Samson Raphael Hirsch

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
Rabbi
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
Position	Rabbi
Synagogue	Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft (IRG), Khal Adath Yeshurun
Successor	Solomon Breuer
Personal details
Born	June 20, 1808 (25 Sivan 5568) Hamburg, French Empire
Died	December 31, 1888 (27 Tevet 5649) Frankfurt am Main, German Empire
Buried	Frankfurt am Main
Nationality	German
Denomination	Orthodox Judaism
Spouse	Hannah Jüdel
Semicha	Jacob Ettlinger

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

Hirsch was rabbi in Oldenburg, Emden, and was subsequently appointed chief rabbi of Moravia. From 1851 until his death, Hirsch led the secessionist Orthodox community in Frankfurt am Main. He wrote a number of influential books, and for a number of years published the monthly journal Jeschurun, in which he outlined his philosophy of Judaism. He was a vocal opponent of Reform Judaism and similarly opposed early forms of Conservative Judaism.

Hirsch was born in Hamburg, then part of France. His father, though a merchant, devoted much of his time to Torah studies; his grandfather, Mendel Frankfurter, was the founder of the Talmud Torah in Hamburg and unsalaried assistant rabbi of the neighboring congregation of Altona; and his granduncle, Löb Frankfurter, was the author of several Hebrew works, including Harechasim le-Bik'ah (הרכסים לבקעה), a Torah commentary. Hirsch was a pupil of Chacham Isaac Bernays, and the Biblical and Talmudical education which he received, combined with his teacher's influence, led him to determine not to become a merchant, as his parents had desired, but to choose the rabbinical vocation. In furtherance of this plan he studied Talmud from 1828 to 1829 in Mannheim under Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger. He then entered the University of Bonn, where he studied at the same time as his future antagonist, Abraham Geiger.