Encounters in Modern Jewish Thought: The Works of Eva Jospe: Volume II: Moses Mendelssohn

The second of a three-volume series, this book contains Eva Jospe’s Moses Mendelssohn: Selections from His Writings, together with an article dealing with Mendelssohn’s enduring significance. As Raphael Jospe observes in his introduction to the volume, despite the welcome growth in recent years in the availability of English translations of Mendelssohn’s works, Eva Jospe’s Selections (including some of Mendelssohn’s private letters) remain valuable for their clarity, for the logic of their organization, and for the important insight they provide into Mendelssohn’s personality and convictions. Volume One of this series contains Eva Jospe’s study of the “Concept of Encounter in the Philosophy of Martin Buber,” and Volume Three her Reason and Hope: Selections from the Jewish Writings of Hermann Cohen. Together, these volumes offer a multidimensional view of Jospe’s work and thoughts.

Raphael Jospe teaches Jewish philosophy at Ariel and Bar Ilan Universities, and served as editor of the Jewish Philosophy division of the Encylopaedia Judaica (2nd edition), and currently is editor of the Jewish philosophy division of the planned new edition of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica. Among his books, Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages was published by Academic Studies Press.

Dov Schwartz, a former Dean of Humanities at Bar Ilan University and head of the departments of Philosophy and of Music, currently heads its interdisciplinary unit, and holds the Natalie and Isidore Friedman Chair for Teaching Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Thought. Among his various books, Religious Zionism: History and Ideology was published by Academic Studies Press.

Eva Jospe (1913–2011) was born and educated in Germany. She studied philosophy, including a course with Martin Buber. She was expelled from the university with the other Jewish students before finishing her degree, and was only able to complete her graduate education decades later in America. Following her immigration to America at the age of 26, she developed an extraordinary mastery of English, which enabled her in later years to translate works by Buber, Moses Mendelssohn, Hermann Cohen, and Franz Rosenzweig. She taught modern Jewish thought at Georgetown and George Washington Universities in Washington, D.C. for many years. After the death of her husband, Rabbi Alfred Jospe, she returned to the university as a student, and shortly before she turned 90 moved to Jerusalem to be near her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She died several days before her 98th birthday and is buried in Jerusalem.