Moses Mendelssohn
1729 – 1786 · aged 57
German-Jewish philosopher and theologian (1729–1786)
- Born
- 6 Sept 1729 · Dessau
- Died
- 4 Jan 1786 · Berlin
Life timeline
Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.
- 6 Sept 1729BornBorn in Dessau
- 4 Jan 1786DiedDied in Berlin
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Meanwhile in the world
Major world events during their lifetime (1729 – 1786).
- 1756 – 1763Seven Years' War
- c. 1760 – 1840Industrial Revolution
- 1765 – 1783American Revolution
Biography
Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) 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.
His descendants include the composers Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn; Felix's son, chemist Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy; Fanny's grandsons, Paul and Kurt Hensel; and the founders of the Mendelssohn & Co. banking house.
Text from the Wikipedia article Moses Mendelssohn, CC BY-SA 4.0
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