The first laws to emancipate Jews in France were enacted during the French Revolution, establishing them as citizens equal to other Frenchmen. In countries that Napoleon Bonaparte's ensuing Consulate and French Empire conquered during the Napoleonic Wars, he emancipated the Jews and introduced other ideas of liberty. He overrode old laws restricting Jews to reside in ghettos, removed the forced identification of Jews by their wearing the Star of David. In Malta, he ended the enslavement of Jews and permitted the construction of a synagogue there. He also lifted laws that limited Jews' rights to property, worship, and certain occupations. In anticipation of a victory in the Holy Land that failed to come about, he wrote a proclamation published in April 1799 for a Jewish homeland there.
1806 French print depicting Napoleon granting freedom of worship to the Jews
Abraham Furtado, a French Sephardi Jew, was the secretary of the Grand Sanhedrin established by Napoleon.
Excerpt of Napoleon's proclamation to the Jews, as published in the Gazette Nationale
Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, e.g. Jewish quotas, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It included efforts within the community to integrate into their societies as citizens. It occurred gradually between the late 18th century and the early 20th century.
An 1806 French print depicts Napoleon Bonaparte emancipating the Jews
The 1791 law proclaiming the Emancipation of the Jews – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme