Moses Mendelssohn: Sage of Modernity (Jewish Lives) by Shmuel Feiner (PDF)

Description

The “German Socrates,” Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) was the most influential Jewish thinker of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A Berlin celebrity and a major figure in the Enlightenment, revered by Immanuel Kant, Mendelssohn suffered the indignities common to Jews of his time while formulating the philosophical foundations of a modern Judaism suited for a new age. His most influential books included the groundbreaking Jerusalem and a translation of the Bible into German that paved the way for generations of Jews to master the language of the larger culture.Feiner’s book is the first that offers a full, human portrait of this fascinating man—uncommonly modest, acutely aware of his task as an intellectual pioneer, shrewd, traditionally Jewish, yet thoroughly conversant with the world around him—providing a vivid sense of Mendelssohn’s daily life as well as of his philosophical endeavors. Feiner, a leading scholar of Jewish intellectual history, examines Mendelssohn as father and husband, as a friend (Mendelssohn’s long-standing friendship with the German dramatist Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was seen as a model for Jews and non-Jews worldwide), as a tireless advocate for his people, and as an equally indefatigable spokesman for the paramount importance of intellectual independence.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Well written; informative, enjoyable read.

⭐If not the widest-known philosopher of the Enlightenment today, Moses Mendelssohn still was famous in his time. A Jew, he managed to overcome the anti-semitism of his time and garner praise from many contemporaries, including Immanuel Kant, who admired his writings and was a close acquaintance. Shmuel Feiner’s biography is an authoritative review of Mendelssohn’s thought and life. Certainly a new study of Mendelssohn’s ideas was overdue. Indeed, Feiner’s explication of the philosopher’s ideas is clear and detailed. Mendelssohn chiefly promoted an enlightened Judaism, free from the conservatism of the rabbinical councils of the time. The reform movement he supported, the “Haskalah,” had many followers and was intended to make Judaism more progressive. That is, to attune it more with current Enlightnement ideas.Mendelssohn’s friendship with Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was one of the great blessings of his life, for Lessing, poet, dramatist, and critic, helped acquaint Mendelssohn with many of the prominent Berlin intellectuals. Feiner describes the uneasyiness of Frederick the Great with this outstanding Jewish thinker. Actually, when Mendelssohn was proposed as a member in the Berlin Academy of Science the king ignored the proposal and let it drop. A great Francophile, Frederick had no respect for local philosophers, especially those who wrote in German!Feiner’s book is well worth reading, especially for his clarity in explaining the difficulties faced by a Jewish intellectual in a society in which such persons were dismissed as being unwelcome. .

⭐Since the review titled “A Love Letter Does not a Biography Make” is not really a review of Feiner’s book about Mendelssohn but more of a polemic against Mendelssohn (and the Enlightenment), I feel compelled to write a review of this book.While Alexander Altmann’s

⭐remains the most magisterial and detailed study of the life of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), and remains essential reading for all interested in Mendelssohn, Shmuel Feiner’s “Moses Mendelssohn: Sage of Modernity” (translated from the Hebrew original, which was published in 2005) surpasses Altmann’s book in certain respects. First, it is far more readable: while Feiner’s book is around the 200-page mark, Altmann’s is over 900 pages. While Altmann immerses the reader in 18th century intellectual history and the details of Mendelssohn’s philosophy and how each episode of his life reflects different aspects of that philosophy, Feiner gives us a personal portrait of Mendelssohn, a glimpse into his private life, his fears and joys alike. The opening paragraph, describing Mendelssohn walking with his family in Berlin and getting taunted for being Jewish–despite the wide acclaim he had already received in Germany and beyond as a leading Enlightenment philosopher–is a preview of what is to come.Feiner’s portrayal of Mendelssohn is sympathetic without being reverential. His Mendelssohn is an heroic figure but equally a tragic one. Mendelssohn’s courtship and marriage, his ten children (four of whom died very young), his friends and rivals are all portrayed in a personal and human light. While Feiner is an academic and Yale University Press is an academic publisher, this book reads like a serious but popular examination of Mendelssohn’s life. (Footnotes, which are missing, would have been nice.) Feiner significantly diminishes Mendelssohn’s historical significance by arguing that he did not found a movement (the Haskalah) nor did he foresee the radical direction (from the point of view of traditional rabbinic Judaism) which that movement would later take. Feiner sees Mendelssohn as almost sui generis: deeply dedicated to preserving rabbinic Judaism (contra Arkush and more in keeping with Sorkin) and yet dissatisfied with the manner in which rabbinic Judaism was practiced in his time.Feiner’s book is a fascinating look at an all-too-often misunderstood man. The book is highly accessible and the interested reader may finish this in one sitting. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the life of Moses Mendelssohn.

⭐While I consider the Enlightenment a disaster, the pernicious effects of which persist in our own benighted time, I’m interested in its intellectual and philosophical underpinnings. I was therefore curious to read Shmuel Feiner’s biography of Moses Mendelssohn, one of the truly brilliant (albeit misguided) thinkers of the 18th century.I tried to keep my distaste for Mendelssohn’s views in abeyance. No easy task, I can tell you! On page 36, Feiner quotes a letter from Mendelssohn to a Christian friend: “‘Our common God is not the God of Jews or Christians, but the God of all human beings.'” Contrary to ersatz ecumenism, the claim that Christian and Jewish (and Islamic) monotheism implies the worshipping of a “common God” is intellectual, theological, and historical gibberish. Worse, it’s heretical. And who is this “God of all human beings” to whom Mendelssohn refers? A big fat smiley face in the sky? I recognize no such god. Mendelssohn’s statement indicates nothing more than a sentimentalized religious indifferentism and syncretism, which ultimately leads to atheism and self-worship. Indeed, how much religious content is there to Reform Judaism, based as it is on Mendelssohn’s Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah)?On page 94, Feiner again quotes Mendelssohn: “‘It is inconceivable that a religion [referring to Christianity] that makes others separate could be a true religion.'” What’s inconceivable is how a man of Mendelssohn’s intellect could think such nonsense. If one isn’t a member of the Church, one is inevitably separate from her. Moreover, truth is by definition absolute; if one religion is true, then all others must be false.But my objection to Feiner’s biography doesn’t pertain to his choice of subject; however wrong Mendelssohn was, he’s worth writing about. Rather, as my title indicates, there’s a little too much veneration on Feiner’s part. As a result, Mendelssohn doesn’t come across as a three-dimensional historical figure, but as a symbol of the Jewish Enlightenment, secularism, and modernism. He was more than that, surely. And, though well written and researched, the book is a dry slog. Granted, Mendelssohn wasn’t Errol Flynn, but I can’t help but believe that his life and times were more interesting than Feiner conveys.”Moses Mendelssohn” isn’t bad, but I can’t quite recommend it, not even reservedly.

⭐Fascinating and well-written. Clear, evocative.

⭐Great biography of a Jewish philosopher that is much more accessible than its predecessors for the general reader.

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