Background

//Moses Mendelsohn...Who was he? Where/when was he born?// //His religion? What was his childhood like? How did he recieve an education?//

Moses Mendelsohn was born on September 26, 1729 in Dessau, Germany.



He was born into a **Jewish family,** and they did not have much money. They were **very poor**, but Mendelsohn still recieved a decent education that helped him later on.

As a young child, Mendelsohn suffered from a disease that left him with a **curvature of the spine.** His early education was cared for by his **father** and by the local rabbi, **David Fraenkel.** Fraenkel taught Mendelsohn the Bible and Tamud, and also introduced to him the philosophy of **Maimonides**. Maimonides was an ancient Jewish philosopher, and also one of the greatest Torah scholars of his time (the 12th century). His main philosophy centered around the belief that it is impossible for the truths arrived at by human intellect to contradict those revealed by God. It is very likely that being taught Maimonides's philosophies influenced some of Mendelsohn's beliefs and teachings later on in life.



When Mendelsohn was 14, he followed the rabbi to Berlin, where he **studied French, Italian, English, Latin and Greek as well as mathematics, logic and philosophy.** He excelled in these subjects, and in the mid-1750s, he developed friendships with the philosopher **Immanuel Kant** and also with **Gotthold Lessing,** a German playwright and critic.

//(continued on next page, PERSIA GT)//