Moses Mendelssohns Hebrew Writings

German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (17291786) was one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment. Until now, attention was focused on Mendelssohns German workssuch as his groundbreaking Jerusalemwhich have been duly translated into English. Edward Breuer and David Sorkin assert that his Hebrew works are essential for understanding both his biography and his oeuvre. This volume offers expertly translated and generously annotated selections from the entire corpus of Mendelssohns published Hebrew writings. Mendelssohn wrote in Hebrew throughout his life, but these worksmainly grounded in biblical and other Hebrew classical workshave been hitherto inaccessible to most scholars. In this volume, Breuer and Sorkin make an important contribution to modern Jewish and religious thought, refuting the notion that Mendelssohn led a bifurcated intellectual and spiritual existence and demonstrating Mendelssohns ability to transform traditional religious genres into vehicles for philosophical argumentation.