Benjamin Franklin's Influence on Mussar Thought and Practice: a Chronicle of Misapprehension
Benjamin Franklin's ideas and writings may be said to have had an impact on Jewish thought and practice. This influence occurred posthumously, primarily through his Autobiography and by way of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Lefin's Sefer Cheshbon ha-Nefesh (Book of Spiritual Accounting, 1808), whic...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2019]
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| In: |
The review of rabbinic Judaism
Year: 2019, Volume: 22, Issue: 2, Pages: 228-276 |
| Further subjects: | B
Cheshbon ha-Nefesh
B Mussar B Mendel Lefin B Orthodox Judaism B Art of Virtue B Benjamin Franklin B Haskalah B Menachem Mendel Levin B Deism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Benjamin Franklin's ideas and writings may be said to have had an impact on Jewish thought and practice. This influence occurred posthumously, primarily through his Autobiography and by way of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Lefin's Sefer Cheshbon ha-Nefesh (Book of Spiritual Accounting, 1808), which introduced Franklin's method for moral perfection to a Hebrew-reading Jewish audience. This historical development has confused Judaic scholars, and Franklin specialists have been largely oblivious to it. Remedying the record on this matter illustrates how even within the presumably insular world of Eastern European rabbinic Judaismfar from the deism of the trans-Atlantic Enlightenmentpre-Reform, pre-Conservative Jewish religion was affected by broader currents of thought. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0704 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The review of rabbinic Judaism
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700704-12341359 |