Autograph Letter Signed. Written in a neat cursive hand in Judeo-German to one “M. E.”

FRIEDLANDER, DAVID.

8th April

Berlin

1799

This would appear to be a response by Friedlander to an earlier letter from an anonymous correspondent, who felt that if he were to send his children to Berlin for their education they would likely not remain religious. Apparently he inferred that Friedlander’s approach bordered on being an “apikorus”. In the present letter, Friedlander cites various passages of Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed and then boldly states: “Do you therefore believe that the Rambam, Rabbeinu Yoseph and Rabbeinu Yehudah Halevi were [also] all Apikorsim?” A major figure in the early Haskalah movement founded by Moses Mendelssohn, David Friedlaender (1750-1834) devoted his energies to the emancipation of the Jews, its connected Reforms and the education of Jewish youth. To that end, in 1778, Friedlander, together with his wealthy brother-in-law Isaac Daniel Itzig (1750-1806) founded the Freischule (Jewish Free School) in Berlin where he developed its modern curriculum. See S. Feiner, The Jewish Enlightenment (2002) pp. 108-11; A. Altmann, Moses Mendelsohn (1973) pp. 350-52. Letters by David Friedlaender are rare to appear ata auction.