Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) neither desired nor intended to overthrow the Talmud; he was in fact an observant Jew. Rav Hirsch (1808 – 1888) "praised Mendelssohn as ‘a most brilliant and respected personality whose commanding influence has dominated developments to this day." In his article "Mendelssohn in Nineteenth Century Rabbinic Literature,"
Meir Hildesheimer describes Rav Hirsch's attitude toward Mendelssohn at length:
Rabbi Hirsch bewailed the fact that Mendelssohn had not completed his
work. Had he been able to do so, it stands to reason that the Reform
movement might never have come into being. This attitude seems to
reflect the change that took place in the status of Orthodoxy in
Germany in the 1840's. At this time it was gaining strength and
changing from a passive to an aggressive position. Nevertheless, on
the whole, Rabbi Hirsch does not seem to have been seriously
disquieted by Mendelssohn. This emerges from an article written by his
son, Isaac Hirsch, on the one hundredth anniversary of Mendelssohn's
death. Rabbi Hirsch was still alive at the time, and there is reason
to believe that he endorsed the article. Mendelssohn is termed "one of
the noblest sons of Israel," who had taken his place among the
righteous and honest men in heaven. His memory remains alive amongst
men who pay homage and admiration to his blessed work. Mendelssohn had
devoted his life to bringing "true joy," but for us he would always be
remembered as "a great and noble Jew" by virtue of his contribution to
and appreciation of Judaism. He served as "a supremexample of truly
devout Jewish conduct" together with a broad knowledge of all of the
scientific disciplines.
The same article describes R. Azriel Hildesheimer's (1820-1899) attitude:
Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer, the rabbi of the Adat Israel community in
Berlin, and head of the Rabbinical Seminary, credited Mendelssohn,
"the great worldly sage," for his theory and practice of Judaism, for
his influence in Jewish political and civil circles, and his value as
a source for scholars in mattters of religious life and attitudes.
Mendelssohn was a loyal adherent of his religion, and acknowledged the
same in his writings. In thought and practice, in his philosophy and
conduct, he upheld the Biblical-Talmudic basis of Judaism. His work
was faithfully depicting Judaism to members of the alien culture,
among them philosophers, scholars and the higher echelons of society.
"Small minds" who sought to raise themselves to a level of importance
which they did not deserve, by climbing on his shoulders, called
themselves his disciples and heirs, although they did not conduct
themselves in accordance with either his spirit or his actions. They
crudely distorted the essence of his philosophy, and thus dishonored
him in the eyes of the vast majority of their peers. As a result,
Mendelssohn was then held responsible for the actions of these
"disciples" of his.
Other recognized gedolim who quote Mendelssohn include: R. Akiva Eiger (see Chiddushei R. Akiva Eiger Brachos 13a and Megillah 17a quoted here, R. David Tzvi Hoffmann (1843-1921; see Melamed le-Ho'il, Even ha-'Ezer [Frankfurt-am-Main, 1933], para. 33 [translation]; on Chumash: Bereishis 18:23-26; 31:51-53; 33:1-3; Vayikra [Jerusalem, 1953], p. 14; R. Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg (1785-1865), the author of Ha-Ksav ve-haKabbalah, in addition to writing a haskamah for the Biur on Vayikra, quotes Mendelssohn on numerous occasions (Shemos 10:8, 10:23, 14:13, 21:34, 22:3, 23:33; Vayikra 23:2). R. Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874) quotes Mendelssohn in a letter to R. Akiva Eiger (Derishas Tziyon [Jerusalem, 1947] p. 87) and refers to him as "a great man and crown of the sages." R. Shmuel Strashun, better known as the Rashash, quotes Mendelssohn in Ta'anis 9b, Yevamos 62b, and Horiyos 11b. (Almost all of these sources are taken from Meir Hildesheimer, "Mendelssohn in Nineteenth Century Rabbinic Literature.")
The Maharam Schick (1807-1889) relates the following episode (from this article by R. Shnayer Leiman):
It was the custom of the Hatam Sofer, when visiting a Jewish community
outside of Pressburg, to attend services Sabbath morning in the
community synagogue, after which he would accompany the Rabbi to his
home. There he would "order" the Rabbi to deliver an aggadic sermon,
after which the Hatam Sofer would also preach. Now it was his practice
never to recite a verse from Scripture by heart, and so [when he
visited my community] he requested a printed humash containing the
appropriate weekly reading. At the time, I owned three printed
editions of the Torah. One was an Amsterdam edition with the standard
Targums and commentaries. That edition I used to keep in the synagogue
over Sabbath, so that it would not be necessary for me to carry on the
Sabbath. [It, therefore, was not available in my home.] Another
edition—printed in Vienna— belonged to my wife, the Rebbetzin, and it
too was kept in the synagogue over Sabbath for her use. The third
edition, the only one I kept in the house, contained Mendelssohn's
translation and Biur. When the Hatam Sofer requested a printed humash,
and those who were providing for his needs knew that it was his
practice not to use the edition with Mendelssohn's Biur, he was
informed that they could not locate a printed humash. Given the
circumstances, he proceeded to preach and recite the verses by heart.
He was astounded, however, that a humash could not be located in the
Rabbi's house! After the exchange of words of Torah in my home, the
pious and righteous R. Hirsch Tyrnau, who was treated as a member of
the Hatam Sofer's family, went to visit him at the home where he was
staying. The Hatam Sofer queried him about the shortage of humashim in
the Rabbi's house. R. Hirsch Tyrnau then explained to the Hatam Sofer
what had really occurred. When I arrived for the Minha service at the
home where the Hatam Sofer was staying, he rebuked me for reading, and
studying from, Mendelssohn's Biur. I informed him that a respected
colleague, who was considered a righteous Jew even by the Hatam Sofer,
testified before me that a well known Gaon used to study the Biur,
especially to the book of Leviticus. The Hatam Sofer responded that,
in truth, that Gaon did not do well in this matter. I also excused
myself by informing him that I had read through the entire Biur and
did not find anything that even smacked of heresy or a passage that
was suspect in any way! The Hatam Sofer responded: "See the Biur to
Deuteronomy, chapter so and so, and you will find a heretical
comment." Although the passage he cited is not necessarily decisive,
nonetheless the Hatam Sofer has ruled and who would contravene his
ruling? In any event, it is evident that he considered Mendelssohn a
heretic, and his book a heretical work. That is why he had no
compunctions about Heidenheim's translation of the Torah; it was
specifically Mendelssohn's translations and commentaries that he
interdicted. He would not touch them, he kept them at a distance, for
they had the status of heretical works (see b. Sabbath 116a-b). But we
never heard that, if perchance a volume of Mendelssohn's Biur came
into his hands, he cast it to the ground.
All this should suffice to prove that Mendelssohn was quoted by many gedolim, in his time and beyond his time, although there were also those who opposed his works, especially among the Chassidim. See also comments to this post.
