Today, with a Jewish population of 500,000, France is Europe’s largest Jewish community. However, because of the current spate of anti-Semitic violent acts, many French Jews have begun to flee the country, most of them to Israel. Last year alone, 7,000 Jews emigrated, and the number keeps rising.
During the Reign of Terror in France more than two centuries ago, Jews also suffered anti-Semitic persecution. But when Napoleon became emperor, the fate of the Jews was ameliorated with regard to their civil liberties.
The greatest Rabbinical scholar and Talmudist in Western Europe at the time was Harav Yosef David Sinzheim. It was he who was chosen to deliver a special sermon in honor of the thirty-seventh birthday of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during an elaborate ceremony that took place on August 15, 1806, within the Jewish community in Paris. Special hymns were printed and sung for the occasion. In addition to having written many sefarim, Rav Yosef David served French Jewry in several capacities: as Rosh Yeshivah in Bischheim, as spiritual leader of Alsatian Jewry, then as president of the Sanhedrin established by Napoleon, and subsequently as Chief Rabbi of France.
The Saga of the Yad David
Harav Sinzheim is well known today because of the publication by Machon Yerushalayim of many of his sefarim, especially his commentary on the Gemara called Yad David. Only two tractates, Brachos and Moed, were published during Rav Sinzheim’s lifetime, in 1799 in Offenbach. For almost two centuries, his writings remained in manuscript form. Eventually they came into
the possession of the late Rabbi Dr. Moshe Auerbach, a greatgrandson of Rav Sinzheim’s sonin-law, Harav Avraham Auerbach. In 1936, when Rabbi Dr. Moshe Auerbach decided to move from Europe to Eretz Yisrael, he deposited them for safekeeping in the Rabbi Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, where he had received semichah from Harav David Tzvi Hoffman in 1904. Rabbi Dr. Auerbach was devastated when he learned at a later date that the manuscripts had disappeared during World War II.
Fortunately, they were discovered several decades later in the possession of both private collectors and public libraries. They were gathered together by Machon Yerushalayim.
Extremely gratified to learn of Machon Yerushalayim’s intention to publish the manuscripts, Rabbi Moshe Auerbach had been looking forward to their dissemination. Sadly, he passed away at the age of ninety-five, a short time before the
printing of the sefarim in 1976. The volume that includes the commentary on tractates Brachos, Zera’im and Shabbos is dedicated to Rabbi Dr. Moshe Auerbach, and contains several pages about his life.
Harav Yosef David Sinzheim’s Origins
Harav Yosef David Sinzheim was born in 1745 (5505) in Treves (which is Trier in German). He was descended from an older brother of the Maharal of Prague, Harav Chaim ben Bezalel, who served as Rabbi in Worms and Friedberg, and
composed a super-commentary on Rashi, as well as a critique on the Rema’s Toras Chatas, called Vikuach Mayim Chaim.
His grandfather, Harav Avraham Sinzheim, served as Rav in Mannheim, Germany, while his father, Harav Yitzchak Sinzheim, was the spiritual leader of Trier, Germany. In the introduction to his Yad David commentary, Rav Yosef David ascribes his mastery of Gemara to the lessons he received from his father. As a youth, Yosef David learned with Harav Shmuel Hillman-Halpern, who served as the Rav of Metz after Harav Yonasan Eibschutz.
In 1762, when his son turned seventeen, Rav Yitzchak Sinzheim was appointed Rabbi and Dayan of Niedermai (Niederenheim in German), after having received a patent
letter (a written order) from Emperor Louis XVI to serve as Rabbi in Lower Alsace. When Rav Yosef David Sinzheim turned twenty, he married Esther, the daughter of Todros Cerf Berr of Medelsheim. Both Todros and his son, Naftali Herz Cerf Berr of Medelsheim, supported Rav Sinzheim so that he could continue to learn.
Two years after his marriage, Rav Yosef David Sinzheim’s sister married Harav Selig Auerbach, Rabbi of Bouxwiller. Their son Avraham would eventually marry his first cousin, Rav Y.D. Sinzheim’s daughter, Gittele.
Rosh Yeshivah and Leader of Alsatian Jewry
In 1778, Naftali Herz Cerf Berr, one of the wealthiest Jews in France and a shtadlan to the French authorities, established a yeshivah in Bischheim, near Strasbourg, and assigned Rav Yosef David as Rosh Yeshivah. Rav Sinzheim writes that by that time he was thirty-three years old and had completed the study of the Talmud three times; he
therefore felt ready to undertake writing his commentary onthe Gemara.
In 1789, twenty-five thousand Jews of Alsace sent two delegates to Paris, requesting the same rights as other French citizens with respect to taxes, property ownership, religious practice, housing and protection from persecution. One of these two delegates was RavYosef David Sinzheim of Alsace. After the storming of the Bastille in July 1789, Jews were granted some rights; however, they continued to be victims of persecution. Several petitions seeking protection were sent to Paris bearing the signature of Rav Sinzheim. In September 1792, when the Jacobins* (led by Robespierre) seized power, the Yeshivah of Bischheim moved to Strasbourg. Political riots and harassment of Jews in Bischheim caused many Jews to flee the town.
Attacks against the Jews of Alsace persisted during the Reign of Terror when Robespierre had Louis XVI guillotined on January 21, 1793, after accusing him of being a traitor. That year, Rebbetzin Esther Sinzheim, wife of Rav Yosef David
Sinzheim, passed away at the age of fifty.
Refuge in Paris During the Reign of Terror
The political situation had deteriorated to the point that Rav Sinzheim decided to go into hiding that year (1793). Sifrei Torah and sefarim were being burned, and it was forbidden to frequent a shul or yeshivah. Rav Sinzheim writes: “While I and my students were wandering from village to village, hiding in forests during the Napoleonic wars, we had none of our holy sefarim. We were more destitute in our lack of sources and sefarim than we were in the basic necessities of life. I determined at that time that if and when I survived and had an opportunity, I would write a sefer. This [Yad David] is the fulfillment of my promise.”
Both Rabbi Avraham Auerbach, the son-in-law of Rabbi Sinzheim, and the latter’s brother-in-law, Naftolil Herz Cerf Berr, were imprisoned by the Jacobins for more than a year during that period. Naftali Herz Cerf Berr had appointed Rav Auerbach as administrator of the kehillah of Strasbourg, and the Jacobins associated both men with the reign of the French emperor.
During that time, Rav Yosef David found refuge in Paris, where he keenly felt deprived of his magnificent library of sefarim. One can imagine how large his library must have been that in one volume alone of his Yad David, he quotes from 400 different sefarim. Sadly, many of these sefarim have been lost; we are aware of them only because of Rav Sinzheim’s mention of them in his commentary.
Rav Sinzheim was to later compose a Talmudic encyclopedia called Minchas Ani (The Offering of the Poor) where his articles were arranged under titles listed in Hebrew alphabetical order. In the preface, Rav Sinzheim explains that he chose this sefer’s title to reflect his dismay at being “impoverished” by the lack of sefarim in Paris.
Jews Breathe Again After Jacobins Fall
After two horrendous years of their control of France, the Jacobins fell and Robespierre was guillotined. Rav Yosef David Sinzheim then returned to Strasbourg to serve as Chief Rabbi of the city. His son-in-law and nephew, Rav Abraham Auerbach, served as assistant Rav together with him upon his release from prison.
Once Napoleon was crowned emperor in 1804, Rav Sinzheim understood that it was imperative for him to maintain a good relationship with the state. A year later, he delivered a sermon in the synagogue of Strasbourg, praising Napoleon’s victories on Europe’s battlefields.
Upon his return from his great victory at the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805, Napoleon stopped off in Strasbourg. There, he was inundated by complaints against the Jews from thousands of farmers who were in debt to Jewish moneylenders. They wanted their debts erased, and claimed that because the Jews would not assimilate with the rest of the nation, they were detrimental to France.
Rav Sinzheim Responds Successfully
Napoleon decided to convene what became known as the “Assembly of Jewish Notables,” made up of 112 deputies from all parts of the French empire, led by Rav Yosef David Sinzheim and the Jewish financier, Abraham Fortunato. The delegates
were confronted with questions on many issues, including usury, polygamy, intermarriage and loyalty to France. Rav Sinzheim succeeded in satisfying the emperor that the Jews would both accept the authority of the state, as well as fulfill their obligations as citizens.
Rav Sinzheim described what it felt like to have the responsibility of being careful not to offend Napoleon, while at the same time adhering to halachah. In a letter to Harav Baruch Jeiteles, Av Beis Din of Prague, dated Oct. 16, 1806, he stated
that with the help of Hashem, no one would succeed in forcing him to stray even a hairsbreadth from halachah.
In fact, when the Chasam Sofer delivered a hesped in Pressburg praising Rav Sinzheim after his passing in 1812 (5572), he stated that Rav Yosef David Sinzheim earned the respect of “the emperor and his ministers, and did not allow others to rule over him: After having revealed one handsbreadth, he concealed two handsbreadths.”
In February 1807, only days after the Assembly of Notables had been dissolved, the Grand Sanhedrin was convened. Napoleon wanted it modeled after the Sanhedrin in Yerushalayim. It was comprised of seventy Rabbinic leaders, and its president was Rav Y.D. Sinzheim. Napoleon then declared the Jewish religion to be an official religion of France.
Rav Sinzheim became Chief Rabbi of the Central French Consistory (Governing Board) upon its establishment in 1808.
According to the statute’s decree of the Sanhedrin, every region containing at least 2,000 Jews would establish a consistory headed by a Rav. Regions having less than this number might be combined with others. The Central Consistory was to be above the local consistories and would be the administrative body charged with overseeing Jewish institutions and practices — shuls, mikvaos, kashrus, hechsherim, Jewish education, marriages, geirus, etc. Until this day, the Rabbinical system in France is set up under the Central Consistoire, with France’s Chief Rabbi presiding over all, and each consistory having its own Rav. The central consistory is responsible for those of the various regions, and has the right to appoint Rabbis to serve within them.
Large Output of Sefarim
Rav Sinzheim continued to write more sefarim, albeit in manuscript form. Among them were Shelal David, which contains chiddushim and explanations on the Torah and Yamim Tovim, Daas David on the Shulchan Aruch, and Rabbinic responsa, as well as notes on several sefarim of Rishonim. His Minchas Ani, mentioned above, contains a treatise called “Sheva Chakiros” (Seven Inquiries), a correspondence between Rav Sinzheim and Harav Tzvi Hirsch Spitz, a talmid chacham and a native of Pressburg. Rav Tzvi Spitz opened a printing press in Offenbach together with his brother, and it was their press that published the tractates Brachos and Moed of Yad David, Rav Yosef David Sinzheim’s magnum opus.
Rav Sinzheim did not live many years after the establishment of the Central French Consistory. He was niftar on Nov. 9, 1812, and is buried in Paris, in the Père Lachaise cemetery. On the four-sided monument on his gravesite, it reads in Hebrew:
“Weep for the capture of the Aron of Hashem … Crown of Rabbis… Light of Israel.”
Yehi zichro baruch.
*Jacobins, commonly known as the Jacobin Club or the Society of the Friends of the
Constitution, was the most famous political group of the French Revolution and led the Revolutionary government in France from 1793 to 1794.
by Pearl Herzog
Inyan Magazine, HaModia, July 15, 2015