(Gibe'at ha-Moreh)_, in which he attempted to reconcile his master's
system with that of modern philosophy--even as the master had tried to
reconcile Judaism with Aristotelianism--he gave a brief sketch of the
development of modern thought. This part of his work was assiduously
studied by his compatriots. Among his unpublished writings was found a
work on mathematical physics, _Ta'alumot Hokmah_, and in his Talmudic
treatise, _Heshek Shelomoh_, he inserted a dissertation, _Ma'aseh
Hosheb_, on arithmetic, like a skilful physician putting a healing,
though to some it may appear a repelling, balm into a delicious,
attractive capsule.

The story of Maimon, as I have said, is the story of many of the
peripatetic apostles of Haskalah, and his experience was more or less
also theirs. Issachar Falkensohn Behr (or Bär Falkensohn, 1746-1796?),
without funds, friends, or rudimentary knowledge of the subjects
necessary for admission into a public school, left his native city of
Zamosez with the determination to enter the university of "Little
Berlin," as Königsberg was called. Too poor to carry out his plan, he
tramped to Berlin. Through the influence of his relatives and
countrymen, Israel Moses Halevi and Daniel Jaffe, he was introduced to
Mendelssohn, and was enabled to devote himself systematically to the
study of German, the alphabet of which he had learned from Wolff's
treatise on mathematics, and to French, Latin, physics, philosophy, and
medicine. In a very short time he mastered them all, especially German.
His _Gedichte eines polnischen Juden_ (Mitau and Leipsic, 1772) caused
no little stir among the poets. Lessing and Goethe, close observers of
symptoms of enlightenment among the Jews, expressed themselves
differently as to the real merit of the collection; but both concurred
with Boie, who, writing to Knebel, the friend of Goethe, remarked
concerning them, "You are right; the Jewish nation promises much after