Rav Nissim the Jew

This chapter explores how the team of lawyers working for the Tunisian government suggested that as a Jew, Nissim Shamama's national law was none other than Jewish law. Because Jews constituted a distinct nation, Nissim's nationality was identical to his faith. The insistence that Judaism was a nationality posed a particular challenge for Pasquale Stanislao Mancini. Indeed, rejecting the claim that Judaism amounted to a nationality was no simple matter. Mancini ultimately offered two reasons why Jewish law could not be Nissim's national law: first, Jews' distinctiveness did not amount to a separate nationality. Second, Jewish law was not a proper legal system but rather a confused jumble of customs and usages—and thus could not properly be considered a national law.