French Jewry and the Church-State Dilemma: From the Revolution to the Great War (1789-1914)

This book analyzes the development of Jewish positions on the relationship between Church and State from the Revolution until the Great War It is a comprehensive study of the complex interplay among different segments of the Jewish population and the community’s attempt to come to terms with its social and religious status in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As this book demonstrates, the organized French Jewish community strategically charted the political waters by steering clear of extremist political positions and by adopting a “soft clerical” approach to Church-State issues. This centrist approach subjected French Jews to criticism from both anticlerical and clerical forces, but nonetheless the rabbinate, consistorial officials, and the Jewish press believed that French Judaism and French Jewry would thrive most in a climate of moderation.