Moses Mendelssohn

✶September 6, 1729

†January 4, 1786

2 candles burning, 7 lit in all

About their life

Moses Mendelssohn was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the Haskalah, or 'Jewish Enlightenment' of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Born to a poor Jewish family in Dessau, Principality of Anhalt, and originally destined for a rabbinical career, Mendelssohn educated himself in German thought and literature. Through his writings on philosophy and religion he came to be regarded as a leading cultural figure of his time by both Christian and Jewish inhabitants of German-speaking Europe and beyond. His involvement in the Berlin textile industry formed the foundation of his family's wealth.

German-Jewish philosopher and theologian (1729–1786)

☆ Follow

Biography from the article Moses Mendelssohn on the English Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.