Description Mendelssohn wrote "Jerusalem" in Prussia on the eve of the French Revolution.
Jew refusing both proselytism and the abandonment of his own Religious be.
The book as a whole summarizes Moses Mendelssohn\'s critic concerning the contemporary conditions of the Prussian Monarchy and the legal status of the different religions, which finally means the civil status of its inhabitants according to their faith.
Instead the new charge of religion would be the education of just and tolerant citizens.
Hence the Mosaic law and the traditional practice of jurisdiction was no longer the business of Judaism, if there would be a tolerant state.
It was reduced to it, because the tolerant state should be separated from any religion.
In the first the author developed his political theory towards a utopia of a just and tolerant democracy, which he identified with the political attempt of the Mosaic Law: therefore the title "Jerusalem." In the second part he worked out a new pedagogic charge which every religion has to fulfill in the private sector.
The "Jerusalem" consisted of two parts and each one was paged separately and the first one treated clearly the contemporary conflicts of the state and the second those of religion.
On the other hand, a lot of historians concerned about Haskalah criticized the heroic image about Moses Mendelssohn in which he appears as the starting point of Jewish enlightenment without any respect to earlier attempts around the beginning of the 18th century.
The "Jerusalem" is still underestimated as a contribution to philosophy - probably because it was directly connected with the historical situation and the social conditions of the author\'s life.
Because it deals with social contract and political theory (especially concerning the question of the separation between religion and state).
When he published "Jerusalem," he risked a lot, not only in front of the Prussian authority, but also in front of Religious authorities - including Orthodox Rabbis.
Description Mendelssohn wrote "Jerusalem" in Prussia on the eve of the French Revolution
