Biography
1808: Born in Hamburg to Raphael Arye Hirsch (merchant) and Gella Hirsch
1828-1829: Studies under R. Jacob Ettlinger in Mannheim
1830: Receives semicha, enters University of Bonn; becomes rabbi in Oldenburg
- 1836: Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum
- 1838: Horeb: Versuche über Jissroels Pflichten in der Zerstreuung
1841: Becomes chief rabbi based in Emden
1846-47: Becomes chief rabbi of Nikolsburg [Mikulov], then Moravia and Silesia
1851: Becomes rabbi in Frankfurt am Main, where he remains for life
- 1867-1878: Der Pentateuch übersetzt und erläutert
My Jewish Learning, 'Samson Raphael Hirsch'
'In Hirsch’s congregation in Frankfurt and elsewhere there were to be found cultured men and women, bankers, university professors, physicians, artists, scientists, and men of letters, thoroughly at home in Western society and yet observant in their daily lives. These men demonstrated that Hirsch’s philosophy was viable. To the present day, neo-Orthodoxy is an acceptable Jewish way of life, and for this most of the credit goes to Hirsch and his vision.'
Regions where Hirsch lived prior to German unification in 1871
Hamburg: Napoleonic France (until 1815)/free city
Mannheim: part of Baden, Holy Roman Empire (until 1815)/German Confederation
Bonn: Kingdom of Prussia
Oldenburg: Grand Duchy of Oldenburg
Emden: Hanover
Moravia and Silesia: Austrian Empire (Czech regions)
Frankfurt am Main: Free city, seat of Bundestag (federal diet of the German Confederation). Annexed by Prussia in 1866.
Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803), Ideas on the Philosophy of History of Mankind (1784-1791)
'The most natural state [Staat] is...one people [Volk] with one character.'
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 'Johann Gottfried von Herder'
'[Herder's] most intrinsically important achievement arguably instead lies in his development of the thesis...that there exist radical mental differences between different historical periods (and cultures), that people’s concepts, beliefs, values, sensations, and so on differ in deep ways from one period (or culture) to another.'
Three Tenets of 19th-Century Nationalism and Hirsch's Reformulation
| A nation should comprise people who share distinct cultural traits | 'If, from the cradle of [the Jewish] nation--in contrast to all others--voices can be heard, voices that disclose the purpose of this people...should we not listen to these voices and let them help us evaluate this nation's destiny? As for the teachings of Judaism, the Torah--Written and Oral--is anyway our sole source. Therefore, to the Torah!' (The Nineteen Letters, 15) |
| The most important/distinct of these cultural traits is language | Hebrew was 'given to the Jewish people as the creation of the Spirit of all spirits, in order to shape its national spirit, to awaken, give life, develop and complete its eternal progress...' (Gesammelte Schriften, V, 146, cited in The Nineteen Letters, 24). |
| Nationalism is inherent and innate | 'Give your sons and daughters the sacred writings...so that the spirit pulsating in them may become their beacon of light and support in life.' (The Nineteen Letters, 276) |
Hirsch, The Nineteen Letters (edited and translated by Joseph Elias), 92-93
Nation after nation has entered upon the stage of history. Each brings with it new energies and new components of the human spirit, pitting both against the forces of nature--and of other nations--in order to amass possessions and enjoyments, and to perpetuate its attainments for eternity. But a higher hand--that hand which controls the circumstances under which each nation labors--with a motion that is hardly perceptible topples all that was meant to last forever and, instead, before the eyes of an astounded mankind, causes the greatest happening to develop from the most insignificant, unnoticed trifles. Thus, when a nation has finally reached the heights of materialism and luxury, it crashes down into ruin, despite its greatness, and indeed through it, making way for a new generation to make the same attempt...In the end, mankind will have passed through the entire gamut of experience, and every nation, by its rise and fall, will have inscribed in the book of history 'hevel' as its assessment of human greatness...only that which men built through God-revering efforts on behalf of justice and love will endure for eternity.
(ב) רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל בְּנוֹ שֶׁל רַבִּי יְהוּדָה הַנָּשִׂיא אוֹמֵר, יָפֶה תַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה עִם דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ, שֶׁיְּגִיעַת שְׁנֵיהֶם מְשַׁכַּחַת עָוֹן.
(2) Rabban Gamaliel the son of Rabbi Judah Hanasi said: excellent is the study of the Torah when combined with a worldly occupation, for toil in them both keeps sin out of one’s mind.
Rabbi Shimson Raphael Hirsch on Pirkei Avot, 2:2
The term Derech Eretz includes all the situations arising from and dependent upon the circumstance that the earth is the place where the individual must live, fulfill his destiny and dwell together with others and that he must utilize resources and conditions provided on earth in order to live and to accomplish his purpose. Accordingly, the term Derech Eretz is used primarily to refer to ways of earning a living, to the social order that prevails on earth, as well as to the mores and considerations of courtesy and propriety arising from social living and also to things pertinent to good breeding and general education.
Translation: Mordechai Breuer
Rabbi Shimson Raphael Hirsch, Commentary on Genesis 3:24
Die Kultur beginnt das Erziehungswerk des Menschengeschlechts, und die ist תורה vollendet es; die תורה eben die vollendete Menschenbildung. Das Feigenblatt und die Schürze, dieses erste, welches dem Menschen auf seinem Erziehungswege ward, war das erste Angebinde der Kultur, und die Kultur, die im Dienste der Sittlichkeit steht, ist die erste Stufe der Rückkehr des Menschen zu Gott. Für uns Juden fällt דרך ארץ und תורה zusammen. Der vollendetste Mensch und der vollendetste Jude ist im jüdischen Kreise identisch
Culture begins the work of educating humanity and the Torah accomplishes this: the Torah is precisely the completed education of humanity. The fig leaves and the garments that were first worn by man as he went on his path to education were the first connection to culture. Culture that stands in the service of morality is the first step toward the return of man to the Derech Eretz of God. For us Jews, both go together: the Torah and the most complete man and the most complete Jew is identical in the realm of Judaism.
(טז) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יי אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ (יז) צָר֖וֹר אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים וְהִכִּיתֶ֖ם אוֹתָֽם׃ (יח) כִּ֣י צֹרְרִ֥ים הֵם֙ לָכֶ֔ם בְּנִכְלֵיהֶ֛ם אֲשֶׁר־נִכְּל֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם עַל־דְּבַר־פְּע֑וֹר וְעַל־דְּבַ֞ר כׇּזְבִּ֨י בַת־נְשִׂ֤יא מִדְיָן֙ אֲחֹתָ֔ם הַמֻּכָּ֥ה בְיוֹם־הַמַּגֵּפָ֖ה עַל־דְּבַר־פְּעֽוֹר׃
(16) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (17) “Assail the Midianites and defeat them— (18) for they assailed you by the trickery they practiced against you—because of the affair of Peor and because of the affair of their kinswoman Cozbi, daughter of the Midianite chieftain, who was killed at the time of the plague on account of Peor.”
(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יי אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ (ב) נְקֹ֗ם נִקְמַת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מֵאֵ֖ת הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים אַחַ֖ר תֵּאָסֵ֥ף אֶל־עַמֶּֽיךָ׃
(1) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.”
Hirsch on Numbers 31:1 (translation: Isaac Levy)
Already above in chapter 25:16, it had been declared that breaking the Midianite might was a necessity for ensuring the moral and spiritual integrity of the Jewish People as the Midianites were continuing to try their arts of seduction on Israel. Now here the order is given to carry out the war to be waged against the Midianites.
(ו) וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח אֹתָ֥ם מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶ֥לֶף לַמַּטֶּ֖ה לַצָּבָ֑א אֹ֠תָ֠ם וְאֶת־פִּ֨ינְחָ֜ס בֶּן־אֶלְעָזָ֤ר הַכֹּהֵן֙ לַצָּבָ֔א וּכְלֵ֥י הַקֹּ֛דֶשׁ וַחֲצֹצְר֥וֹת הַתְּרוּעָ֖ה בְּיָדֽוֹ׃
(6) Moses dispatched [the Isrealites] on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Pinchas son of Eleazar serving as a priest to the war, equipped with the sacred utensils and the trumpets for sounding the blasts.
Hirsch on Numbers 31:6 (translation: Isaac Levy)
At none of the earlier battles--not in the war against Sichon, against Og, against the Emorites--is the presence of a priest with the ark and the trumpets so expressly mentioned as it is here. Those wars were undertaken for defense of conquest, material reasons. But at the base of this war there were motives of the highest spiritual and moral interests...For was it not a question of ensuring the unchallenged existence of the tablets and the ark--the Torah created in Israel with its bearers and protectors--in the midst of the nations of the world.