page_title: Jerusalem (Mendelssohn)
section_title: The religious issue (second part)
hierarchical_section_title: Jerusalem (Mendelssohn) / Moses Mendelssohn's treatise "On Religious Power" and its composition / The religious issue (second part)
caption_attribution_description: English: Frederick II of Prussia in Waffenrock (dress tunic). Deutsch: Das klorierte Bild zeigt den König nicht ganzfigurig. Der König ist von vorn dargestellt, der Kopf leicht gedreht im Halbprofil. Die mit einem Handschuh bekleidete linke Hand in die Seite gestützt, die Rechte auf den Krückstock. Der König trägt den schlichten „Interimsrock“ des 1. Bataillons der Leibgarde seines Garde-Regiments (IR 15 der Stammliste von 1806) mit umgelegter Offiziersschärpe, schwarzer Halsbinde, Generalshut, Degen mit Portepee, dazu auf der linken Seite aufgenäht den gestickten Bruststern des Schwarzen Adlerordens (Ordenssterne aus Metall erst im 19. Jh.). Auf der rechten Schulter ist das geflochtene Achselband zu erkennen. Zur Farbgebung: Der Rock dunkelblau („Preußischblau“) mit rotem Kragen und an den Ärmelenden ebensolchen roten Aufschlägen, die Knöpfe aus Metall sind silbern, ebenso die Offiziersschärpe und der Ordensstern. Der Hut - ein Dreispitz - schwarz mit weißem Federbesatz - der sog. „Plumage“ -, den die Generale trugen.
context_page_description: Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism is a book written by Moses Mendelssohn, which was first published in 1783 – the same year, when the Prussian officer Christian Wilhelm von Dohm published the second part of his Mémoire Concerning the amelioration of the civil status of the Jews. Moses Mendelssohn was one of the key figures of Jewish Enlightenment and his philosophical treatise, dealing with social contract and political theory, can be regarded as his most important contribution to Haskalah. The book which was written in Prussia on the eve of the French Revolution, consisted of two parts and each one was paged separately. The first part discusses "religious power" and the freedom of conscience in the context of the political theory, and the second part discusses Mendelssohn's personal conception of Judaism concerning the new secular role of any religion within an enlightened state. In his publication Moses Mendelssohn combined a defense of the Jewish population against public accusations with contemporary criticism of the present conditions of the Prussian Monarchy.
context_section_description: In his political theory Moses Mendelssohn had to criticize the present conditions of the Prussian state, and he did without mentioning it, partly for reasons of censorship and partly for rhetorical reasons. This was his polite way to say that its regent was centuries behind his own philosophy:
  Ich habe das Glück, in einem Staate zu leben, in welchem diese meine Begriffe weder neu, noch sonderlich auffallend sind. Der weise Regent, von dem er beherrscht wird, hat es, seit Anfang seiner Regierung, beständig sein Augenmerk seyn lassen, die Menschheit in Glaubenssachen, in ihr volles Recht einzusetzen. […] Mit weiser Mäßigung hat er zwar die Vorrechte der äußern Religion geschont, in deren Besitz er sie gefunden. Noch gehören vielleicht Jahrhunderte von Cultur und Vorbereitung dazu, bevor die Menschen begreifen werden, daß Vorrechte um der Religion willen weder rechtlich, noch im Grunde nützlich seyen, und daß es also eine wahre Wohlthat seyn würde, allen bürgerlichen Unterschied um der Religion willen schlechterdings aufzuheben. Indessen hat sich die Nation unter der Regierung dieses Weisen so sehr an Duldung und Vertragsamkeit in Glaubenssachen gewöhnt, daß Zwang, Bann und Ausschließungsrecht wenigstens aufgehört haben, populäre Begriffe zu seyn.
  I have the fortune to live in a state in which my opinions are neither new nor very extraordinary. Its wise regent who rules it, paid always, since the beginning of his reign, attention, that mankind gets its full right concerning all affairs of faith [literally: believe, confession]. […] With wise moderateness he preserved the privilege of the formal religion as he had found it. There are still centuries of civilization and preparation before us, when man will finally understand that privileges of a certain religion are neither based on law nor on the religion's own fundament, so that it will be a real benefit to abolish simply any civil divergence in favour of one religion. However under the rule of this Wise the nation got so accustomed to tolerance and compatibility in respect to other religions, that at least force, bann and the right to exclude are no longer popular terms.
  In consequence the second part on religious power had to criticize the present conditions of that religion which he always had to defend during his life. For these critics he needed the idea that state and religion should be divided, but kept in harmony, as well as the utopic postulation of a just state which should be the political target of a religious community. After this preparation, the finding of the preconditions in his political theory (the key or better: the ring in his whole argumentation), the first step was to comment the misconceived points of view: the adaptation to despotism, as it was postulated by many Christians discussing the "amelioration of the Jews".
caption: Frederick the Great in a coloured engraving
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