Samuel Hirsch, (June 8, 1815 – May 14, 1889) was a major
Reform JudaismReform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in North America and in the United Kingdom....
religious philosopher and rabbi.
Born in
ThalfangThalfang is a municipality in the district Bernkastel-Wittlich, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Hunsrück mountains, approx. 25 km south-east of Wittlich and 25 km east of Trier....
, (
Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 federal states of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
(formerly part of
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
), he received his training at
MetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France, capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. It is located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers....
. He attended the
University of BonnThe University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in 1818 the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number of undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of subjects. Its library holds...
, the University of Berlin, and the
University of LeipzigThe University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second-oldest university in Germany...
.
He first became rabbi at
DessauDessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...
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.
Samuel Hirsch, (June 8, 1815 – May 14, 1889) was a major
Reform JudaismReform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in North America and in the United Kingdom....
religious philosopher and rabbi.
Born in
ThalfangThalfang is a municipality in the district Bernkastel-Wittlich, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Hunsrück mountains, approx. 25 km south-east of Wittlich and 25 km east of Trier....
, (
Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 federal states of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
(formerly part of
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
), he received his training at
MetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France, capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. It is located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers....
. He attended the
University of BonnThe University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in 1818 the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number of undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of subjects. Its library holds...
, the University of Berlin, and the
University of LeipzigThe University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second-oldest university in Germany...
.
He first became rabbi at
DessauDessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...
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 Luxemburg by the King of Holland.
During this period he published his "Die Humanität als Religion." He took an active part in the annual
rabbinical conferences held at BrunswickThe Rabbinical Conference of Brunswick was a conference held in 1844 in Braunschweig, convoked by Levi Herzfeld and Ludwig Philippson. Other attendees included Solomon Formstecher, Samuel Hirsch, Mendel Hess, Samuel Holdheim...
(1844), Frankfort-on-the-Main (1845), and Breslau (1846). In 1844 he published his "Reform im Judenthum." Having received a call from the Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1866, he resigned his post in Europe and removed to the United States. There he succeeded Dr.
David EinhornDavid Einhorn was a German rabbi and leader of the Jewish reform movement in the United States of America. He was born in Dispeck, Bavaria...
. From his arrival onward he became closely identified with, and an open advocate of, radical Reform. 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 twenty-two years, resigning in 1888, after having spent fifty years of his life in the ministry. Removing to Chicago, he took up his abode there with his son, Emil G. Hirsch. 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.
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, 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," 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
ShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from sundown Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night...
.
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), sermons (1841), and
Religious Philosophy of the Jews (1843).
Hirsch died in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
,
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His son was the philosopher and rabbi Prof. Emil Gustav Hirsch.