Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch - OU

18 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5769/2008

Rabbi SamsonRaphael Hirsch

Torah Leadership for Our Times

Profile By Yehudah (Leo) Levi

This year—2008—marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Rabbi SamsonRaphael Hirsch. In this tribute, Professor Levi explores Rabbi Hirsch’s unique

leadership during an especially challenging period in Jewish history.

Artist’s rendering of Rabbi Hirsch’s synagogue in Frankfurt, 1853.Reproduced from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch by Rabbi Eliyahu Klugman,with the permission of the copyright holders, ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Ltd.

Sketch courtesy of Rabbi Shimon Hirsch of Monsey, New York

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Fall 5769/2008 JEWISH ACTION I 19

"Torah im DerechEretz” (Torah Com-bined with WorldlyEndeavor) is themotto usually asso-

ciated with Rabbi Hirsch, but it is, inreality, a fundamental Torah concept.Rabbi Hirsch only reawakened theJewish public to its importance.

While Rabbi Hirsch was univer-sally admired throughout the Torahworld, there were those who claimedthat his approach was meant to be fol-lowed only in the era in which he liveddue to the unique circumstances of histime. But Rabbi Hirsch’s own writingson the subject make such claims un-tenable. (See, for example, his “stan-dard” biography1 and Rabbi YechielWeinberg’s responsa Seridei Eish[4:368-9].) Here is one representativequote from Rabbi Hirsch’s writings:

It would be most perverse andcriminal of us to seek to instill in ourchildren a contempt, based on igno-rance and untruth, for everything that isnot specifically Jewish, for all otherhuman arts and sciences, in the beliefthat by inculcating our children withsuch a negative attitude we could safe-guard them from contacts with the

scholarly and scientific endeavors ofthe rest of mankind …You will then seethat your simple-minded calculationswere just as criminal as they were per-verse. Criminal, because they enlistedthe help of untruth supposedly in orderto protect the truth, and because youhave thus departed from the path uponwhich your own Sages have precededyou and beckoned you to follow them.Perverse, because by so doing you haveachieved precisely the opposite of whatyou wanted to accomplish…Your childwill consequently begin to doubt all ofJudaism which (so, at least, it mustseem to him from your behavior) canexist only in the night and darkness ofignorance and which must close its eyesand the minds of its adherents to thelight of all knowledge if it is not to per-ish (Collected Writings 7: 415-6).

By calling the contempt for allscience “criminal,” Rabbi Hirschclearly shows how important scienceis to Torah. Even Rabbi ShimonSchwab, who as a young student inLithuanian yeshivot was convincedthat Rabbi Hirsch considered theTorah im Derech Eretz principle a com-promise, eventually came to realizethat the approach was, in fact, anideal.2 He once told me that, as ayoung man, he thought the Sagesfrowned upon secular knowledge, butlater realized that they endorsed it.

Coexistence, Symbiosis or Synthesis?Just how does Torah im Derech Eretzview Torah and worldly science? Are

they seen as being in a state of syn-thesis, where each complements theother? Or in symbiosis, where each isdistinct but beneficial to the other’sexistence? Or in mere coexistence,with neither having any special rela-tionship to the other? Once we havegrasped the fundamental meaning ofTorah im Derech Eretz, the answer isself-evident. If Torah and this worldare components of a single system,their correct synthesis is the veryessence of Torah life. Both must bestudied before we are able to translatethe Torah’s instructions into reality.

Rabbi Hirsch makes it clear thatthis is his position. Whenever he dis-cusses secular studies, in Horeb aswell as in his commentary to theTorah,3 he stresses that such studiesmust be undertaken from the view-point of Torah. They must serveTorah goals and must be tested bycomparison with Torah principles. Inthe words of Rabbi Hirsch’s great-grandson: “Torah im Derech Eretz isnot to be compared to a physical mix-ture of two separate components, butrather to a chemical compound.”4

Rabbi Hirsch never tired of point-ing out that the study of science andhistory is necessary for a deeper un-derstanding of the ways of God andthe Torah’s message.5 His Commentaryon the Torah is interspersed with ref-erences to scientific and historicalfacts to aid in the interpretation ofScripture. Here he adhered to theprinciple of accepting the truth fromwhomever presents it. (This in con-

The reader may be amazed to find the term “our times” applied to a personality born two centuries ago. However,today’s Torah leadership is indeed facing almost exactly the same challenges that confronted Western European Jewry 200years ago. Until then, Jews had essentially lived in ghettos; hence they were ill prepared to face the real world. The crum-bling of the ghetto walls confronted the Torah leadership with two options—to attempt to create a “virtual” wall or to beefup the stunted “immune system.” Many adopted the first approach. On the other hand, there were those who saw the re-moval of the ghetto as a God-given opportunity to restore Jewish life to its original vigor. Among these, Rabbi SamsonRaphael Hirsch was probably the most creative and successful. He reminded the Jewish public of their real purpose in life.

Unfortunately, the intense efforts made by some in the Torah world to insulate themselves caused many to forget thecentrality of this-worldliness in the Torah. In the opening section of the Midrash Rabbah, our Sages tell us that the Torahserved as the blueprint for the world—that the Torah and this world are components of one system. Adam was, after all,put into the Garden of Eden “to work it and guard it” (Genesis 2:15). When he worked the land, “thereby the purpose ofcreation was attained” (Ha’amek Davar, Genesis 2:4). Finally, “Not study, but rather action is the main object of [Torah]”(Pirkei Avot 1:17).

Professor Levi is past rector and professorof electro-optics at the Jerusalem Coll egeof Technology, where he also gave coursesin Torah thought. In addition to 150-oddarticles published in scientific, technicaland Judaica journals, Professor Levi haspublished a number of books in optics, ha-lachah and Jewish ideology.

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trast to the humanities, where thereare no human-based means to test fortruth.) In one annual report of thehigh school he founded (perhaps thefirst yeshivah high school in history),he demonstrates in considerable de-tail—including tens of examples—how the study of natural science andworld history contributes to the stu-dent’s understanding of the Torah andits message.6 In the previous year’s re-port, he discussed the impact thatTorah study has on our understandingof general secular concepts: “Thesetwo elements [general and specialJewish education] are in truth nothingbut the two complementary andclosely related parts of a completeand homogeneous education.”7

Unadulterated JudaismJewish thinkers throughout our his-tory have attempted to synthesize theideas of Gentile philosophers with

Jewish thought. Often this was accom-plished by bending Torah ideas a bit orby inserting foreign elements intothem, as long as it didn’t result in anobvious contradiction to Torah. In con-trast to these approaches, Rabbi Hirschdemands that Judaism be understood“from within itself.”8 This demand is acentral theme in his writing, and hedoes not hesitate to criticize those whofail to follow it, however great theymay be as halachic authorities.9

In his steadfast adherence to thisprinciple, Rabbi Hirsch never turns tooutside sources for ideological inspi-ration. He encourages the study, fromGentile sources, of nature, psychol-ogy, anthropology and history, but notthe study of humanities, which dealswith the meaning of the world andman in it, and with his aspirations,values, goals and ideas.10 Even when,on one occasion, dictates of goodmanners compelled him to eulogize aGentile poet, he praised that poet forhaving absorbed many lofty Jewishteachings, and for having enriched theGentile world by clothing thoseteachings in an inspiring form.Nowhere, however, in an address offourteen pages, did he imply that we,as Jews, should—or need to—absorbideas from the Gentile.11

Did Rabbi Hirsch himself absorbsuch ideas? In view of the above, thatwould seem surprising. I, for one,have not found a single foreign idea inRabbi Hirsch’s writings. Granted,Gentile thinkers often independentlyrediscover certain of the Torah’struths, and these ideas are then foundin non-Jewish literature. However,when a Torah authority employs oneof these concepts in his writings, it issurely poor scholarship to claim thathe took it from the Gentile sourcewhen the Jewish one was there allalong. The sad fact is, though, that ina generation like ours, a generationthat has originated anti-hero worshipand turned the dwarfing of spiritualgiants into a popular sport, the re-quirements of good scholarship willinevitably fall victim to the desire forsensationalism. Thus it is that somescholars feign to discover foreign in-fluences in the works of even such apurist as Rabbi Hirsch, despite thefact that the Jewish sources he drawsupon are quite obvious.12

Others have not hesitated to ac-cuse Rabbi Hirsch of being a believerin secular humanism, of adoringWestern European culture and of try-ing to adopt two cultures that he him-self was unable to reconcile. Thesetotally unsupported claims fly in theface of Rabbi Hirsch’s repeated asser-tion (an assertion which he actedupon consistently) that every aspectof secular culture could be measuredagainst the criteria of Torah before itmay be accepted into our thought-world as true.13 The essence of secular

humanism is the belief that man isself-sufficient, that on his own he willinexorably ascend the ladder to per-fection. This should be contrastedwith, for example, Rabbi Hirsch’scomment that even scientific knowl-edge is dependent on belief in God’screation for its validation14—that evenmodern scientific progress was notpossible until the Jewish peoplespread the knowledge of God’s unityamong the nations.15

Rabbi Hirsch lived in a time ofgreat upheaval, when Jews were beinggranted progressively greater rights.It was easy to become intoxicatedwith the feeling of freedom, and suchindeed was the spirit of the time.Reading Rabbi Hirsch’s works, one isimpressed by the low-key terms inwhich he refers to the emancipation.Far from being swept up in the fervor,Rabbi Hirsch repeatedly warns hisfellow Jews not to be deceived by theunprecedented liberality they wereexperiencing. Renewed anti-Semitismcould well be lurking around the cor-ner. “Who knows?” he wrote. “Per-haps it is just those who are blindedby their exaggerated vision, idolizingemancipation and equality, who willbe the cause of reviving the danger ofrenewed enslavement [of the Jews].”16

With almost prophetic insighthe writes:

Perhaps the day will come when allthe things bestowed upon mankind forits benefit and liberation will becomecorrupted into their very antithesis.Mankind, instead of assuring its mem-bers their legitimate rights of develop-ment ... will serve them thetear-drenched bread of slaves and theworm-wood of bitterness.... At such time,science, too, will become solely destruc-tive ... will frantically blind itself with itsown brightness .... Mankind will vainlyexhaust its strength in a blind upsurge ofuncurbed desires ....17

In addition to their amazing time-liness, these clear, unequivocal state-ments give lie to the above claim thatRabbi Hirsch favored Gentile philoso-phies, in general, and secular human-ism, in particular.

Jewish Nationalism andEretz YisraelRabbi Hirsch views Judaism as prima-rily nationalistic in nature, not “reli-gious” per se. He stresses that Jewryis a people and not merely a religious

Lithograph by E. Schier, 1847. Courtesy ofAgudath Israel of America Archives



community. In his Commentary on theTorah, he demonstrates this con-tention clearly and ascribes any effortto classify Judaism as a religion to“thoughtlessness.”18 He defines Torah

literature as “Jewish national litera-ture” and Torah education as “Jewishnational education.”19 Concerning theexile, while not denying the positivecontribution the Talmud assigns toit,20 Rabbi Hirsch declares: “As long asthe Jewish national organism is inexile, it is sick.”21 No wonder the au-thor of Seridei Eish writes that RabbiHirsch “must be deemed a whole-hearted extreme nationalist.”22

Concerning the central roleplayed by Eretz Yisrael in Torahthought, Rabbi Hirsch is just as ex-

plicit. He writes that whereas theTorah is meant to accompany uswherever we must wander, a full Jew-ish life—materially and spirituallyfull—is limited to Eretz Yisrael, and

that God Himself established an espe-cially tight bond between the peopleand the Land of Israel.23 Indeed, whendiscussing Eretz Yisrael, his com-ments uncharacteristically border onthe mystical. He points out that be-fore Abraham went to Eretz Yisrael,God merely spoke to him; only inEretz Yisrael did God appear to him.24

Developing the idea, Rabbi Hirsch ex-plains that when God wanted to reju-venate mankind and return Hispresence to earth, He chose a landthat was suitable for that purpose,

one that would enable those who liveon it according to God’s will to reachthe highest levels of spirit and moral-ity. That land is Eretz Yisrael. Else-where he suggests that because EretzYisrael was spared the ravages of theDeluge, it retained the pristine qualityof the earth.25

Rabbi Hirsch expressed his lovefor Eretz Yisrael not only in word butalso in deed. He warmly supportedthe nineteenth-century efforts to de-velop self-supporting agricultural set-tlements in Eretz Yisrael; he raisedmoney for them,26 and in 1883 issuedan urgent appeal to support the pio-neering community of Petach Tikva.27

In view of all this, how can weexplain occasional claims that RabbiHirsch was an anti-nationalist? Theseclaims seem to be based on two facts:Rabbi Hirsch, with all the importancehe attached to Jewish nationalism, al-ways emphasized that only Torah im-bued it with significance. A secondsource of misunderstanding on thisscore was his refusal to assist RabbiTzvi Hirsch Kalischer with his effortsto resettle Eretz Yisrael. Rabbi Kalis-cher worked within the framework of

Are Torah and worldly science seen as being in a state

of synthesis, where each complements the other? Or

in symbiosis, where each is distinct but beneficial to

the other’s existence? Or in mere coexistence, with

neither having any special relationship to the other?


Far from being swept up

in the fervor, Rabbi

Hirsch repeatedly warns

his fellow Jews not to be

deceived by the unprece-

dented liberality they

were experiencing.


Chovevei Tzion, which advocated es-tablishing a Jewish homeland in EretzYisrael. Rabbi Hirsch refused to coop-erate because he saw these endeavorsas violating “the three oaths,”28 whichprohibit all effort to end the exile byforce as well as to rebel against “thenations.” According to the Talmud,these prohibitions would remain ineffect as long as the nations of theworld opposed such settlement.Rabbi Hirsch did not regard thepolitical efforts of the fledglingZionist movement as voiding theTorah’s restrictions.29

What, we may well ask, wouldhave been Rabbi Hirsch’s attitude to-ward the present State of Israel? An-swering such a hypothetical questionis always speculative. Let us first seehow the last century’s Torah authori-ties viewed the historical develop-ments they witnessed. Rabbi MeirSimcha of Dvinsk, better known as

the “Ohr Somayach,” declared thatwhen the League of Nations decidedto establish a Jewish homeland inEretz Yisrael (at the San Remo Con-ference of 1920), that decision re-moved the restrictions of “the threeoaths.”30Another outstanding halachicauthority, “the Avnei Nezer,” alsomade the restrictions conditional onthe attitude of the nations of theworld.31 Even Rabbi Velvel of Brisk,known for his uncompromising anti-Zionist stand, declared that theUnited Nations resolution approvingthe establishment of a Jewish state inPalestine “was a smile from Divineprovidence; but the ones in chargeruined it.”32

Many other great Torah authori-ties evidently were following thesame line of reasoning when they saw,in these events, both an opportunityand a challenge. Among them wereRabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, rabbi

of the “Old Yishuv” in the early twen-tieth century; his successor, RabbiYosef Tzvi Dushinsky; Rabbi Tzvi Pe-sach Frank, author of Har Tzvi; RabbiYosef Kahaneman, the rosh yeshivahof Ponevezh; Rabbi Eliyahu EliezerDessler, author of Michtav MeEliyahuand Rabbi Eliezer Bloch, rosh yeshivahof Telz.33 Since their position on thisissue is eminently reasonable, as evi-denced by its near-universal accept-ance among the greatest Torahauthorities, there is no basis to as-sume that Rabbi Hirsch would dis-agree with them. Presumably he, too,would concur that under the presentcircumstances aliyah and any effortto improve the State of Israel,materially and spiritually, shouldbe most welcome.

The Unity of the Jewish PeopleRabbi Hirsch had an exceptionalsense of responsibility toward the

Photo courtesy of Rabbi Shimon Hirsch



Jewish people. As is well known, he devoted his wholeadult life to their advancement. When Rabbi Simcha Zisselof Kelm, the renowned disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter,wrote his famous letter extolling the intense involvementof German Jewish Orthodoxy with Jewish sufferingabroad, he mentioned by name only Rabbi Hirsch for hisshare in the efforts to help persecuted Russian Jewry.Rabbi Hirsch may well have been the moving force behindthis major relief and rescue campaign.34

Faced with the unbelieving Jews of his time, includingReform rabbis and their followers, Rabbi Hirsch appliedRambam’s ruling concerning the descendants of theKaraite heretics. Rambam declared that because of theirupbringing, Karaites were to be considered as actingunder duress and were therefore blameless; they were tobe brought back to the national fold and the Torah “bywords of peace.”35 This, declared Rabbi Hirsch, was alsothe way to approach our wayward brothers today.36

But while he demanded peaceful and friendly inter-course with individuals who had strayed, this was not tobe at the expense of any of the Torah’s principles. Regard-ing these he was absolutely firm and, significantly, this ledto his rejecting any cooperation with organizations thatchallenged the Torah’s authority. In his opinion, an organi-zation was defined not by its members but by its program.Thus an organization might be heretical, and so wouldhave to be ostracized, even though all its members andleaders might be blameless and should be drawn close asprivate individuals.

Rabbi Hirsch ruled that a Jew is not permitted to joina Reform congregation, since such voluntary joining istantamount to legitimizing the movement. This principlewas called “Austritt” (secession, i.e., establishing an inde-pendent organization), and it stands whether or not theReform congregation provides for the religious needs ofOrthodox members, for it is based on the prohibition ofendorsing heresy, not on the likelihood of eventual inter-ference with the member’s practice of Torah law.37 (RabbiHirsch was the guiding force in the creation of Frankfurt’sIsraelitsche Religionsgesellschaft, an independent religiousorganization that seceded from the overall community,which had been taken over by Reform Jews. Rabbi Hirschserved as the spiritual leader of this kehillah for almostfour decades, from 1851 to 1888.) Rabbi Moshe Feinsteintakes a similar position,38 going so far as to prohibit joininga charitable organization that desecrates Shabbat, sincesuch membership would constitute a tacit endorsement.39

Greatness in TorahOn reading Rabbi Hirsch’s Commentary on the Torah, onecannot help but be impressed by his thorough commandof the Talmud. His scholarship is evident in his commen-tary on parashat Mishpatim, which is an excellent sum-mary of the Talmudic conclusions in Bava Kama and BavaMetzia. His commentary on Leviticus demonstrates a totalgrasp of the conclusions in the Order of Kodashim, wherethe text is notoriously corrupt and the student is often leftconfused as to the final outcome of the Talmudic discus-sion. Furthermore, throughout his commentary he repeat-edly cites dozens of Acharonim.40

Rabbi Hirsch’s halachic response to Rabbi SeligmannBaer Bamberger’s challenge on the issue of secession cov-

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ers sixty-six printed pages and, mostamazingly, is dated a mere six daysafter Rabbi Bamberger’s letter waswritten. In his response, Rabbi Hirschrebuts Rabbi Bamberger’s criticisms,point by point, with an impressivedisplay of erudition based extensivelyon Talmud, Tosefta, Rishonim andAcharonim.41 Rabbis from all over Eu-rope, and even from America, turnedto Rabbi Hirsch with their halachicqueries; see a recently published col-lection of about 100 of his responsacovering the four parts of theShulchan Aruch.42

What Rabbi Hirsch practiced, healso saw as the ideal and as the goalfor the general public:

Our task in life has no greaterenemy, and there is no greater cancer onour present state, than ignorance. StudyTorah thoroughly—Torah, the Prophets,Ketuvim (Hagiographia), Talmud anddecisors. And do not study out of a de-sire to be a rabbi. Study Torah as a busi-nessman, a tradesman, an artist, adoctor, or a scientist.43

This was Rabbi Hirsch’s ideal.What happened to Torah scholarshipunder Torah im Derech Eretz inpractice?

We have already pointed out thatsince Torah is meant to guide our lifein this world, it stands to reason thatknowledge of this world is an aid tounderstanding Torah. Indeed manyTorah authorities support this ideaexplicitly. And in fact RabbeinuBachya, and following him the Ma-haral, declares: “It is a known fact thatall the seven [secular] wisdoms are aladder by which one ascends to theDivine wisdom.”44 Rambam, too, seesscientific knowledge as a prerequisiteto understanding Torah wisdom, andthe Vilna Gaon makes an evenstronger statement.45 A communityendorsing Torah im Derech Eretzshould then be expected to producegreater Torah authorities than a com-munity that does not. Yet in fact thereverse has been observed. Duringthe eighty years that Western Euro-pean Orthodoxy was under the influ-ence of the Torah im Derech Eretzprinciple—from the time RabbiHirsch arrived in Frankfurt in 1851until the rise of the Nazi regime in the1930s—it produced very few out-standing Torah authorities..

The puzzle, however, vanisheswhen we look at the historical back-ground. In considering the number ofTorah authorities from Western ascompared to Eastern Europe, the rela-tive sizes of the two Jewish popula-tions must be taken intoaccount—Western Jewry comprisedonly a few percent of European Jewryas a whole.

But there is an even more impor-tant factor to consider. That worldlyknowledge was flourishing in nine-teenth-century Western Europe iswell known. But what of Torah? For atleast eighty years before the Torah imDerech Eretz principle was revived byRabbi Hirsch,46 governmentally im-posed emancipation without Torahguidance, and later on the misguidedReform movement, had been eradicat-ing Torah knowledge in Western Eu-rope, so much so that when RabbiHirsch arrived in Frankfurt, he founda spiritual desert. (Emanuel Schwarz-schild, who served at one point aspresident of Rabbi Hirsch’s congrega-tion, reports that even in Frankfurt,known for centuries as a bastion ofTorah learning, he was the only one ofhis generation who still put ontefillin.47) Large populations do notchange quickly, and they certainly do

not become learned quickly; it issurely reasonable to allow eightyyears to repair the destructionwrought during a previous eightyyears.. Thus Rabbi Hirsch set up a re-ligious educational system, though itextended no further than high school.His son-in-law and successor, RabbiSolomon Breuer, established ayeshivah; gradually it became fashion-able for parents to send their sonsthere to study for a year or two beforegoing to university. The result of thisexposure was that these students con-tinued learning Torah even as theypursued their academic studies. Bythe following generation, we findgifted young men traveling to theEastern European yeshivot to deepentheir Torah knowledge. In the end afew of them became outstandingTorah authorities and returned“home” as spiritual leaders. But thatwas indeed the end. It is not difficultto guess, however, how the commu-nity would have progressed hadHitler and his hordes not reduced Eu-ropean Jewry to a mere shadow of itsformer self.

A Spiritual LeaderA vital condition for successful lead-ership is that of character. A spiritualleader must model integrity, dedica-tion and all the qualities he would liketo instill in his community. Here,again, Rabbi Hirsch was outstanding.

He had many opponents, some ofthem quite virulent; but no one everchallenged his absolute integrity. Onthe first day of each quarter, his con-gregation paid his salary for thatquarter. When he started feeling weakin his old age, he instructed his familythat when he died they should returnthe overpayment for the remainder ofthe quarter. Perhaps it is more than acoincidence that Rabbi Hirsch passedaway on December 31, 1888, the lastday of the quarter.

Similarly, his famous motto:“Glatt kosher? Glatt yoshor!” teachesthat absolute probity in the interper-sonal domain is even more importantthan in the ritual domain.48 (Note thatthe Targum renders the term “yoshor”as kosher.)

Rabbi Hirsh’s position requiredhim to assert his authority, which hedid. But this did not prevent him fromacting like a loving friend to the chil-dren of his community. One of these

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“children” recorded in his memoirsthat the children of the Frankfurt con-gregation were afraid of the shul’s of-ficers—with the exception of RabbiHirsch. When they came to his officeto show off their “precious” finds(such as dead beetles, et cetera),they were always received with afriendly smile.49

When asked by a young, newlyappointed rabbi for advice and guide-lines, Rabbi Hirsch responded with alengthy letter.

[I suggest] to be totally devoted toGod’s will and to see your wisdom inavoiding all shrewdness ... your primaryefforts be directed to align yourthoughts, words, and actions with thewill of your Creator and [thereby] toguide your people along the path theyshould walk; like a person looks into abright mirror, thus your congregationwill look at you to know what to do, andfrom what to refrain.50

Surely there are many in the Jew-ish community who hope and pray forsuch a leader; let us try to merit one.

Notes1. Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Klugman, Rabbi

Samson Raphael Hirsch (New York, 1996),200-217, esp. 215

2. Rabbi Shimon Schwab, brochure, EluVe’elu—These and Those, 16

3. Some examples: Rabbi Hirsch,Horeb: A Philosophy of Jewish Laws andObservances, trans. Isidore Grunfeld(London, 1962), sec. 551; Rabbi Hirsch,Commentary on the Torah, Leviticus 18:4,Deuteronomy 6:7.

4. Mordechai Breuer, HaMayan 9 (1)(Tishrei 5729): 15

5. Nineteen Letters of Ben Uziel, Letter18 (p. 273 in the J. Elias translation, NewYork, 1995): “To contemplate nature withthe perception of David, to listen to historywith the ear of Isaiah.” Cf. also Commen-tary, Deuteronomy 4:32, 6:4, 16:1.

6. “The Relation of General to Specifi-cally Jewish Education,” in Judaism Eternal,Dayan I. Grunfeld, ed., vol. 1 (London, 1956),203-220; Collected Writings, vol. 7 (NewYork, 1996), 81-100

7. “On Hebrew Instruction as Part of aGeneral Education,” Judaism, pp. 188-202;Collected Writings, vol. 7, pp. 63-80

8. Nineteen Letters, Letter 18 (p. 273 inthe Elias translation)

9. Cf. Rabbi Hirsch’s criticism of Ram-bam, ibid., Letter 18, pp. 264-5

10. Consider, for example, the curricu-lum for his school (op. cit., n. 3, Horeb).There he includes, in addition to the sub-

jects listed, also the language of the hostcountry but not its literature.

11. “Worte gesprochen bei der Schiller-feier 1859,” Gesammelte Schriften, vol. 6, pp.308-321

12. E.g., Horeb, p. xli13. Commentary, Leviticus 18:4,

Deuteronomy 6:714. Ibid., Genesis 2:1915. Collected Writings, vol. 2, p. 204

[Ges. Schrift, vol. 2, p. 32]16. In passages where the ultimately

anticipated improvement of human moral-ity is discussed—a context which virtuallybegs for a reference to the rising level ofmorality among the nations at his time—there is no such reference. (Cf. NineteenLetters, Letter 7; Collected Writings, vol. 6,pp. 240-255; Commentary, Leviticus 26:42.The quote is from Harav S. R. Hirsch: Mish-nato VeShitato, Yonah Emanuel, ed.[Jerusalem, 5722], 300, “On Anti-Semitism”)

17. Collected Writings, vol. 1, p. 80, [Ges.Schrift., vol. 4. p. 105]

18. Nineteen Letters, Letter 7; Commen-tary, Exodus 10:7

19. “The Relation of General to Specifi-cally Jewish Education,” Judaism, 203; “OnHebrew Instruction,” Judaism, 188

20. Cf. Pesachim 87b 21. The Hirsch Siddur, Shemoneh Esrei,

“Birkat Hashivah” 22. Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg,

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Deot 40 (1959). Quoted by Rabbi J. Elias in his edition of The Nine-teen Letters

23. Commentary, Exodus 25:12, Leviticus 18:224. Ibid., Genesis 12:625. Ibid., Numbers 13:3326. Mishnato VeShitato, 285-7; Shemesh Marpei, Rabbi Eliyahu

Meir Klugman, ed., “Letters,” no. 35 (Brooklyn, 1992)27. Cf. Shemesh Marpei, “Letters,” no. 1728. Ketubot 111a. The text in part runs: “God adjured the

Jewish people not to enter Eretz Yisrael en masse and not to rebelagainst the nations...and the nations...that they not oppress Israeltoo much.”

In Horeb (par. 608), Rabbi Hirsch cites these oaths specificallyas obligating us; he alludes to them frequently: Nineteen Letters 16;Horeb, par. 237; Commentary, Deuteronomy 2:10; The Hirsch Siddur,“Birkat Teka Beshofar Gadol,” “Birkat Hatov Vehametiv”

29. Cf. Shemesh Marpei, pp. 354-35730. HaTor (5682). Quoted at the end of Shivat Zion,

(Jerusalem, 5745)31. Rabbi Avraham Bornstein, Avnei Nezer, Yoreh Deah 454:5632. Quoted by Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe in Bein Sheshet Leasor,

p. 14533. For detailed citations, see my article “Rabbi Hirsch: Myth

and Fact,” Tradition 31 (spring 1997): 5-22. The conclusion is in-evitable that they too believed that under the circumstances nowprevailing, “the three oaths” no longer apply. (I intentionally citeonly non-Zionist authorities, with whom Rabbi Hirsch would pre-sumably have identified.)

The only outstanding authority disputing this position that Ihave found is Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe, who heldthat “the three oaths” (op. cit. n. 28) prohibit the establishment of aJewish state even today.

34. Cf. Klugman, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, pp. 192-19835. Rambam, Hilchot Mamrim 3:336. Collected Writings, vol. 6, pp. 206-7. Also cf. my article,

“The Relation of the Orthodox to the Heterodox Organizations,”Tradition 9 (fall 1967): 95-102

37. Rabbi Hirsch cited in this context Rabbi Tarfon’s statement:“Even if a man is chasing after one to kill him, or a snake to bitehim, he may enter a house of idolatry [to save himself], but not ahouse of [heretics]” (Collected Writings, vol. 6, pp. 203, quotingShabbat 116a).

38. Iggerot Moshe, OC II, no. 4039. Ibid., no. 6140. Rabbi Yonah Emanuel, Parshanim Uposekim Befeirusho

shel HaRav S.R. Hirsch al HaTorah (Jerusalem, 5722)41. Collected Writings, vol. 6, pp. 254-317 [Ges. Schrift., vol. 4,

pp. 361-426]42. Shemesh Marpei43. Collected Writings, vol. 7, pp. 157 [Ges. Schrift., vol. 5, p. 225]44. Rabbeinu Bachya, Avot, end of chap. 3; Maharal, Netivot

Olam, Netiv HaTorah 1445. Guide for the Perplexed 1:34. “According to how much a

person lacks in knowledge of the other wisdoms, he will lack ahundredfold more in Torah knowledge.” (Vilna Gaon, quoted byRabbi Baruch Schick of Shklov in the introduction to his transla-tion of Euclid.)

46. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) is generally consideredthe major pioneer of Jewish emancipation in Western Europe.From when Mendelssohn turned forty years old until Rabbi Hirscharrived in Frankfurt is just over eighty years.

47. Hermann Schwab, History of Orthodox Jewry in Germany(London, 1950), 39; Mishnato VeShitato, 26

48. Oral communication, Rabbi Joseph Breuer49. Cf. e.g., Hermann Schwab, Memories of Frankfurt (London,

1958), 750. See Mishnato VeShitato, pp. 336-7


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