sentences:  The rabbinate of Metz refused to receive the young man into Judaism, offering as an excuse the fear of reprisals on the part of the authorities, and Antoine was advised to go to the Netherlands or to Italy, where Jews enjoyed more liberty.Accompanied by a Christian clergyman whom he had known in Sedan, and whom he attempted to convert to Judaism on the way, he traveled to Venice.There he found that the prevailing conditions had been too favorably depicted.