MENDELSSOHN, MOSES

Jerusalem. Oder über religiöse Macht und Judenthum. FIRST EDITION. Two parts in one volume. pp. (2), 96, 141. [Fürst II, 364]. Berlin: Friedrich Maurer, 1783. * Bound with: Zöllner, Johann Friedrich. Ueber Moses Mendelssohn's Jerusalem. pp. 186. Berlin: Friedrich Maurer, 1784. * And: Anonymous [Uhle, August Georg]. Ueber Herrn Moses Mendelssohn's Jerusalem, politisch religiöse Macht, Judenthum und Christenthum. pp. 184. Berlin and Leipzig: n.p., 1784

In his "Jerusalem", Mendelssohn’s most important work, he argued that with the destruction of the Jewish State and the cessation of the Sanhedrin, Judaism was rendered a religion with no coercive powers. Nonetheless, Jews are still bound by the Covenant to observe Mosaic Law. Maintaining that the Covenant between God and the Jews has never been abolished, provoked criticism from certain Christian quarters who believed that the Old Testament was nullified following the destruction of the Jewish State. In their replies to Mendelssohn, Zöllner and Uhle raise this very objection. See A. Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (1973), pp. 549-50