Abstract
Only once in forty years of lecturing could I not go on. What I had to say was shaking me, and I needed a few minutes' respite. In Toronto, I had given a course on the "golden age" in German philosophy. I was fond of it because, on the one hand, it was German philosophy but, on the other, it was far enough away from our terrible century. I saw no reason for a change when I moved from Toronto to Jerusalem. But there was a need for a new emphasis. For, while the age was "golden" for German philosophy, it was not so for Jews, still struggling for emancipation- with others, of course, but also with themselves for self-emancipation. Even Moses Mendelsohn admired—nay, celebrated—as a "modern Socrates" needed permission to live in Berlin, and probably only received it on account of his "reason." A wit has said that the Jews of Berlin esteemed reason, more so than Christians, who could live in Berlin even without it.
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