Rabbi David Fränckel, Moses Mendelssohn, and the Beginning of the Berlin Haskalah

Home , Frederick the Great, Haskalah, Moses Mendelssohn

RABBI DAVID FRÄNCKEL, MOSES MENDELSSOHN, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE BERLIN HASKALAH. REATTRIBUTING A PATRIOTIC SERMON (1757)

Addenda

Gad Freudenthal

On December 10, 1757, R. David Fränckel (1707–1762), Chief Rabbi of Berlin Jewry, delivered in German a sermon on the occa- sion of Frederick the Great’s victory at Leuthen ﬁve days earlier (5 December). Volume 1 of EJJS carried my article describing the genesis of this so-called “Leuthen Sermon” and established that (contrary to previous consensus) it was written by David Fränckel and not by his former student Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1796).1 Rather, it was written in Hebrew by Fränckel and only translated into German by Mendelssohn. In an appendix, I described the very rich aftermath of the sermon: after having been very elegantly translated into English (we do not know by whom) and published by the ephemeral London publisher W. Reeve in 1758, the translation was reprinted no less than four times in New England. Mr. Shimon Steinmetz from Brooklyn (N.Y.) kindly drew my attention to three earlier relevant items that had escaped my attention. He also supplied copies of them. I herewith thank him warmly for his generous and erudite help and share his ﬁndings with readers of EJJS:

[1] As early as March 1758, The Scots Magazine, published in Edinburgh, carried the following entry in the section “New Books”: A thanksgiving-sermon from Psal xxii. 23.24 for the King of Prussia’s victory Dec. 5. Preached on the sabbath of the 10th, in the synagogue of the Jews in Berlin. By David Hirschel Frankel, Arch-rabbi. From

1 “Rabbi David Fränckel, Moses Mendelssohn, and the Beginning of the Berlin Haskalah: Reattributing a Patriotic Sermon (1757),” European Journal of Jewish Studies 1.1 (2007): 3–33. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011 EJJS 4.2 Also available online – brill.nl/ejjs DOI: 10.1163/102599911X573387 316 gad freudenthal

the German. 6 d. Reeve.—As this is the second Jewish sermon published in Britain (xviii, 202.),2 we have selected the following passages from it. Whereupon short excerpts follow.3

[2] Simultaneously, we ﬁnd the earliest mention of Fränckel’s sermon in New England, namely in The Monthly Review of March 1758. In a regular column reviewing recent publications, item 9 is the following: A Thanksgiving Sermon for the important and astonishing victory on the 5th of December, 1757, by the glorious King of Prussia. Preached on the Sabbath of the 10th of the said month, at the Synagogue of the Jews in Berlin. By David Hirschel Frankel, Arch Rabbi. Translated from the German original, printed at Berlin.4 8vo. 6 d. Reeve. To which the editors add the following observation: We have perused this discourse with much satisfaction, and we recommend it to our Readers, as a very good and Christian-like performance.5 It may be conjectured that this ﬁrst mention of the sermon in the New World, with its emphasis that it is a “Christian-like performance,” drew to it the attention of readers—and publishers— on the other side of the ocean. Soon excerpts from the sermon appeared in print:

[3] The Critical Review of May 1758, again in the section announcing new books, carried the following:

2 This refers to a sermon preached by Isaac Netto (or Nieto, as spelled today), the son and successor of Haham David Nieto, whose title-page reads: “A Sermon Preached in the Jews Synagogue, on Friday, February 6, 1756; Being the Day appointed by Authority for a GENERAL FAST, by Issac Netto, Archsinagogus of the Portuguez Jews Synagogue. Translated from the Spanish Language by the Author. Published at the Desire of the RULERS of the Synagogue, and adressed to them. London: Printed by Richard Reily, for the Author: And SOLD by H. Whitbridge, at the Royal-Exchange, 1756. [Price One Shilling.]” 18 pages. The Scots Magazine 18 [1756]: 202 announced this publication, adding the following observation: “The sermon of a Jew is a phenomenon that has not before appeared in our hemisphere [. . .]”. 3 The Scots Magazine 20 (1758): 163 –64. 4 The wrong indication “printed at Berlin” is presumably a slip, induced by the phrase “Translated from the German original printed at Berlin” on the title page. 5 The Monthly Review 18 (1758): 288.