Moses Mendelssohn And Samson Raphael Hirsch example essay topic

Moses Mendelssohn lived between the years 1729 and 1786. He was known as the ' father of Haskalah ' because of his contributions to the Haskalah movement. Mendelssohnwas a Jewish philosopher, and got much of his education from his father, the local rabbi, David Frankel. Mendelssohn studied the philosophy of Maimonides. He had written the 'Principally Leibniz ', as an attack on the national neglect of native philosophers. Also published by Mendelssohn was the' Philosophical Conversations ' in 1755.

Between the years 1756 and 1759, Mendelssohn became known as the 'leading spirit of the Bibliothek ' and ran some risk by freely criticizing the poems of the king of Prussia. In 1762 he won the prize offered by the Berlin academy for an essay on the application of mathematical proofs to metaphysics. On October 1763, the King granted Mendelssohn the privilege of Protected Jew (Schutz - Jude), which assured his right to undisturbed residence in Berlin. Mendelssohn devoted his life to the culture and emancipation of the Jews. He began by his German translation of the pentateuch and other parts of the bible.

From this, the Jews learned the German language, German culture, and got a desire for German nationality. Mendelssohn put forward his plea for tolerance in Jerusalem' Oder Ube n Religious Macht und Judenthums '. Mendelssohnwas a great philosopher, and his contributions to the Jews were and still are great. Samson Raphael Hirsch lived between the years 1808 and 1888. He was the leader of Orthodoxy in Germany in the nine-teeth century. Hirsch was known as the ' Jewish religious thinker ', and the 'founder of Trenniley-Otho dixie ' (separatist Orthodoxy).

Hew as the leading spirit in the establishment and of modernized Orthodox Jewish congregation and school system. The slogan of the growing ' neo-orthodox ' group was ' torah combined with wordily wisdom '. They believed in schools that the Hebrew language, Jewish subjects, secular studies, and the school curriculum should be taught. Prussia adopted a law permitting Jews to secede from the general Jewish community and establish separate religious societies. Hirsch wrote ' Nineteen Letters ',' Horeb ', commentaries on the Pentateuch, Psalms, the Hebrew prayer book, and edited the monthly ' Jeshurun '. Hirsch showed Judaism as a community based on faith, aiming at the sanctification of life, the of man, and the attainment of an awareness of G-d's presence on Earth.

He rejected biblical criticism, and the application of scientific methods to the study of Judaism. Moses Mendelssohn and Samson Raphael Hirsch were different in that Mendelssohn believed in secular education, assimilation within your country, and learning the language of the country (in his case, it was Germany). Hirsch, on the other hand believed that everything revolves around your religion, and did not encourage assimilation. Mendelssohn supported his belief by translating books from the torah into German, to encourage the learning and use of the language. Hirsch objected to this and believed that the torah must be learned in the ' lash on ha torah ', the language of the torah. I agree with Mendelssohn to some degree.

I believe that a certain amount of assimilation is good, and that learning the torah in the language of your country (as an aid to the language of the torah) is helpful, and may encourage more learning. I also think that too much assimilation can be harmful. I think that intermarriage is bad and that just weakens the Jews. MOSES MENDELSSOHN AND SAMSON RAFAEL HIRSCH 8-K Jewish History.