Napoleon in Egypt by Paul Strathern Page B

1799.” By an auspicious coincidence this also happened to be the first day of the Jewish celebration of Passover.
    Napoleon’s astonishing Proclamation to the Jews is of such import in the history of the region that it warrants a short digression from the main events of his Syrian campaign. This document is indeed historic: it was the first in which a leading international figure offered a homeland for the Jews. But the proclamation itself is fraught with controversies. Perhaps the least of these is the fact that it certainly could not have been issued in Jerusalem, which was never taken by Napoleon. On the day in question he was at Ramla, twenty-five miles from Jerusalem. However, such anticipation of events is not unknown in the writings of Napoleon. On the other hand, many serious historians have argued that he never in fact wrote such a document. In support of this claim they point out that no original of this proclamation has ever been discovered, nor even has a French copy of it come to light.
    The only contemporary evidence of its existence comes in two references that appeared in the official French gazette Le Moniteur , published by the Directory. The first appeared on May 22, 1799, and stated: “Bonaparte has published a proclamation in which he invites the Jews of Asia and Africa to join his army in order to re-establish ancient Jerusalem. He has already armed a great number of them and their battalions are menacing Aleppo.” 13 Even more intriguingly, the dateline given for this message is “Constantinople 28 Germinal,” which is April 17—in other words, three days before Napoleon issued the proclamation 1,000 miles away near Jerusalem. Was this piece of news merely a propaganda ploy, with no message from Constantinople, and no basis whatsoever in fact? Were the Directory simply guessing, making use of tidbits of news they had received concerning Egypt and plans which Napoleon had outlined before he set out? This would seem to be the only, rather unconvincing, answer.
    A few weeks later, on July 27, Le Moniteur reported: “Bonaparte has not conquered Syria simply to return their Jerusalem to the Jews; he has much wider plans . . . to march on Constantinople, in order to spread terror in Vienna and St. Petersburg.” This coda to the previous message would seem to confirm the propaganda aspect, for France was now threatened by Austria and Russia. It would also accord with the ambitions that Napoleon had revealed to the Directory. So perhaps all this really was inspired guesswork by the Directory, after all. Such a view is confirmed by the absurd report which appeared in the May 24 edition of Le Moniteur , under the heading “Army of the Orient”: A courier has arrived with a message from Bonaparte in Jerusalem dated 22 Pluvôise [February 11]. The climate has had no effect on the general and very little on the army, which was in an excellent state and through local recruiting has increased its number up to 100,000 men. Berthier is cured of the deafness from which he has been suffering for the last three months. Our cavalry is now fully mounted on Arab steeds. Bonaparte is understood to have appointed to serve under him an ancient Mameluke chief named Barthelemy, and as a result has acquired great influence amongst the Eastern Greeks.
     
    Such a mélange of fact, guesswork and pure imagination may appear laughable, but it does all point to one significant fact: Napoleon had certainly mentioned to the Directory before he set out that he planned to issue a Proclamation to the Jews. This suggests that he may well have prepared his proclamation in Cairo, before he set out on his Syrian campaign. In which case, he would almost certainly have consulted the rabbis of the Jewish community in Cairo, and intriguingly he may even have had it printed in Hebrew. (There has long been a rumor that the Jewish community of Cairo possessed a small Hebrew printing press prior to Napoleon’s invasion.)
    The existence of a