Mendelssohn, << MEHN duhl suhn, >> Moses (1729-1786), was a Jewish philosopher and scholar, and one of the most learned men of his time. Mendelssohn explored a number of philosophical issues. He was a founder of the German Haskalah, a religious cultural movement (see Haskalah ). In his philosophy of religion, Mendelssohn emphasized reason and believed that human beings have an inborn power to know what is good and true.
Mendelssohn wrote several works in German and Hebrew. In Phadon (1767), he discussed his belief in the immortality of the soul. In Jerusalem (1783), Mendelssohn provided his interpretation of Judaism.
Mendelssohn was born on Sept. 26, 1729, in Dessau, Germany. He moved to Berlin in 1743, where he acquired advanced knowledge of history, Judaism, philosophy, and languages. Mendelssohn took an active part in Jewish cultural life. He worked for civil rights for German Jews and tried to improve Jews’ knowledge of German by translating parts of the Bible into that language. In spite of his own traditional observance, Mendelssohn’s role in the Berlin Haskalah made him extremely unpopular among Orthodox Jews. His Bible translation was the subject of a major controversy. Mendelssohn died on Jan. 4, 1786.
