The Goldschmidt Family

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch is regarded as the most renowned German
Jewish Leader of the nineteenth century.

Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch
(1808-1888)

The father of modern German Orthodoxy, he was a fiery Leader, brilliantwriter, and profound eduCator.

His Greatness as a Talmudic scholar was obscured by his other monumentalaccomplishments.

After becoming chief Rabbi and Member of Parliament in Bohemia andMoravia, he left to revitalize Torah Judaism in Frankfort-am-Main, whichhe transformed into a Torah bastion.

His best known works are the classic six-volume Commentary on Chumash andHoreb, a philosophical analysis of the mitzvos.

In 1830 Hirsch was elected chief Rabbi (LandRabbiner) of the principalityof Oldenburg, where he Remained until 1841, when he was elected chiefRabbi of the Hanoverian districts of Aurich and Osnabrück, with hisresidence in Emden. During this period he wrote his Neunzehn Briefe überJudenthum, which were published, under the pseudonym of "ben Usiel" (or"Uziel"), at Altona in 1836. This work made a profound impression inGerman Jewish circles because it was something new — a brilliant,intellectual presentation of Orthodox Judaism in classic German, and afearless, uncompromising defense of all its institutions and orDinances.

From the appearance of the "Nineteen Letters" dates the origin of theso-called "Neo-Orthodoxy," later known as Modern Orthodoxy. He sought torevitalise orthodox Judaism in the age of emancipation, and proposed thesynthesis of religious instruction, religious customs and modern, Germaneducation, an ideal expressed in Hebrew as "Tora im Derech Erez". Thecompatibility of absolute loyalty to the Torah, piety and seculareducation (in which he believed) was the foundation of his thought andactions.

In 1838 Hirsch published, as a necessary concomitant of the Letters, hiShoreb, oder Versuche über Jissroel's PfLichten in der Zerstreuung, whichis a text-book on Judaism for educated Jewish youth. In 1839 he publishedErste Mittheilungen aus Naphtali's Briefwechsel, a polemical essayagainst the reforms in Judaism proposed by Holdheim and others; and in1844 he published Zweite Mittheilungen aus einem Briefwechsel über dieNeueste Jüdische Literatur, also polemical in tendency.

In 1846 Hirsch was called to the Rabbinate of Nikolsburg in Moravia, andin 1847 he became chief Rabbi of Moravia and Austrian Silesia. In Austriahe passed five years in the reorganization of the Jewish conGregationsand the instruction of numerous disciples; he was also, in his officialcapacity as chief Rabbi, a member of the Moravian Landtag.

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 acceptedReform. This group, known as the "Israelitish Religious Society"("IsraeliTische Religions-Gesellschaft"), became under his administrationa Great conGregation, numbering about 500 famiLies. Here Hirsch continuedto labor until his death.

Family
His father, though a merchant, devoted much of his time to Hebrewstudies; his grandfather, Mendel Frankfurter, was the founder of theTalmud Torah in Hamburg and unsalAried assistant Rabbi of the neighboringconGregation of Altona; and his granduncle, Löb Frankfurter, was Theauthor of seVeral Hebrew works. Hirsch was a pupil of ?akam Bernays, andthe Biblical and Talmudical education which he received, combined withhis teacher's influence, led him to determine not to become a merchant,as his parents had desired, but to choose the Rabbinical vocation. InfurthErance of this plan he studied Talmud from 1823 to 1829 in Mannheimunder Jacob Ettlinger. He then entered the University of Bonn, where hestudied at the same time as his future antagonist, Abraham Geiger.