Samson Raphael Hirsch

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (June 20, 1808 - December 31, 1888) was the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed neo-Orthodoxy, his philosophy, together with that of Ezriel Hildesheimer, has had a considerable influence on the development of Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Oldenburg

In 1830 Hirsch was elected chief rabbi (Landesrabbiner) of the principality of Oldenburg. During this period he wrote his Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum, 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 of Orthodox Judaism in classic German, and a fearless, uncompromising defense of all its institutions and ordinances.

Related Topics:
1830 - Rabbi - Principality - Oldenburg - 1836 - Orthodox Judaism - German

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In 1838 Hirsch published, as a necessary concomitant of the Letters, his Horeb, oder Versuche über Jissroel's Pflichten in der Zerstreuung, which is a text-book on Judaism for educated Jewish youth. In fact, he wrote Horeb first, but his publishers doubted that a work defending traditional Judaism would find a market in those times, when reform was in vogue.

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In 1839 he published Erste Mittheilungen aus Naphtali's Briefwechsel, a polemical essay against the reforms in Judaism proposed by Holdheim and others; and in 1844 he published Zweite Mittheilungen aus einem Briefwechsel über die Neueste Jüdische Literatur, also polemical in tendency.

Related Topics:
1839 - Reforms in Judaism - 1844

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