Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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traditional Judaism than Mendelssohn c ould have dreamed, result ing in t he rise of
the Reform movement and its eventual offspring, the advent of sec ular Judaism
and, in our t ime, a splint ering of Am Y isroel/t he Jewish people into several different
c ultures.
The most spec tac ular sign of what Mendelssohn – who remained a prac t ic ing
Orthodox Jew up to his death at the age of fifty-seven – had triggered occurred in
his own family. His grandson, Felix, the c omposer, whose fame would outstrip his
own, was baptized a Christian.
(N.B.: the quotations that follow are taken from Jerusalem.)
FROM THE WRITINGS OF MOSES MENDELSSOHN
Eac h c onc ept ion of spirit ual beaut y is a glimpse at God.
God punishes the sinner not ac c ording to His own infinity but ac c ording to the
sinner’s frailt y.
If you take mankind as a whole, you will not find that there is c onstant progress in
its development that brings it ever nearer to perfection. On the contrary, we see
c onstant fluc tuations; mankind as a whole has never yet taken any step forward
without soon and with redoubled speed sliding back to its previous posit ion.
All commandments of the divine law are addressed to man’s will, t o his c apac it y t o
act. In fact, the original Hebrew term [emunah] that is usually translated as “fait h”
means, in most cases, merely “t rust”, c onfidenc e or firm relianc e on pledge and
promise... Whenever the text refers to eternal verities, it does not use the term
“believe” but “understand” and “know”....
As I see it, Judaism has from its inception consisted of both doctrines and laws,
c onvic tions and ac tions. The doc trines of Judaism were never tied to phrases or
formulations whic h had to remain unc hanged for all men and times, throughout all
revolut ions of language, moralit y, ways of life and c irc umst anc e.
The ultimate purpose of the written and the unwritten laws presc ribing actions as
well as rules of life is public and privat e salvat ion.