The Ground Floor of Judaism: Scepticism and Certainty in Moses Mendelssohn’s Jerusalem

Abstract

catechism; The Jewish rights, and constitutions do not, however, convey us a favourable opinion of this nation. We marvel at the appearance of legal scholars who constantly ignore the spirit of the law , and solely want to acknowledge its letter ; who treat seriously and extensively the frivolities and wretched trifles, for which no law giver in the whole world cares; who issue prescriptions about unending improbable cases, of which no reasonable human being would conceive. We are sur-prised to find moral teachers which they follow who constantly ignore the eternal laws of nature, and decrees and constitutions of a very arbitrary essence,which seem to have no influence what-soever on human happiness, and which have neither real morality nor immorality; were there ever teachers of religion,who took customs and ceremonies to be the sole essence of that religion , and were used to taking the outer shell and shadow of the virtue for the virtue itself, and perceiving the externality of religion for the interiority thereof [ … ] such teachers are the Jews.