ABSTRACT
EMANCIPATION in France, as we have seen, produced almost immediately two effects of note in the religious life of the French Jews. One was that the ordinary layman tended to become much more lax in his observance of the ceremonial law. The other—in some way the obverse of this one—was that the French Rabbi ceased to be a Rabbi in the old sense— that is, a man whose word within certain spheres was law— and became merely a preacher or clergyman who could at most exercise moral suasion. Officially, however, the religion remained unchanged. No alterations, beyond a few aesthetic improvements, were made in the form of service, and no part of Jewish law or belief was formally abrogated. The result was that the French Jew continued to profess a religion which in many cases he no longer pretended to practise.
