Moses Mendelssohn: ´We Dreamed of Nothing but Enlightenment´

There is a bitter irony that struck me when I visited the very well documented interactive exhibition dedicated to Moses Mendelssohn at the Jewish Museum in Berlin: Although his whole life he pledged the cause of a liberal Judaism for the sake of diminishing persecutions and antisemitism, for the cause of the integration into the mainstream German society, Nazi actually hated and demonized Moses Mendelssohn. His Jewish Enlightment process, that lead that his children even converted to Judaism being eventually burried in a Christian cemetery while bearing very heimishe names, failed from the point of view of the clear aim endeavoured: to take upon Jews the stigma of being targeted for their religion and religiosity.

The exhibition We Dreamed of Nothing but Enlightment/Wir Träumten von Nichts als Aufklärung, hosted by the Jewish Museum in Berlin, until the 11st of September is however an important journey into the intellectual roots of Mendelssohn, his life benchmarks as well as the complex context of his times (including the economic development of Prussia, requiring qualified and skillful workforce which lead to allow more Jews to be part of the larger society). This was my first visit at the museum under the new direction, and although I grasp that there is a relatively similar (liberal) orientation, at least in the case of this exhibition, it pays more attention to the historical facts and less to the ideological background.

Mendelssohn lifestory and intellectual statements can be read in many ways and mine is just one of them. Well integrated Jews are not safer from antisemitism than the visible self-aware Jews. It may offer a temporary invisibility and illusory safety but a full acknowledgment of being the ´part´ of the majority will never happen. The fate of the Jews from the Soviet Union who gave up every bit of their identity to be Soviet, but ended up being marked as Jews in their passports is another example.

But without knowledge it is impossible to make right choices and the exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Berlin offer enough food for thought for a (sad) meditation of the tragical ending of the Haskala Jews.

Disclaimer: I visited the exhibition free as a journalist but the opinions, as usual, are my own.

The pity of us all

I have a pocket full of delayed blog posts, but I do not want to hurry up and write them all at once, only a couple of hours before Shabbat. As the experience of the last months taught me, I better focus on the essential and let the things flow in their own rhythm - sometimes even against my disciplined will.

I want to finish this week and start the Shabbos with a couple of thoughts about a very good and documented book that made me very sad: The Pity of It All, by Amos Alon. It is a long and detailed story of the Germany Jewry from the arrival of Moses Mendelssohn in Berlin till the departure of Hannah Arendt from the beloved country of the German Jews. Two moments important for the past and future of the Jews in Germany. In-between you have a strong fight for not surviving and not resisting the assimilation. Rather the opposite, in many cases the German culture offered the identity basis that will not be denied even in the middle of the persecutions. Very often, it is said that if you want to evaluate the degree of anti-Semitism in a society you should check the percentage of intermarriages. It was - and still is - the case in France, Germany and almost all the Eastern European countries, but also in America. Of course, the manifestations are different and the reasons may differ from a couple of another. Very often, when you accept to intermarry, the simple message delivered to the worried audience is 'So what, G-d is the same everywhere' or 'It is not G-d at all'. And you will end up educating your children that Hanukka is, in fact, a Jewish Xmas. I am sure there are many intermarried couples that could be very happy even after and so could be their children. 

But you cannot live without roots and sooner or later, you will want to return, even though you might deny it. Many people simply prefer to avoid looking back because they know it is not easy. Fighting the habits, including the cultural ones it is not easy and trying to ignore and deny and even despise your religion and culture and identity. 

Does it matter what the others are saying about you? Very often, the encouragement to assimilation starts with the following message: "How do you expect to integrate, to be part of the society and at the end of the process, to be an outperforming individual as long as you keep yourself blocked in a 'Middle Age' mentality"? Long time ago, I was very enthusiastic after reading Moses Mendelssohn's works, as I considered that he found the golden path that could offer the chance of keeping your identity while interacting with the culture in the middle of whom you are living. But the problem that I had from a certain moment on was what is the advantage of this interaction, as long as what I was ready to share was completely disregarded. I gave up the wonderful chance of being the humble acculturated subject of the big cultures I flirted with. French culture is impressive, and German literature might be interesting - even though I do not taste at all the sweet Romanticism that stole the heart of so many German Jews, and so is the Russian culture or the Anglo-American culture or any other culture of the world. But, I have my own identity and culture and a lot to share with the world. 

The Pity of It All succeeded to show the whole diversity of denial and assimilation. It is a defeat of the reason and the wonderful world of culture that did not stop the same fine intellectuals to accept or ignore the slaughtering the next door. Haskala was an ugly illusion and the variety of situations described in the book made me very sad. It was like watching a sad movie when everything is wrong and you know the ending but you cannot do anything to help them to see where it is the biggest mistake.


For me, the weakest part of the book was the lack of a personal insight. The facts selected by the author are talking by themselves and it is not the role of the historian to lecture but still I was craving for some strong conclusion. Or maybe we should start thinking about ourselves and refuse the sweet song of the mermaids whispering successful recipes of assimilation.

Book review: Running away the temptation: The Fugitive

Published in 1904 by Ezra Brudno, whose great great father studied with the Gaon of Vilna, The Fugitive could be considered a good study of the influence of Haskala (translated here as "culture") in literature, or a sociological testimony or a pro-assimilation pledge. Otherwise - or because of the aforementioned traits - the literary value is very limited. After the first 100 pages of the book you easily realize that the whole construction is aimed to reach a lecturing ending: life is possible also outside the shtetl.

Israel - a name symbolic for the whole community - is condemned to wonder from a place (the Russia of pogroms) to another (till America) and from a country to another after his father was accused on Pesah - the celebration of the freedom - of the blood label. From the cruel world of the yeshivas - from where he is expelled after being found reading Spinoza - to the bloody reality of the pogroms and the hard work of the immigrant in the United States, Israel will be driven by his love for the Christian woman and the final meditation about the equal indifference against all religions. At the end of his long and adventurous sentimental journey, he will achieve what her lover ask him to do when he was a poor orphan: to achieve the same intellectual status with writers as Pushkin or Lermontov. The whole story is written at the first person as a way probably to create the image of more authenticity.

Although it was written before Shoah, the ending is echoing in our 21st century ears the saying of Elie Wiesel according to which the children of the criminals aren't criminals. At the end, Israel will marry the daughter of the man directly involved in the murder of his father. Symbolically, Israel accepts the communion with those who murdered his community. The symbolism is relatively cheap and our hero doesn't develop too much about his choice(s), although given his exposure to Haskala and modern literature and philosophy, more tension and complex thinking would have enriched the story.

Reading recommendation: only if you are a lot of free time, you are working permanently to improve your English and writing skills and experience.