 After personal negotiations with Lazarus Riesser, who went to see him in Mainz, Bernays accepted the office on characteristic terms; namely, that all the religious and educational institutions of the community were to be placed under his personal direction; he wanted to be responsible to the government only.Besides this he required a fixed salary, independent of incidental revenues.The community assigned to him the title "clerical functionary" or "Chakam," as the usual titles, instead of the traditional "moreh Tzedek" or "rabbi".