Letter of Moses Mendelsohn, to Deacon Lavater.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

J. Kingsland

New York

1821

Singerman 0337; Rosenbach 214.

Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86) achieved fame and distinction as the father of the Jewish Haskalah or Enlightenment, which entailed reconciling the Jewish religion with the broad universalist principles of the European Enlightenment. Mendelssohn pioneered Jewish engagement in non-Jewish intellectual life in Germany, embracing the philosophical project begun by Leibniz and developed thereafter by Christian Wolff. Mendelssohn remained faithful to Orthodox Judaism, but challenged Jewish traditionalism by translating the Pentateuch into German and by generally advocating the adoption of the High German language and other forms of acculturation into German society. After the Swiss clergyman Johann Caspar Lavater (1741-1801) challenged Mendelsohn to convert to Christianity, he penned the following reply, which silenced Lavater and earned Mendelssohn much respect among Enlightenment intellectuals. Noteworthy are Mendelssohn’s very pointed formulation of the disadvantages faced by Jews in Christian society and his measured praise for the degree of toleration enjoyed by the small Jewish community in Frederick II’s Prussia. Inscription by Rebecca Graetz to her niece, Sara Graetz Moses, and dated, March, 1836. Rebecca’s sister Rachel married Solomon Moses, the son of Isaac Moses. Sara Moses was the mother of Henry Joseph of Montreal. First translation of Mendelsohn’s letter into English.