Search Results

This chapter explores Felix Mendelssohn's collaboration with the critic and composer Adolf Bernhard Marx. Mendelssohn agreed in 1832 to write a libretto for Marx's oratorio Mose (first performed in 1841, with a different libretto). Marx rejected the libretto that Mendelssohn provided, for an oratorio Mendelssohn called Moses, ending their collaboration and friendship. This chapter suggests that Marx's actions stemmed from his discomfort with the anti-Semitism in Mendelssohn's libretto. Because of his famous Jewish grandfather, the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn felt the need to distance himself from Judaism in his works, and included anti-Semitic content in the Mose libretto. Mendelssohn's libretto also deployed the Old Testament story of Moses in a Christological manner, using it to remind the listener of New Testament events, and followed the anti-Semitic tradition of oratorio composers Carl Loewe and Louis Spohr.

This chapter explores the situation of Jews in early 19th-century Germany, and situates the Mendelssohn family within this context. With the defeat of Napoleon and the treaties of the Congress of Vienna, the situation of German Jews worsened, and many of them, including the Mendelssohn family, chose to convert to Protestantism at that time. Felix Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, had distanced his family from its Jewish roots for many years. Although Abraham's father, Moses Mendelssohn, was a prominent Jewish philosopher, Abraham avoided Jewish connections and declined to live in Jewish neighborhoods. In 1816, Abraham and his wife, Lea, converted their four children. In 1822, the parents themselves converted. The chapter also disputes critics, such as Eric Werner, who have argued that Mendelssohn retained a strong attachment to Judaism during his lifetime.

This chapter concludes the volume with Moses Mendelssohn's final years. It provides the culmination of his conflict with Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi and how such episodes influenced his later works. Indeed, Mendelssohn's last major work, the Morgenstunden, was brought about due to Jacobi's challenge. The Morgenstunden is the most systematic of Mendelssohn's major works. It has a single, well-defined theme—the existence of God—which it expounds step by step, starting from a discussion of the first principles of epistemology and culminating in the presentation of a novel argument in the last of the 17 lectures. None of his previous writings had been as compact and methodical as this one. The chapter ends with a discussion on Mendelssohn's retirement and his final works.

This chapter discusses three Jewish theologians of Christianity: Menachem Ha Me'iri (1249-1315), Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), and Elijah Benamozegh (1823-1900). Rabbi Menachem Ben Shlomo Ha Me'iri of Provence was a remarkable figure in the history of Jewish-Christian relations. He lived in an age characterized by narrowness and bigotry, witnessing the expulsion of the Jews from France in 1306. Yet he defended Christians and Christianity, going so far as to include them under the category “Israel”, rejecting all past Jewish claims that Christianity constituted a form of paganism. Moses Mendelssohn was a true son of the Enlightenment and the inspiration for all modern Jews seeking acculturation to Western ways of living in the world without the assimilation that would lead to the disappearance of the faith and people of Israel. He taught us how to share in the wonders of the general civilization, indeed, how to help shape and direct it, while maintaining essential elements of the ancient faith bequeathed to us by our forebears. Elijah Benamozegh, rabbi of the Italian city of Leghorn, was fluent in many languages and was learned in philosophy and in Christian theology as well as Jewish theology. In the last years of his life, he set about writing an 800-page tome defending his faith against charges of narrow tribalism and declaring it to be universal in scope and that he was prepared to lead the world into a new age of human fellowship. In the process of developing his arguments, he produced what might be seen as an outline of a Jewish theology of Christianity.

This chapter explores Moses Mendelssohn's formative years. It first takes a look at his childhood in Dessau, Germany, before tracking his early journeys to the capital city of Berlin. From there, the chapter explores Mendelssohn's first brushes with philosophy, including non-Jewish philosophy and theology. His philosophical undertakings matured further after his first meeting and subsequent friendship with Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Both men had many things in common—and here, Lessing was able to bring out the best of Mendelssohn's talents. With Lessing, Mendelssohn was able to develop his metaphysics further before both men parted ways. From there on, Mendelssohn cultivated his philosophic leanings and steadily transformed into a bel esprit as he went on to join the “Learned Coffeehouse”—a society of scholars and artists. Finally, the chapter traces the publication of Mendelssohn's Kohelet Mussar (“Preacher of Morals”), a Hebrew weekly meant for Jewish youth.

This chapter focuses on Moses Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn is considered as one of the most illustrious representatives of the rationalist tradition in aesthetics. No one in that tradition had a profounder grasp of its metaphysics and epistemology, and no one had greater aesthetic sensitivity. In metaphysics Mendelssohn is on par with Wolff and Baumgarten; but he far surpasses them in aesthetic sensitivity. In aesthetic sensitivity he is the equal of Lessing and Winckelmann; but he far exceeds their powers as metaphysicians. In short, Mendelssohn's combination of philosophical depth and aesthetic sensitivity was unique and peerless. In the history of aesthetic rationalism Mendelssohn plays a crucial role. His task was to defend aesthetic rationalism against the new irrationalist currents of the age. Coming of age in the 1750s and 1760s, Mendelssohn had to respond to some of the growing challenges to the Enlightenment and authority of reason.

This chapter describes some important major milestones in Moses Mendelssohn's life, as framed by two of the most important relationships of his life. It first describes his engagement and subsequent marriage to his wife, Fromet Gugenheim. The chapter then turns to a man who had more of a direct influence on Mendelssohn's works in philosophy—Thomas Abbt. In many ways, his friendship with Abbt could be compared to that with Lessing's. However, as the chapter shows, Mendelssohn was able to show a different and more mature side of himself to Abbt, particularly as the latter was younger than Mendelssohn by nine years and was not quite as learned as Lessing. The chapter goes on to portray the ways in which Mendelssohn settled into the role of a guide and mentor to Abbt, and how he in turn would be challenged by Abbt's intellectual honesty.

This chapter highlights some of Moses Mendelssohn's attempts at political reform. It also takes a look at some civil reforms conducted on behalf of the Jews in Europe at the time. Here, the chapter shows how the role that Mendelssohn played in promoting the civil rights of Jews was wholly unpremeditated. Unlike his Bible project, they were not the results of long-term planning. Even so, they did grow out of deep-seated, life-long concerns, and they by no means reflected a newly awakened interest or a shift in his attitude. On the contrary, on many previous occasions Mendelssohn had acted as intercessor when Jewish communities were threatened with special measures of a cruel kind.

This chapter chronicles Moses Mendelssohn's conflicts with Johann Caspar Lavater. Lavater was a contemporary and acquaintance of Mendelssohn's who issued a public challenge to him in 1769. The chapter details Lavater's invitation for a theological debate, which Mendelssohn resented. Indeed, he repeatedly stated his distaste for engaging in religious disputes. He was also indignant of the fact that Lavater attempted to convert him to Christianity. The chapter goes on to detail the background discussions which went on during the Lavater affair, and the influence this public debate had on other writers of their time. It concludes with an epilogue to the Lavater affair.

This chapter examines a period of prolonged illness in Moses Mendelssohn's life. Toward the end of the 18th century, Mendelssohn suffered attacks of what is likely paroxysmal auricular tachycardia. This was a heart condition which caused weakness and congestion in the individual, and was usually brought on by stress. Mendelssohn's doctors, unable to cope with a disease they could not understand, blamed it on mental stress and prescribed an “intellectual diet” for him. Though illness cast a large shadow upon Mendelssohn's life, there were bright spots and happy interludes that helped to sustain his morale. In tracing the course of events from 1771 to 1778, the chapter reveals new friendships created—including his later correspondence with the physician Albert Heinrich Reimarus and his sister, Elise—and old ones deepened. Enforced abstinence from literary activity allowed Mendelssohn to give these human relationships their full due. It also facilitated a reappraisal of his life and a reorientation toward new goals. Far from being tedious or barren, the years of illness were both dramatic and rich in terms of inwardness.

This chapter returns the focus to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. It first discusses the final phase of his friendship with Moses Mendelssohn, as shown through their correspondence regarding his final work. Lessing's youthful comedy The Jews had helped to initiate his friendship with Mendelssohn. His last play, Nathan the Wise, became the crown and glory of their relationship. Lessing died in 1781, leaving behind a distraught Mendelssohn. However, Mendelssohn could bear the loss somewhat because he had so integrated the image of Lessing, his “friend and judge,” into his own being that death could not rob him of it. Aside from Lessing, the chapter also turns to another individual—Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi—with whom Mendelssohn would have a rather tense relationship, particularly on the matter of Lessing's own work.

This chapter concerns the decade transpiring between the summer of 1779 until the autumn of 1780 in Moses Mendelssohn's life. Much of this chronicle is based on his lengthy correspondence with August Hennings and on the letters written to Hennings by his sister-in-law, Elise Reimarus. During this period, Mendelssohn took on a greater role within the West European Jewish Enlightenment movement. He was now the acknowledged head of a group, and he was well aware of it. Moreover, the influx of men of great talent enabled him to embark upon a bold project of cultural reform. The chapter thus looks into his German Pentateuch translation and the new Hebrew commentary, both of which became a feasible proposition because his circle provided him with the necessary scholarly and administrative manpower. His decision to devote his energy to the advancement of his people thus came at the right moment.

The Haskalah was a period of intense linguistic transition, and new translations of the Bible—German and Yiddish; Christian and Jewish—played a central role, above all, by rendering scripture in language that was “clear, correct, and beautiful.” Two Yiddish Bible translations printed in Amsterdam in 1678 and 1679, though not commercially successful, must be counted as the first modern Jewish translations in Ashkenaz and precursors of the monumental Mendelssohn translation of 1780-83. Amsterdam publishers Phoebus and Athias were likely inspired by the popularity of the much-admired Dutch States Bible and the Luther Bible; their translators, Yekuthiel Blitz and Joseph Witzenhausen, also borrowed from those Christian Bibles. Phoebus and Athias used fine paper, engraved title pages, and Rabbinic approbations. One century later, Moses Mendelssohn reinvented the modern Jewish vernacular Bible, producing a multifaceted work, known as the Be’ur, that exerted enormous influence. Like his Yiddish forerunners, and like his Christian contemporaries (Michaelis; Schmidt), Mendelssohn domesticated biblical Hebrew and syntax, but he also foregrounded the literary and poetic qualities of biblical Hebrew, as he had done years earlier when translating Hebrew poetry. Comparisons of the Prefaces, paratextual elements, and individual verses show how these first three modern Jewish translators balanced innovation with traditionalism.

This chapter probes the pioneering if only partial vindication of Spinoza by the Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786), the first Jewish thinker for whom Spinoza served, both positively and negatively, as a point of reference—in his own eyes, and certainly in the eyes of others. In the history of the image of Spinoza, Mendelssohn looms large for several reasons. The first is his pioneering role in softening Spinoza's heretical reputation in German thought and thus aiding his integration into the canon of modern Western philosophy. However, near the end of his life, Mendelssohn defended Judaism by effectively rebutting Spinoza. Indeed, Mendelssohn furnished ammunition for friends and foes of Spinoza alike. His legacy was thus one of both reclamation and resistance.