MOSES MENDELSSOHN

Assess the extent to which a significant person or school of thought, has challenged and/or upheld
Jewish tradition.

At the time of Moses Mendelssohn’s birth in 1729, Europe was experiencing the age of enlightenment
(age of reason) associated with new thinking. This was a movement which arose during the early
eighteenth century. Enlightenment thinkers were attacking the accepted traditions of the past and for
them the supreme human value was reason. The age of secularism was beginning to rise with major
implications to Jewish life. The Jews at the time lived in ghettos separated from their societies through
Europe, UK and Russia religiously, culturally, socially from the dominant culture of their country, and
were considered inferior to the dominant society. From this period, Moses Mendelssohn made
significant contributions to Judaism within the 18 th century. During the time, he and his followers tried
to persuade other Jews to study secular subjects and emancipate. This movement became known as the
“Haskalah”. (Jewish enlightenment)

Moses Mendelssohn made some startling impacts to Jewish tradition. He was the first to speak out
against the use of excommunication as a religious threat. Orthodox Jews went against Haskalah because
it went against traditional Judaism, and challenged both rabbinic orthodoxy and the role of Talmud in
education. Mendelssohn saw the Haskalah as a way to “sound the death knell of rabbinic dogmatism. He
was able to incite many Jews to think, rationalise and question the hitherto unassailable rabbinic
traditions” (Massey Norman) Moses Mendelssohn thought the rabbi’s somewhat distorted the beliefs of
Judaism due to the insular nature of Jewish ghetto life. He saw the interpretation of the Torah leading to
the stifling of human nature which was not what God intended. The Haskalah encouraged Jews to study
secular subjects such as European and Hebrew languages and enter fields such as agriculture, crafts, the
arts and science. Through this movement, Jews could eventually assimilate into European society in
dress, language, manners and loyalty to the ruling power.

Many Jews opposed Moses Mendelssohn’s idea of emancipation into German society. “The Jews had
erected about themselves a mental ghetto to balance the physics ghetto around them. Quite naturally,
even though perhaps mistakenly, the Jews had long ago decided that a civilisation which had excluded
them and treated them with such cruelty could have nothing worthwhile fir them. Consequently, they
had limited themselves to their own cultural heritage. (Grayzel Solomon) It was then, that Mendelssohn
strove to desegregate Jews from their hermetically sealed existence and emancipate them into the
wider Prussian community. He aimed to destroy their mental barriers into the general culture without
harming their Jewish culture by teaching the Jews European languages such as German and Hebrew in
order to enhance their understanding and connection with other people in the Prussian society they
were living in. Therefore he challenged the philosophy that the Jews abided by in their hermetically
sealed lifestyle. Furthermore, Mendelssohn went to translate the Pentateuch, a Jewish text into German
and published it in Hebrew letters by the side of the original text. This led to the revival of Hebrew, most
particularly biblical Hebrew as it became a vehicle for secular and professional scientific expression.
One of the biggest changes of the Haskalah was in education. He sponsored a school for Jewish children
in Berlin with the support of fellow wealthy Jewish friends where secular subjects such as German were
taught in addition to the traditional Jewish subjects. The Maskilim (followers) provided education to
Jews through establishing Freischule “Berlin 1788”(free school). The maskilim (Haskalah followers) tried
to remove Talmud from its central position in Jewish education. Secular knowledge such as science and
mathematics, modern languages and practical training in labour were emphasized in the curricula in
order to help the Jews become integrated into society. This new education system for the Jews brought
about change in the education of girls. Daughters of wealthy families generally studied with private
teachers, and later in the 18th century, the maskilim established schools for poorer girls of the Jewish
population. “For his plan to draw young Jews away from the Talmudic study into the study of general
European culture bore considerable fruit, not only among the youth of Germany but to some extent in
Eastern Europe as well.” (Grayzel, Solomon)

The Haskalah was one of the primary causes of the start of he Jewish reform movement. The reform
movement tried to bring Judaism closer to contemporary European standards of behaviour. It also tried
to stem the tide of conversions to Christianity by Jews who were estranged from traditional ritual.
Synagogues began to allow sermons, choirs and organ accompaniments. Wearing a hat was no longer
compulsory in the synagogue. The sexes were now able to sit together in congregation. The observance
of the law started being more focused on the ethical commandments than on ritual observance.

In most of Western Europe, the Haskalah ended with large number of Jews assimilated. After
emancipation there was a rise in assimilation but also Jewish nationalism. Today Jewish people are
engaged in secular society throughout the world, holding responsibilities (in the government, justice,
medicine and science) and they no longer live in ghettos. Yiddish was outruled. Jewish adherents enjoy
full citizenship in all democratic countries. Prior to Haskalah there was only one form of Judaism which
we consider to be Orthodox Judaism today. Following the Haskalah, new variants were developed in
response to the modern world – Orthodox, reform and conservative. Many Jews stopped adhering to
Haskalah. The struggle for emancipation awakened some doubts about the future of Jews in Europe and
eventually led to both immigration to America and Zionism.

The Haskalah marked the transition of Jews from commercial jobs to labour jobs, specifically agriculture.
It also began a system of secular and Judaic education that has influenced the Jewish world until today.