Azriel Hildesheimer - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Esriel Hildesheimer was a German rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

and leader of Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

. He is regarded as a pioneering modernizer of Orthodox Judaism in Germany and as a founder of Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....

Biography

Hildesheimer was born in Halberstadt

Halberstadt

Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....

, the son of Rabbi Löb Glee Hildesheimer, a native of Hildesheim

Hildesheim

Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...

, a small town near Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

. He attended the Hasharat Zvi school in Halberstadt, and, from age seventeen, the Yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

of Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger

Jacob Ettlinger

Jacob Ettlinger was a German rabbi and author, and one of the leaders of Orthodox Judaism.He was born at Karlsruhe and died at Altona...

in Altona

Altona, Hamburg

Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...

; Chacham
Hakham
Hakham is a term from Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. The word is generally used to designate a cultured and learned person: "He who says a wise thing is called a wise man ["hakham"], even if he be not a Jew"...

Isaac Bernays

Isaac Bernays

thumbIsaac Bernays was chief rabbi in Hamburg.-Life:Bernays was born in Mainz. He was the son of Jacob Gera, a boarding house keeper at Mainz, and an elder brother of Adolphus Bernays...

was one of his teachers and his model as a preacher

Maggid

Maggid , sometimes spelled as magid, is a traditional Eastern European Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A preacher of the more scholarly sort was called a "darshan", and usually occupied the official position of rabbi...

. While studying in yeshiva Hildesheimer also studied classical languages. In 1840 he returned to Halberstadt, took his diploma

Matriculation

Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...

at the public Königliches Dom-Gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

, and entered the University of Berlin; he became a disciple of the dominant Hegelian school. He studied Semitic languages

Semitic languages

The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...

and mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, and continued his study in Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

. In 1842 he went to Halle

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...

where he earned his Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

from the University of Halle-Wittenberg

University of Halle-Wittenberg

The Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg , also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg within Saxony-Anhalt, Germany...

in 1844 under Wilhelm Gesenius

Wilhelm Gesenius

Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius was a German orientalist and Biblical critic.-Biography:He was born at Nordhausen...

and Emil Rödiger

Emil Rödiger

Emil Rödiger was a German orientalist. After studying theology at the University of Halle, he was appointed professor of oriental languages at the university. He moved to Berlin in 1860, and remained there for the rest of his life. He published a new edition of Lockman's Fables ; Syrische...

("Ueber die Rechte Art der Bibelinterpretation"). He then returned to Halberstadt, where he married Henrietta Hirsch.

In 1851 he became Rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

of Eisenstadt

Eisenstadt

- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...

(Kis Marton), Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

(now located in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

); the principal city of the Siebengemeinden

Siebengemeinden

The Siebengemeinden were 7 Jewish communities located in Eisenstadt and its surrounding area. The groups are known as Sheva Kehillot in Hebrew....

or Sheva kehillot. His first notable act there was to found a parochial school

Parochial school

A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...

, where correct German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

was used, and modern principles of pedagogy

Pedagogy

Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....

were adopted in teaching secular

Secular education

Secular education is the system of public education in countries with a secular government or separation between religion and state.An example of a highly secular educational system would be the French public educational system, going as far as to ban conspicuous religious symbols in schools.In...

, as well as Jewish, subjects. Hildesheimer initially introduced limited secular studies in the elementary school; the older students received a secular education as well, but with a focus on mathematics

Mathematics

and other subjects that would enhance their understanding of gemara

Gemara

The Gemara is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Rabbi Judah the Prince The Gemara (also transliterated Gemora or, less commonly, Gemorra; from Aramaic גמרא gamar; literally, "[to] study" or "learning by...

.

Next, Hildesheimer established a Yeshiva

Yeshiva

. The Yeshiva was unusual in that it was the only Orthodox institution where students were required to have a significant secular education before they were admitted. Also, the curriculum devoted time to studying Tanach and the Hebrew language

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...

.
Despite this approach, within a few years the Yeshiva attracted a large number of pupils. (After beginning with six students in 1851, the seminary had 128 students in 1868, including one from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.) His son, Hirsch Hildesheimer, was a professor there.

In 1869 the Orthodox minority

Orthodox Judaism

in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

- "Adath Yisrael", comprising about 200 families - were dissatisfied with the local rabbi, and chose Hildesheimer to represent them as an "Orthodox rabbi of standing". Here, he similarly established a religious school and a yeshiva

Yeshiva

(Rabbiner Seminar Für Das Orthodoxe Judenthum, known as the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary

Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary

The Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary was founded in Berlin on 22 October 1873 by Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer for the training of rabbis in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism.-History:...

), which immediately attracted thirty former pupils. Hildesheimer was thus the real intellectual founder and leader of the Adath Yisrael community.

Aided by Mayer Lehmann, the editor of Israelit in Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

, Hildesheimer "exerted his whole energy" in the fight against Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

. In 1861 he took his stand against Abraham Geiger

Abraham Geiger

Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who led the founding of Reform Judaism...

by criticizing Geiger's, "Notwendigkeit und Mass einer Reform des Jüdischen Gottesdienstes" (Mayence, 1861). (In fact, as early as 1847 - as the representative of the communities in the Magdeburg

Magdeburg

Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

district - he had energetically opposed the Reform attempts of Ludwig Philippson

Ludwig Philippson

Ludwig Philippson was a German rabbi and author, the son of Moses Philippson.He was educated at the gymanasium of Halle and at the University of Berlin, and maintained himself by tutoring and by doing literary work...

.) Some say, however, that Hildesheimer, who would listen to no compromise, in fact widened the gap between the Reform and the Orthodox Jews of Germany.

Hildesheimer was "simple in his habits and fearless"; he had an unusual capacity for work; and his great Talmudic learning "was joined to practical administrative ability". He was financially independent, and never accepted remuneration for his rabbinical activity. He was frequently engaged in philanthropic activities connected with his own congregation, but additionally, "no labor was too great and no journey too long for him" in the service of the Jews of Germany, Austria, Russia, and even Abyssinia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

and Persia, so that he came to be known as the "international schnorrer

Schnorrer (Yiddish)

Schnorrer is a Yiddish term meaning "beggar" or "sponger". The word Schnorrer also occurs in German to describe a person who frequently asks for little things, like cigarettes or little sums of money, without offering a return, and has thus come to mean freeloader...

". Hildesheimer also took a special interest in the welfare of the Jews of Palestine. In 1860, when the missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

society of Palestine provided seventy free dwellings for homeless Jews, Hildesheimer himself built houses in Jerusalem for the free use of Jewish pilgrims and for the poor.

Hildesheimer died in Berlin

Berlin

on July 12, 1899. His grave is preserved in the Cemetery of the Orthodox congregation Adass Jisroel in Wittlicher Straße, Berlin-Weißensee.

Writings

Hildesheimer contributed articles to various Journals and Newspapers: the Jüdische Presse, Ha-Lebanon, He-Chalutz and Archives Israélites. His son, Hirsch was editor of the Jüdische Presse.

Other writings include:

Materialien zur Beurtheilung der Septuaginta, in "Orient, Lit." 1848, Nos. 30 et seq.;
Die Epitaphien der Grabsteine auf dem Hiesigen [of Halberstadt] Jüdischen Friedhofe, 1846;
Verwaltung der Jüdischen Gemeinde Halberstadt, 1849;
Offener Brief an den Redakteur des Ben Chananja, Vienna, 1858;
Minchah Tehorah, Presburg, 1860;
Halakhot Gedoloth nach der Handschrift der Vaticana, Berlin, 1888.
Hukkat HaPesach

On the celebration of his seventieth birthday, in 1890, his friends and pupils published a literary Jubelschrift (Berlin, 1890).

Modernisation within Orthodoxy

Hildesheimer is regarded as a pioneering "Moderniser" of Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

in Germany. He was insistent that for Orthodox Jews living in the west, there was no possibility to segregate oneself behind ghetto walls. On the contrary, modern Jewish education must teach Jews how best to confront and deal with modernity in all of its aspects http://www.yutorah.org/_shiurim/%2FTU9%5FShapiro%2Epdf.

His firm conviction that traditional Judaism need have no fear of the light of European culture determined his attitude and his activity in Hungary and Germany from the start, and gave him a definite aim. In an address delivered at his rabbinical seminary and defining his position he said:
He thus undertook a variety of actions which render him a "modern" activist and institution-builder. The most important of these, as discussed above, are:

Jewish education for males and females which included both religious and secular studies.
The seminary
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

which incorporated not only secular studies but academic scholarship.
Maintaining traditional Jewish attachments to the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...

and working with the non-Orthodox on its behalf.
Working with communal leaders, even non-Orthodox ones, on issues that affected the community, such as anti-Semitism and ritual slaughtering.

Comparison with Samson Raphael Hirsch

There are those who would claim both Hirsch and Hildesheimer as indirect philosophical founders of Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....

; in fact, of the two, Hildesheimer is more likely classifiable as such.

It is true that Hirsch's Torah im Derech Eretz
Torah im Derech Eretz
Torah im Derech Eretz is a philosophy of Orthodox Judaism articulated by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch , which formalizes a relationship between traditionally observant Judaism and the modern world...

- a philosophy of Orthodox Judaism which formalises a relationship between traditionally observant Judaism and the modern world -bears a superficial resemblance to today's Modern Orthodox Judaism. However, a deeper investigation shows Hirsch's philosophy (Judaism as the sole source of truth by which to judge modernity), at odds with the Modern Orthodox philosophy (two co-existing ideas - Judaism and modernity). Hirsch also separated himself and his community from the Conservative

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...

and Reform

Reform Judaism

Jewish community and was, at best, unsympathetic to Zionist

Zionism

Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

efforts. By contrast, Hildesheimer set the pattern for Modern Orthodox activism and institutions, and was noted for not being a sectarian, as was Hirsch.

Although Hildesheimer was noted as having these similarities to Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....

, it is noteworthy that his philosophy concerning education was even less similar than was Hirsch's. Hildesheimer advocated secular studies only as an aside to, but clearly not synthesized with, Torah, and to some extent as a concession to the needs of the day.

Orthodox Opposition

The introduction into the Eisenstadt School of modern methods of education and of secular learning was resented by the Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

. (Hildesheimer's "liberal tendencies and sympathy with modern culture" soon changed this resentment "to positive antipathy".) Eventually his Yeshiva was denounced before the representatives of the government at Oedenburg, the result being that the government ordered the school closed within twenty-four hours and the pupils removed from the city. Soon afterward, however (1858), Hildesheimer succeeded in obtaining state recognition for the Yeshiva. Interestingly, the Yeshiva also had opponents on the left: Reform saw it as a threat because its graduates would be equipped to defend Orthodoxy against Reform's inroads. About 1860, Akiva Joseph, a Hasidic

Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

leader

Rebbe

Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...

, placed Hildesheimer under a ban as "not truly a sincere Jew" ("emessdiger Jüd"). Hildesheimer, however, seems to have cared little for the ban.

At the Hungarian Jewish Congress of December 14, 1868, Hildesheimer at first endeavored to associate himself with the existing Orthodox party. When the impossibility of this union became evident, he formed a separate group, with thirty-five followers, which has been described as "Cultured Orthodox". In the Hungarian Jewish Congress held at Budapest in 1869 he defined this party as representing a "faithful adherence to traditional teachings combined with an effective effort to keep in touch with the spirit of progress".

External links and references

Hildesheimer, Israel (Azriel), jewishencyclopedia.com
Rabbi Dr. Esriel Hildesheimer z"l: part 1; part 2, hamaayan
Azriel Hildesheimer, jewishhistory.org.il
Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer's Program of Torah u-Madda, Marc B. Shapiro
Dilemmas of modern orthodoxy: sociological and philosophical, Prof. Chaim I. Waxman

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Biography

Writings

Modernisation within Orthodoxy

Comparison with Samson Raphael Hirsch

Orthodox Opposition

See also

External links and references