![Samuel Hirsch 1815-1889](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Samuel_Hirsch_1815-1889.jpg)
Samuel Hirsch, (June 8, 1815 – May 14, 1889) was a major
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...
philosopher and
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
who mainly worked and resided in present-day
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in his earlier years. He promoted the radical German Reform Judaism movement and published several works in the 1840s. He moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1866 where he would die in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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in 1889.
Biography
Born in
Thalfang
The climatic spa (''Luftkurort'') of Thalfang is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the sea ...
(in modern-day
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
, Germany; formerly part of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
), he received his training at
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
. He attended the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
, the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
, and the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
.
He first became rabbi at
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
in 1838 but was forced to resign in 1841 because he promoted a radically liberal form of Judaism, later to become known as classic German Reform Judaism. In 1843 he published his "Die Messias-Lehre der Juden in Kanzelvorträgen" and "Religionsphilosophie der Juden."
In 1843 he was appointed chief rabbi of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by King
William II of the Netherlands
William II ( nl, Willem Frederik George Lodewijk, anglicized as William Frederick George Louis; 6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849) was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg.
William II was the son of William ...
. During this period he published his "Die Humanität als Religion." He took an active part in the annual
rabbinical conferences held at Brunswick (1844), Frankfurt am Main (1845), and Breslau (1846). In 1844 he published his "Reform im Judenthum."
Having received a call from the
Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel is the sixth oldest Reform Jewish synagogue in the United States. It began in Philadelphia in 1847, and was at a number of locations in the city before building a massive structure on North Broad Street in 1891 ...
,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania, in 1866, he resigned his post in Europe and moved to the United States. There he succeeded Dr.
David Einhorn. From his arrival onward he became closely identified with, and an open advocate of the radical reform movement. In 1869 he was elected president of the rabbinical conference held in Philadelphia, at which the principles of Reform Judaism were formulated. In that year he engaged also in numerous ritual and doctrinal controversies.
Hirsch remained officiating rabbi of the Philadelphia congregation for 22 years, resigning in 1888, after having spent 50 years of his life in the ministry. Moving to Chicago, he took up his abode there with his son, philosopher and rabbi Prof.
Emil G. Hirsch
Emil Gustav Hirsch (May 22, 1851 – January 7, 1923) was a Luxembourgish-born Jewish American biblical scholar, Reform rabbi, contributing editor to numerous articles of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906), anfounding member of the NAACP
Biog ...
. During his rabbinate in Philadelphia Hirsch organized the Orphans' Guardian Society, and was the founder of the first branch in the United States of the
Alliance Israélite Universelle
The Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU; he, כל ישראל חברים; ) is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 with the purpose of safeguarding human rights for Jews around the world. It promotes the ideals of Jew ...
.
Hirsch is best known as the author of the "Religionsphilosophie," a work written from the Hegelian point of view, but for the purpose of vindicating the claim of Judaism to the rank denied it by
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
, the rank of an "absolute religion." In this book he proved himself to be an original thinker (see "Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1895, pp. 126 et seq.). His "Katechismus der Israelitischen Religion" was also constructed on original lines; he considered the Biblical legends to be psychological and typical allegories, and the ceremonies of Judaism to be symbols of underlying ideas. From this attitude his Reform principles are derived. He denied that Judaism is a law; it is ''Lehre'' ("teaching" or "lore") but is expressed in symbolic ceremonies that may be changed in accordance with historic development.
He was the first to propose holding Jewish services on Sunday instead of the traditional Jewish Sabbath ''
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
''.
He contributed to the early volumes of ''The Jewish Times'' (1869–1878). His principal works were first issued in Germany, among them ''What is Judaism?'' (1838), a collection of sermons (1841), and ''Religious Philosophy of the Jews'' (1843). He published nothing in book form after coming to the United States.
References
* ''Samuel Hirsch: Philosopher of Religion, Advocate of Emancipation and Radical Reformer'', ed. Judith Frishman, Thorsten Fuchshuber, Walter de Gruyter, 2022.
*
*
* Elmar P. Ittenbach: "Samuel Hirsch. Rabbiner-Religionsphilosoph-Reformer. Rabbi-Philosopher-Reformer" (German/English), Berlin 2014, .
* Art
Hirsch, Samuel in: ''
Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
.'' 1901–1906; vol 6, p. 417.
*
Emil Ludwig Fackenheim
Emil Ludwig Fackenheim (22 June 1916 – 18 September 2003) was a Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi.
Born in Halle, Germany, he was arrested by Nazis on the night of 9 November 1938, known as Kristallnacht. Briefly interned at the Sachsenhaus ...
: ''Samuel Hirsch and Hegel.'' In:
Alexander Altmann
Alexander Altmann (April 16, 1906 – June 6, 1987) was an Orthodox Jewish scholar and rabbi born in Kassa, Austria-Hungary (present-day Košice, Slovakia). He emigrated to England in 1938 and later settled in the United States, working productive ...
(ed.): ''Studies in Nineteenth-Ventury Jewish Intellectual History.''
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
,
Cambridge (Massachusetts)
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
1964; new 2013 ISBN 978-0-674-73086-1 p. 175ff.
* Gershon Greenberg: ''Samuel Hirsch: Jewish Hegelian'', Revue des Etudes Juives 129 (1997), 205-215.
* Joshua O. Haberman: Art.
Hirsch, Samuel'' In:
Encyclopaedia Judaica
The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langua ...
2. Aufl. Bd. 9 (2007), 132f
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Samuel
1815 births
1889 deaths
Philosophers of Judaism
German Reform rabbis
University of Bonn alumni
German Jewish theologians
19th-century German rabbis
German male non-fiction writers
19th-century American rabbis