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Implications of Jewish Divorces That Became Causes Célèbres

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Implications of Jewish Divorces That Became Causes Célèbres Implications of Jewish divorces that became causes célèbres: The reform of Jewish status and juridical centralization by Suzette Blom A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Suzette Blom, November 2012 ABSTRACT IMPLICATIONS OF JEWISH DIVORCES THAT BECAME CAUSES CÉLÈBRES: THE REFORM OF JEWISH STATUS AND JURIDICAL CENTRALIZATION Suzette Blom Advisor: University of Guelph, 2012 Professor William Cormack This dissertation examines the reform of Jewish status in France in the eighteenth century in connection with the monarchy's impetus to centralize juridical authority. In particular it focuses on how litigating divorces in sovereign courts affected Jewish civil status. This study suggests a new perspective on events leading up to the decrees of 1790 and 1791 that granted the Jews active citizenship and the legalization of divorce in 1792. It examines the extent of the role that making Jewish divorce subject to secular national courts played in the acceptance of Jews as citizens. It concludes that Jewish divorces which attracted public attention as causes célèbres enhanced the role of the Jews in the larger process of juridical centralization and added a new dimension to the construction of a French identity. It further concludes that the reform of Jewish status was part of the erosion of traditional religious values and the growth of ideals of individualism. The principal manifestation of this process was the attempt to develop a uniform legal code for both the public and private spheres. This change included calls for the dissolution of marriage which was prohibited in France for all groups other than Jews as a result of the influence of the Church. This analysis relies on published mémoires judicaires for Jewish divorces that became causes célèbres. These mémoires reflected the changing attitudes towards the patriarchal concept of authority symbolized by indissoluble marriage, the erosion of corporate autonomy for the Jews and the reform of Jewish status. This analysis also relies on the correspondence and memoires of sovereign administrators, reformers and Jewish leaders which reflected the divisiveness of political and social opinion regarding the restructuring of authority. Little study has been done on the litigation of Jewish divorce in sovereign courts as an aspect of juridical centralization. Yet the mémoires judicaire of the Peixotto and Levy cases provide excellent case studies of the evolution in attitudes toward divorce and the acceptance of Jews as French subjects. Although there has been considerable scholarship to support the idea that the events of the French Revolution were grounded on the developments and reforms of previous decades, this analysis demonstrates that juridical centralization played a more critical role than has previously been considered. iv Aknowlegements This dissertation has been a labour of love and its creation has required the assistance of many people. Two names are chief among those who made it possible for me to complete this work: my advisor William Cormack and my husband Chris Blom. Dr.Cormack has not only contributed to fundamentally shaping my research and assisting me to articulate my ideas, he has also guided, coaxed and pulled me through when the patience of others would have been exhausted. The sustenance and support of my husband Chris Blom has been critical to this dissertation in every way from chief copy editor to emotional anchor. He is my partner in this adventure as he is in life. I am also grateful to Eva Plach and Daryl Dee for their invaluable contributions and perspective which shaped the research and construction of the dissertation. I have also been fortunate to be the welcome recipient of the advice and friendship of Heather Parker, Jodi Campbell, Pat Bowley, Lisa Cox and Rochelle Pereira which made the process less arduous. Of the many friends who have offered suggestions and assistance a special debt is owed to Georgia, Dave and Alex Curtis. Mention must also be made of Jacques and Ida Zajdermann, Jeanette Kohn, Serge Blisko, Anne and Eric Eisenberg and Daniel and Denise Rozencweig who opened their homes to me during my research in Paris, France. Finally, I have had the benefit of the encouragement of my parents, my daughters Erica and Jessica, my son in law Jamie and my grandchildren Lilly and Jake who are my true inspirations. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................iv Chapter one: Introduction: consideration of legal centrism, the historiography of the reform of Jewish status and the changing paradigm of the dissolution of marriage in eighteenth-century France...................................................................................................................................1 Chapter two: "They do not wear beards and are not different from other men in their clothing, the rich among them are devoted to learning, elegance and manners to the same degree as other peoples of Europe, from whom they differ only in religion." Ashkenazics and Sephardics: the disparate natures of the Jewish communities in France in the eighteenth century................................................................................................................................28 Chapter three: "Man had enjoyed the right to correct a mistake": the problem of divorce in eighteenth- century France....................................................................................................................66 Chapter four: The Borach Levy case: the Church and the dilemma of a convert's divorce....................95 Chapter five: "They are Jews but they are Frenchmen." The Peixotto case: the effect of Jewish divorce litigation in French courts on Jewish status...................................................................117 Chapter six: "The Jews are men. If we consider them such, why leave them any longer in slavery and humiliation." The lettres patentes of 1784: Jewish status as an aspect of juridical reform...............................................................................................................................141 Chapter seven: “Monsieur de Malesherbes, you have been made a Protestant; now I make you a Jew; busy yourself with them.” The Malesherbes Commission on the Jews: rationalizing the Jews' status.......................................................................................................................179 Chapter eight: Conclusion: "We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals." Emancipation, Napoleon and Jewish divorce: the effect of juridical centralization on Jewish status..........................................................................217 Appendix.....................................................................................................................................231 vi Bibliography...............................................................................................................................234 1 Introduction: Consideration of legal centrism, the historiography of the reform of Jewish status and the changing paradigm of the dissolution of marriage in eighteenth-century France 2 Chapter One The emancipation decrees of 1790 and 1791 which gave the Jews the same eligibility as other Frenchmen to become active citizens are usually considered the watershed for the reform of Jewish status in France. They are characterized this way because they were not only a juridical anomaly for the Jews after centuries of persecution, restriction and alienation, but were also unusually and unexpectedly enduring. Despite the vagaries of social and political sentiment, and, unlike changes to the status of the slaves in the colonies or women, the change in status granted to the Jews by the emancipation decrees was not revoked until the Vichy regime disenfranchised the Jews in 1940. The reform of Jewish status in France which culminated in the emancipation decrees, therefore, reflected a profound change to social perceptions which cannot be explained simply as a side effect of revolutionary zeal. The enduring nature of this change suggests that the metamorphosis of the Jews from a "nation within a nation" into French citizens was neither as abrupt nor as dramatic as it appeared. It began decades before the general political upheaval which led to the outbreak of revolution in 1789, and it was only because this movement was already underway that Jewish emancipation became part of the French Revolution. The eighteenth century Jewish divorce cases which became causes célèbres were manifestations of an evolution in attitudes toward inclusiveness in French society. This change in attitudes generated a perception that Jews should be considered French subjects by advocating that they should come before the courts as Frenchmen subject to the same law that governed other subjects even on issues as intimate and culturally charged as divorce. This process was in part the result of an impetus or objective of legal centrism held by theorists, members of the legal community, and royal administrators which, although not always successful, had consequences for socio-political changes especially in the area of Jewish status. 3 Given the central role ascribed them in Western Jewish history, the emancipation decrees have been the subject
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