SEGRE, SALVATORE (Joshua Benzion; 1729–1809), Italian rabbi. Segre was born in Vercelli, and was a wealthy property owner. One of the few Italian rabbis who inclined toward Reform, he served in the rabbinate and on the town council of Vercelli after the occupation by the French revolutionary army. When Napoleon convened the Sanhedrin in Paris in 1806 (see French *Sanhedrin), Segre was one of the North Italian delegates. In a speech delivered in Paris on Aug. 15, 1806, he obsequiously praised the emperor and the following February he was chosen av bet din of the Sanhedrin. When the work of the Sanhedrin was finished Segre returned to his rabbinical position in Vercelli. In 1809 he went back to Paris and died during his visit.


Graetz, Hist, 5 (1895), 488, 490, 495; Ghirondi-Neppi, 207; R. Anchel, Napoléon et les Juifs (1928), index.

[Menachem E. Artom]
