Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch | |
|---|---|
.crop.jpg) Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch | |
| Title | Rabbi |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 20 June 1808 (25 Sivan 5568) |
| Died | 31 December 1888 (27 Tevet 5649) (aged 80) |
| Buried | Frankfurt am Main |
| Nationality | German |
| Spouse | Hannah Jüdel |
| Parents |
|
| Alma mater | University of Bonn |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Denomination | Orthodox Judaism |
| Jewish leader | |
| Successor | Solomon Breuer |
| Position | Rabbi |
| Synagogue | Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft (IRG),Khal Adath Jeshurun |
| Semikhah | Jacob Ettlinger[1] |
Samson Raphael Hirsch (Hebrew:שמשון רפאל הירש; 20 June 1808 – 31 December 1888) was a GermanOrthodoxrabbi best known as the intellectual founder of theTorah im Derech Eretz school of contemporaryOrthodox Judaism. Occasionally termedneo-Orthodoxy, his philosophy, together with that ofAzriel Hildesheimer, has had a considerable influence on the development ofOrthodox Judaism.[2]
Hirsch was rabbi inOldenburg,Emden, and was subsequently appointed chief rabbi ofMoravia. From 1851 until his death, Hirsch led the secessionist Orthodox community inFrankfurt am Main. He wrote a number of influential books, and for a number of years published the monthly journalJeschurun, in which he outlined his philosophy of Judaism. He was a vocal opponent ofReform Judaism,Zionism, and similarly opposed early forms ofConservative Judaism.[2][3]
Hirsch was born inHamburg, which was then a part ofNapoleonic France. His father, Raphael Arye Hirsch, though a merchant, devoted much of his time toTorah studies; his grandfather, Mendel Frankfurter, was the founder of theTalmud Torah schools in Hamburg and unsalaried assistant rabbi of the neighboring congregation ofAltona; and his granduncle, Yehudah Leib (Löb) Frankfurter Shapira (1743-1846), was the author of several Hebrew works, including theTorah commentaryHarechasim le-Bik'ah (הרכסים לבקעה).[4]
Hirsch was a student ofChachamIsaac Bernays, and theBiblical andTalmudical education which he received, combined with his teacher's influence, led him to determine not to become a merchant, as his parents had desired, but to choose the rabbinical vocation. In furtherance of this plan, he studiedTalmud from 1828 to 1829 inMannheim under RabbiJacob Ettlinger. He receivedsemicha (ordination) from Rabbi Ettlinger[1] in 1830, at the age of 22.[5] He then entered theUniversity of Bonn, where he studied at the same time as his future antagonist,Abraham Geiger.[2]
.jpg)
In 1830, Hirsch was electedchief rabbi (Landesrabbiner) of thePrincipality of Oldenburg. During this period, he wrote hisNeunzehn Briefe über Judenthum, (Nineteen Letters on Judaism) which were published under the pseudonym of "Ben Usiel" (or "Uziel"), at Altona in 1836. This work made a profound impression in German Jewish circles because it was "something new — a brilliant, intellectual presentation ofOrthodox Judaism in classic German, and a fearless, uncompromising defense of all its institutions and ordinances".[2]
One of the young intellectuals strongly influenced by the "Nineteen Letters" wasHeinrich Graetz. Following a personal letter that Graetz wrote to Hirsch, Hirsch offered Graetz to host him at his own house for the continuation of his studies. Graetz then lived at Hirsch's house in Oldenburg from 1837 to 1840, as a pupil, companion, and amanuensis.[7]"Hirsch's major works are discussed in further detailbelow.
In 1838, Hirsch published, "as a necessary concomitant" of theLetters, hisHoreb, oder Versuche über Jissroel's Pflichten in der Zerstreuung, as a text-book on Judaism for educated Jewish youth. He had writtenHoreb first, but his publishers doubted that a work defending traditional Judaism would find a market in those times with reform in vogue.[2]
In 1839, he publishedErste Mittheilungen aus Naphtali's Briefwechsel, a polemical essay against thereforms in Judaism proposed by Geiger and the contributors to the latter'sWissenschaftliche Zeitschrift für jüdische Theologie (such asMichael Creizenach); and in 1844, he publishedZweite Mittheilungen aus einem Briefwechsel über die Neueste Jüdische Literatur, also polemical in tendency and attackingHoldheim'sDie Autonomie der Rabbinen (1843).[2]
Hirsch remained in Oldenburg until 1841 when he was elected chief rabbi of the Hanoverian districts ofAurich andOsnabrück, with his residence inEmden. During this five-year post, he was taken up almost completely by communal work and had little time for writing. He did, however, found a secondary school with a curriculum featuring bothJewish studies and a secular program, for the first time employing his mottoTorah im Derech Eretz ("The Torah is maximalized in partnership with worldly involvement").[2]
In 1843, Hirsch applied for the post ofChief Rabbi of theBritish Empire. Out of 13 candidates, mostly from Germany, he reached the shortlist of four:Nathan Marcus Adler, Hirsch Hirschfeld,Benjamin Hirsch Auerbach, and Hirsch.[2] Adler won the position on 1 December 1844. With 135 communities having one vote each, Adler received 121 votes, Hirschfeld 12, and Hirsch 2.[5]
In 1846, Hirsch was called to the rabbinate ofNikolsburg inMoravia, and in 1847, he became chief rabbi ofMoravia and Austrian Silesia. In Austria, he spent five years in the re-organization of the Jewish congregations and the instruction of numerous disciples; he was also, in his official capacity as chief rabbi, a member of the MoravianLandtag, where he campaigned for more civil rights for Jews in Moravia.[2]
In Moravia, Hirsch had a difficult time, on the one side receiving criticism from the Reform-minded, and on the other side from a deeply traditionalOrthodox element, which found some of his reforms too radical. Hirsch placed a much stronger emphasis on a deep study of the entireHebrew Bible, rather than just theTorah and selected Bible readings, in addition toTalmud, as had been the custom of religious Jews up until then.[2]
In 1851, he accepted a call as rabbi of an Orthodox separatist group inFrankfurt am Main, a part of the Jewish community of which had otherwise largely accepted classical Reform Judaism. This group, known as the "Israelite Religious Society" ("Israelitische Religions-Gesellschaft", or IRG), became, under his administration, a great congregation, numbering about 500 families. Hirsch remained rabbi of this congregation for the rest of his life.[2]
Hirsch organized theRealschule and theBürgerschule, in which thorough Jewish training was provided, along with those aspects of secular training deemed true according to theTorah (Torah im Derech Eretz). He also founded and edited the monthly magazineJeschurun (1855–1870; new series, 1882 et seq); most of the pages of the Jeschurun were filled by himself.[2]During this period he produced his commentaries onChumash (Pentateuch),Tehillim (Psalms) andsiddur (prayer book).
In 1876,Edward Lasker (a Jewish parliamentarian in thePrussian Landtag) introduced the "Secession Bill" (Austrittsgesetz), which would enable Jews to secede from a religious congregation without having to relinquish their religious status. The law was passed on 28 July 1876. Despite the new legislation, a conflict arose whether "Austritt" (secession) was required byJewish law. Hirsch held this was mandatory, even though it involved a court appearance and visible disapproval of the Reform-dominated "Main Community" (Grossgemeinde). His contemporaryIsaac Dov (Seligman Baer) Bamberger,Rabbi ofWürzburg, argued that as long as theGrossgemeinde made appropriate arrangements for the Orthodox element, secession was unnecessary. The schism caused a terrible rift and many hurt feelings, and its aftershocks could be felt until the ultimate destruction of the Frankfurt community by the Nazis.[2]
During the final years of his life, Hirsch put his efforts in the founding of the "Freie Vereinigung für die Interessen des Orthodoxen Judentums", an association of independent Jewish communities. During the 30 years after his death, this organization would be used as a model for the formation of the international OrthodoxAgudas Yisrael movement. Hirsch had a great love for theLand of Israel, which is apparent from his writings, but was opposed to the proto-Zionist activities ofZvi Hirsch Kalischer.[2] He opposed any movement to wrest political independence for the Land of Israel before the Messianic Era.[3] In later works, he makes it clear that Jewish sovereignty is dependent only on Divine Providence.[8]
From reports of his family members, it seems likely that Hirsch contractedmalaria while in Emden, which continued to plague him during the rest of life with febrile episodes.[2]
Hirsch died in 1888 inFrankfurt am Main, and is buried there.[2]
Hirsch's sonMendel Hirsch(in German) (1833–1900) was a scholar and writer; his granddaughterRahel Hirsch (1870–1953) became the first female professor of medicine inPrussia.[9]
Hirsch's innovative and influential commentary on the Pentateuch[10](Uebersetzung und Erklärung des Pentateuchs, "Translation and explanation of the Pentateuch"; 5 volumes published 1867–78), has been "hailed as a classic" since the publication of the first volume,Bereshit.According to Hirsch, the goal of the commentary was to expound the text by ascertaining the exact meaning of the words, their etymology,philology, and origin, and, this achieved, "to establish, on the basis ofhalakhic andaggadic interpretations,the JewishWeltanschauung".[11]A feature of the commentary is its analysis of the meanings and symbols in the religious precepts (mitzvot); see further below. This analysis, too, builds on the discussion of the Hebrew, while at the same time, it draws on the treatment of eachmitzvah in theOral Torah, intentionally[12] consistent with the final application inHalakha. The commentary gained worldwide popularity for its scope of insight and information offered to scholar and layman alike, and is still widely referenced.[13]Oral Torah § In rabbinic literature and commentary provides further context; and see alsoJewish commentaries on the Bible § Acharonim (1600–) andYeshiva § Torah and Bible study.
Hirsch'sNineteen Letters on Judaism (Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum), published in 1836 under the pseudonym "Ben Uziel", offered an intellectual presentation of Orthodox Judaism in classical German and a "fearless, uncompromising defense" of all its institutions and ordinances. (See underOldenburg above.)It was written in the form of a fictional correspondence between a young rabbi/philosopher and a youthful intellectual.[14] The first letter, the intellectual's, outlines the challenges thatemancipation created for modern Jews, and questions the continued relevance of Judaism. The rabbi responds in the subsequent letters, discussing, in a structured sequence, God, man, and Jewish history; leading to a discussion of themitzvot and their classification (as employed inHoreb). The work made a profound impression on German Jewish circles and has been republished and translated several times; it is still influential and often taught.[15]
Horeb (subtitledVersuche über Jissroel's Pflichten in der Zerstreuung, “Essays on the Duties of the Jewish People in the Diaspora”), published 1838, is Rabbi Hirsch's presentation of Jewish law and observances, with particular emphasis on their underlying ideas, capturing the "unifying ideological threads"; these discussions are still regularly taught and referenced.[16]The title is a reference to the(Ten) Commandments;Mount Horeb,Exodus 3:1, is another name forMount Sinai.Horeb is organized into six sections, according to Hirsch's classification of the commandments. As for theLetters, its historical background is theenlightenment, and particularly the beginnings ofReform Judaism, and it thus constituted an attempt "to lead the young generation of Jewry back to the Divine law."[17]See alsobelow.In it Hirsch shows that the Torah'smitzvot, are not mere "ceremonies", but "duties" of Israel. It was then, to some extent, "a necessary concomitant of the Letters".It was conceived, also, to deal with the practical observances of Judaism - providing summarised Halachot relevant to each sub-section.
Rabbi Hirsch left in manuscript at the time of his death a translation and explanation of theprayer-book, which was subsequently published. His commentary onPirkei Avot here, has been republished separately. His commentary on the book ofPsalms (Uebersetzung und Erklärung der Psalmen, 1882) is still widely read; it underpins much of hissiddur commentary.
Works here (besides similar mentioned above) include:
Most of Hirsch's writings have been translated into English andHebrew by his descendants, starting with "Horeb" in the 1950s (by DayanIsidor Grunfeld of London) and hisTorah commentary in the 1960s (by his grandson Isaac Levi, also of London). Horeb was translated into Hebrew already in 1892.[18]
The publication, in several volumes, of his collected writings (Gesammelte Schriften orNachalath Zwi) was begun in 1902.[2] The bulk of these, that had previously been published in German in 1902-1912 under the titleNachalath Zwi, were translated between 1984 and 2012 by the "Rabbi Dr.Joseph BreuerFoundation" (established to perpetuate the memory of Breuer, Hirsch's grandson, via publication of Hirsch's (and Breur's) writings).[2]Many of theCollected Writings are available online and linkedhere.
Nineteen Letters was translated into English by Bernard Drachman in 1899[19] and 1960[20] byJacob Breuer based on Drachman's translation. The latest translation to English was prepared by Karin Paritzky and revised byJoseph Elias (who states that they "benefited greatly from the two earlier editions").[21][22] Elias glosses Breuer's edition as "very readable" while panning it as an achievement reached "by the omission or simplification of a good many passages, so that the reader does not obtain the full meaning that the author intended."[21]
Hirsch lived in the post-Napoleonic era, an epoch when Jews had been granted civil rights in a large number of European countries, leading to a call forreform. A large segment of his work focuses on the possibilities forOrthodox Judaism in such an era, whenfreedom of religion also meant the freedom to practiceTorah precepts without persecution and ridicule.[2]
The principle of "Austritt", an independentOrthodoxy, flows naturally from his view on the place ofJudaism in his epoch: If Judaism is to gain from these civil liberties, it has to be able to develop independently — without having to lend implicit or explicit approval toefforts at reformation.[2]
His other major work involves thesymbolic meaning of manyTorah commandments and passages. Indeed, his work "Horeb" (1837) focuses to a large degree on the possible meanings and symbols in religious precepts. This work was continued in hisTorah commentary and his articles in the Jeschurun journal (Collected Writings, vol. III, is a collation of these articles).[2]
A final area of his work, which has only recently been re-discovered, was his etymological analysis of theHebrew language. Most of this work is contained in hisTorah commentary, where he analyses and compares theshorashim (three-letter root forms) of a large number of Hebrew words and develops an etymological system of the Hebrew language. This approach is based on the idea that letters that share a phonetic similarity, have similar meaning. For example, the words Zohar (light), Tzohar (translucent window), and Tahor (purity) are related words because the letters Zayin, Tzadie, and Tet are phonetically similar. This is an approach used in many places by the renowned biblical commentator Rashi as well. Although this effort was, in his own words, "totally unscientific", it has led to the recent publication of an "etymological dictionary of the Hebrew language".[23]
Although Hirsch does not mention his influences (apart from traditional Jewish sources), later authors have identified ideas from theKuzari (Yehuda Halevi),Nahmanides, and theMaharal of Prague in his works. Nevertheless, most of his ideas are original.[2]
In a 1995 edition of Hirsch' Nineteen Letters, commentator Rabbi Joseph Elias makes an extensive effort to show Hirsch' sources inRabbinic literature, parallels in his other works and those of other post-Talmudic Jewish thinkers. Elias also attempts to refute particular interpretations of his philosophy, such as the notion that much of his thinking was rooted inKantian secular philosophy.[24]
While theZionist movement was not founded during his lifetime, it is clear from his responses to RabbiZvi Hirsch Kalischer, and in several places in his commentary to the Bible and Siddur, that although he had a deep love for the Land of Israel, he opposed a movement to wrest political independence for the Land of Israel before the Messianic Era.[2] In later works, he makes it clear that Jewish sovereignty is dependent only on Divine Providence.[8]
There is considerable controversy over Hirsch's legacy; this is a matter of debate amongst three parties:Haredi (sometimes called Ultra-Orthodox),Modern Orthodox, and Hirsch's descendants. While it is undisputed that hisTorah im Derech Eretz was his real innovation, the exact implementation has been greatly debated.
Those on Orthodoxy's right wing hold that Hirsch himself approved of secular studies as a "Horaas Sha'ah", or temporary dispensation, only in order to save Orthodox Jewry of the nineteenth century from the threat posed by assimilation. While ayeshiva student in Eastern Europe, RabbiShimon Schwab obtained the opinions of variousPoskim (authorities in Jewish law) to this effect (see Selected Writings, "These and Those", where Schwab himself disagrees).[25]
At the other end of the Orthodox continuum, some Modern Orthodox Jews understand Hirsch in the sense ofTorah Umadda, meaning a synthesis of Torah knowledge and secular knowledge - each for its own sake (this view is propagated in several articles inTradition: A Journal of Orthodox Thought, published by the Rabbinical Council of America). In this view, Hirsch thought that it was permissible, and even productive, for Jews to learn Gentile philosophy, music, art, literature, and ethics for their own sake.[citation needed]
In contrast, a third, middle opinion is proposed.It is held by Hirsch's son-in-law and successor RabbiSolomon Breuer, his grandson RabbiJoseph Breuer, the latter's successor Rabbi Shimon Schwab, his great-grandson ProfessorMordechai Breuer (historian), RabbiYechiel Yaakov Weinberg, Rabbi Joseph Elias in his commentary toThe Nineteen Letters,[24] and some Jewish historians[who?] that both of these understandings of Hirsch's philosophy are misguided, and improperhistorical revisionism.
