiglich.
Rufet dies aus an alle Völker, unter welchen der Samen Jakobs zerstreut ist, heiliget einen Streit, erweckt die Starken, lasset herzukommen und zu uns heraufziehen allen waffenfähigen Mannschaften Israels, selbst auch die Schwachen sprechen: “ich bin Stark!” Joel 4.
Der Gott Abrahams, Isaks und Jakobs segne das Werk unserer Hände! Er tue es und vollende es, wie Er unseren Vätern geschworen hat, Esra 9, 9. [ Er gedenke zum besten alles, was die grosse Nation an uns gethan hat, Esra 19, ] und alles Volk spreche wie von Gideon, dem Sohne Joas', Richter 7.
Hier Schwert des Herrn und Buonaparte!
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