When Socrates was about 30, and his father was long dead, he was still pursuing the art of sculpture, but from necessity, and without much inclination.

The Berlin of the day—the day of Frederick the Great—was in a moral and intellectual ferment. The interest caused by these actions led Mendelssohn to publish his most important contribution to the problems connected with the position of Judaism in a Gentile world. His sons were: Joseph (founder of the Mendelssohn banking house and a friend and benefactor of Alexander von Humboldt) Abraham (who married Lea Salomon and was the father of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn); and Nathan (a mechanical engineer of considerable repute).

banking house. He also establiMoses Mendelssohnd himself as an important figure in the Berlin textile industry which was the foundation of his family's wealth.