Jerusalem. Oder über religiöse Macht und Judenthum. FIRST EDITION. Complete in two part. pp. (2), 96, 141. * Bound with: Zöllner, Johann Friedrich. Ueber Moses Mendelssohn's Jerusalem. pp. 186. Engraved portrait of Mendelssohn on title-page.

MENDELSSOHN, MOSES.

Friedrich Maurer

Berlin

1783 and 1784

In his "Jerusalem," Mendelssohn’s most important work, the author argued that with the destruction of the Jewish Commonwealth 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 had 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 his reply to Mendelssohn, Zöllner raises this very objection. See A. Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (1973) pp. 549-50.