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Lessing and Nicolai were in a process of attempting <strong>to</strong> subvert<br />
<strong>the</strong> Freemasons <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> aims of <strong>the</strong> llluminati. 54<br />
If <strong>the</strong> Pla<strong>to</strong>nic State were <strong>to</strong> reign supreme, <strong>the</strong>n perhaps<br />
<strong>the</strong> first area that would break down in practical ceremonial<br />
Jewish law would be <strong>the</strong> process of excommunication. The<br />
rules of excommunication in Jewish law state that if a Bet Din,<br />
which is a duly constituted court of Jewish law, summons one<br />
<strong>to</strong> appear before it and he fails <strong>to</strong> appear, he could be<br />
excommunicated. 55 If, as some people alleged, Mendelssohn<br />
was such a stickler about practical observances, why did he<br />
<strong>the</strong>n write <strong>the</strong> following piece regard <strong>to</strong> excommunication,<br />
which literally breaks <strong>the</strong> back of Rabbinical authority?<br />
"In accordance with it [<strong>the</strong> principle of <strong>the</strong> separation of church<br />
membership and citizenship], <strong>the</strong> civil authorities should never<br />
permit a Rabbi <strong>to</strong> pronounce against a member of his<br />
community such a ban as excludes him from all social contact<br />
with <strong>the</strong> rest of his coreligionists outside <strong>the</strong> synagogue,<br />
degrades him in <strong>the</strong>ir eyes, interferes with his business, or<br />
even exposes him <strong>to</strong> persecution by <strong>the</strong> mob. It appears that<br />
fines imposed for transgressing presumed commandments<br />
from heaven are likewise improper. The wrong use of power in<br />
imposing <strong>the</strong>se penalties that can be made and, in fact, has<br />
often been made by Rabbis makes necessary for <strong>the</strong><br />
government <strong>to</strong> keep <strong>the</strong> exercise of this power under constant<br />
supervision. When punishing <strong>the</strong> Jew who is a transgressor,<br />
this power must never punish <strong>the</strong> man and <strong>the</strong> citizen. Nothing<br />
but exclusion from ecclesiastical society and its benefits<br />
should follow from a violation of its precepts." 56<br />
Dr. M. C. Weinberger 57 in his Seter Vesayif (Book and<br />
Sword) records some of <strong>the</strong> Rabbinical polemics against<br />
Mendelssohn's Biur that emanated from such notables as<br />
Rabbi Ezekiel Landau. Weinberger is as<strong>to</strong>nished as <strong>to</strong> why <strong>the</strong><br />
Rabbis would object <strong>to</strong> Mendelssohn's translation of <strong>the</strong> Torah<br />
when it was known that Saadya Gaon (882-942) translated<br />
Torah in<strong>to</strong> Arabic. Actually <strong>the</strong> Rabbinical leadership knew that<br />
Mendelssohn was a conspira<strong>to</strong>r, and unders<strong>to</strong>od what he was<br />
75