The newly constituted consistoire in Wintzenheim, one of the largest Jewish communities in Alsace, brought what amounts to a test case before the appeals court in Colmar, the nearby capital of the department of Haut-Rhin. the Jews of the department of the Rhine are required to swear the oath more judaico, which must be taken in the syngaogue on a kosher sefer Torah and with the ceremonies customary in Germany in particular.
Lazar Hirsch and Jacob Brunschwig the Consistoire asking them to lend their support in this effort to do something about a practice whose effect is the degradation of the Jewish people and to advise the chief rabbi how to act if, despite our efforts, it turns out that he is again required to go through with this abusive ceremony.
Last 17 July the chief rabbi received a summons according to which he was, in accordance with a pretria decision of teh court of appeals in Colmar, to administer the oath ;”on the faith of a Jew”; to a Jewish witness in a case that was pending between another Jew and a Christian. In compliance with this order, the oath was taken in the central synagogue of the district consistory, [the prospective witness] holding the Sefer Torah in his hand and dressed ”du Thalis et des Tefilin”; Because the oath, accompanied by these formalities, had previously been so rarely required in France, we presumed that it had only been imposed with a view to establishing a difference between us an other Citizens, to our disadvantage.
The chief rabbi took himself to the president of the court of appeal, communicating the shame that would be caused him by being compelled to carry out a procedure that appeared to be no more condoned by French law than it was by Jewish law. In addition, he mentioned to him that until now even the strictest judges had contented themselves with calling a rabbi to appear before them to administer the oath in court on an ordinary Bible. The judge declared that he could do nothing on his won but that the mater would need to be heard before the whole court, but the court told him that it had decided that the Jewry oath was to be be administered in this fashion a while back before his arrival but had delayed implementation of the measure until he had been installed. The court added that ”Monsieur Sinzheimer”; had on many occasions in the past administrated the oath in precisely the form whose proscription was now being proposed.
(i) Transcript of proceedings in the Court of Appeals in Colmar, February, 1809.
(ii-vi) Five letters on the case from the Consistoire of Winzenheim to the Consistoire central in Paris.
(i) February, 1809: pp. 8 + 1 blank, 14 x 8 inches.
(ii) 8 August 1809: pp. 3 + 1 blank, 13 x 8 inches.
(iii) 28 August 1809: pp. 3 + 1 blank, 9 x 8 inches.
(iv) 14 April 1811: pp. 4, 8.5 x 7 inches.
(v) 11 June 1811: pp. 3 + 1 blank, 13 x 8 inches. (vi) 22 December 1811: pp. 2 + 2 blanks, 13 x 8 inches.
All unbound. Some of the letters on assorted printed stationery of the Consistoire de Wintzenheim.
The lot is accompanied by typed transcriptions, made a generation ago, of letters (ii), (iii), and (v), plus a transcription of an additional letter whose corresponding original is no longer present.
21.6 Cm-36.5 Cm.
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Lot #285