"The Ignorant Hold Back their Judgment and Await the Conclusions of the Knowing": Moses Mendelssohn and Other Mathematicians

"In mathematics the ignorant hold back their judgment and await the conclusions of the knowing." Thus observed Moses Mendelssohn in the paper that won him the Berlin Academy's essay competition in 1763. This statement, and others in which he referred to mathematics, are the result of Mendelssohn's own mathematical experiences and his exchanges with other mathematicians, which have hardly been explored to date. The present paper is only a thumbnail sketch of those experiences and exchanges. First Mendelssohn's contacts with mathematicians of the Prussian establishment are considered. This is followed by an overview of Jewish mathematicians with whom Mendelssohn was in touch at various stages of his life. A final section provides an outline of some of Mendelssohn's mathematical writings.