Chaim Hirschensohn
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn (1857 – 1935) was born in Tzfat, (city in the Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

, Israel), to Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Hirschensohn, who had emigrated there
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 from Pinsk
Pinsk
Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000...

 in 1848. In 1864, the family (which included Chaim's older brother, Rabbi Yitzchok Hirschensohn) moved to Jerusalem.

Like his brother, the young Zionist Chaim Hirschensohn worked with Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda was a Jewish lexicographer and newspaper editor. He was the driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language in the modern era.-Biography:...

 to revive spoken Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 and helped found the Safah Berurah ("Plain Language") society in Jerusalem. He and his wife Chava published works and journals both in Hebrew and Yiddish.

In 1904, he was hired as the Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...

 of Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...

, a post that included "Hoboken, West Hoboken, Jersey City Heights, Union Hill and the Environs" (from title page of Malki Ba-Kodesh, vol. 2; Hoboken, 1921) in its jurisdiction. He remained in Hoboken until his death in 1935. Rabbi Hirschensohn wrote on many subjects, including the relationship between Judaism and democracy, the status of women, and conflicts between traditional Judaism and modern scholarship and science. He is probably best known for Malki Ba-Kodesh, a 6-volume work he published between 1919 and 1928, in which he explores the halakhot (Jewish laws) that might govern a future Jewish state
Jewish state
A homeland for the Jewish people was an idea that rose to the fore in the 19th century in the wake of growing anti-Semitism and Jewish assimilation. Jewish emancipation in Europe paved the way for two ideological solutions to the Jewish Question: cultural assimilation, as envisaged by Moses...

.

Hirschensohn's daughter Tamar married Rabbi David de Sola Pool
David de Sola Pool
David de Sola Pool was an American rabbi and writer.-Early life and education:He was born in London, England, and later received his rabbinic ordination from the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, located in Berlin, Germany.-Career:In 1907, de Sola Pool was invited to become the minister of...

 and another daughter, Tehilla Lichtenstein headed the Jewish Science
Jewish Science
Jewish Science is a Judaic spiritual movement comparable with the New Thought Movement. Many of its members also attend services at conventional synagogues....

 movement.

Further reading

  • Zohar, David. Jewish Commitment in a Modern World: R. Hayyim Hirschensohn and his Attitude Towards Modernity (Hebrew). Jerusalem: Shalom Hartman Institute
    Shalom Hartman Institute
    Shalom Hartman Institute is a Jewish research and education institute based in Jerusalem, Israel, that offers pluralistic Jewish thought and education to scholars, rabbis, educators, and Jewish community leaders in Israel and North America...

    , 2003.
  • Zohar, David. Rabbi Hayyim Hirschensohn - The Forgotten Sage Who Was Rediscovered
  • Marc Shapiro article
  • Encyclopedia Judaica "Hirschensohn (Family)"
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