Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades: Nathan loses wife and children in a fire. Christians set fire to the house. The merchant meets the incomprehensible, the grief and the rage not with retaliation but with a good deed. He takes in the orphan Recha and is a loving father to her. 18 years later - and this is where Lessing's drama comes in - his house burns again. This time Recha is rescued from the flames by a temple lord. The Jewess and the Christian fall in love. During this time, Nathan is also summoned to the Sultan, who wants an answer to a very specific question: which faith is the only true and right one?
Lessing's humanistic appeal to humanity goes beyond a call for tolerance and the peaceful coexistence of religions. Rather, it is a call for discourse and participation in the search for truth. Does faith in humanity lead to a path of meaningful existence? Is it possible to live and decide freely in dignity out of oneself - even in situations that seem hopeless?
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