Friedlander David

Friedlander David, a Jewish scholar, was born at Kdnigsberg (Prussia) December 6, 1749. The Reform movement at Berlin, under the leadership of Mendelssohn (q.v.), attracted him to the Prussian metropolis, and brought hims into relations: ewith Mendelssohn. He devoted himself to educationams and other reforms among the Jews, and at one tiume went so far as to propose a union of the Jewish Chetrch with the Christian. In a Sendschreiben addressed to the Protestant clergyman Teller, he asked "how it might be possible for a conscientious Jew to enter into Christian fellowship without making a hypocritical confession." The unfavorable reply which he received to this inquiry and the disapprobation with which it was met from many Jews, caused him to abandon the project. Friedlander was a constant contributor to the Berlinische Monatsschrift, and to the Sammler (a Jewish periodical at Kdnigsberg, supported mainly by disciples of Kant). Besides a number of works of inferior merit, he translated the liturgies, and contributed to Mendelssohn's great Bible work (קהלת), Das Buch Kohelath, im Original mit d. hebraische. Commentar Mendelssohn's u. d. Uebers. David Friedlinder's (Berlin, 1772). He died at Berlin, December 26, 1834. — Jost, Gesch. d. Judenthums u. s. Sekten, 3:316; Biographie Universelle, 64:513; Kitto, Cyclop. of Bib. Lit. 2; Etheridge, Introd. to Bib. Lit. 477. (J.H.W.)