The group with which Napoleon confers, dubbed…

The group with which Napoleon confers, dubbed the Great Sanhedrin, meets for the first time amid great pomp and celebration on February 9, 1807, under Abraham Furtado's direction.

Modeled on the ancient Tribunal in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin consists of seventy-one members (forty-six rabbis and twenty-five laymen); Rabbi Joseph Sinzheim of Strasbourg presides.

The members are presented with twelve questions on the positions of Jewry regarding polygamy, divorce, usury, other faiths and—most important to Napoleon—whether they consider France to be their Fatherland.