In 1215, the Lateran Council decreed that Jews must wear a distinctive mark. Since then, Jews in Western Europe have faced various forms of discrimination and persecution: special clothing, restrictions on where they could live, taxes, limited legal rights, and various accusations…
In Spain and Portugal, the Inquisition carried out an increasing number of auto-da-fés targeting Marranos (Jews who had converted to Catholicism but continued to practice Judaism in secret). The abolition of these practices and the granting of citizenship, along with full equality of rights, marked the emancipation of the Jews.
France was the first country to grant emancipation to Jews through a vote by the Constituent Assembly in 1791. The process began in 1781 with the Edict of Tolerance issued by Joseph II of Austria, which granted freedom of worship to Protestants and Jews. In 1787, Louis XVI issued an identical edict. Earlier, in Germany, the Aufklärung (the philosophy of the Enlightenment) had intersected with the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment led by Moses Mendelssohn).
In France, Mirabeau introduced Mendelssohn to the public in *Sur Moses Mendelssohn, sur la réforme politique des Jews* (1787). The following year, Abbé Grégoire published his *Essai sur la régénération physique, morale et politique des Jews*. He acknowledged some virtues in the Jews but nevertheless considered them “degenerate.” However, like Mirabeau, he denounced segregation and exclusion.
From December 21 to 24, 1789, the issue of the Jews, along with that of the Protestants, was addressed by the Constituent Assembly following the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on August 26. The Count of Clermont-Tonnerre articulated the future doctrine of Jewish assimilation in France: “We must deny the Jews everything as a nation and grant them everything as individuals. They must form neither a political body nor an order within the State. They must be citizens individually.” The Assembly dithered, and only the Jews of Avignon and the Portuguese Jews residing in Bordeaux were declared full citizens on January 28, 1790. The question of the political existence of the Jews was postponed.
It was not until September 28, 1791, that the Jacobin Adrien Duport requested that “the postponement be revoked and that, consequently, it be decreed that Jews in France shall enjoy the rights of active citizens.” The Assembly passed Duport’s motion. On November 13, Louis XVI ratified the law declaring Jews to be French citizens.
In contrast to Orthodox and Conservative rabbis, emancipation in Western Europe enabled many Jews to leave the ghettos. Following the Haskalah, it fostered the emergence of Reform Judaism and contributed to the assimilation of Jews in France.
Reference:
Blumenkranz, Bernhard (ed.), 1972, *History of the Jews of France*, Édouard Privat.
